Udon Pho Fusion

Fusion food is not something that I generally do, but I do love Udon and I also love Pho. This soup is incredibly fast to make and tastes fantastic.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

4 packages of Fresh Udon noodles
(I used Mr Noodles Udon and found it near the pre washed salad at Save on Foods)
1 bunch green onions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
4-5 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 carrot
1/4 shredded cabbage
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 liters of vegetable stock
1 bunch cilantro
1 seranno chile
                                                                Siracha sauce to taste

Directions (takes about 10 minutes to make):

In a pot, bring vegetable stock, soy sauce and oyster sauce to a boil. Add ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Slice carrot thinly on a very sharp angle. Take carrot disks and slice lengthwise to create long matchstick pieces. Add to pot and continue boiling. Shred 1/4 of a cabbage thinly and add to pot. Cook carrot and cabbage for about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile boil a separate large pot of water and add all of the Udon noodles and boil according to package directions, usually about 3-5 minutes.

While the two pots are boiling away, prepare your garnishes. Thinly slice the green onion, cilantro, and serrano chile. If you're not into spicy, skip the serrano, they can be quite firey.

The soup broth is finished when the carrots are tender.

Place noodles into bowls and top with broth. Add the desired amount of cilantro, green onions, serranos, and Siracha sauce.

For a weekend treat, I have added shredded pork that I had leftover from a slow cooker pulled pork and it was excellent. Also, chicken stock could be substituted for vegetable stock. As well, rice vermicelli noodles could be used instead of udon if you aren't able to find any.

Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

A quick and easy weeknight meal, vegetarian shepherd's pie, and you really won't miss the meat. With the use of veggie ground, a tofu based ground "meat" it's often hard for people to tell, unless you tell them.

Ingredients:

1 pkg of Yves Veggie Round Ground or Tofurkey ground original
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 yellow onion, diced
5-6 russet potatoes, cut up into large pieces
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil potatoes, when they are cooked mash and add salt, pepper and butter. Meanwhile in a pan on medium heat add olive oil and diced onion. Sautee for 5 minutes until onions are soft. Add veggie ground. If using Yves, it tends to be a little drier, so you will need to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water as you go to keep the mixture moist. It does not need to be cooked, just warmed. Before adding any water, break up the veggie ground and add cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Gradually add water as needed.

In a baking dish (about a 9x13) add frozen peas and corn, no need to defrost. Add veggie ground mixture on top, spreading evenly. Top with mashed potatoes and put into a 375 degree oven uncovered for 30 minutes.

When you are ready to serve, broil on high for 2 minutes watching carefully so it does not burn, and you should get nice crispy bits for your potato topping.

Serve and enjoy.

Roasted Portobello Sandwich with Sun-dried Tomato Aioli

A 7 1/2 month old baby has kept me from feeling like I had the time or energy to post another vegetarian meal; however, this sandwich -- even the thought of this sandwich has inspired me to post again. You NEED to make it. Don't wait, this sandwich will blow your mind. I was inspired by the cookbook Clean Food by Terry Walters, a fantastic cookbook in my opinion and I plan to make quite a few of her recipes while putting my own spin on things.

I have changed parts of this recipe to suit my needs and to suit the ingredients that I could find in the store this time of year.

Ingredients (serves 4):

Sandwich:

4 Portobello mushrooms 

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Sourdough bread (I used multigrain sourdough)

2 whole red peppers

2 ripe avocado

1 romaine heart

Grainy mustard or dijon

Aioli:

10-15 sun dried tomatoes in oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 tbsp oregano (dried or fresh)

1 tbsp basil (dried or fresh)

Salt

Preheat your oven to 400.

First, prepare the aioli so that the flavours can meld. You could make this a day ahead and have it sit in the fridge until you're ready to use it. Finely chop the sun dried tomatoes and add to a small mixing bowl. Using a microplane grater, or the small holes on a box grater, grate the garlic and add to the mixture. Add mayonnaise, herbs, and salt and stir thouroughly. Allow the mix to sit until you're ready to assemble your sandwich.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, place the mushrooms stem side up. Remove the stems and drizzle the mushrooms with a small amount of oil. Sprinkle the mushrooms with basil, oregano, and salt and roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. 

Once the mushrooms have roasted, remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 550C or high broil. Place the red peppers directly on the top rack with a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any drips if needed. Rotate the red pepper every 3-4 minutes, blackening and blistering the pepper on the outside. After the pepper has been rotated all the way around immediately remove and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, when you can safely handle the pepper, peel the skin off and discard. Slice the red pepper into strips. 

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon so that it comes out of the skin in one piece. Slice into strips.

In a small bowl mix 3 tbsp of dijon mustard with 1 tbsp of honey or agave. If you don't have honey, I used a pinch of brown sugar, or you could skip this step and just use regular dijon or grainy mustard.

To assemble your sandwich, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Spread aioli on one slice and mustard on the other. Slice portobellos and place along one slice of bread, followed by roasted red pepper, avocado, and romaine hearts.

This sandwich is delicious and filling on it's own and I felt like nothing else was needed with it. I know I will make this again.

Enjoy!