Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Sauteed Swiss Chard
page 113

Sadly, there is no picture for this dish either. I must have hit the "delete all" button on my camera before downloading. Sorry folks. You all know what sauteed greens look like, I imagine. These looked better! Ha!
I previously used to steam my greens before sauteeing. Turns out that's entirely unnecessary! Don't I feel dumb. I've wasted good time on this extra step over the years, but I swear that's what they taught us to do in the one cooking class I took at "Natural Gourmet Institute." But that was ages ago. Who knows what really happened?!
Just wash and chop your greens. Sautee some garlic and shallots in olive oil. Add greens and toss till they wilt. Voila! Your delicious and healthful side dish is served!!

Speaking of healthful, but on a totally different note: Is there anything more disgusting than garlic juice? Don't answer that, because I already know! I'm feeling under the weather again and my friend and co-worker Thad made me the following juice:
Beet, pear, kale, ginger, garlic.
I got through the day feeling pretty good, so I'm willing to concede that maybe this was a good idea. At least my tastebuds are compromised from my cold! It's worse than swallowing salt water while swimming in the ocean and only slightly better than being sick all week! Yuk!!

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Watercress, Jicama, and Corn Salad with Jalapeno Dressing

Sadly, this is the only picture you get to see of the delicious salad we made last Friday. We were 5 women and V. for dinner. Everyone was starving and I rushed to get the food on the table, and before I could think "blog" it was all gone. I did take a picture of my girls with the empty salad bowl, but when I went to download it today, there was a problem with the memory card and nothing remains. Oh well, you can take my word for it...it looked so colorful and tasted deeeelicious.
I substituted chopped apples for the corn, because I hate frozen corn unless it's in a curry or a soup.
Look at the vibrant color of the jalapeno dressing! It's great on steamed veggies too!
The recipe says it serves 6, but everyone wanted seconds, so we didn't have enough. Better than when people aren't touching the food, I suppose. We filled up on lasagna afterwards. And the other 5 had chocolate cupcakes.
I've decided to swear off sugar for January, because the candy consumption over the holidays was out of control. It's a hard thing for a pastry chef. But I'm determined to prove to myself that I can do it, and I'm still eating fruit in moderation, so it's not like I'm really depriving myself. It's amazing though, how much of my usual diet contains some form of sugar, maple syrup or agave, and breakfast has been the hardest thing to keep interesting. I bought some raw cacao and I'm mostly making shakes with banana, water and almond butter. If anyone has any other inspirations, please leave a comment!!
The salad is on page 43.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Spaghetti and Seitan Wheatballs with
Roasted Plum Tomato Sauce

Erica came down to New York City from Ottawa with her family this past week. They got caught in a snow storm on the way down, turning what should have been an 8-hour drive, into a tedious 11-hour voyage.
I had prepped the wheat balls and tomato sauce in the morning, so it was easy enough to delay the cooking process until their arrival. Funnily enough, none of the kids wanted to taste the wheat balls, because as Kea explained: "we've never eaten food shaped into a ball before." But the tomato sauce was well-received!
Among the adults, the reviews of the balls were mixed. The general complaint was that the texture was too soft. Perhaps I minced the seitan in the food processor for too long. I would definitely try to keep it a little chunkier in the future. The leeks and garlic made for good flavor, coupled with the relative simplicity of the sauce.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Seitan Piccata and Braised Green Beans

Seitan Piccata is V's favorite dish at Candle 79. He never gets anything else. So when we had my parents and some friends over for dinner the other night he requested that it be the next thing I cook from the cookbook. I would have waited a few more months to make it, because frying things sort of scares me. And frying things in small batches and keeping them warm for 7 people, and then plating them before they get cold, scares me even more. It helped that my mother offered to help (while being so amazed by the seitan, which she had never seen before).

We did not make the seitan... I love Ray's Wheat Meat, which seems to be available at several health food stores around New York City, so it never seems worth the effort of starting from scratch. Someday though! Before this project is done!

I started by making the green beens - almonds add some texture and just a hint of flavor. Then I put them on a sheet pan in the oven, covered with foil, at 170 degrees (as low as my oven will go) to keep them warm, while we cooked the rest.

We made garlic mashed potatoes (boiled, then pureed in the food processor with soy milk, a little olive oil, salt and pepper).

My mom made the sauce. I breaded and fried the seitan. V. took pictures after we plated. Hooray for team work in the kitchen!  

I was the only vegetarian at the table and everyone completely cleaned their plates. It's a filling and fulfilling dish. Perfect for a cold winter evening with friends, family, and lots of red wine!

Recipes are on pages 89 and 111. 

