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CHAPTER 1
HOME SWEET AND SOUR HOME
How does an adventure begin? The same as any day, albeit we adventurers may describe things well or even better than most. Let me explain the everyday in my terms.
In the culinary desert of the center valley (food uninspired, bland, sloppy, bad, sharp, dry, obtrusive), I had cast aside dull aspersions and sideways looks and immersed myself fully in a sensory world of food, fragrance and fun. I had turned my home into a café- not the dull wireless coffeeshop we know these days, but the classical style-center of foment and discussion, of philosophy, debate and ideas. In this sad desert, my apartment became a gastronomical oasis. Each day I prepared delicious new experiments and they came in droves to seek relief-Gnostics and Dissidents, Anarchists and Entrepreneurs, Artists, Designers, Cooks, Sculptors, Writers, Musicians, Poets, Seamsters, Weavers and Laborers, Doctors and Scientists, Creators and Destroyers.
All seeking something, perhaps finding it. They learning from me and from each other, and I from them. I felt myself fulfilled but still restless, still longing. Formless at first, a wraithlike figure began to take shape and movement during these daily and nightly soirées.
Even phantoms come to be entertained here, I thought at first. I fancied that I had it all, but the world had different fancies.
A strange shadow moved across the wall from time to time, with growing frequency, my guests oblivious. It performed a recipe, preparing it each day in the corners of my vision, the edge of my mind. It called to me. My compatriots could not see or hear this but it roared with overwhelming volume to me, ringing in my ears. What does this mean? It even began to trouble my sleep and dreams, which I value almost above food. The disturbance began to affect my cuisine itself! Unheard of!
To find the answer to the question, 'what is the meaning of this commotion?', there was only one place to seek.
I left my clients with these usual items to tide them over and set out to the hut of Ms. Fortuna ...
MR. SALAD WITH MUSHROOM DRESSING
1 bunch arugula, chopped
Toss this together or arrange attractively.
Dressing: saute ½ cup shiitake mushrooms in 2 tablespoon sesame oil with a little soy sauce and oregano until cooked. Cool and then purée with ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, a little salt and pepper, 2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 or 3 tablespoon lemon juice and a few tablespoons of basil leaves and use this as your dressing.
ROOT NOODLE LASAGNA WITH THREE SAUCES
White Sauce
Add olive oil to a large skillet, add vegetables and seasonings, cook until onions begin to soften. Put in vegetable broth and cover, lower heat and cook down for 20 minutes or until kale is done, adding more liquid if necessary. Mix in flour, set aside.
Red Sauce
8 oz. tomato paste
Purée all but bell peppers and wine. Cook in saucepan, adding wine and chopped pepper. Cook and stir for about 15 minutes, adjust seasonings. Set aside.
The Noodles
1 large daikon radish
Peel (if you want to) and slice all very thinly with a mandoline or your own skilled hands lengthwise (well, of reasonable length). You want them to be lasagna noodle-size. Sprinkle with salt.
Now Let's Compose This
Preheat oven to 375°. Coat a deep 9" by 13" casserole with olive oil and coat the bottom with some red sauce. Layer sweet potatoes, sprinkle with a little salt and olive oil and then lay all of the green sauce on top.
Potato layer follows, again salt and oil lightly, coat with the rest of the red sauce. On top goes the daikon, coat this with the white sauce and bake for an hour.
Top with extra white sauce, some pressed garlic and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast or your favorite vegan cheese grated. Easier than it seemed like it would be, didn't it? Want more crunch? Use jicama, it never stops being crunchy! If you don't like daikon use maybe taro root, other potatoes or yam instead, I think it adds some pep!
There will probably be too much sauce, just use it for something else!
SUGARED PLUM TARTS
Pie crust, made into 12 little balls, rolled out into rounds, place in lightly greased muffin tins or ramekins. Prick them with a fork and sprinkle with sugar.
2 cups chopped plums
Mix together all of these ingredients and place in your little pie shells. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then lower to 375 degrees and bake for another 10. Decorate with little fanned plum slices with a bit of sugar and lime juice on them.
Walnut-Pecan and Chocolate Tarts with Espresso "Cream" and Candied Sage
Make 12 little pie crusts and place in lightly greased ramekins or muffin tins. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile ...
1 cup chopped pecans
Melt margarine and chocolate in soymilk. Stir in flour add everything else and place in pie crusts. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes more. Cool and serve with sage leaves and cream.
¼ cup espresso
Purée/ whip until smooth, add more of the "cream cheese" and some powdered sugar to firm it up slightly if necessary. Chill for some time before serving. It is okay for it to be more of a sauce.
Sage leaves (12-24)
Heat oil, sugar and water until sugar melts and starts to bubble. Lay sage leaves in this for a minute or two, then take them out and dredge through dry sugar. Cool, then dredge again- place on top of tarts attractively.
SWEET CARROT PIE WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE
You need the pie crust again, this time add ½ cup grated coconut and ¼ cup ground pecans and take out ½ cup of the flour at first.
2 cups grated carrots
Mix all of this together and pour into a 9" pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then lower to 375 degrees for another 15 or so. Allow to cool so the pie will set.
Add a little bourbon to it if you like.
1 cup chocolate
Melt the chocolate in the choco-soymilk, stirring. Then let it cool until thickened but still saucy and serve with the pie. Add a little bourbon to it if you like.
Zucchini Puffs with Tomato Butter and Caper-Herb Dressing
3 chopped zucchini
Mix all but the frying oil (use a tablespoon of oil in the batter), add a little water or a bit of flour if needed to make the desired consistency- a little wet for a drop batter or a little firm for shaping. Fry in hot oil, turning once, until golden brown and puffy. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve soon thereafter.
