Delightful Kale Pastries

Kale pastries and butternut squash soup

There is a local Washington farm that is still growing kale in a greenhouse, and I’ve been snatching it up every time I see it at our local food co-op.  (If you are local, I’m talking about the fabulous PCC Natural Markets).  Usually I simply make sauteed kale with some raisins and pine nuts, but tonight I felt like fancying it up a little.  So I thawed out some of my favorite Aussie Puff Pastry dough and made these luscious little kale pastries.  They made a fabulous accompaniment to our dinner of butternut squash soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed*
• 1 large bunch kale, finely chopped
• 1 small onion (or 1/2 large), finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Lay puff pastry on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Cut into 9 equal squares.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic, and sautee until translucent but not browned.  Add kale, along with a splash of water, and stir.  Cover with a lid and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add water several times during this process, so that the kale does not stick to the pan.  Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast flakes.  Stir to combine.

Place a heaping tablespoon of the kale filling in the middle of each pastry square.  Pull two opposite sides of pastry together over the top, overlapping slightly.  It helps to lightly moisten the pastry where the edges touch.  This will keep the pastry from unfolding as it bakes.

Bake pastries at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, until tops are golden brown.  Serve immediately.

* Each sheet of Aussie Bakery’s puff pastry dough is about 7 oz.  If you are using a different brand, just be sure to cut pastry into equal-sided squares.  I used only one sheet of pastry dough in this recipe, and had some kale mixture leftover, so you could probably make 2 entire sheets of pastry for a yield of 18 kale pastries.

Kind of like Vegan Cheez-Its

Ready to Bake

I’ve been wanting to try out the goldfish crackers recipe from Vegan Lunch Box for so long, but never got around to it because I don’t have a little fishy cookie cutter.  Today I decided to take the plunge and just cut them into squares.  After I did that, I noticed that if I just put a hole in the center of each cracker, they would look a whole lot like Cheez-Its!  Woo hoo!  So I made the recipe and they turned out pretty well.  I’m sure I didn’t get the timing exactly right though, as my 3 year old pushed a button on my microwave timer and I didn’t realize that the timer wasn’t going until I started smelling the crackers and went to check!  So they were slightly over-baked, but oh well!

I’ll post the recipe here as I veered away from the Vegan Lunch Box recipe a little.  I substituted some whole wheat flour, omitted cayenne pepper and onion powder, and increased the nutritional yeast.  I enjoy nutritional yeast quite a bit and plan to increase it even more next time around!  Here’s the recipe I used today:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric (optional, for color)
• 1/2 cup canola oil, chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes or more
• 1/2 cup ice water
• 1 Tbsp vinegar
• Olive oil cooking spray
• More salt for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together flours, nutritional yeast flakes, spices, and salt.  Drizzle in cold canola oil and mix in with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Mix ice water with vinegar.  Drizzle in water and vinegar mixture and mix with your fingers.  Knead lightly until dough holds together.

Transfer dough to a floured surface and roll to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut into about 1-inch squares and transfer to parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  The squares will fill at least 2 large baking sheets.  Poke a hole into the center of each square with a toothpick, swirling it around just a bit to widen the hole.  Spray crackers with olive oil spray and sprinkle with additional salt as desired.

Bake for about 10 minutes, then slide parchment paper off baking sheets and let cool.  Enjoy!

The finished product!

Marinated Baked Tofu

If anyone is unsure about trying tofu, give this recipe a try!! Tofu is the perfect food for marinating as it readily soaks up flavors, and once baked takes on a lovely chewy texture. If you cut the tofu into thin slabs, it makes a nice sandwich filling; if you cut it into cubes, it’s great thrown into a stir-fry. But once I have smelled this baking for an hour, it’s all I can do not to gobble it all up immediately just as it is! For that reason, I always double or triple this recipe! Joanne Stepaniak deserves the credit for this delicious marinade, which can be found in her cookbook Vegan Vittles.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce (I use low-sodium)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp brown rice vinegar (you can substitute regular white vinegar, I did!)
• 1 Tbsp fresh gingerroot, grated or minced (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil*
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
• 1 pound firm or extra-firm tofu (use extra-firm if you can find it!)**

Preparation:

Drain the tofu, then pat dry with a kitchen towel. Set aside on top of another dry towel while you prepare the marinade. This will take some of the moisture out of the tofu, which will allow it to soak up more flavor!

