All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2018
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
~
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
~
Click the image above to watch the review.
All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2015 (except some here I took from Vromage’s site)
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
OK – so – I am about 75% vegan – in that I eat vegan about that often or more. I have not had a hard time giving up meat or fish (except for sushi) but the one thing that I still occasionally indulge in is cheese. I have been experimenting extensively with vegan cheeses with mixed results. I reviewed these cheeses below HERE.
NOTE – THIS LISANATTI CHEESE (below) IS NOT VEGAN! IT CONTAINS CASEIN!
And these from Miyoko’s Kitchen.
You can read that blog post for my opinions of those cheeses but if you live in LA and you are vegan – have I got news for you!
Behold! VROMAGE!
(PS – Vromage SHIPS – so you can get it – even if you are not in LA – VROMAGE online store.)
I had long heard there was a vegan cheese store in West Hollywood but I always imagined it on Santa Monica Blvd in an area with heavy traffic & non-existent parking. While I wanted to try the cheeses – I loathed the idea of driving west of La Brea & circling West Hollywood for hours – looking for some non-resident parking.
Then, last Friday, I had a photo session for a 90210 interview. Here I am with the make-up artist, Noa Bolozky, and alone in a selfie in my bedroom afterward. Noa does the MOST beautiful make-up!!!! I will show some images from the session once the article runs.
Anyway – as I looked out the window from the photo studio – I spotted Vromage! It is in the strip mall – a block east of the mall at Sunset & Crescent Heights – the one with a Crunch. It is in that plaza on the left (NOT The Crunch mall) – and it nestled near the elbow of the mall.
So – as soon as I got out of that photo session – I headed directly to Vromage! Noa beat me there & left swinging $70 worth of vegan cheese & a wearing a huge grin. I braced myself for what promised to be a vegan adventure.
My mom & I were greeted by Youssef (seen below – in a photo I took from his site).
Isn’t he cute? He was so excited to let us try his cheeses – it quickly became overwhelming. In a good way! If you look at the second picture from the top – that was the selection he had available that day & we still must have tasted 7-8 cheeses. Once I had that many flavors going on – I lost my ability to keep them straight. I THINK – I left with a mozzarella, a truffle brie, a pepper jack and a Gorgonzola (Veganzolla below).
I added this video so you can see how outrageously creamy & spreadable Vromage’s cheeses are. The truffle brie (the top picture – first in this post) came the closest to matching both taste & texture (as this Gorgonzola was way creamier than real Gorgonzola – but I am not complaining!). The mozzarella – seen center, below – was mild & light & creamy & Youssef advised that, if I was making a pizza, to add this cheese at the very end & just flash-bake it. I did not make a pizza but I will soon & I will report back.
The pepper jack is the yellow cheese with the red on it – not sure what spice(s) that might be but the cheese is peppery & yummy!
Those are kiwi berries, by the way. They are about the size of large grapes & are just like tiny, hairless kiwis. I recommend trying them if you ever come across them.
Youssef also offers sandwiches etc. See below. My mom tried the caprese sandwich & raved!
Because my photos do not do Youssef’s whole situation & products any justice – here are some photos I nabbed from his site.
So – for my money – Vromage has produced the best vegan cheeses I have tried, to date, and by a wide margin. Most will not fool a real cheese eater (though the brie really might) but these guys are SO fucking creamy & bursting with flavor – I think they really hold their own. And if you are a long-time vegan – these cheeses will make you lose your shit. They truly are creamy & decadent & just BEG to be spread on a crusty baguette with some jam or veggies & basil. Treat yourself and run – don’t walk – to Vromage. And be sure to engage with Youssef – the owner. He is kind & accommodating & very proud of his product & will let you sample anything you want.
And remember! Vromage SHIPS – so you can get it – even if you are not in LA – VROMAGE online store. Whatcha waiting for? Get your ass some cruelty-free cheeses!
All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
~
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
~
I keep throwing softballs like this out there to you kids. Softballs in that the recipe is easy & the result delicious. When, oh when, will you trust me & try one?
This one is almost like a quiche but uses no eggs or heavy cream. I suppose it can be made vegan – if you can find vegan alternatives to the dairy ingredients. I used three colors of heirloom tomatoes but any tomatoes would work, even cherry tomatoes, I suspect. I used a packaged, raw pastry dough but you can make your own if your prefer. HERE is a recipe for dough that I included in my Savory Three Mushroom & Kale Pie, seen just below.
The ingredients & instructions lists are short so, if you like tomatoes & arugula & a light but creamy entree – why not give this one a try?
Arugula, Ricotta, Cream Cheese & Parmesan Heirloom Tomato Pie
INGREDIENTS
Pie crust – uncooked
3 heirloom (or other) tomatoes – sliced thin
2 cups fresh arugula
2 cloves garlic
15 oz fresh ricotta – or vegan alternative
4 oz cream cheese – or vegan alternative
S&P
1 cup Parmesan – grated – or vegan alternative
Basil – as garnish
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Press the dough into a greased pie or tart pan. A traditional pie dish is absolutely OK to use – as is a spring form pan. Slit the crust at the bottom and par-bake it for 7 minutes.
