I miss the Green Cat Cafe

The Green Cat Cafe was a fabulous vegetarian restaurant on lower capitol hill's Olive Way. I loved everything on their menu, but two things I've had some success in replicating are the Buddha Bowl and the Tofu Scramble.

Buddha Bowls are a classic veggie meal - stir-fried tofu and vegetable atop brown rice with some peanut sauce. I've seen a billion variations on this with different sauces and vegetable combos, and being creative is totally the way to go with this. Still, pictured below is a classic combo that you can't go wrong with.
 

Green Cat's tofu scramble was special in a few ways. It was made heartier by being served on top of delicious roasted potatoes and the combination of curried tofu, broccoli, carrot and onion was simple and satisfying. The secret to good tofu scrambles is to add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to the tofu. Nutritional yeast is one of my favorite things right now - it provides good protein and B12 to vegetarians, plus it tastes like nutty Parmesan cheese. It's umami amazing.
 

Eggs with Fines Herbes

Scrambled eggs are fantastic with the Fines Herbes combo. This is an awesome reason to grow some herbs. The combination is chervil, parsley, tarragon, and chive. Yum. I've never found chervil in the store, but if you can't grow your own, you can still try this. I noticed eggs with fines herbes on the menu at Toulouse Petit when we went there for the delicious breakfast happy hour with Jill and Morgan. You don't want to miss it!
 

Spanakopita

Spanakopita is a substantial vegetarian dish readily available in Greece, particularly during Lent. This is a great dish to make when you have too many leafy greens, especially if you have a combination of different types. During Lent this is made with sauteed leafy greens, oregano, dill, mint, onions, and garlic in a phyllo crust. During the rest of the year, eggs and feta are often added to the greens mixture. When I don't have feta, I've made a great Americanized version with cottage cheese.

 

Morels and other Spring Treats from the Farmer's Market

I am so looking forward to our farmer's market opening back up. I am especially keen to visit the forager again. In another life, I think that could be a great job, but in this one I am afraid of bears, so it's not happening. Instead I will buy my morels from our brave forager and his lovely dog Jasper.

Morels pair especially well with peas and salmon. This is a lovely brown rice risotto - I make it in a cheat way, instead of the laborious adding of broth one cup at a time, I just use left over rice added to sauteed vegetables, some half and half (or non-dairy creamer), and some madeira. This works just fine and takes half the time. I topped the salmon with a roasted scape from the garden. And the risotto is topped with delicious sage blossoms, a little trick I learned from eating at Jerry Traunfield's Poppy restaurant. Delicious!
 

Ahh fresh English Peas from the market. We are only a few months away from enjoying you again.
 

Spring onions and green garlic, the bottom half of whips and scapes, are wonderful farmer's market treats - the milder flavor of these two are perfect for spring dishes.
 

Same again, but with gnocchi instead of rice.
 

Beans and Greens: Vegetarian Iron

Beans and greens don't seem to photograph well, but they taste fabulous and are an excellent source of vegetarian iron. Plant sources of iron can be difficult for the body to absorb, but something about the bean and the green together makes it happen. Go team!

Kale and White Beans - this is a classic Tuscan combo, though I suppose in Tuscany they use cannellini and lacinato kale, where as I've just used great northern beans and regular kale. Saute your kale with garlic and onion in olive oil, then add cooked beans and parm at the end with some salt and pepper to taste. Perfect comfort food.
 

This was a bit of an experiment on the same theme and it turned out fairly well though I won't rely on it as I do the kale white bean combo. This is Gumbo z'Herbs, popular in Louisiana during Lent when many Catholics traditionally abstained from meat. There are some really complicated recipes out there, but mine is just mustard greens, sauteed with onions, garlic, smoked paprika, some Tony Chachere's creole seasoning with black eyed peas and vegetable broth.
 

Banh Mi

So I disappeared for awhile there. Sorry! I think trying to do two blogs was too much. Plus the camera that I used for the blog died on our vacation. And has anyone else noticed how annoying picasa is? I should probably migrate this over to a word press/flicker thing some day, but I don't really want to bother to learn that either. Anyway I've got dozens of old posts that I started and never posted - but I think they are all good eats, so I will just spend a little time getting caught up and re-learning how to do this before you see some new stuff.

In the meantime - here are two banh mi sandwiches we enjoyed this summer. Banh mi are Vietnamese sub sandwiches. If you've never had one, I recommend finding a spot immediately and buying the best $2 sandwich you'll ever find. Lately Charlie and I have been going to Seattle Deli - he gets grilled pork and I get tofu. So good. $5 for both. This is our new treat before going to costco, which has the added benefit of not having us shop hungry at a store where it is difficult to spend less than $100.

The vegetables in banh mi are usually daikon radish and carrots, slightly pickled in rice vinegar with cilantro - in my version below i used french radish, carrot, cucumber and basil.
 

I have no idea how they make their tofu so magical at Seattle Deli, but for my home version I marinated some tempeh in teriyaki, which I later grilled up on my cast iron pan. I sauteed my snap peas in some teriyaki for a healthy side.
 

The sandwich is constructed with layers of veggies and tempeh with mayo and siracha. That lovely flower is a borage blossom from the garden.
 
 

Vegan boots!

I am very excited about these, not only have i been able to feel all vogue september issue when I wear them, I found them at target, so the price was right. Plus the style is very reminiscent of my Mount Holyoke riding boots, which is perfect for fall, restarting school, and that general feeling of promise a new season brings.

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