This will be a
remarkably short blog this week…we’ve actually had a bit of a let-down with the
hiatus from Susan Voisin’s FatFree Vegan Kitchen recipe-ing and felt kinda at
loose ends. Not to worry, though…we’re getting’ our groove back and the week to
come looks to be a pretty intense one.
That doesn’t
mean we haven’t been cookin’ up a storm but just doin’ a LOT of things we have
been familiar with and shared many times. Here’s a picture of the Bacun that we
inhale as its cooking--both with our noses and our mouths! (SO GOOD!)
And a double batch of it ready for
the oven.
Saturday night found us at Anjou Restaurant; this place
never disappoints. This week, they
prepared a luscious entrée salad with extra avocado and hearts of palm. The Elf threw on some sautéed Chikun Shreds
and had a divine dinner!!
On tap this
week will be our elf-fort at Gluten Free Plant-based Meat (“V” Meat) from
anther really cool blogger/recipe-er, Rhea Parsons and The ‘V’ Word. We finally
located all the ingredients and will now be able to give this a go.
We guess that
the MOST fun we had this week was being a guest on SuperTalk MS’s The Linda
Allen Show. Y’all may recall we’d been on another show on SuperTalk MS called
The Paul Gallo show back in the winter. Well, Ms Linda called us not ago and
asked if we’d come back on. We wanted to make sure we went with vegan food to
sample, so we prepared the Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos with Spicy
Chipotle Sauce (see last week’s blog for the link). In addition, we sautéed up
some Chikun Shreds and made a fresh Peach/Cherry Crumble. Since The Linda Allen
Show is later in the day (9:30-ish), we felt pretty comfortable taking an early
brunch for folks to sample. The picture is The Elf getting her microphone
adjusted.
For those of
you who might be interested, here’s a link to the show.
Just a heads up, the first portion
of the show (about 20 minutes or so) is an interview with a guest who had been
to see the last concert of The Grateful Dead in Chicago; it's a great interview, so enjoy that as well.
As always, we
had a great time talking about how we decided to go ‘plant-based’, tips for
folks who are thinking of changing their eating habits from unhealthy to LESS
unhealthy, stories of folks who had dramatically altered their poor health by
going totally plant-based, grocery shopping ideas and suggestions and
discussing the food we’d brought to eat. One of the other guests on the show
actually said she was not a big fan of chicken but really did like the Chikun.
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We are
starting a new little feature on this little bitty blog…“ELFERY SPICERY!” Each week
for, well who knows, we will explore the various spices we use a LOT in our
plant-based cooking. There is no rhyme
or reason to our selection process except that we will go into The Elf’s spice
stash and pick one at random, research it and share information. Some spices
will be well known and some more obscure.
We came to this idea by way of reading recipes that call for certain
spices/herbs that may have different strengths, intensities, or whatever and
questioning exactly what we should use.
Case in point is our very FIRST spice—paprika. Many recipes call for
paprika; and you are probably aware that paprika comes in a variety of
intensities and types. So, without further ado, welcome to our ELFERY
SPICERY--PAPRIKA!! We researched several sites on the internet but
settled on this one that seemed to have pretty concise and interesting
information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paprika
is a red powder that is made from grinding the dried pods of mild varieties of
the pepper plant known as (Capsicum annuum L.) The pepper plants used to make
this spice range from the sweet Bell pepper to the milder chili peppers. The
Paprika peppers originally grown were hot. Over time, they have evolved to the
milder varieties. In Hungary there are six classes or types of paprika ranging
from delicate to hot. The peppers also range in size and shape depending on
where they are grown. Some are grown in Spain, Hungary, California and other
parts of the U.S. The most commonly produced paprika is made from the sweet red
pepper also called the tomato pepper.
Paprika
powder ranges from bright red to brown. Its flavor ranges from sweet and mild
to more pungent and hot, depending on the type of pepper used in processing.
Sweet paprika is the standard. It is mild in flavor. The hot paprika gives your
taste buds a jolt. Both varieties are generally carried in most supermarkets.
If you cannot find hot paprika in your local supermarket try gourmet stores.
Hot, sweet, smoked, plain, Hungarian,
Spanish – what are the differences between types of paprika?
•
"Regular" or "plain" paprika
Most
of the paprika sold in grocery stores is simply labeled "paprika."
Its origins may be Hungarian, Californian, or South American, and it is
sometimes mixed with other chiles like cayenne. This paprika tends to be
neither sweet nor hot and is a suitable garnish for things like deviled eggs or
wherever you want some color.
Paprika
is considered the national spice of Hungary and it appears in the country's most
celebrated dish, goulash. Hungarian paprika is made from peppers that are
harvested and then sorted, toasted, and blended to create different varieties.
All Hungarian paprikas have some
degree of rich, sweet red pepper flavor, but they range in pungency and heat.
The eight grades of Hungarian paprika are különleges
("special quality"; mild and most vibrant red), csípősmentes csemege (delicate and mild), csemege paprika (similar to the previous but more pungent), csípős csemege (even more pungent), édesnemes ("noble sweet";
slightly pungent and bright red), félédes (semi-sweet with medium pungency), rózsa (mildly pungent and pale red),
and erős (hottest and light brown to
orange). In the US, what is marketed as Hungarian sweet paprika is usually the édesnemes variety.
Although
generally less intense that Hungarian paprika, Spanish paprika can range from dulce
(sweet and mild) to agridulce
(bittersweet and medium hot) to picante (hot),
depending on the type of peppers used (round or long), whether the seeds are
removed, and how they are processed. In Spain's La Vera region, farmers harvest
and dry the chiles over wood fires, creating smoked paprika or pimentón de La
Vera. Smoked paprika should be used in paella and dishes where you want a deep,
woodsy flavor. Here are the various paprikas in the Elf’s Spice Drawers…so you
can see we have a bit of everything.
If
you have a recipe that calls for paprika without specifying which kind, you can
usually get by with using Hungarian sweet paprika. But also consider what type
of color, sweetness, pungency, or heat you'd like to add and experiment with
the wide world of paprika varieties! (Elf Note: We have been able to find sweet,
bittersweet, and hot smoked paprika at Fresh Market. Our preference is the
bittersweet unless recipes specify otherwise.)
We look
forward to learning about the different spices and herbs and being able to
share information with y’all. Plant-based and/or vegan doesn’t mean tasteless
and boring, does it now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And that’s it
for this week. As the doldrums of summer set it, the lure of fresh produce is
even more enticing with things like ice cold watermelon, cantaloupe, seasonal
fruits and salads with fresh tomatoes. Enjoy them while you can because in a
few short months, we’ll be wishing we had them all back!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, til next
week, y’all, breathe deep, eat plants, laugh a lot and love life.
The Elf
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