Vegan Yum Yum (27 page)

Picnic Sandwich

I
make these when my husband, Stewart, and I travel, though admittedly on regular sandwich bread. If you wrap them up tightly in plastic wrap, they get all crazy delicious while you reach your destination. I usually make them for plane rides and other such occasions, but I have a fantasy of some lovely midsummer picnic that involves a few of these sandwiches. They're wonderful when eaten immediately, but this is definitely a sandwich that can withstand being tossed around in a backpack for a few hours before consuming. I fancied it up with a grilled baguette, but by all means, use regular toasted sandwich bread. That's how we usually eat them anyway! I use pine nuts because I'm addicted to them, but feel free to use a less expensive nut. You can also use part pine nuts and part some other nut to make the spread.

Picnic Sandwich

Makes 2 large baguette sandwiches

step 1
Place the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat. Toss occasionally; more often when nuts turn shiny. When browned on both sides, remove from the pan immediately. Be careful not to burn these—you don't want to leave the kitchen while toasting!

step 2
Place pine nuts and tomatoes in a food processor and blend until smooth (or however close to smooth you feel like getting). It can be chunky, too. The oil on the tomatoes is usually enough to make a nice spread consistency, but if you're using dry sun-dried tomatoes, add a drizzle of olive oil. Set aside.

step 3
If you're roasting the pepper, start that now. Jarred roasted peppers (water packed) work great too.

step 4
Chop the zucchini into rectangles ¼-inch thick. Heat 1 teaspoon or so of the olive oil in a sauté pan, just enough to coat the bottom. Turn the heat up to high and wait a minute or two for the pan to get very hot.

step 5
Place about ½ teaspoon of herbs in the bottom of the pan; they should sizzle. Add the zucchini rectangles in one layer, pressing down on them with a spatula. You want to cook them very quickly, browning them on both sides before they get too soft. Sprinkle with salt and pepper while in the pan and remove once each piece has some color on both sides.

Ingredients

½ cup pine nuts, dry toasted
(or other nut of your choice)

cup sun-dried tomatoes, oil packed

1 roasted red pepper
(jarred peppers work fine)

1 zucchini

1 teaspoon
(or a little more)
olive oil

½ to 1 teaspoon Italian herbs, dried, your choice

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1 French baguette

1 cup baby spinach

step 6
To assemble the sandwich, toast or grill the bread. Spread each side generously with the pine nut and tomato mixture. Lay the zucchini down, followed by the roasted red pepper. (You can keep the pepper whole or slice it into strips.) Add baby spinach, press sandwich together, and serve or wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil.

Salt and Pepper Potato Chips

I
f you have a mandoline or a vegetable slicer, you should absolutely make your own potato chips! They're fast, flavorful, and customizable— not to mention ridiculously tasty because they're so darn fresh. If you've got a sharp knife and skills to match, you can try slicing these out by hand, but it was impossible for me to do it without the help of a slicer. You can get small hand slicers with ceramic or metal blades that work well and are very inexpensive if you don't want to purchase a mandoline.

A quick word on potatoes: the type of spud matters. When you're frying a potato, you want to select a variety that has a high starch count and a low sugar count, like a russet potato. A waxier potato that has more sugar will brown before it crisps fully; the sugars will caramelize too soon, giving you the difficult choice between a soggy chip or a burned one. A starchy potato, on the other hand, can hold its own in the oil much better, and you'll end up with a delightfully crunchy, golden crisp.

Salt and Pepper Potato Chips

Makes 2 servings, easily scaled

step 1
In a large pan (a deep cast-iron skillet works well) heat the oil to 350 ºF.

step 2
Slice the potatoes very thinly (as seen in the photo), add them to the oil one at a time, and fry until golden and crispy, 30 seconds to 1 minute each. Remove them and drain on paper towels. While they are still hot and wet from the oil, sprinkle them with fresh-ground black pepper, sugar, and salt. Serve.

Ingredients

2 to 3 cups canola or peanut oil for frying

2 potatoes, scrubbed
(skins optional)

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 pinch sugar

3 pinches salt

Smoky Miso Tofu Sandwiches

I
hate it when I order a tofu sandwich somewhere and it pretty much tastes like (or actually is) blocks of watery, plain tofu stuffed between two pieces of bread. What's up with that? You might as well be eating a wet, mushy sponge. I love tofu, but you've got to treat it right, you know?

So I was thinking about tofu and imagining thin slices of flavorful goodness to stuff into sandwiches. I knew I wanted to use miso as the base for the flavor. The first sauce I mixed together used a bit of maple syrup, which seemed like a good idea until I tasted it. Something about the combination of red miso and maple syrup did not sit well with me, so down the drain it went. I moved on to pure, unadulterated sugar, a twist of lemon, and a splash of tamari. I was definitely getting close to what I had in mind. I scooped in a little bit of nooch (nutritional yeast, aka vegan pixie dust) and Liquid Smoke and it was finished. It's a dead-simple marinade: tangy, salty, smoky, and rich. I wanted to eat it like a soup. This tofu keeps well, so it's nice to make a whole block and set it aside for sandwiches, salads, or snacking directly out of the fridge.

Smoky Miso Tofu Sandwiches

Makes 18 to 20 thin slices, for 4 to 5 sandwiches

step 1
Preheat the oven to 425 ºF. Wrap your drained tofu in a few paper towels, then again in a terry cloth bar towel. Press with something heavy, like a cast-iron skillet or a plate with some cans on top, for 10 to 20 minutes.

step 2
Meanwhile, mix together the miso, lemon juice, sugar, tamari, yeast, and Liquid Smoke to make a marinade.

step 3
Unwrap the tofu and cut many thin, width-wise slices with a large knife (I got 18 to 20 slices out of one block of tofu).