Pho Sure

I am a meat eater.  I married a meat eater.  We both come from families of meat eaters.  As a kid the steak was the first thing gone from my plate while I often had to be told to eat my vegetables.  I have grown to enjoy more vegetables as an adult than I ever would have as a child but I typically draw the line at vegetables.  I have tried non-meat products a few times but I have never been a fan.  Usually after a few bites I end up picking around the non-meat to get to the rest of the dish.  So it goes without saying that I was not very excited about my latest at home assignment for school: create an entree made with a non-meat product. 

I spent quite a bit of time researching recipes for this assignment.  I wanted to try something that I haven't had before but many of the recipes that I found were just a little too out there for me and Jason.  I got excited when I found a recipe for a chocolate silk pie made with tofu but then I remembered that I had to create an entree.  I was watching an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate while doing my recipe research and saw a segment where Emeril was talking about the pho at this Vietnamese restaurant in New Orleans.  Suddenly I had my answer, I would make pho.  It is something that neither Jason and I have ever had and how could tofu be bad if it's mixed with noodles.  I found a couple of recipes that sounded alright so I decided to use them as a guideline and change it up a little bit to suit our tastes.

Vietnamese Pho with Tofu
1/2 large onion, cut into quarters
1 shallot, peeled and cut in half
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1" fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
32 oz vegetable broth
2 star anise pods
cinnamon stick
1 jalapeno, sliced
3 Tbs soy sauce
4 - 1/2" slices firm tofu
2 tsp 21 seasoning mix
1 package rice noodles, prepared (I used a bag of Chinese noodles, like ramen)
1/2 cup each: sliced mushrooms, julienned carrots, edamame, green onions
1/8 cup cilantro
lime wedges
(traditional pho is served with bean sprouts but I don't like them so I left them out)

For the broth, start by browning the onion, shallot, garlic and ginger in a medium sauce pot until they just begin to brown.

Once that browns, add the stock, star anise, cinnamon, jalapeno, and soy sauce.  Let this simmer over medium-high heat for about 25 minutes.  While the broth is simmering I prepared the tofu.

 I first pressed it between some paper towels to get rid of some excess moisture and then I sprinkled each side with the seasoning mix.

  In a pan, heat a little olive oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan and place in the tofu. 

Cook the tofu for about 3-4 minutes per side and remove from the pan.  Then I cut the tofu into small squares and set aside while I prepared the rest of the dish.

One of the reasons I liked the idea of pho is that you can create the base of the dish and serve it with whatever vegetables you like.  It would be a great dish to serve to a crowd because each person can individualize it to suit their tastes.  I put together a plate of carrots, mushrooms, green onions, edamame, cilantro and limes for us.

  It this point the broth was almost done so I added my noodles to a pot of boiling water and let them cook for a few minutes.  Once the noodles were cooked I drained them and set aside.  At this point I also strained all of the solids out of the broth and started to assemble our pho bowls.  I put a little of the tofu in each bowl.

Then top that with some of the noodles.

Add in whatever veggies you like.

And finally top the bowl with the broth. 

Once I had my bowl together, I topped it with a little soy sauce and sriracha and a squeeze of lime juice.

This was a very good starting point for a dish that I would serve again.  I still am not a fan of tofu but I did enjoy the rest of the dish.  If I made this again, I would only use half the jalapeno and I would seed it before adding it to the broth as the finished dish was very spicy. 

To Beet or Not to Beet. . .

I have never been a big vegetable fan.  There were very few vegetables that I would eat as a kid and although I have tried many more as an adult, there are still quite a few that I am not a fan of.  That being said, I wasn't too excited to start the vegetable and vegetarian rotation at school.  Once I looked over the assignment list, I instantly saw something that got me a little more excited.  We were to cook a vegetable off of a given list at home.  As soon as I saw beets on the list I got a little excited.  I have never had a beet in my life, I have no idea how to cook a beet and I really had no clue what they tasted like, but I knew what I was going to make.  Red velvet cake!  I know, a cake with vegetables, you must be thinking that I have lost my mind.  I had remembered reading about how traditional red velvet cakes used beets to give them their color instead of dumping in a bottle of food coloring.  Once I had this figured out I decided that since the greens of the beets are edible too I should use them as well.  I was making lasagnas for a family dinner on Saturday so I decided to turn the greens into a pesto and make a non-traditional lasagna.

Beet Green Pesto
greens from 6 beets
1/2 cup basil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

I started by cutting the tops off of the beets and then tore the leaves from the stalks.  I washed the leaves a couple of times and then spun them dry.  Put the beet greens and the basil in the bowl of the food processor and process until coarsely chopped.

Then add the garlic, cheese, pine nuts and vinegar and process again until smooth.

Once that is smooth, turn the processor on and stream in the olive oil until the pesto sauce comes together.

I had to give it a try so I spread it on some english muffins for my lunch.  Once I had the pesto done, I got started on assembling the lasagna.

White Chicken Lasagna with Beet Green Pesto

1 pound ground chicken

2 Tbs rosemary, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 container baby bella mushrooms, sliced

beet green pesto

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

1 pint cream

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups shredded parmesan and asiago blend

1 1/2 cups chevre

no boil lasagna noodles

Start by cooking the ground chicken until cooked through and then add the rosemary, garlic and mushrooms.  Cook for a couple more minutes and then add the pesto sauce.  Let the chicken mixture continue to cook over a low heat while making the mornay sauce.

For the mornay sauce, start by melting the butter over medium heat in a small sauce pan.  Add the flour to the melted butter and whisk until combined.  Pour in the cream and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened.  Slowly add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and keep whisking until it's all melted into the sauce.  Add in the nutmeg and stir until combined.

Spread a little of the chicken mixture and the mornay sauce over the bottom of a 9x9 glass baking dish.

Cover this with a layer of pasta and then top with another layer of chicken, top with some crumbled chevre and remaining shredded cheese and then more mornay sauce.

Continue layering until the dish is full.  You should end with mornay sauce on the top.

Bake at 375, covered with foil for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for a remaining 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it.

I would definitely make this again and the pesto sauce could be used in all kinds of dishes.  If I were to make this again, I would use a little less oil in the pesto because the lasagna was a bit too oily when it was cooked.

Now that I had conquered the beet greens, it was time to move on to the beets.

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

3 large beets

water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs vinegar

2 sticks butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 1/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbs cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350.  Peel the beets and place in a baking dish with enough water to come 1/2" up the side of the beets.

I love the rings of color!  Also just a little tip, if you plan to work with beets, plan on turning a lovely shade of purplish-red.  My hands were stained like this for a day.  Gloves would have been a good idea.

Tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 60-90 minutes, until the beets are softened and cooked through.

Place the beets in the bowl of the food processor and process with the lemon juice and vinegar until pureed.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Pour in the sugar and mix until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated and then mix in the vanilla.  Sift together all of the dry ingredients and slowly add them to the mixer.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree and add to the batter, mix until well combined.

Since these are red velvet cakes, they were screaming for some cream cheese frosting so I whipped some up to top the cupcakes with.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 Tbs vanilla

2 pounds powdered sugar

Whip the cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer until very light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and mix.  Slowly add the sugar and mix until combined.  I cheated and just used a plastic bag with the corner cut off to pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

And because a cupcake just isn't a cupcake without sprinkles, I topped them with some little mini stars.

I was also making a birthday cake for my niece's Tinkerbell part the next day so I decided to use some of the mini cupcakes to make little mushrooms on her fairy cake.