Tonight for dinner I made a non-dairy version of a recipe I found in Williams-Sonoma's Vegetarian for All Seasons. They call it Grilled stuffed portobello mushrooms on porcini cous cous. I couldn't find porcini mushrooms at the grocery today so I just made cous cous in vegetable broth. The Portobellos are stuffed with veggies and ricotta cheese in their recipe so I had to make a non-dairy ricotta. This is so easy and yummy. My 1 year old Charlie was standing on a stool being my taste tester as I made it! Here is the recipe for the ricotta:
1 pkg firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
2-3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
In a large bowl mash the tofu with a potato masher. Add lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Mash until mixture resembles the consistency of ricotta. (it will not be as creamy)Add 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, taste and add more as needed.
Note-Pressing tofu is a pain. You can just put it between two pieces of paper towel and set a skillet on it, just squeeze it, or use a contraption. I have a contraption that gets all the liquid out, but some people like a bit of the liquid.
-Nutritional Yeast is not the same as what you use for baking. Not really sure what it is to be honest but it makes things taste like cheese and has a lot of vitamins that you don't always get if you aren't eating meat or dairy. You can usually find it by the supplements, in the baking isle (I don't know why,) or just kind of stuck in with the organic foods.
Here is the recipe (the way I made it, not the way the cookbook says to) for the Stuffed Portobellos:
4 Portobello mushroom tops, stem and dark gills removed
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 med sweet potato, peeled and grated
2 cups baby spinach
salt and pepper
1/2 the ricotta from above recipe
1 cup cous cous
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
Since it's winter I used a grill pan inside but this would probably be even better on a charcoal grill. Heat whatever grill you're using. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the shallot and cook until softened. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the sweet potato. Cook until tender. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Add the ricotta to the veggie mixture and combine. Spoon into the mushrooms. Place mushrooms filled side up on the grill until heated through. Meanwhile bring vegetable stock to a boil and add cous cous. reduce heat and continue to cook until all stock is absorbed. Serve the mushrooms on top of the cous cous.
Pat had a dentist appointment today and he was such a trooper I decided to make him some dessert as a treat. I had left over phyllo dough (I did end up making that Turkish eggplant pie) that I wanted to use up so I figured I'd just wrap it around something sweet. This is what I came up with:
For each phyllo pocket
3-4 sheets phyllo
cooking spray
2 Tbsp chocolate hazelnut butter ( I used Justin's because Nuttella has milk in it, and a TON of sugar)
1/4 of a banana sliced
Lay out one sheet of phyllo and spray it all over with cooking spray (you could use melted margarine and it would be super good, this is just way easier.) Continue until all sheets are layered. Put the chocolate hazelnut butter and the banana slices in one corner of the dough. Fold dough in half length wise and then do a flag fold into a triangle pocket. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 for 15-18 minutes.
