Mushroom-Onion Tart

I wanted to make something special with the chanterelles and hedgehogs I brought back from Mt. Hood (I figure tofu scramble is not exactly their best and highest use), so I made this tart.



I used a cornmeal crust, and got the recipe from here, with earth balance in place of the butter, and it turned out well even though my cornmeal:flour ratio was a bit off (I was running low on cornmeal). It was just the tiniest bit crumbly.

For the filling, first I caramelized one medium-large yellow onion and about half a red onion, sliced thin with a mix of olive oil and EB and a teaspoon or so raw sugar.

Then I sauteed about a cup and a half of mushrooms (chopped pretty small) with probably 6 cloves of chopped garlic for 15 minutes or so, added thyme, salt, pepper, and a couple splashes of white wine and a couple of handfuls of spinach once it was all cooked.

Once the spinach was wilted and the wine cooked off, I mixed about half the onions in, spread this over the par-baked crust (baked acc to the crust recipe linked above), then added the rest of the onions on top. Baked for about 30 minutes at 350.



So good! Would also have been good with tomatoes, other greens, etc. Next time I plan to try a creamy layer - seasoned silken tofu or something with beans - under the vegetables.

I miss Oregon!

You can take the girl out of Oregon, but you can't take the Oregon out of my carry-ons.





I'm amazed at how much beer I crammed into my backpack at the airport without totally destroying the chanterelles and hedgehogs I brought back from Mt. Hood. We had a really successful mushroom hunt, and Jane made amazing duxelles with a lot of the haul.



I made something pretty darn good with some of the ones I brought home, too - next post!

Brunch off! (Part 1)

I've been promising this for a long time, so I hope it doesn't disappoint. To start out, it's not a fair fight, since I have 4 Oregon brunches (3 Portland, 1 Eugene) and only 2 Minneapolis to compare. But either way, we all know brunch is the most important meal of the day, and whenever you go out to brunch, everyone wins. So I'll stop pretending this is a real competition.

When I was in Portland last month I went with friends to Cricket Cafe, Vita Cafe, and Blossoming Lotus. Partly to have a real basis for comparison, and partly because I'm kind of boring this way, I got tofu scrambles at all three. And then I had yet more tofu at Morning Glory in Eugene. (When I got back from my trip I took a serious hiatus from soy, don't worry.)

Verdict? I love brunch! And Portland is an amazing place for vegan brunch, if you know where to go. There's a tofu scramble option almost everywhere, but a lot of places really phone it in. They don't brown the tofu, they don't season anything, and it's just sort of a mess. Example: JAM ON HAWTHORNE. Example 2: GENIE'S. I do not recommend them. Jam's tofu scramble on my birthday was so bad that if I were that kind of person, it could actually have ruined my birthday. Think raw onions + plain tofu. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

Anyways, I learned my lesson and hit up some good spots:

Scramble at Cricket with spinach, tomatoes, and avocado. I love that they have hash browns, not just home fries. The tofu was nice and brown, and the seasoning was great.



This one with spinach, onions, and I don't remember what else, wasn't mine (and was vegan except for the sour cream on top), but also got good reviews:



Scramble with veggies at Vita Cafe - a little bland, they should season their tofu more, but at least it was browned and the potatoes and onion dill bread were really good.



Florentine Scramble at Blossoming Lotus - pesto, arugula, and a side of house-made seitan. Best un-browned tofu scramble I've ever had, I think. And their scrambles come with steamed kale! The all-vegan menu was so amazing that I think it took us almost an hour to order. Thankfully, the coffee was great and they served it with soy cream, not just soy milk. Mmm.



Here are their grits - also super good:



And their walnut chorizo salad - good, but not what I would have ordered for brunch. Some people are just so healthy...



The Fusion - Morning Glory in Eugene. It's not a scramble! But it sort of is a scramble inside of hash browns. Lots of veggies, and nicely seasoned. I should have remembered to ask for no mushrooms.



We also got a delicious vegan tempeh caesar for the table. Oh ladies how I miss hanging out with you. Not just everyone wants to split a salad for a brunch appetizer. Not so much like a real caesar, lots of dill in the dressing, but we weren't complaining.



This is only part 1 - Minneapolis brunch pics will be along shortly, once I finish transferring my photos and other files to my new computer. Sorry to see the old one go, but after 5 years and many close calls, it gave me no choice.

More pies, and a correctly oriented picture

This seems like a good time to rehash some pies I made last Summer. Oregon is as good for berry picking as Minnesota is cold in Winter, so I picked a lot of berries last Summer. Then I had to move, so freezing them wasn't an option. They ended up dried, infused in vodka, and baked into pies instead.

U-pick blueberry farms are great, and I picked a ton of them, but wild huckleberries are amazing. This pie had both. It was really good despite the fuzzy dim pictures.
For real though, if you're in the Northwest, go huckleberry picking. Even if you can find them at the farmer's market they cost about $8 for a pint. We picked about 3 gallons in a day. Take that, farmer's market!





There's a magic place with a grove of unsprayed cherry trees near Portland, and if you're in the know you can pick buckets and buckets of rainier and bing cherries for free. It's even legal! If anyone knows where that happens in Minnesota, let me know and I'll meet you there. Usually I thicken fruit pies with arrowroot, just a few tablespoons for a pretty big pie. This was mostly rainier, because we picked more of those than bing. I know sweet cherries aren't traditional for pie, but I just used less sugar and it turned out great.



Look! I figured out how to turn pictures! Just to show I'm not totally inept. I promise once I run out of old pictures this blog will be less about how great Portland is. Minnesota has berries too, and it will have pies of its own.