Channa Dal with Chanterelle Mushrooms

Our local foodie market has been carrying chanterelles, making it all too easy for me to indulge in these delicious golden mushrooms. I've been frying them in butter and eating them straight-up -yum! But, at some point, I decided to look through my cookbooks for recipes.

Happily, I found this easy and delicious soup recipe in The Artful Vegan, the second recipe book by Millennium's Executive Chef, Eric Tucker. Channa dal is the Indian name for small split garbanzo beans (I got mine at Malabar Indian Store on 4th St. in San Rafael). I've always made dal with red lentils, but I loved the channa dal. I cooked them until they were soft, but still held their shape and had a little texture. As the intro to the recipe suggests, the chanterelles really add magic, making this both a humble and luxurious dish. Ideal for the season, it's really good for you too!

Here's my adaption of the recipe:

Channa Dal with Chanterelle Mushrooms (from The Artful Vegan):


1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger, minced
1 garlic glove, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined, and minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBS curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, torn
1 cup channa dal
3-4 cups vegetable stock

Heat the oils and cook the onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno and salt for 5 minutes, until onion is soft. Add the curry powder and cumin and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Add the chanterelles and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Add the vegetable stock and the channa dal and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until channa dal are soft (about 45 minutes).

Millennium Mushroom Cooking Class 2011

A host of golden mushrooms was the theme for last weekend's cooking class at Millennium, San Francisco's awesome vegan restaurant. If you have to pick one class to attend there, I'd recommend the mushroom class, because Executive Chef Eric Tucker has a real passion for mushrooms. At the center of the photo above are fresh porcini mushrooms.

So, let's see how many of the mushrooms we used in the class you can identify.

These little mushrooms are sweethearts (yes, that's a clue):

Answer: Candy cap mushrooms.

Alien creature from the lagoon or....:

Answer: Cauliflower mushroom.

OK, this is easy, check out the pine needles:

Answer: Chanterelle

Surely you won't bristle at these!


They do look like chanterelles, but note the spines on the bottom.
Answer: Hedgehog mushroom

The king of mushrooms?

Answer: King Trumpet mushroom


Hey, that's not a mushroom!



This is a wonderful citrus that you can find at Whole Foods, Farmers Markets, or other high-end market. It's called a Buddha's Hand. They have the most amazing citrus fragrance. I have one on our dining room table because I love the smell, but, of course, you can eat it! We shaved it onto one of our lunch salads.

If you've read this blog, you'll know that I like to make recipes that pack a lot of flavor, a lot of love, but not a huge amount of cooking time and effort. I love efficiency in all things! Although Millennium recipes tend to be a lot more complex than those I typically prepare, these Mirin-Glazed Matsutake & Brown Rice "Tacos" were pretty easy to prepare and really pack a "wow" factor:


Chef Eric tells us that Matsutakes do best with a simple treatment and hate garlic. For this recipe, they are glazed with a reduction of mirin, tamari, ginger and toasted sesame oil. The taco is made from toasted nori squares and filled with precooked brown rice and scallions, shiso and sesame seeds. These would be awesome for a party as you can prepare the ingredients ahead of time and people can make their own. I'm not a fan of toasted nori "snacks", but I loved these. We tucked into these in the kitchen, a first, I believe.

"Tis the season for root vegetables, but in a salad? Hey, you know raw = good for you! We made two versions of King Trumpet Mushroom and Shredded Root Vegetable Salad. The mushrooms were braised with lemongrass, ginger, grapeseed oil and chile paste until soft (10-15 minutes). We then added citrus (Buddha's Hand or another citrus), and a mixed shred of root vegetables - kolrabi, parsnip, carrots. One group did a quick radish pickle. The dressing included lime, sugar, salt, mint thai basil, cilantro, and chile.


Topped with a peanut sambal - peanuts, shallots, chili flake, paprika, tamari, unrefined sugar (bake at 350 for 10 mins until dry). But the Number 1 instruction - "Make it look pretty."