Put the sliced tomatoes on paper towels, salt them & press more paper towels on top. If your tomatoes are very wet & seedy, squeeze some of the seeds out to avoid excess moisture in the pie. You can see that I did this with my red tomatoes.
Meanwhile, blend the ricotta, cream cheese, arugula & garlic in a blender or food processor. Season with S&P.
When the crust has baked 7 minutes, top with the cup of grated Parmesan, the ricotta mix & the drained tomatoes. Add some S&P.
Bake for 45-60 minutes – or until the ricotta is set. You might need to wrap the edges of your pie with foil (or one of these cool silicone things – the red thing below – that I got at Bed Bath & Beyond) to prevent the crust from over-browning.
Depending on how deep your crust and/or pan might be – it is possible that you will have leftovers of the ricotta filling. If you do – hang onto it. Don’t overfill the crust or you run the risk of the tomatoes slipping off while cooking. I will post a pizza recipe tomorrow that uses the ricotta filling.
When the center seems set, allow this to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it. It can be eaten warm or room temperature.
Garnish with basil & eat it up!
All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
~
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
~
My favorite place on Earth, Super King, carries unusual & seasonal produce & now is the season for zucchini blossoms. I LOVE ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS! Almost irrationally. They have a flavor so subtle as no almost be indiscernible & easily overwhelmed. They are most frequently served stuffed, breaded & fried but that is just so unhealthy – I can bring myself to do it anymore.
So – I made this pizza – because I had leftover, homemade dough & just felt like pizza. Does anyone ever NOT feel like pizza? I blended the goat cheese with an equal part ricotta in an effort to add subtle flavor but nothing so strong it overwhelmed the zucchini blossoms. This is a very delicately flavored & mild pizza. Pretty to look at & yummy to eat.
I also used the last bit I had of this shitty grated cheese. A fresh mozzarella is infinitely more desirable. PLEASE use some of that instead.
Zucchini Squash Blossom White Pizza with Goat Cheese and Ricotta and Mozzarella
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough (I make THIS in my bread machine & use it over several days)
Zucchini blossoms
Goat cheese
Ricotta cheese
FRESH mozzarella cheese
Chives and/or micro greens as garnish
S&P
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 450-475.
The amount of cheese you want it up to you but I mixed equal parts goat & ricotta & then added a bit of S&P to that.
Carefully, snip out the pistol with scissors or by pinching with your fingers. The pistol is the nubby thing growing out of the center of the flowers. Pinch off the stems. Don’t worry if they tear.
Now – just assemble your pizza. I have really come to love parchment paper. Nothing really sticks to it & it is nice to photograph, as well. Anyway – get your pizza pan out & spray it with cooking spray or line it with parchment.
Roll the dough out & put it on the cooking sheet. Then – assemble. I started with my bullshit grated mozzarella. You should use fresh stuff (the sort sold in water), if you can. I added some blossoms, randomly, & dolloped the whole thing with the ricotta/goat cheese blend. I cooked it about 12 minutes but you cook it until it looks done to your liking.
Garnish with snipped chives or micro greens & maybe more S&P. Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!
All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
~
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
~
Once again, a recipe born of ingredients on hand. I had extra Japanese eggplant from my Lavash Pizza with Whipped Feta, Grilled Eggplant, Red Onions & Arugula Salad. I had lots of mozzarella & some tomatoes on their last legs. I also had a GIGANTIC bag of spinach from a recent Super King venture. I also had a container of really stale panko. From these humble beginnings – these glorious mini towers were born! Aren’t they pretty? Know that they are less than two inches in diameter. They are very cute but you would need at least 4 of these to call it a meal. The recipe here shows what can be made with 3 Japanese eggplant – namely – about 10 of these mini towers. You could recreate this using regular eggplant & larger (heirloom?) tomatoes. If you use regular eggplant – prepare it like this before working with it:
Slice the eggplant, then salt it liberally and allow it to drain for an hour or so before cooking. Putting salt on the eggplant triggers osmosis, which draws out excess moisture and the bitterness along with it. Remove any excess salt by wrapping the eggplant in a kitchen towel and pressing on the slices or cubes, which removes even more water. Pressing the eggplant also collapses some of the eggplant’s air cells, so it absorbs less oil if it’s sautéed.
I added an extremely garlicky spinach to my towers but you could skip that layer easily.
Despite the fact that this recipe requires a few steps, none are difficult & this dish will likely impress your friends & neighbors & make the other ladies in the hood bitter & resentful about your superior culinary prowess. So brace yourself for the haters.
Eggplant Parmesan Mini Towers with Fresh Mozzarella & Garlic Spinach
(Tip: When making a recipe like this, I always like to have MORE of every ingredient than the recipe calls for – just in case I use my ingredients more liberally that the person who created the recipe did. It sucks to run out of one or two ingredients when making something like this. So err on the side of having too much of each ingredient handy.)
