Olive Oil and Balsamic Appreciation

NOTE: (Gross) Vegan Recipe submitted by Cal State Bakersfield Nutritionist student Alexandria Woodbridge :

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar are two products that vegans eat every day or every week, and yet most of us know too little about the range of possible flavors in both products. Since I can’t recommend a vegan cheese tasting party because in my mind, vegan cheese isn’t quite good enough at this point to warrant one, this soiree will allow vegans to appreciate olive oil and balsamic in a similar way.


To get more information on the range of flavors for olive oil, please visit The Olive Oil Source website and look at their tasting sheets for olive oil. You can print out a few of them as a reference for your guests at this party. As far as tasting balsamic vinegar, it is very similar to wine tasting as it is also made from grapes. Learn a bit more about balsamic vinegar by visiting its Wikipedia page.

Now to get down to the nitty gritty of this soiree.  Purchase three bottles of fine olive oil and three bottles of fine balsamic vinegar from an Italian food store. As these products keep for quite some time and are always a necessity in the kitchen, don’t feel guilty about the splurge.

Now arrange small bowls or dipping plates around your home with the oils and vinegars in them. Some can be in the kitchen, some on the windowsill, some on the balcony, etc…  The reason I like the oils and vinegars scattered is that it allows people to move around your home instead of being stuck in one place.

Place each bottle besides the bowl or plate containing the product, so that guests can note the ones they really enjoy. Now scatter lots of bread baskets around the house as well, containing a nice range of baguettes (some soft, some toasted), foccacia bread, and other types of light colored breads that will allow the full flavor of the oils and vinegars to come through.

This soiree is very simple and can be the vegan equivalent of a wine and cheese. Make sure to provide some good background music, wine, and the menu below which uses balsamic vinegar and olive oil as ingredients in the dishes.

Menu

Drinks

Red and White Wine

Appetizers

A myriad of baguettes and other lovely breads to dip in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Baked Portobello Mushroom and Tomato Salad

Preheat the oven to 350.
Scrape the gills from portobello mushroooms caps using a spoon.  One per person.
Fill mushroom cap with 1 Tbs of pesto (recipe to follow) and top with breadcrumbs.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mushroom is very fragrant.  You can broil the breadcrumbs if you’d like them a bit more golden.
Now serve on a plate with a few slices of tomato drizzled with olive oil, balsamic, salt, and pepper.

To make the Pesto: In a blender, food processor, or bullet, blend 1 bunch of fresh basil with a few handfuls of either pine nuts or walnuts, a few Tbs of vegan parmesan cheese, 1 clove of garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. There are many possible variations to pesto, including the use of sundried tomatoes, spicy eggplant, or fresh black olives. You can use this recipe for many things, including the traditional use, served over pasta.

Main Course

Fiddlehead Risotto

Fiddleheads are baby ferns that haven’t yet unfurled.  They have a very distinctive taste and work well in this risotto.


In a medium or large cooking pot, fry 3 cups of cleaned and trimmed whole fiddleheads, 1 bunch of  chopped green onions, and 8 tofurkey slices cut into thin strips in 2 Tbs of olive oil.

• When everything is golden, add 2 cups of risotto rice (arborio rice) and continue to fry for a few minutes to give the rice a bit of color.
• Prepare 6 cups of cold vegetarian stock (I like to use vegetarian chicken stock from the Trader Joe's) making it only mildly salty in a large mixing bowl.
• Now using a soup ladle, ladle 1 spoonful of the stock into the rice and stir until the liquid is absorbed.  Now repeat, adding the stock 1 ladle-full at a time and giving the rice a few minutes to absorb the stock each time while stirring constantly.  Continue to add stock until the rice is cooked thoroughly, stirring constantly.  This process will take about 20-25 minutes.
• Once the rice is cooked, stir in 1/3  cup of plain flavored soy coffee creamer, 3 Tbs of pesto (recipe above with the Baked Mushroom Salad recipe), 1/4 cup of vegan parmesan cheese, and pepper to taste.  You probably won’t need to add salt.

Serve topped with a bit of finely chopped green onion.

Dessert

Olive Oil Chocolate Cake with Candied Mint

For this recipe, prepare the candied mint at least a day before you plan to serve the cake.

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• In a 10-inch round springform cake pan or any other 10-inch round baking dish, mix together with a whisk;
• 1 1/4 cups of white or pastry flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of cornstarch
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of salt
• Whisk dry ingredients until they are well mixed.  Now to the dry ingredients, add;
• 1 cup of soymilk
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 Tbs of lemon juice
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• Whisk until batter is smooth, wipe edges of cake pan with a paper towel, and bake for 40 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean.)

To make the candied mint:

Melt 2 Tbs of honey or other liquid sweetener in the microwave for 15 seconds in a small bowl.
Working quickly, brush 8 nice mint leaves and 1 mint sprig (the tip of the plant) with the honey and dip them in fine sugar. Allow them to dry for a day or two. Arrange the 8 pieces of mint in a circle around the chocolate cake and put the sprig in the middle. Serve the cake with vanilla soy ice cream.