Recent Recipes (Project 358: Days 149 & 150)

For days 149 and 150, I thought I'd share a couple of new recipes I tried recently. The first, Vegan Avocado Pesto, was sent to me by the awesome VegNews Recipe Club (sign up and they'll email you a new vegan recipe each week). I discovered the second recipe, Miso Chickpea Sliders, in a recent issue of the Sacramento Bee.

Day 149: A New Twist On An Old Favorite

Ingredients:

1 pound dried linguini (I used whole wheat spaghetti)

1 bunch basil leaves (about 2 1/2 ounces)

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

1. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add pasta and cook to package directions. While pasta cooks, combine basil, pine nuts, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Drain pasta. In a large serving bowl, toss pesto with hot, freshly cooked pasta and garnish each serving with a basil leaf. For an extra touch of color and flavor, top pasta with sun-dried tomatoes.

I served this dish alongside oven-baked garlic bread and a spinach/dried cranberry/sunflower seed salad tossed with Bragg's Healthy Vinaigrette. The avocado is a nice addition to the traditional pesto sauce, giving it a rich, creamy texture. Evan wouldn't touch the stuff, opting to eat his spaghetti plain (crazy kid), but Elinor DEVOURED it, and kept asking for more! Stephen was a big fan of it too (I even caught him eating it cold, later that same night). This recipe is definitely worth repeating!

Day 150: Oh, Miso Hungry

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons sweet white miso, divided

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise)

Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon five-spice powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

1 to 2 tablespoons sesame oil (canola or vegetable oil can be substituted)

Sliced tomato

Leaf lettuce (I used baby spinach)

8 mini burger buns

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the miso and the mayonnaise. Set aside.
2. In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, remaining 6 tablespoons of miso, cilantro, olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and lemon zest. Pulse until coarsely chopped, but not pureed.
3. Form the mixture into 8 patties about 3 inches around and about 1 1/2 inches thick. As you form the patties, use your fingers to firmly pack them.
4. Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. One at a time, set each patty in the bowl and pat breadcrumbs onto all sides of it.
5. In a large skillet over medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. Add the patties and cook until browned and heated through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. If the patties start to stick, add another tablespoon of oil when flipping.
6. Serve the burgers on buns topped with miso-mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.

This recipe is for sliders, but since I was unable to locate mini burger buns at the grocery store, I decided to make the burgers to fit standard-sized buns. This proved to be a mistake, as the mixture does not hold together very well. There was definitely some under-breath cursing happening in that kitchen as I tried, unsuccessfully, to flip those suckers and keep 'em in one piece. BUT, they did eventually make their way to our dinner plates and man were they tasty! Now, the recipe called for topping the burgers with green leaf lettuce, and I chose to use baby spinach because I had it on hand, but in retrospect, I think these burgers would taste fantastic with greens more on the bitter side. Think arugula, or even dandelion.

On the side, I served a salad that I whipped together at the last minute: spinach, sunflower seeds, and fresh blueberries tossed in Bragg's Ginger and Sesame salad dressing. If I make these again in the future, I'll skip the salad and serve 'em up with spicy sweet potato fries and sesame ginger green beans instead. Yum!

Tried any good recipes lately?