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.

Chocolate City Beer

Today's A.Word.A.Day is zymurgy, which is where this blog has been focused of late, as DC has been too hot and humid for cooking. How about we continue the study of fermentation instead? By drinking beer and eating pickles, natch.

While conducting our "highly scientific" summer tour of DC breweries, some friends and I recently visited Chocolate City Beer. Located at 2801 8th St NE in the Brookland neighborhood, this brewery is actually convenient by Metro! It's about a 10-minute walk from Brookland-CUA Station. It is also handy by bus and by bike, if you can brave the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Wow, this is a small brewery, located in the basement of an old railside industrial building. Chocolate City is larger than a homebrew operation but tiny compared to DC Brau. It almost feels like visiting a friend's garage, although it smells more malty than musty.

Because of the size of the operation, Chocolate City doesn't bottle or can their beer. It is only available in barrels, kegs, and sixtels. And, of course, in to-go growlers. Chocolate City's constant batch turnover means that the brewery always has fresh products.

There is no official tour but you are free to roam about as you enjoy a free tasting. When we visited some of the brewers were on hand to answer questions too. They had only one beer ready to taste, the Cornerstone Copper Ale. This "foundational beer" is a mild amber ale, which is not really my bag. I'll be on the lookout for their other offerings.

Luckily, you can find Chocolate City beer on tap, all around town. Growler sales are every Saturday, from 12:30pm-4:30pm, at the brewery proper. I do love the Chocolate City Beer logo, which also adorns the glassware and other merchandise available at the brewery store.

Kale-chi from Number 1 Sons

I've found a new summer love at our neighborhood farmers' market, 14th & U Farmers' Market. A pickle stand has arrived on the Saturday morning scene. (Making some amends for the sore loss of the mushroom vendor). Number 1 Sons, a family-run operation, offers a variety of barrel fermented favorites, including one I've never heard of before.

"What do you want pickled?"

Behold, kale-chi, a kimchi that features kale. What a great idea! Number 1 Sons' tumblr page asks, "What do you want pickled?" Kale is an awesome answer to that question because it is a nutritional rockstar. Kale-chi is a delightful take on classic kimchi. It's nice to have locally-made kimchi without fish sauce or shrimp in it too. This spicy, crunchy pickled dish is excellent as a condiment or eaten straight out of its tub. I even put it on my salads for kicks.

Kale-chi

Number 1 Sons' products are available at farmers' markets and in stores around DC and VA. I'm eager to try more of their offerings, including their kraut and salsa. Plus, the majority of their fermented foods are vegan. (The "Kimchi Cukes" do contain honey.)

DC Brau Brewing Company

The Corruption IPA

Last month some friends and I began a slow summer tour of Washington, DC breweries. The District of Columbia has had its share of antiquated and downright Draconian laws, what with the struggle for statehood and the lack of basic political rights for its denizens. Happily, things are starting to change on the beer law front, thanks largely to DC Brau.

Founded by Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock in 2009, DC Brau Brewing Company was the first local brewery to exist in the District since the 1950s. DC Brau's motto is "Fermentation Without Representation"and they promote DC Statehood and going green. These beer champions have paved the way for things like tasting tours and growler sales. Clearly, DC Brau had to be the first stop on our tour.  

Strip mall that houses DC Brau's brewery 

Their small but rapidly expanding brewery, located at 3178-B Bladensburg Rd NE, is well-worth a visit. We took public transportation to the nondescript New Town Center. (The handy B2 bus from Stadium Armory Metro is a direct 20-minute ride and avoids Maryland). However other thirsty folks were arriving via bicycles and cars. The entrance to the brewery is around back of the strip mall. Look for a loading dock area and people with growlers.

The free tours happen on most Saturdays at 1, 2, and 3pm, during the brewery's 12pm - 4pm hours. When we visited co-founder Brandon Skall led the brief, informative tour himself. As is standard with brewery tours, Skall covered Brewing 101 topics and showed off their new walk-in refrigerator and the shiny and impressive canning system.

Canning system

My favorite part of the tour, besides the colorful murals throughout the brewery, was that Skall said DC Brau's beers are all vegan! The brewery doesn't use isinglass (fish bladders) or other animal based fining agents. He said that just didn't fit with their style of beer. Plus they didn't want to "give vegans a complex." (Please take note, Magic Hat and other unnecessarily "fishy" beers.)

As part of the visit, the brewery gives you four tasting tickets for their brews. We sampled the Penn Quarter Porter, The Corruption India Pale, The Public American Pale, and The Citizen Belgian Pale. The Corruption was my favorite as I enjoy hoppy, bold beers but all the beers were tasty and unique.

Free tastings held under US and DC flags

The brewery sells growlers and six-packs to-go. They also sell all sorts of cool merch, including stemware. DC Brau is currently brewing a beer for our local football team, DC United, which will be available at RFK Stadium. You can find their brau all over town--at restaurants and bars, at our art house movie theater, and in many a summer picnic basket.

 

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.

Piola WDC's soft opening

I went to the soft opening of Piola WDC this week. This new spot on 14th Street, located at 2208 14th ST NW to be exact, is right next door to Dynasty Ethiopian. For the soft opening this international Italian restaurant chain was offering half-off their menu items.

From the menu, the Ortomisto pizza looked to be the most veg-friendly of their 12" pizzas, so my boyfriend and I ordered that style, hold the cheese. We got the whole-wheat crust option but I think the ratio of whole wheat to white is 1:5. The Piola pizza has a paper thin crust with lots of char and a thin layer of tangy tomato sauce. The pizza toppings are added after the pie comes out of the hot brick oven.

The Ortomisto

Our delicious veggie pie came topped with thin slices of roasted eggplant, cooked spinach, roasted peppers, and broccoli. The pie was also supposed to have cherry tomatoes, which we totally forgot about until our attentive server brought them out as a side. We put some of these perfect tomatoes onto the pie and forked up the rest.

I neglected to photo the large salad that we also split. It was full of arugula and other mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, and scallions. The server brought us olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing, when we said we were vegan. He wasn't too sure about ingredients of the house-made dressings.

close-up with cherry tomatoes added

The multi-level restaurant space is interesting, with the raw, exposed look and fresh construction/new wood smell of many modern restaurants. However the acoustics are horrible. It's true that some diners enjoy the cacophonous din that a busy restaurant creates. This place had that heightened, on-the-scene noise level on a slow, soft opening night. Perhaps their outdoor roof deck will provide some respite?  

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.