This was a 6-8" loaf and it only held about 1/2 the dip, so you may have left overs.

For my second creation for the Chicago Soy Dairy Teese blog challenge I decided to take on the party classic, spinach artichoke dip. I added smoked salt to give it a deeper base flavor and served it in a sourdough bread bowl. I would note that this recipe makes a lot of dip so you may want to plan on saving half for later.

Smoky Artichoke Spinach Dip

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup flour
2 cups soy milk
5 oz Mozzarella style Teese, shredded or cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 tsp smoked salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
10 oz spinach, washed and chopped
2 14oz cans artichoke harts, drained, rinsed and chopped
black pepper
1 round sourdough loaf
chips, bread, pita, etc for serving

Preheat oven to 400°

In a medium sauce pan heat oil over med-high heat. Add flour and cook for a few minuets until it turns golden brown. Stir in soy milk and cook until it begins to thicken. Add smoked salt cayenne and nutritional yeast and adjust seasoning to taste. Add teese and stir through to melt. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a saute pan heat a small amount of oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until soft and translucent. Add garlic. Stir in spinach, one handful at a time, until all is incorporated. Stir in the artichokes and cook for a few minuets. Fold in the Teese mixture and mix well. Season with black pepper and adjust salt if necessary. (The dip can be served at this point)

Cut the top off the round of bread and scoop out most of the bread inside the loaf. Fill with dip and bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes. Serve with the removed bread and additional chips, crackers, etc.

Despite being incredibly in vogue in the rest of the food world, salted caramels seem to have bypassed vegans. I have long been interested in candy making, and caramels have been on my list of things to do. The fact that no one seems to be making them made me think there was something I was missing that would make veganizing them tricky. In my library of vegan cookbooks I have seen endless lists of cookies, cakes, brownies, ice creams, can even a custard or two, but very little candy work. What few “caramel” sauces and the like I had come across were concoctions of brown sugar and corn syrup and involved little to no caramelize what so ever, or were even stranger mixes of things like tahini and peanut butter. What was I missing? Well, I found out this week: absolutely nothing. While working with melted sugar can be a little tricky, you will get the hang of it. These little sweets will hence forth remain a staple in my repertoire, especially for gift giving occasions as I think they are a little easier (not to mention considerably cheaper) than making truffles.

Smoked Salt Caramels

1 Cup unsweetened MimicCreme
5 Tbsp Earth Balance
2 tsp smoked salt, plus more for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 Cup granulated sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)
1/4 Cup agave nectar
1/4 Cup water

You Will Also need

Candy thermometer
Parchment

Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and lightly oil the parchment.

In a small sauce pan combine the MimicCream, Earth Balance and 2 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and set aside.

In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan combine sugar, agave, and water over high heat. Stir until the sugar has melted then bring to a boil, swirling the pan but not stirring. Bring to boil and let cook, without stirring, until the sugar begins to turn a golden brown, about 248°f on a candy thermometer. Carefully stir in the cream mixture – it will bubble up – and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10-15 min until the mixture reaches 248°f on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and poor into prepared baking dish. Let cool in refrigerator at least 2 hours until set.

Cut caramels into one inch squares, sprinkle with remaining salt, and wrap in 4 inch squares of parchment.

A few notes:

• BE VERY CAREFUL WORKING WITH MELTED SUGAR. It is extremely hot and will stick and burn badly if you spill it on yourself.
• After adding the cream you can test the consistency of your caramel by dropping a spoonful into a glass of ice water.  It will cool and you will be able to judge the consistency. Stop cooking when it is to your liking.
• For this batch I used a smoked salt, but you can experiment with any high quality sea salt. Flor de Sal seems to be the standard people are using. If you are going to go the gray salt rout I would recommended Sel Gris, as I find it has a little more flavor due to its higher mineral content. Murray River Pink Salt salt would also be a good choice. Any good, course, sea salt should work fine though.
• These caramels can also me enrobed in tempered chocolate for a more finished looked as well. I would go for a bittersweet chocolate, as the caramel is sweet enough.
• I used MimicCream, but you could also substitute coconut milk. The fat content makes it an excellent substitute for cream, but it will add a little coconut flavor to your caramels.
• Most standard recipes for caramels call for corn syrup. In candy recipes, corn syrup is used for it’s glucose content, which prevents sugar from crystallizing. During my research for this recipe I discovered that agave nectar will serve equally well as an invert sugar, so not only is this recipe dairy free, it is also corn syrup free!

It is best if you have all of your wrappers cut and ready to go before you start. It will make the process go much smoother.

An easy burger for a lazy summer day. Served with a little wild mushroom couscous.

I love smoked foods all the time, but nothing inspires one to cook outdoors like weather topping 100 degrees.  So when we hit an all time record high temperature in Seattle this summer I ran out and got myself a new grill in hopes of avoiding doing any cooking indoors.  While almost any vegetable works well on the grill simply with olive oil, salt and pepper, I decided to go a little further and smoke my own tofu along with some slabs of eggplant for a tasty home made burger that beats any store bought patty. Vegan hamburger buns can be hard to come by (I use Rudy’s Organic, which are becoming more and more available). If you can’ get a hold of any use any good roll or bread you can find. This would be great on a nice ciabatta or a fresh Kaiser roll.  The leftover tofu and eggplant make a great cold sandwich as well.

Marinade:

2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp soy sauce (I used a mushroom soy sauce)
3 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp mustard

1 packager extra firm tofu (super firm is best if you can find it), drained and cut into 6-8 slices.
eggplant, cut into ½ in-1 in slices
salt
pepper
olive oil
buns, rolls, or bread
Vegan mayo
2-4 cups smoking chips (I used hickory), soaked in water for at least 30 min

While your chips are soaking mix the ingredients for the marinade and combine with tofu in a large plastic bag. Let sit in the fridge until you are ready to put it on the grill, turning occasionally.  You can also prepare the marinade in advance and marinade the tofu overnight.

To prepare the eggplant, place the slices in a colander in the sink or over a large bowl and salt liberally. Let sit for at least 10 min. The eggplant should release much of its liquid. Rinse lightly, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Start your grill. Drain the woodchips and place them in a metal container such as an old soup can or a package of aluminum foil. When your coals are ready, build your fire as far to one side of the grill as possible and place your container of chips on top of the Coles. If your chips dry out and start to flame up during cooking, spray with a squirt bottle filled with water or just poor a little water into the container.

Brush grill with oil and place tofu on the side farthest from the coals. Cover your grill and smoke for about 20 min. before adding the eggplant to the grill. Flip the tofu and brush with leftover marinade when you add the eggplant.

Smoke for another 20 min.  Check the eggplant occasionally to make sure it is not burning or overcooked (this will depend on how hot your grill is).  After smoking I finished cooking over the hot side of the grill to get some good grill marks and a little char on the edges. If the eggplant is already fully cooked, just remove it from the grill. You want the eggplant to hold together enough to come off the grill, but soft enough that it will melt into the sandwich.

Watch for flame ups. Keep food out of direct flame as it will quickly charr.

To assemble

Cut your buns and toast lightly on the grill. Spread each side of the bun with mayo. Place a slice of eggplant on the bun, followed by 2 slices of tofu and another slice of eggplant. Top with the other half of the bun and enjoy!

Variations

You can add a little red chili or some of your favorite hot sauce to the marinade if you want something a little bolder, or you can marinade in your favorite BBQ sauce or marinade.

Add pretty much whatever you want to the burger. Caramelized onions, tomato, and some arugula would be tops on my list of additions.