INGREDIENTS
Cooking skewers
1 jar of your favorite marinara (or my marinara) or my 5 Minute Arrabiata)
3-4 Japanese eggplant – cut in 1/2 inch slices
2-3 Roma tomatoes – cut in 1/2 inch slices
10-15 basil leaves (plus extra for garnish)
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry basil
1 tsp dry parsley
8 oz container fresh mozzarella – sliced up
1-2 cups grated Parmesan
Fresh rosemary sprigs if you want to top these as I did – but it is purely garnish
For the garlic spinach
1 lb fresh spinach – washed well
1 TBS (or less) crushed red pepper
10 garlic cloves (or less) – minced
olive oil
S&P to taste
DIRECTIONS
For the garlic spinach
Heat about 1 TBS olive oil in a large saute pan. Over medium heat – add the garlic & crushed red pepper. Saute about 30 seconds & then add half the spinach. Mix it around a minute or two so that the garlic doesn’t burn. When that spinach is wilted, add the rest & scoop the wilted spinach on top of it. It will all wilt quickly. Add S&P to taste. Remove from heat & drain in a colander. I used about 1.5 pounds of spinach & it reduced to almost nothing – maybe 2 cups.
For the eggplant Parmesan mini towers
Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Make your marinara (or arrabiata) – if you are using homemade.
Mix the panko & breadcrumbs with the 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp each of pepper, dry parsley & dry basil. Whisk the two eggs. Spray a cooking sheet (or wire rack) with cooking oil.
Saturate the eggplant with the eggs & then drag through the breadcrumbs & set on the cooking sheet. Eventually, the breadcrumbs will get clumped up & you will have a harder time getting them to stick. Don’t sweat it. You don’t need full coverage. Or you can just add more dry panko & breadcrumbs to the mix.
Bake these at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until they look golden.
Using a baking pan of some kind – like this – layer the bottom with some of your tomato sauce.
Then simply stack these bad boys up. I forgot the spinach layer in my first one. Oops! It appears I layered mine in this order: eggplant, Parmesan, spinach, tomato, mozzarella, basil, eggplant, mozzarella. Carefully, skewer each of these guys with a wooden skewer broken in half. Do not push the broken end through as that might leave splinters.
Bake another 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted & golden. Place on plates, remove the skewers and serve with more tomato sauce & fresh basil & lots of freshly ground pepper.
All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
As promised, another recipe made up from several other recipes posted this week. This one uses leftover fettuccine from my Cilantro-Serrano Pasta post and leftover Tomato Bisque and some of my Homemade American Cheese. You can use freshly cooked pasta or leftover, if you have it. The soup can be replaced with ANY pasta sauce you prefer from a simple arrabiata to a marinara to an alfredo. The cheese can also be substituted with goat or Parmesan or whatever you have handy. I used English peas because I had them & I love them.
This particular effort isn’t that pretty because green noodles & a pink sauce make for an odd combination but let me tell you – it is friggin’ DELICIOUS. I made it & just meant to taste one & stood there & inhaled an entire serving. Really, really good! I had intended to make little wonton baskets for each of these but forgot to – so a version using wontons is likely in my future. At any rate – if you use a white pasta & a red sauce – or some other more compatible color combination – your effort should come out prettier.
I cooked 6 of these ramekins in a larger pan with water that came up about half way on the ramekins – and one just out there on its own in the oven. In the future – I will blow off the whole water business because it achieved nothing that I could appreciate except maybe slowing the heating process a tad – and there is no practical purpose for that in this recipe. So – you will see images of the larger pan & water but I am not recommending you do it that way. The only thing it adds is a VERY real danger that you will scald yourself with the hot water as you remove these from the oven.
Baked Leftover Pasta with Heirloom Tomato Bisque, English Peas & Three Cheeses in Ramekins
INGREDIENTS
4 cups cooked pasta
1 1/2 cups leftover bisque or other pasta sauce
1 cup fresh English peas (optional)
2 large balls fresh mozzarella – sliced
1 2″ cube homemade American cheese or other cheese of your choice
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Fresh basil and/or chopped fresh tomato – as garnish
Extra bisque or pasta sauce – as garnish
Fresh Parmesan to shave – as garnish
DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Blend the pasta, sauce and whatever cheese(s) you are using (NOT the mozzarella) in a bowl. Add the peas – if using.
Spray 7 ramekins (sorry – it just worked out to 7) with cooking spray. Divide the pasta mix among them. Try not to over-fill them or they will get messy in the oven. Top with a little extra bisque/sauce & put a slice of fresh mozzarella on each. Grind some pepper on them.
Place on a cookie sheet & cover each with a sheet of foil that has been greased with cooking spray.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove foil & bake another ten minutes.
Remove from the oven & let cool a minute or two. These can be served in the ramekins or flipped over & served on a plate. Either way, garnish each with chopped tomato and/r fresh chopped basil and/or some freshly shaved Parmesan.
Devour & be proud of yourself for using up your leftovers! Maybe even serve with some leftover Artisan bread!!!
Delightful-Delicious-Delovely 