I was pleased to discover the vegetartian sushi options at Haru on Wall Street. I’ve made vegan rolls before (spicy tempeh, thanks ppk!), but I hadn’t bothered to make the rice ball and put something veggie on top of it. A thin strip of nori holds the veggie on the rice.

I got a new camera for my birthday to take more photos of my food. My husband got the extended warranty, which apparently covers it if I drop it in the sauce again, but I’m determined to be more careful.

Challenger Jenn san has prepared 4 dishes.

The first is an amaretto sour pear-tini spritzer aperitif.

1 part Amaretto
1 part Pear infused vodka
1 part sour mix (or lemon juice and agave nectar)
3 parts pear juice
Top with seltzer
Garnish with fresh pear

The second dish is a toasted pecan, roasted pear and fennel salad with a lemon pear vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette: 1 part lemon juice, 1 part pear juice, 2 parts olive oil, squirt agave nectar (or a little sugar,) salt.

The third is a walnut pear pesto with angel hair pasta, topped with almonds and parsley.

Chop together 1Tbs walnuts, 1Tbs pine nuts, 5 basil leaves, 1Tbs olive oil and a little salt. Chop 1/2 pear and mix together. Mix with pasta. Chop 1 Tbs parsley with 1Tbs almonds and sprinkle on top of pasta. The pear lends a nice sweetness to the pesto.

Finally for the 4th dish, we have a baked pear topped with almonds, raisins, and cranberry in a rum pear sauce.

**My camera is continuing to revolt after last week’s sauce incident, hence the fuzzy photos.

I think it’s time to talk about one of the most underrated stars of vegan cuisine. Vegetable broth. Let’s face it, it’s basically free if you use all the veggie parts you would otherwise discard.

If you have access to a farmer’s market, you’ll probably be carting home vegetables with even more extras. Carrots with the green tops, celery with lots of leaves, broccoli and cauliflower with leaves and stalks, leeks with big roots and huge fanning tops, greens with tough stalks, mushroom stems, corn husks, and cobs, and that doesn’t even cover the peelings and skins of root vegetables, squash, onions, garlic and potatoes.

Just wash the undesirable trimmings, leaves, stems, and put in a big pot, cover with water bring to a boil, and then simmer for about an hour. I usually add bay leaves, peppercorns, and a good size hunk of kombu (japanese seaweed.) The kombu adds a salty dimension that makes it taste good plain without adding extra salt. Most likely you’ll add salt to whatever final product you’re making with the broth, so you don’t want to salt it here. Just drain and when the veggie parts cool, you can squeeze the remaining broth out of them.

If you’re trying to shed a few pounds, a cup of broth before a meal is a good way to fill up on zero calories and help feel satisfied if you have smaller portions of the main meal.
Also vegetable broth is a key component in the popular cleansing juice diets. Even if you’re not into the whole diet part of it, sometimes it’s good to give your digestion a rest for even part of the day. It’s also nice on a rainy day or when nursing a cold/flu or hangover.

Todays mixture includes the carrot greens, tops, and peelings; broccoli and cauliflour stems and leaves; some leftover chopped red onion; some basil leaves that fell out of the bunch; leaves from the celery (word of caution, too much celery can be overpowering, 1-2 stalks is usually good;) stems from some collard greens; the papery skins from some garlic, 3 bayleaves, 3 peppercorns and a 3 inch piece of kombu. Brothy goodness.

*My camera “works” now but it seems to be having trouble with lighting.

I love my fancy rice cooker. I have an older model, but basically the same size (3 cup capacity.) I know it’s pricey, but I love, love, love it. Wait for Amazon to have a sale on kitchen stuff or use one of those promotional gift cards you might get if you bought something else (Recently, I got a $25 Amazon gift card with my subscription to the Economist, which I was going to buy anyway, so nice bonus.)

I have the 3 cup capacity and it is perfect for 1 or 2 people. It’s small and cute and can sit on the counter if you have space, or easily stored (retractable cord hides underneath.) There are bigger models for larger families.

I use it for sushi rice, basmati rice, wild rice, Rice & Beans, Mexican rice, brown rice, porridge, oatmeal, polenta, wheat berries; basically anything that absorbs its cooking liquid.

The real perk is that the perfectly cooked rice stays perfect LONG (hours and hours) after cooking. I can turn it on when I get home and it’s ready whenever I get around to putting together whatever is going with the rice. There is also a timer; if you’re really organized you could set it in the morning for dinnertime.

I forgot to even mention that the cooking bowl comes out and is so easy to clean. Thanks for the comment Binx.

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-LAC05-Cooker-Warmer-Stainless/dp/B000G30ESY/ref=pd_sbs_k_2

Spanishish rice

1 cup long grain (brown) rice (plus water according to package)
1 Tbs annatto oil (annatto seeds steeped in oil-I use corn oil)
1/4 cup pitted alcaparrado (fancy name for olives with pimentos and capers)
1/2 cup sofrito (onion, garlic, peppers, cilantro)

Throw all that in the rice cooker with the water amount for the type of rice you’re using and press the shiny red button (in the voice of stimpy) or:

Cook rice with the amount of water and cooking time on package, adding oil, olives and capers (and a little extra brine if you like) and sofrito.

Vegan a Go-Go by Sarah Kramer

I haven’t bought it yet, but so far there are ZERO customer reviews on Amazon. Even if you didn’t buy it at Amazon, someone must have a review to share!

I’m going to pick it up after work, so try if you can to beat me to the first review. www.amazon.com/gp/product/1551522403/ref=kinw_rke_rti_1

I did pick it up and read it on the train home. At first I didn’t see it next Sarah (and Tanya’s) other books because it is quite small. Someone did beat me to a review. Yay for the internet! It’s quite a bit cheaper on Amazon, but I did get a discount at Borders. I left a review on Amazon and there’s one in the comments.

There’s a Penzeys spice store in the market in Grand Central and it’s about the only place in there where things aren’t ridiculously overpriced. Sometimes when I don’t have anything to read on the train, I pick up a catalog and plan out dinner on the ride home. If you can get past the meat named spices, just think of all the vegan things that can be created out of spices traditionally used to season meats.

They even print nice things in the catalog, like suggesting the Pork Chop Seasoning on thinly sliced tofu fried up for a bacon substitute. Easy and yummy salty tofu goodness. I haven’t tried it on tempeh yet, but you get the idea.
Other good ones are the Chicago Steak Seasoning on grilled portabello mushrooms. Smoky and hearty.
English Prime Rib rub in meatless meatballs or lentil nonmeatloaf.
The Pizza Seasoning has fennel in it, so you get an Italian sausage flavor, without the fat as they say. The Italian sausage seasoning does about the same thing. And the breakfast sausage seasoning is nice, too with your tofu scramble.

For the lazy vegan who doesn’t shun TVP, any of the above spices are great mixed in for fast analogs that will satisfy the non-veg husband.

Check them out for everything from cocoa to lemon extract to dried chili peppers to curry seasonings. I find the “normal” herbs and spices are always fresher and stay fresh longer than grocery store varieties. I am a fan.

http://www.penzeys.com/