I know. This not actually sharing the recipes is a little frustrating. But I can't copy the entire book for you. And so far 8 out of 8 recipes have been winners. That's a pretty great record if you're still looking for a good Christmas present! 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, this recipe is completely different from the piccata in the Candle Cafe Cookbook. I like this one a lot better.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Avocado Salsa

Why is it so hard to find perfectly ripe avocados? I went to four stores, and I did finally find some, but it doesn't always work out that way. Here's a trick that one of my chef friends taught me: take the hard avocados and put them in the food processor with a little olive oil. Works like a charm. And you're only adding healthy fat to something that is already healthy fat, so if you have a party and you're in a bind, I highly recommend it. You're avocados won't be chunky but they'll taste perfectly ripe.
In this case it wasn't necessary and I got a nice, chunky avocado salsa. Which is to say guacamole. Whatever you want to call it, it was a big hit at our holiday party and I should have made more!
Recipe on page 11.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Winter Spiced Sangria

Depending on whether your apartment is hot or cold in the winter, you will want to make this recipe as sangria or mulled wine.
I recently heard somewhere that old buildings in New York tended to be overheated because it was assumed that you needed fresh air, and would therefore keep your windows open all winter. It's certainly the best explanation we've heard about why our apartment (built in 1927) is so hot, even though we've turned the radiators all the way down. And we do keep the windows wide open. Lots of fresh air and quite a waste of energy!
So when we had a party this weekend, 15 people in the already hot room, we opted for the chilled sangria. It was delicious. Not too sweet with plenty of holiday flavor!
Recipe on page 166.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Sofrito-Seared Seitan

Oh. Wow!! I really can't believe that this dish came out of my kitchen. It was so unbelievably good! And not too labor intensive for a weeknight! While the rice was cooking, I got everything else done. What a light and flavorful sofrito!!
I have to be honest, I deviated a little from the recipe. I didn't marinate the seitan (got home too late). Instead I seared it in olive oil for a few minutes to brown the outsides. Then I poured the sauce over it and simmered for 15-20 minutes. Totally delicious.
Also, I got the book out and realized I forgot to buy cilantro, and the recipe calls for 3 (!) tablespoons. So I added a teaspoon of ground cumin and chopped up about a tablespoon of fresh chives, just because I had them sitting around. Perhaps not totally authentic (at all!?!), but I don't think it suffered.
And maybe you could make this version for that person in your life who hates cilantro (doesn't everybody know at least one?).
We ate it with brown basmati rice and avocado as suggested, and I made a green side salad, just to get a few more veggies in there.
The recipe is on page 87.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Home-Style Pancakes

At 7.45 am the food co-op was already so packed with Thanksgiving shoppers that it took me 25 minutes to get through the check-out line. I thought I was being smart by getting there early. Me and all of the rest of Park Slope.
On the upside, I worked up an appetite and came home to make pancakes. My first vegan pancakes. They didn't have as much spring to them as non-vegan, and I actually liked them better. My German mother only ever made crepes when I was growing up, and these seem like the perfect middle ground between those, and the fluffy American pancakes that V. grew up with. Completely delicious!! (Recipe is on page 134).
Neither one of us was crazy about the idea of mixing blueberries into soy butter, as called for in the recipe. Instead, I cooked 1 bag of frozen blueberries with 1 cup of maple syrup and we poured that on top (well, not all of it). Yum! And we can eat the left-over sauce over ice-cream!
Also, feline supervision helps, if you can get it.

Cooking the Candle 79 Cookbook

Black Bean and Roasted Poblano Soup


Welcome to Paradise.
This is what Joy Pierson, co-owner of Candle 79 will say to you if she happens to be in the restaurant when you arrive.
So picture yourself sitting in a cozy booth with people you love, drinking organic wine (or an organic mango mojito), and knowing that no animals were harmed in the making of the meal you're about to enjoy. And then you taste the food and it completely blows your mind because you had no idea vegetables could taste this good. Obviously you knew they could taste great. But this is a whole other level of legumes! Pretty close to Paradise in my book. It might be even more paradisiacal (yes that is the correct adjective for Paradise...who knew?) if Paul McCartney were sitting at the next table. And it was your birthday. And he noticed and came over to sing "Happy Birthday." It could happen. I'm just saying. It's Paradise after all. And it's New York.

So the Candle 79 Cookbook came out two weeks ago. I have known I was going to cook my way through it from the day they announced it, well over a year ago. Because I think Angel Ramos is the most talented chef I ever met (not to mention an absolute sweetheart), because everyone I know agrees that if we could eat at Candle 79 every day, we would all be vegans (and that seems like a really good thing), and because I've seen "Julie and Julia" as often in my thirties, as I saw "Dirty Dancing" in my teens.
Let me just say though, that I will take my time with this project. Because I can't make a recipe a day (nobody here to eat it, no time). Because there are oh so many other things I also have to absolutely cook.  Because there are several recipes that require seasonal ingredients. So be patient. We will walk, not run! (this insight must be a symptom of moving to Brooklyn...everybody in Manhattan runs)!

I started small in terms of effort, with black bean soup and cashew creme fraiche (page 35).
It was great for dinner last night. And still excellent for breakfast this morning. The rest is going in the freezer.

PS: This was the first time I cooked a poblano pepper. It's from Puebla, Mexico, and it's part of the chili family. The green ones are mild, though very flavorful, more like a bell pepper (which in a pinch, you could replace it with, though it wouldn't be nearly as exotic and cool). You should have seen me trying to roast mine over the little gas burner on my stove. Not quite the flame of a restaurant kitchen. It took a while, and I kept jumping when the skin burst with a little sizzle, but it came out black and bubbly and made the kitchen smell very good. Next time though, I might roast it in the oven.