Upon my urging my mom gifted me a pressure cooker for Christmas last year. Since then, my pressure cooker (or, p.c., as I like to call it) has been lying around my cupboard, directions inside, collecting dust. The whole idea of cooking under pressure frightened me well away from p.c. for 10 1⁄2 months. It’s my pleasure to report that the two below items helped me reach a tipping point and I used my darling p.c. for the very first time for this recipe.

1. Li’l Sis used to be her dorm’s fire safety marshal
Since I’m living with a ex-fire marshal I figure however scary using a pressure cooker is for the first time the Li’l Sis can step in and save the day. The good news is: using a pressure cooker isn’t scary all, quite the contrary; it’s easy and letting the steam out when depressurizing is pretty darn fun. The bad news is: after witnessing the Li’l Sis toast a flatbread on the stove over the open flame I found out she was only her dorm’s fire safety marshal in order to claim one of those plastic red fireman’s hats, and probably shouldn’t be depended upon in issues of fire safety.

2. wheat berries
These little things are my new favorite food item. They are a whole grain, a good source of vegetarian protein, wonderfully chewy, and fun to eat. Wheat berries, despite their cute name, are just the whole wheat grain minus only the inedible outer hull. The only problem with wheat berries is that they usually take 1 1⁄2 hours to cook. Far too long for a busy girl. P.c. to the rescue – they only take 40 minutes in a pressure cooker.

Serves: 6
Time: 55 minutes with a pressure cooker

Warm Wheat Berry and Apple Salad

2 cups water (3 if not using a pressure cooker)
2 cups wheat berries
1 large or 2 small apples, cubed small
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup walnuts
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp orange or apple juice
splash of olive oil
½ tsp salt

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I went apple picking last weekend. I did indeed pick apples. I did indeed go on a hayride. I did indeed pose with live goats and stick my head through one of those photo backgrounds so it appeared that I had the body of a wooly ewe. But because of a camera, ahem, malfunction, all I have to show for it pictorially is this watercolor:

As disappointed as I am to no longer have the photographed memories that could last a lifetime, I did have 25 pounds of apples to eat and therefore decided on this lovely autumnal menu of Mustard Braised Tempeh topping a Warm Wheat Berry and Apple Salad

Serves: 6
Time: 30 minutes

Mustard Braised Tempeh

(2) 8oz tempeh blocks
olive oil
2 tbsp orange or apple juice
2 tbsp Braggs, tamari, or soy sauce
2 tbsp grainy mustard
1 tbsp honey

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Hello everyone… I need a new camera and I’d love some advice. I’ve talked with pretty much anyone associated with photography, anyone I’ve seen with a camera, and gosh, anyone with eyes to wheedle advice on what kind of camera to get. This blogging thing has made me realize how much I LOVE taking pictures of small edible objects and I need to ameliorate feeding my hunger with a new set of dentures, or something metaphorical like that… I need a new camera!

Digital
$200 - $300
Good macro setting
Good action shots a plus (like Muybridge’s horses, I’m still trying to document that I run with both feet off the ground at some moments)

So here’s your small edible object of the day: roasted tomatoes. Simple. Yum. Yeah, I do like this photo, but it could be a lot nicer with a snappy new camera.

Thanks to Dad, a relatively new vegan and old vanesscipes fan, purchaser of my first digital camera, and partial financier of my second!

Serves: 3-4 as a side dish. They’re easy so double the recipe and toss them in whatever.
Time: 25 minutes – 2 hours

Roasted Tomatoes

12 medium-sized nice ripe tomatoes
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
dried herbs of your choice (thyme, basil, etc.)
salt and pepper

Oil a baking sheet lightly and preheat broiler. Half the tomatoes, lay them on the baking sheet cut side up, brush with olive oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, salt and pepper.

Pop in the broiler for 20 minutes or until brown on top. Transfer to a 400 degree oven and keep baking until they reach your desired state of dryness.

There’s a really great restaurant under the Williamsburg Bridge in my little Brooklyn nabe called Diner. It’s in one of those weird, out of place, sorta hard to get to Brooklyny locations but it’s worth the search. The printed menu is simple and they always have a ton of incredible-sounding specials that the dirty-but-beautiful wait staff explain with great flourish while underscoring the specials by scribbling them down in pen on your paper tablecloth.  Dramatic. I’ve yet to be anything but thrilled with the specials, but perhaps that’s why they’re called “specials.”

Anyway, so I went there last week and ordered 3 brunch meals, though I was only dining with one other person. After assuring the waiter that I could handle that much food (I’m from the Midwest, thank you very much, and I haven’t eaten for 15 hours.) I was served a bowl of warm corn pudding with eggs on top. I couldn’t get over the sweet, creamy corn taste of the pudding and vowed to try it on my own. I think the key to this dish is fresh corn, so make it now before the last of summer’s corn runs out.

I noticed in this Wednesday’s Dining section of the Times a piece on soft boiled eggs for more than brunch. The nerve – eggs for dinner! So I suggest to any of you ovo-eating vegetarians out there to try this pudding topped with soft boiled eggs. I served mine with some bacon-style smoked tempeh strips, though some tofu strips would work well too. The roasted tomatoes added color and a nice acidic accompaniment to the sweet-n-creamy pudding. (I’ll be adding the recipe for the roasted tammys soon.  Update: the recipe for the Roasted tomatoes is here) And do not forgo the garlic toast. Make the toast any which way you like, but it’s imperative for dipping!

Serves: 4 (add a protein of your choice for a main dish)
Time: 45 minutes

Corn Pudding

2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
8 ears of corn
1 ½ cups of half n half
1 cup milk
1 tbsp honey
¾ tsp salt
2 tbsp flour, cornmeal, or masa harina

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This weekend’s autumnal equinox and the first wet leafy breezes have got me craving a change to harvest cooking.   But I wasn’t sure exactly what to cook until inspired by the ingredients of September’s Monthly Mingle at What’s for Lunch Honey.  The featured ingredients are zucchini and sage - perfect for that transition to cozier autumn dishes.  Hello to everyone that I’ll be “meeting” at the mingle and thanks to Meeta for being hostess! 

The Li’l Sis voted on making a pot pie rather than zucchini burgers or zucchini boats and, if I pat my own back for a sec, this huge, golden and bubbly pot pie turned out terrific!  It was very rich and the sage gave it a really homey “Thanksgiving” taste.

Notes on Veganization: I wanted to make this pot pie richer than some of my previous posts so I used real butter and cream, though I would be easy to sub a combo of soy milk and perhaps some white wine for the cream and a vegan biscuit topping rather than the one I’ve outlined below.  Consider this recipe (and better yet, ALL recipes) a general theory rather than a set of hard and fast rules.

Serves: 6
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Here’s the concept quickly: chop and cook up veggies on the stove, add the liquid ingredients and spices and pour into a large rectangular baking pan.  Top with a layer of biscuit dough and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Ingredients and more detail after the jump…

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