Texas VegFest started last year and was a really well attended and fun event. This year I helped on Planning Committee for the Event and James will be working the JBG booth. Come say hi to us, take in some music, watch a cooking demo, listen to some great speakers, visit with vegan-friendly vendors from all over the country, and enter a raffle for some great prizes!

When: Saturday April 6

Time: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Location: Fiesta Gardens

Cost: Free! ($5 donations appreciated)

James makes the finishing touches on our Easter Lasagna.

For my family the only food we associated with Easter was candy– cheap chocolaty pastel candy. Easter Sunday we would have nice meal, but, since my Mom had no stomach for lamb, there was nothing more special than a little ham on the table which I avoided with a near religious fervor.

Until earlier today I had assumed that James’ family had a similar non-tradition, and if there was a tradition it had gone the way of all the other once-adored meat dishes. However, today while he was talking with his Grandfather, Baba, asked if we were making lasagna. Turns out, for some Italian American families the lasagna can symbolize the abundance of the occasion and the season, and a lasagna with spring vegetables, fresh ham, and boiled eggs is the ideal Easter entree.

James made lasagna noodles in the same way we made the ravioli dough earlier this year. For the filings we used Swiss chard, which is available in abundance now, and a pesto using the year’s first sweet basil.

Ingredients

• Prepared or homemade lasagna noodles.  If you are using prepared noodles, follow boiling instructions on box.  If using fresh or homemade noodles, you do not have to preboil them.

Sauce

Easter lasagna

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 quart whole tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• a handful of fresh basil, chopped

Swiss Chard Filling

•  1 bunch Swiss chard, ribbed and coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 pound firm tofu
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Pesto Filling

• Three cups packed basil
• 1/2 cup raw almonds (or other tree nut)
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt to taste

Preparation

1. In a large sauce pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute mushrooms until their liquid is expressed.
2. Add onions, garlic, and carrots and continue to saute until the onions are soft and just beginning to brown.  
3. Add oregano and heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and balsamic vinegar and bring to a simmer. Reduce to medium-low heat and continue simmering until thick, about 20 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add basil and set aside.
6. To make the Swiss chard filling, combine ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
7. To make the pesto filling, combine basil, almonds, and garlic in the food processor. Drizzle with olive oil until the pesto processes. Continue blending until smooth and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.
8. To assemble the lasagna, add half of the sauce to the bottom of the lasagna dish. Top with one layer of noodles, then add half the Swiss chard filling and smooth over the noodles. Add a second layer of noodles then smooth the pesto on top. Add a third layer of noodles and top with the remaining Swiss chard filling. Top with a final layer of noodles then the remaining sauce.
9. Cover the dish with foil, then bake the lasagna at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil, add a healthy dusting of grated parmesan cheese, then place back in the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes more.
10. Let the lasagna cool for about  10 minutes, then serve!

Swiss Chard Dumplings with Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 package round dumpling wrappers, thawed
• 1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed and leaves chopped
• 5 shiitake mushroom caps, re-hydrated if necessary
• 1/8 cup pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 thumb-size piece ginger, minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 spring onions, diced
• salt to taste

for dipping sauce: 

• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 thai chili, finely minced
• 1/4 cup vegetable stock

Preparation

1. Steam the swiss chard until slightly wilted, about 2 minutes. Place in a food processor with mushroom caps and pine nuts. Pulse until finely chopped and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute ginger, garlic, and spring onions until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in swiss chard mixture. Season with salt to taste.
3. Place a dumpling wrapper on a clean working surface.
4. Spoon a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each wrapper then dip your fingers in the water and moisten all around the outside of the wrapper.
5. Bring the sides of the wrapper up over the filling and press together to seal. Pinch along the seal then place the finished dumplings on a plate dusted with flour.
6. To steam the dumplings, place the dumplings in a steamer and steam over high heat until the mushrooms are cooked, about 15 minutes.
7. While dumplings are steaming, combine the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
8. Serve dumplings immediately with sauce.