2 tablespoon margarine
A tablespoon or two of minced bell pepper and a little ginger are also nice additions spices: cumin and coriander are both good here
Stir all of that together and adjust seasonings. Serve with the fritters.
CHOPPED GREENS IN RED PEPPER SOUP WITH TOASTED NUTS AND FRIED ONIONS
Chopped greens: 3 heads worth of chard and collards (chop them up fairly small)
4 to 6 roasted red bell peppers
Purée the roasted peppers with some of the broth and the spices in batches and begin to heat this with the rest of the broth, chopped onion, garlic, 1 carrot, most of the herbs, some salt and pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then add the chopped greens and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the other carrot and the chopped peppers and cook for 10 minutes more. While that is happening, cook the sliced onions with a little salt and pepper in the olive oil until the onions start to brown. Set aside. When the soup is done, squeeze some lemon juice on there and top each individual serving with some of the leftover herbs, nuts and fried onions.
SPICY STRAWBERRY APPLESAUCE IN PASTRY CUPS WITH SWEET AND SALTY CANDIED HAZELNUTS
Phyllo dough
Mix ingredients from apples through marjoram and squeeze in a little lemon juice and 1/3 cups of the sugar. Cook at a simmer for 15 minutes, add strawberries and more liquid if necessary and whisk. Cook for another 10-15 minutes and re-season. If it seems too thick or too thin add more flour or liquid as needed and cook a bit longer.
Saute the hazelnuts in oil and add a little salt and pepper and half a cup of sugar. Cook, stirring, for several minutes until sugar melts. Remove from heat and spread the nuts out on a non-stick surface until they cool a bit and dry out a little.
Cut phyllo dough into squares and press into greased muffin tins or ramekins. Baste the squares with a little oil or melted margarine and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until browned (keep an eye on them). Allow to cool a bit and then fill each with strawberry applesauce and top with candied nuts and some minced herbs.
Baby Herb Pies with Sun dried Tomato Crust
1 cup chopped mixed herbs plus extra to decorate
Blend the non-crust ingredients. Separate the crust dough into 12 or so little balls, roll them out into rounds and press them into muffin tins or ramekins. Prick with a fork and fill with the herb mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then lower to 375 degrees for another 15 or so. Allow to cool/set a bit before serving. Decorate with some fresh herbs when done.
CHAPTER 2
THE HUT OF MS. FORTUNA
And so out I set with a knapsack on my back, valderi valdera all the way. To a dank and foggy bank, the edge of the Toadstool Swamps, a dangerous morass of tangled vines and becreatured waters. I paid the ferryman with a Safron Crumpet and was promptly taken across the murky mush to the hut of Ms. Fortuna.
As I approached cautiously, apprehensively-even though I know her quite well- I heard her creaky voice wafting over the marsh, over the din of chattering twilight birds and the frogs and toads answering ... "come, come adventurer, you seek my counsel again, and as usual you shall have it."
I waved aside the curtain, rattling hematite beads and jagged blocks of quartz suspended on twine and made myself comfortable.
"Yes, yes, sit, boy, I will provide your answer and what have you brought me?", she queried. I handed her some crumpets as well.
"And I have this for you."
She gave to me a pumpkin filled with steaming hot soup and I drank it greedily.
"You'll need the strength for the journey ahead, and now for your question: what of the phantom? Yes, yes, I know, I know as I know most things, let us see- what do the cards tell us today ...".
She deftly spread the tarot with her craggy hand upon a silk cloth, waved over them once, twice, thrice and plucked three cards from the fan of wisdom.
"Fool, world, fortune," she spake ... "Yes, you must make the journey, far it will take you, unknown is the outcome".
"The phantom makes a recipe, perhaps the greatest for you to seek- I cannot see for even the ball is obscured".
She waved dismissively at her crystal, of to the side, obviously shrouded in swirling mists and impenetrable.
"Perhaps this, perhaps something you did not expect, seek the trader in Metropolitan, maychance he has something that can provide a clue, now that the journey is joined you will have no rest until it is complete".
I gave her more culinary gifts, and she gave a few to me (recipes follow), then with another flourish of her hand, the whole hut, marsh and all its contents simply disappeared leaving only the faint hint of musty incense in my nostrils, and the last wafting notes of advice: "It may be a dangerous journey for you, take care ..."
I know, I know: I am in grave danger ... And on to Metropolitan ...
SOUP IN A PUMPKIN
A pumpkin (around 10 lbs.)
Cut open the pumpkin like you're making a jack o' lantern. Remove seeds and pulp. Rub with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at around 400 degrees for 25 minutes with the lid on. Meanwhile, simmer the other ingredients (except pumpkin seeds and a few teaspoons of the herbs) for a few minutes, set aside. Remove pumpkin, fill with the soup mixture and bake at 375 degrees for an hour in a round casserole (in case the thing breaks). Use a foil cap instead of the pumpkin top to bake this. Remove from oven, take of the foil and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, herbs and a little paprika. Serve soon, with the pumpkin top on when you bring the little bugger to the table.
Lavender Soda
½ cup lavender flowers
Bring to a boil sugar, water, lavender and ginger. Lower to simmer and cook down for 20 minutes to half an hour, or until it begins to get a bit syrupy. Cool and strain, add vanilla. You may add a bit of violet or blue dye if you wish (natural ones are available). Mix 1 to 3 lavender syrup to soda water over ice in highball glasses. Garnish with lime and a few lavender flowers.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "In Search of the Lost Taste"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Joshua Ploeg.
Excerpted by permission of Microcosm Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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