So lunch was a "light affair" but the second course was full of heavy holiday richness.

We made araepas with masa and an incredible Tierra Vegetables Ground Heirloom Cornmeal called Supai Red Parching. I worked on the araepas and I have to tell you, the smell of this cornmeal alone is worth the price! We topped these with hedgehog and chanterelle mushrooms with sunchokes, and served with a almond ancho cream:


One team made this monster gratin of cauliflower and chanterelle mushrooms with cashew cream, topped with breadcrumbs and pine nuts:


To send it over the top, Eric shaved Oregon White Truffle over the gratin:


Another holiday-themed main were these potato and kale cake served over the absolutely most incredible mushroom masala:

Eric says the ground lentils are critical to the masala dish.

And just in case we were still hungry, Eric demonstrated quick pizza flatbread technique:



The pizza dough was grilled:


Then topped with sauteed fresh porcini mushrooms, almond sauce, and grilled balsamic radichio:



Man, it's hard to beat fresh, grilled flatbread!

But how do you make a mushroom dessert? Try Candy Cap mushroom blondies with White Truffle-Coconut Sorbet for style with Bourbon anglaise:



As always, many thanks to Eric, Ann, Alison, Thomas and, this time, intern Ivan.



Here's links to the previous 20 Millennium cooking classes I've had the pleasure of attending:

Chile Class 2011

July 2011 Class

Mushroom Cooking Class January 2011

Sept.2010 Cooking Class

July 2010 Cooking Class

June 2010 Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class 2010

Chiles Cooking Class 2009

July Cooking Class 2009

June Cooking Class 2009

Spring Cooking Class 2009

Mushroom Cooking Class

Holiday Cooking Class

Fall Harvest 2008

Indian Summer

Southern Comfort Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class

Fall Harvest Cooking Class

Chiles Class

Tomato Class

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Looking for a different way to serve sweet potatoes?

This is a total cheater recipe that packs a lot of flavor into a very short cooking time. I used Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce to impart wonderful chile-coconut Thai flavors into this soup and then added fresh vegetables and herbs. It was delicious and only took about 20 minutes to prepare. Perfect for a rainy day lunch!

The recipe includes not only sweet potatoes but sweet potato leaves:

I found these at my local Asian market and have also found them at Farmers Markets. They have a slightly nutty taste and are spinach-like, but firmer. If you can't find them, use your favorite green leaves.

This recipe makes two servings.

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup:

20 oz vegetable broth
1/4 cup Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups sweet potato leaves (or your fav green)
1 cup broccoli florettes
5 white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 TBS chopped cilantro
1/2 TBS chopped basil or Thai basil

Heat up the vegetable broth with the diced sweet potatoes. When it comes to a boil, turn down to a simmer and add the Thai Red Curry Sauce. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the sweet potato leaves and the broccoli and cook 3 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped herbs. Cook one more minute and serve.

If you want a garnish, chopped peanuts would be the way to go!

Tofu French Fries

My kids and I love to snack on my Salt & Pepper Tofu, a super easy and delicious way to get this high-protein vegetarian food into our diet.

I added a little whimsy this time around, by cutting the tofu into French Fries. Everyone loved them! They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and take less than 10 minutes to prepare. For grown-ups, add a fab tofu aioli - lemon, chile, shiso.

I can't wait to make them again. Here's the super easy recipe.

Tofu French Fries

Grapeseed oil
Super Firm tofu
Sea Salt
Pepper

Heat the grapeseed oil in a non-stick pan. Grapeseed oil has a high smoke point, making it perfect for this preparation.

Cut the tofu into french fries. When the oil is hot, add the tofu fries to the pan and cook until brown on all 4 sides. Add salt and pepper while you are cooking and add more as you turn the tofu.