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl. Cut the tofu into any shape you desire! You can cut it into cubes, slabs, or triangles. To make triangles, like those pictured above, simply cut the block of tofu in half or in thirds so that you have 2 or 3 equal slabs (depending on the thickness desired). Then cut each slab into quarters, and cut each quarter across diagonally to form triangles. Lay tofu in the bottom of a container and pour marinade over the top, being careful to cover every inch of tofu! Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you wish. Turn tofu over once or twice during this time so that all sides marinate equally!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain marinade off of tofu and save for another use – it makes a great sauce for a stir-fry! Place marinated tofu pieces in a single layer on a lightly oiled or sprayed baking sheet. Bake for about 1 hour, flipping tofu after 30 minutes! Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot or cold.

*Don’t skip the toasted sesame oil – it is really a key flavor in this marinade! You can find it at some supermarkets, Asian food stores, or health food stores. I got mine from Trader Joe’s.

**Make sure to use regular tofu, found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket and packed in water (as opposed to silken tofu, which is found in aseptic packaging on a supermarket shelf).

Spanokopita (spinach phyllo pies)

I’ve made this as a casserole before, but for Father’s Day I actually attempted the traditional triangle-shaped Spanokopita! They turned out great, and the wrapping was surprisingly fun to do! They are easy but time-consuming, so I recommend you prepare the filling and then set up a table in front of the TV and watch a movie while you wrap! Or at least make sure you have some company! Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 lb firm tofu
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 pkg phyllo pastry* (if using frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator)
• Lots of extra olive oil for brushing
• Dried dill for garnishing

Filling:

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, salt, and pepper and sautée until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place thawed spinach into a colander and squeeze out as much water as possible.

Place tofu into a food processor and process until it resembles the texture of ricotta cheese. If you don’t want to use a food processor, mash finely with a fork. Transfer tofu to a bowl and add squeezed spinach and other remaining ingredients (except for the extra olive oil and dried dill). Mix thoroughly. Add additional salt and/or pepper to taste.

Pastries:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Unroll thawed phyllo pastry. Different brands of phyllo pastry come in different sizes. If a sheet of pastry is about the size of a 9 x 13 baking pan, you have small pastry sheets. If it is double this size, you have large sheets.

Take one sheet of pastry and lay it out on a cutting board. (Keep a clean damp cloth over the remaining stack, otherwise it will dry out!) If you have a large sheet, cut it in half widthwise – each half sheet will make one pie. Proceed to cut the half-sheet length-wise into two long strips. Brush olive oil onto one strip, layer the other strip on top, and brush olive oil onto the top strip also.

Place a heaping spoonful of the filling onto the bottom corner of the short end of the strip. Fold that corner up to form a triangle. Fold that triangle up again, then again, then again, until you have reached the top and have a single triangle. It is difficult to put into words but it is just like folding a flag! Place completed triangle onto a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil and sprinkle a little bit of dried dill on top. Repeat with remaining phyllo sheets until you have used up all the filling. You may or may not use the whole package – it depends on what brand phyllo you are using!

Bake for 20-25 minutes. You might need 2 cookie sheets to hold all of the pastries; if this is the case put two oven racks as close to the middle as possible, and place one sheet on top and one on bottom. Rotate halfway through cooking. After 20 minutes, keep an eye on these because they can brown very quickly!

*Phyllo pastry can be found in either the refrigerated or frozen section of most supermarkets. For large frozen phyllo sheets, I recommend The Fillo Factory Organic Fillo Dough – it comes in either white or whole wheat (I used whole wheat in the photo). For small refrigerated sheets, I recommend Athens Fillo Dough. Both brands are made without hydrogenated oils or trans fats.