The New Vegan Cookbook

Lavishly illustrated in full color, with over 40 internationally inspired recipes featuring fresh, delicious ingredients — easy enough for family meals, elegant enough for entertaining.

Includes a chapter called “Stocking the Vegan Pantry” which suggests staples to keep on hand and offers advice on sources, selection, and storage.

Lorna Sass has a contagious passion for great vegan cooking, and with this book makes it more accessible and compelling than ever.”
– Mollie Katzen

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Hiziki Tapenade

Makes about 1 cup

Tapenade is a heady provencal blend of olives, capers, and anchovies. In this version. I’ve used the midly briny, jet-black sea vegetable called hiziki instead of anchovies. The result is a bold and rustic dip for raw vegetables or chips or a memorable spread for bread or wafer-thin rice crackers.

It’s wise to purchase the hiziki in a health-food store, where the quality is likely to be better than you’ll find in an Asian market. During processing, hiziki’s large leaves are shredded and dried in such a tangle that it’s impossible to give you a dry cup measurement. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, just “guesstimate” for now. Then please go out and buy one.

Ingredients

1 ounce Hiziki (also spelled Hijiki)
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1/2 cup pitted, oil-cured black olives (save time by buying them already pitted)
3 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt (optional)
Fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Instructions

Place the hiziki in a large bowl and pour enough boiling water on top to cover it by 2 inches. Let sit until tender and pliable, 10 to 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. Drain thoroughly.

With the motor of the food processor running, pop the garlic into the feed tube and chop. Add the hiziki, olives, capers, and oil. Process to create a coarse paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add enough lemon juice and salt, if needed, to give the tapenade an assertive flavor. (The amount you’ll need will develop upon the saltiness and flavor of the olives and capers: I’ve added as much as 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoon of lemon juice.)

If serving as a dip, then the mixture slightly with olive oil, if necessary. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with thyme.

Other Ideas

For a pleasing appetizer, set small mounds of tapenade in the center of plates and surround them with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Fennel (page 80). Serve with sliced, toasted baguette.

Use a tablespoon or two of tapenade as a flavor booster in soups and stews.

Thin the tapenade with olive oil and/or a tablespoon or two of pasta cooking-water, and toss with hot pasta. Add chopped fresh thyme parsley or basil, if you wish.

 

Rustic Apple Tart

Serves 6.

This impressive pastry takes very little effort to assemble and is beautiful to behold. You create a rectangular tart without a tin by layering sheets of phyllo directly on parchment lined baking sheet. Then you mound maple-glazed apple slices on top and fold over a bit of phyllo to create a flaky frame.

Phyllo easy to assemble? It’s true that those paper-thin sheets of dough have a way of drying out and tearing. But even if you are phyllo-phobic (as I was until recently), this recipe offers guaranteed success. There’s no fancy folding, and a few rips won’t affect the result. Just patch them up as you go.

You’ll find phyllo in the frozen foods case in most supermarkets. Defrost is according to the package directions (usually overnight in the refrigerator).

The tart is nice for brunch as well as dessert.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons dried cranberries
1/4 cup hot water
2 to 2 1/2 pounds tart, firm apples (Granny Smiths or Staymans)
1/3 cup maple syrup
4 sheets phyllo (also spelled filo)
3 to 4 tablespoons walnut oil
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Other Ideas

Cook the apple slices with a light dusting of cinnamon.

Make apple turnovers by following the folding instructions for preparing phyllo triangles (page 76).

Substitute Bosc or other firm pears for the apples. Cut them into 1/2–inch slices and cook only until the edges are slightly softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Season lightly with cardamom, if you wish.

Instructions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a large baking or cookie sheet (about 11 by 17 inches) with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the cranberries in a small bowl. Pour the water over them and set aside.

Peel and core the apples. Cut them into slices 1/2-inch thick. Scatter half of the apples in a large, nonstick skillet, and drizzle half of the maple syrup on top. Cook over medium-high heat, tossing frequently, until the apples have softened but still hold their shapes, about 5 minutes. (The apples will release liquid as they cook; most of it will evaporate.) With a slotted spoon, transfer the batch to a larger platter to cool. Repeat with the remaining apples and maple syrup.

To assemble the tart: Wet a kitchen towel and wring it well to remove as much water as possible. Unwrap the phyllo and set the stack on a flat surface. Gently remove 1 sheet of phyllo from the pile and set it on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Immediately cover the remaining phyllo with the moist towel to prevent it from drying out. Brush the sheet of phyllo with oil. Sprinkle with about a third of the walnuts, leaving about a 2-inch border around the edges. Set another sheet of phyllo on top, brush with oil, and sprinkle with walnuts. Repeat the third sheet of phyllo. Set the fourth sheet in place and brush with oil.

Mound the apples haphazardly on top of the stacked phyllo in a rectangular shape, leaving about 2 inches uncovered around the edges. Gently lift the edges of the phyllo, one side at a time, and fold them over to create a frame about 1 1/2-inches wide around the apples. (Some of the slices will end up beneath the phyllo, but most will remain exposed). Brush the phyllo “frame” with oil. Drain the cranberries and scatter them among the apples.

Bake until the phyllo is golden and crisp, 9 to 16 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. To present the tart on a platter, transfer it with the parchment in place, and then gently pull out the parchment. To serve, slice into squares.

 

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