When golden, remove from the pan to a plate covered with paper towel to absorb any oil. Add sea salt and serve!

Squash Blossom, Roasted Tomato & Cilantro Quiche

I just made it to the San Rafael Farmers Market today and although I was thinking fall vegetables and dodging fat rain drops, I couldn't resist the awesome heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and colorful squash blossoms.

I love squash blossoms, but their life once picked is so brief I wanted to find a dish that would preserve them for a few days. My answer was this beautiful quiche. Eggs, cheese, and pastry met my need for comfort food for a rainy day and I knew a quiche would highlight the squash blossoms beauty.

There were awesome sweet cherry tomatoes everywhere, so I decided to roast them with olive oil and salt & pepper (400 F for about 20 minutes). I knew these would add a sweet pop to my quiche.



I really wanted to keep things simple and highlight my main ingredients so I used scallions, goat cheese and cilantro to round out my flavors. The result was delicious. Be sure to roast more tomatoes than you need for the quiche and serve them as a side.

Squash Blossom, Roasted Tomato & Cilantro Quiche :
9 inch deep dish frozen pie crust
12 large squash blossoms
4 scallions, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup roasted cherry tomatoes (tomatoes, olive oil , S&P)
3 oz crumbled goat cheese
2 eggs + one egg yolk
1 +1/4 cup half and half
salt & pepper as desired


Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees. Combine cherry tomatoes, olive oil, S&P in an oven proof dish and cook for 20 minutes. Remove and turn oven down to 350F degrees.

Soak the squash blossoms in water and rinse 3 times to remove any bugs etc. Remove the stamens and stems, including the hard base, so just the petals are left. Heat a frying pan with the olive oil and fry the scallions for 1-2 minutes. Add the squash blossoms and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Remove the frozen pie crust from the freezer and place on a baking sheet. Place 1oz of the crumbled goat cheese on the bottom. Add the roasted tomatoes and about half the squash blossoms/scallions and cilantro. Add another 1 oz of crumbled goat cheese.

Best the 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk with the half and half. Add some salt and pepper. Pour the custard over the other ingredients in the quiche. Top with the final 1 oz crumbled goat cheese and spread out some pretty squash blossoms.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until a knife in the center of the quiche shows firm.

Serve with salad and roasted cherry tomatoes.

Millennium Cooking Class: Chile Class 2011

So, let's start this Millennium Cooking Class post off with a pop quiz, a classic "What am I?" Can you identify the items in the green bowl pictured above?

If you have no idea (I had no idea), the next picture probably won't help, but here's another shot:


The answer: Physalis peruviana. Eric referred to them as Pohas, which I'd never heard of. That's the Hawaiian name, but they are (perhaps) more commonly known as Cape Gooseberries.

To me, they tasted like a tomato crossed with a lime. These came from Tierra Vegetables and I'm thinking I might take a drive to visit their farm stand very soon! (Also, check out Millennium's website for info on their special dinner at Tierra Vegetables Oct. 30th.) An obvious complement to chiles, the pohas were used beautifully in a mushroom ceviche in class, but I'm thinking exciting salsa!

OK. Pop quiz "What am I?" #2:




Here's a clue: has a strange floral, soapy, gasoline smell!

Answer: Epazote , a Mexican herb that is traditionally used to flavor beans or dishes with huitlacoche (corn smut), with the added benefit that it reduces gas associated with eating beans. We used it in the Smoky black bean mix, along with huitlacoche.

So I spent another happy Sunday in the kitchen at Millennium, exploring new ingredients and recipes with an inquisitive and energetic group of home cooks! The class featured chiles and also October's favorite ingredient, pumpkin.


The plate above shows our lunch menu: two versions of corn flour Araepas, mushrooms ceviche, pumpkin seed sauces, and also a smoky black bean puree.

The Araepas are a thick corn cake made with masa. One version used Tierra Vegetables corn flour in a 1:1 ratio with dried corn masa. Corn kernals were added to the combo version. Here two home chefs form the dough:

The araepas were then steamed:


and pan seared for crispiness.


