Martha goes Meatless

The July VegCookbook Club selection has been announced already and I have yet to post about June's pick. Here goes.

It took awhile for my library hold for Meatless: More than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes to arrive. This glossy new book is surprisingly hefty. It would add a thick chunk of meatless recipes to an omnivore's bookshelf.

I thought that the book was authored by Martha Stewart but, in fact, she only penned the very brief forward. (Which has a gruesome anecdote about butchering the family pet sheep and serving it to her daughter Alexis as "pork chops." Her daughter was not fooled and chose this moment to start eating "meatless." Go Alexis!)

The many excellent food photographers get credited in the back pages but the recipe authors themselves are ghosts in the Martha Stewart machine. The recipes are largely repurposed from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Publications. So I imagine that if you subscribe to the magazines or other arms of brand Martha Stewart, then some of these recipes might be repeats.

The book has an appealing design, although the index could use some work. I was particularly thrilled to find the "V" symbol for vegan recipes. (Although, the ghost writers seem to think that honey is vegan. I recommend subbing agave.) Truthfully, as I paged through the cookbook, I ended up skipping the non-V recipes, which are largely cheesy.

Below are the three V recipes that I ended up trying. I was looking for recipes that required little or no cooking, due to the summer heat.

Fancy presentation

Avocado Salad with Bell Peppers and Tomatoes
This easy, fresh, and attractive "salad," is really a chunky guacamole with tomatoes, peppers, scallions, garlic, and fresh cilantro. Presentation is key, as it is served in the scooped-out shell of an avocado. I actually just filled a single half for the photo and dumped the rest into a bowl, which was messier but equally satisfying. I forgot the extra cilantro garnish because I'm not Martha Stewart.

How it was really served

Fresh Pea Hummus
Who'd have thought that I would be making a "Martha Stewart" hummus? I scored fresh peas at our local farmers' market and used them in this inventive green hummus recipe. Some cooking is required here but only boiling water, which I could it handle. This recipe reminded me of an edamame hummus that I used to make. As with the edamame version, the look of this dip is surprising and delightful. The fresh green peas were sweet and paired well with the cilantro.

Martha Stewart hummus

Fresh green peas

Chipotle-Avocado Sandwiches

Finally I made these smoky mashed kidney bean sandwiches. I subbed curly kale and fresh broccoli for the suggested escarole and sprouts. I did use avocado and radishes as called-for in the recipe. This meatless combination was excellent in a pita. However I think it might be harder to eat with sliced bread. I did add spicy mustard for extra flavor, as the recipe only uses one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. You could probably add even more peppers, according to taste.

Finishing up Vegan on the Cheap

Somehow it is almost June. With the new month comes a new VegCookbook Club selection, Meatless: More than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes by Martha Stewart. This should be interesting!  

Meanwhile, here are the last items that I made from Vegan on the Cheap, May's club pick. This book has been rather anti-Martha Stewart. That is to say, there are no glossy photo spreads or elaborate food stylings here. Just short, to-the-point recipes and pragmatic cooking advice, similar to what you can find on Robin Robertson's own media empire.  

The beans are hidden inside.

Nacho Taco Salad
This was a fun, creative recipe, one I'd never heard of before this cookbook. There is memorable greasy taco salad in Joe Hill's short story, "You Will Hear the Locust Sing." That one features "big flaps of lettuce, soggy with taco juices." This is a much fresher take, assembled right before serving. Plus it has "nacho cheese."

Basically, you layer a shallow bowl with tortilla chips. (I used Garden of Eatin' Red Hot Blues but an unflavored chip would suffice.) Then you layer a mound of spicy hot beans, prepared with salsa and chili powder. Next you pour on some warm Cheezee Sauce, using the same great recipe Robertson uses for the Wheatball sandwiches. Finally, you add your salad and any other nacho toppings that suit.

The recipe calls for iceberg lettuce but I went with Russian red kale for my salad, plus extra chopped tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions. I also added more Cheezee Sauce to the top, because I thought the sturdier greens could handle it. This recipe would be great at a buffet-style dinner because each person could tailor it to taste.      

Inner Goddess

Inner Goddess Dressing
I'm not a fan of pasta salads but this dressing (from the recipe for Garden Rotini and Chickpea Salad) was also listed as an all-around dressing and sounded worth a go. It uses cashews, tahini, and some vegan milk to add creamy Goddess-style flavor. I'm not sure if it would please true die-hard Annie's fans. It could use some chives and parsley.

Beware of the blob.

House Salad Dressing
I also tried the mustard vinaigrette variation for this basic house salad dressing recipe. It was very oily but quick to throw together. As instructed, I stored the dressing in a tightly covered container. However on the second day, the dressing congealed into a strange blob. I've never had that happen with a dressing before.

Sweetgreen's new 14th & W location

Sweetgreen, a rapidly expanding Georgetown-born salad chain, recently opened their seventeenth location at 14th and W ST NW. (The actual address is 1315 W Street NW.) Unlike many of the other popular salad shops (like Chop't), Sweetgreen touts sustainability, offering up local and organic ingredients.

In this shiny, sterile warehouse-inspired space, you'll find a giant chalkboard that proudly lists their local produce purveyors. The large yet spare menu is also posted, with "V" for vegan options, under exposed CFL bulbs. (An even more detailed ingredient and nutrition run-down is available from Sweetgreen's online menu.) Below the menu is a well-staffed counter, where you place and follow your order assembly-line style.

The chic p

My boyfriend and I ate here on a rainy Saturday afternoon. We were interested in trying their wraps, but wraps didn't seem to be an option. Instead we had two salads with gratis sides of bread. My boyfriend got the Chic P, a mix of mesclun and spinach with crumbled falafel, whole chickpeas, cukes, peppers, and pita chips. It came with a lemon hummus tahini dressing.

You do get to specify your salad dressing amount at the tossing station. (Or ask for it on the side.) My boyfriend went with medium but thought that selection netted a rather skimpily dressed salad. In fact, he declared the entire salad bowl to be a light snack by his definition.

The spicy sabzi

I ordered the Spicy Sabzi, which had a kale and spinach base. It came with some quinoa, broccoli, carrots, raw beet cubes, sprouts, and tofu cubes. I went with light dressing, a ho-hum carrot chili vinaigrette. But I asked for heavy Sriacha sauce, which helped add some flavor.

It is hard when eating salads out at restaurants, not to compare them with your favorite healthy, large, and affordable homemade salads. I think if you were a salad newbie, these Sweetgreen salads would please. You may want to b.y.o.f., "bring your own fork," as the compostable flatware makes it difficult to spear some ingredients, like raw beets.

   

My boyfriend and I also split a Sweetpress juice, called Purity. This green juice blend has apple, kale, spinach, cucumber, lemon, and ginger. It was very light and fresh. Juice is something I still don't make at home, so this was a treat.