Manhattans are an extremely easy and delicious drink, and happen to be my favorite class of cocktail. The typical Manhattan is some ratio of whiskey – bourbon or rye – with a similar measure of vermouth. I say similar because, while I prefer a 1:1 ratio of whiskey to vermouth, if you like a sweeter drink feel free to favor the vermouth. Or, as many do, if you want a stronger kick go for a stronger pour of spirits or a higher proofed whiskey. As a spiritus drink, meaning one that is not adulterated with additional juices or waters, any adjustments in the ingredients quality or proportion will produce discernible results. The best Manhattan is the one you like, so start with a basic recipe, make the tweaks you need, and find your Manhattan. The “Old Standard” Manhattan, as reported by David Wondrich in Imbibe!, is one part whiskey, one part vermouth, two dashes of gum syrup, and a couple dashes of Peruvian Bitters. Thanks David, you had me up until the gum syrup. We hope to write more later on the somewhat obscure ingredients, but I am here to tell you that you can make a fantastic classic Manhattan without them.

Classic Manhattan

Classic Manhattan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 ounces good whiskey – bourbon or rye
• 1 1/2 ounces sweet (rouge) vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 Maraschino cherry (a real one – not those hot pink blobs) or a twist of orange

Preparation

1. Fill a shaker with ice and stir ingredients until the cocktail is well-chilled, about 40 seconds. 
2. Strain in to a pretty glass, garnish as you like, and serve.

So, once you get the Classic Manhattan the way you like it is fun to play with the vermouth. Vermouth is a fortified wine, most commonly Italian (Martini & Rossi) or French (Noilly Prat), red or dry. The base wine may be made from a variety of wines or blends that are then sweetened and flavored with botanicals and spices. Vermouths typically come in under 20% alcohol by volume and they are all different. Playing around with a variety of vermouths is a fun way tinker with the Manhattan, but it can also be fun to try other fortified wines. There are a lot of new and exciting fortified wines coming on the market now and many are very affordable. It is my recommendation to go to your favorite local liquor store, check out their liquor selection, see if there is any new under 20% ABV fortified wine that sounds fun, then take it home then play with a whole new type of Manhattan. The following recipe uses Cocchi Americano, a fortified wine flavored with cinchona, the same bittering agent in tonic water (that is, the same medicinal bark delivered through tonic water).

Cocchi Manhattan

Cocchi Americano Manhattan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 ounces good rye
• 1 1/2 ounces Cocchi Americano
• Peychaud’s Bitters
• Grapefruit twist

Preparation

1. Fill a shaker with ice and mix ingredients well until the cocktail is chilled, about 40 seconds.
2. Strain into a pretty glass, garnish with the twist, and serve.

This soup, packed with herbs and quinoa, is very reminiscent of many soups we ate while living in Huaraz, Peru.  The parsnips add a nice mild earthiness to this soup.

Parsnip Quinoa Soup

Ingredient

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 celeriac stalks or 1 celery stalk, diced
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 3/4 pound parsnips, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup raw quiona
• 4 cups light vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is translucent.
2. Add celeriac and white wine and continue to simmer until wine is evaporated, another three to four minutes.
3. Add the parsnips and saute for five minutes.
4. Add broth, quinoa, and oregano. Bring to boil then cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer until the quinoa is cooked, about 15 minutes.
5. Serve garnished with fresh celeriac or celery leaves, diced spring onion, parsley, or other fresh herb of your choice.

I love liquor stores. I love browsing for new products, recognizing subtle differences in organization, noting prices, and – of course – responsibly imbibing the products. One thing that makes shopping for and purchasing liquor even more pleasurable for me is that I am also an economist. Economics is not so much something that a person studies as who they are. Everywhere I go I subconsciously collect a set of data points that my brain computes using a highly specific algorithm to then tell me if and under what circumstances I will return to that establishment. I am not special – everyone takes a complicated set of factors in to consideration to determine preferences – but an economist knows that this is happening which makes us want to understand.

Inside Spec’s

So, for this post rather than provide an opinion based on intangible factors, I wanted to conduct a mini experiment and see how my favorite central Austin liquor stores measure up given a set of indicators I theorized to be significant in forming my overall opinion. A team of researchers (thanks James and Gabe) fanned out across Austin to collect six price, 14 selection, and four service data points. We intend to continue to update these numbers and study more stores (it is tough work, but someone has to do it). What follows are our preliminary results:

What is presented in the columns are rankings for each category. Spec’s, on average, offered the best price. Chris’s had the best selection. Finally, by having someone on staff who knew the ingredients for Negroni, Twin ranked highest in service. You can see by the standard deviation in average price that you are likely to get a fair deal in any Austin establishment and standard deviation in average ranking also indicates that the competition was very close.