We made two versions of the pumpkin seed sauce - a red version with tomatoes and habanero, the other a verde version with tomatillos and anaheim and poblano chiles (I worked on this version - recipe is at the end of this post)


We also enjoyed a colorful roasted squash salad with sweet chipotle dressing and raddichio:

With two versions of pumpkin seed brittle (the chewy version with baking powder seen below):


We also transformed soaked mung lentils:

With the help of the deep fryer:


Into delicious golden lentil vadas:


The vadas were paired with two versions of charred eggplant puree, two versions of mung dal (one made with cashew cream and one with coconut cream), and two fresh chutneys:

The second meal was paired with a simple and refreshing Sharlyn melon soup:



Dessert was a decadent combo of pumpkin crepes, hazelnut chocolate sauce (think vegan Nutella) and a knockout rose geranium sorbet:


Another great cooking experience! Many thanks to Eric, Thomas, Alison,my dear cooking pal C. and all my fellow cooks!

As promised, here is the recipe for
Pumpkin Seed Chile Verde:
2 cups pumpkin seeds
2 cups tomatillos (husked, but leave whole)
2 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion, small dice
3 anaheim chiles, rough chop
1/4 olive oil
Juice of 5 limes
2 bunches of cilantro (we blanched one bunch and added the other fresh)
1/4 cup vegetable stock
salt to taste

We later added more chile to punch up the flavor:
2 poblanos, rough chop
1/3 yellow onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic
salt to taste

Toast pumpkin seeds and set aside. Combine the tomatillos, 2 cloves garlic , anaheim chiles with a little oil and "char the crap out of them (= 40% char). Blend in a blender with the toasted pumpkin seeds with additional olive oil and lime juice. Salt to taste.

Then we decided we needed to up the chiles and sauted two poblano chiles in oil with 2 garlic cloves and an additional 1/3 yellow onion. We then put this through the blender and stirred it into the salsa verde.

Eric suggested a tomato version with carrots and fennel for a bolognese sauce.

Here's links to the previous 19 Millennium cooking classes I've had the pleasure of attending:

July 2011 Class

Mushroom Cooking Class January 2011

Sept.2010 Cooking Class

July 2010 Cooking Class

June 2010 Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class 2010

Chiles Cooking Class 2009

July Cooking Class 2009

June Cooking Class 2009

Spring Cooking Class 2009

Mushroom Cooking Class

Holiday Cooking Class

Fall Harvest 2008

Indian Summer

Southern Comfort Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class

Fall Harvest Cooking Class

Chiles Class

Tomato Class

Green Bean, Potato & Olive Salad

Every Saturday, my family and I head out to a local horse ranch (where my son rides) and share a picnic lunch with friends. As a result, I'm always on the look out for new picnic foods. This Green Bean, Potato and Olive Salad is a tasty vegan riff on the Salad Nicoise and very easy to prepare! The saltiness and depth of the herb-marinated olives packs plenty of flavor and the combination of creamy baby Dutch potatoes and crunchy green beans provides substance and freshness.

I dressed the salad in a very simple lemon olive oil, which made this an awesome light dish for a hot day. Next time, I'll try a vinaigrette of lemon olive oil, champagne vinegar and a little mustard to soak up with baguette!

This is a great shared dish and easily prepared in 30 minutes. Put the baby Dutch potatoes in a saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium and cook until the potatoes are just soft to a sharp knife. Add either fresh or frozen Haricots Verts (tiny whole green beans). Cook until the beans are cooked, but still have some crunch. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Once the potatoes and beans are cold, mix with your favorite herb-marinated olives and lemon olive oil (or olive oil and lemon juice). Salt to taste with sea salt and pack for your picnic!

If you eat eggs, wedges of hard boiled egg can be added at serving time.