when it comes to blogging these days, i've been really bad.
there was a lovely chilean sea bass dinner with tomato soup and kale salad that i wanted to tell you about. but where does the time go?
it seems like every restaurant in town has a kale salad on the menu. i've eaten many of them and loved them all.
but not as much as i loved mine. it was toasted over olive oil and tossed with a dressing i made from apple cider vinegar, tamari, nutritional yeast, and anchovy paste. easy peasy.
now, as far as being a girlfriend these days, i think i've been pretty awesome.
monday was valentine's day, the dumbest holiday ever.
mark and i both worked that night at our respective restaurants. collectively we probably witnessed 5 girls crying, 4 fights, 8 stony silences, and countless worst offenders (same side of the banquet sitters!!!) ew.
but, i am a hopeless romantic and even though i am not one for gratuitous groping in restaurants, which is definitely some people's idea of a good vday, i do enjoy whipping up an extra special dinner for my man to show my love.
mark and i met in 2006 working at a restaurant in the lower east side called the stanton social. on the menu they have a dish called the stanton social beef wellington, which is a heart-attack inducing combo of beef surrounded by a layer of foie gras and mushrooms all wrapped up in a pretty puff pastry shell. now, mark and i are both vege (pesca) tarians. i thought it would be the ultimate veggie coup if i did my version of this dish using soy meat, and a veg version of foie gras. it was a risk and a bit outside my comfort zone of cooking, but hey, it was for (the day after) vday, and sometimes when you really want to show someone you love them, you gotta make them a vegetarian beef wellington. so i did.
i used gardein brand beefless beef tips for the meat, which in my opinion (which is right) is the best-tasting veg meat out on the market right now. it tastes like beef and it's really good for you. it's not meat, so it takes very little cooking time and it's already seasoned. i cooked the tips in a little olive oil until they browned and i actually put them in my food processor so i wasn't dealing with beef chunks. for the mushrooms, i used mostly shitakes because i thought the earthiness would go well with the "beef." i used shallots, garlic, salt & pepper and some truffle paste i bought to give them a little extra something. it wasn't as truffly as truffle oil, which i was a little disappointed about, but mark liked the subtlety of the flavor. for my foie gras, i purchased a spread at my local gourmet market called "faux gras," which is a yummy dip made form lentils and walnuts. it's an easy thing to make, but i picked it up to save time, and why not?
also i bought filo dough instead of puff pastry. i've never cooked with either but when when comparing the two, i learned puff pastry was $10 more expensive and also super fattening and loaded with butter, so i went the cheaper, healthier way and that's all right with me!
lastly, i made a red wine sauce with mushroom gravy i bought, shallots, tamari, dijon mustard, some extra chopped mushrooms, salt & pepper, and of course, red wine. i spread the faux grax onto the filo dough (i layered several sheets to keep it from breaking) then added the mushrooms and then the "meat". i wrapped it all up in aluminum foil and put it in the oven (400 degrees) and let it bake for 30 minutes.
meanwhile, i did a side of broccoli and a side of potatoes. i wanted to do something a little extra yummy so i searched online for recipes and decided to let the barefoot contessa, a.k.a, ina garten help me out with these. i used her roasted broccoli with lemon and pine-nuts and her roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary, and they both came out delicious and perfect for the meal. i bought cute little peanut potatoes in different colors, so i knew they would look nice as well as taste delicious.
the wellington came out and it wasn't as pretty as the puff pastry version because it didn't have that slick buttery browned shell, but i poured my red wine sauce over it and it looked okay, but guess what? it tasted great!
oh yeah, and i made brownies with a pinch of cayenne and a scoop of vanilla gelato, cause you can't do romance without a little spicy chocolate. i pulled it off and mark said it was the best meal i'd ever made. what more could a girl ask for on valentine's?
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