In conclusion we did not find any evidence that there is a bad liquor store in this list. We have also walked away from the experience with these notable conclusions:

• Liquor stores aim to please. Whenever a store did not have a specific item that we included on selection they most often said that they could order it. 
• It is not what you know, but what you are willing to learn that counts.  In only one instance did an employee fail to offer to look up the ingredients for a nigroni for us. In an age when everyone has a computer in their pocket good service should only be a Google away.
• Liquor stores are almost universally under the impression that they are competing on cost. The Austin market is dominated by two large chain stores that, by virtue of their size, will have the lowest prices. However, I don’t know anyone who is going to drive across town on a Friday afternoon in Central Austin traffic to get to one of these box stores to save, on average, $2.05. Customers want shop close to their destinations, find exactly what they are looking for, and above all, be treated well.

View Austin Fine Liquor & Spirits Stores in a larger map

Rutabagas are a cross between cabbage and turnips. So, while this recipe resembles potato salad the flavor is more akin to the other ubiquitous cookout dish – coleslaw.

Rutabaga “Potato” Salad

Ingredients

• 3 pounds rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
•  1/2 cup curly parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup celeriac greens or celery tops, chopped
• 2-3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 sprig of green garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Boil rutabaga in salted water until tender, about 15-20 minutes. 
2. Drain the rutabaga and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Combine cooled rutabaga cubes with the remaining ingredients.

Sugar sculptures at 2013 That Takes the Cake

This weekend  I volunteered to participate in the annual That Takes the Cake sugar and art show as a judge for the tasting competition. The competition was divided into five categories: angel food cakes, moon pies, candy, cookies, and “mini-bottle cakes.” If you don’t know, and I initially did not, mini-bottle cakes are cakes made with or flavored with alcohol. Obviously, I was most excited to try the 18 entrants in this category.

And try I did! The range of styles, flavors, and creativity of these cakes was impressive, which made judging all of these cakes extremely fun and filling work. My three favorite cakes were: 3) a nicely decorated chocolate Guinness cake with Bailey’s icing, 2)  a delicious limoncello coffee cake, and (drum roll!) 1) a beautiful White Chocolate Godiva Liqueur layer cake with Chambord icing. The winners from each category were evaluated by all of the judges and the bottle cake winner was bested by a fantastic chocolate raspberry mousse confection.

Taylor Tastes at That Takes the Cake

In addition to the tasting competition, That Takes the Cake is also a sugar arts show. This is a whole sub-set of the baking world that I am unfamiliar with but some of the feats of sweets that I witnessed were beyond impressive. That Takes the Cake was a a great demonstration of the creativity and talent that exists in the Austin culinary scene and it made me happy and proud to live here.

The show was also quite inspirational.  Coseppi Kitchen does not feature a lot of baking, but that is in part due to our focus on healthy and inclusive cooking. But, I like a challenge so when we went to a potluck/coed baby shower on Sunday I brought my newly invented Mini Allspice Dram Cakes with Mayfair Icing. Maybe in 2014, That Takes the Cake will see a Coseppi vegan, gluten-free entry!

Mini Allspice Dram Cakes with Mayfair Icing

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten-free flour, divided
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 teaspoons Allspice Dram, divided
• 3 tablespoons non-margarine butter substitute
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Combine 1/2 cup of gluten-free flour, brown sugar, chopped pecans, and 1 teaspoon Allspice Dram in a medium bowl. Cut non-margarine butter substitute into the mixture and set aside.
2. Combine coconut milk and vinegar in small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Combine remaining flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Add the vegetable oil, remaining Allspice Dram, and coconut milk mixture.
4. Coat the cups of a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. put one table spoon of topping in the bottom of each cup. Top with 1/2 cup of cake batter.  Bake for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until they pass the toothpick test.
5. Turn the cakes out on to a rack to cool.

Note: For a little extra kick, drizzle the cakes with Mayfair Icing.

This icing is inspired by the Mayfair Cocktail.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon Apricot Brandy
• 1/2 teaspoon Allspice dram
• 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water

Preparation

1.  Mix all ingredients until smooth.
2. Spread on cooled baked goods as desired.