teriyaki burgers

DSC02621
Originally uploaded by meliroq

Mark earned a $50 gift card from Borders a couple of weeks ago. We now have three new vegan cookbooks in our kitchen :)

One of the books we bought was Veganopolis. The recipes look amazing and many are French-based. There's even a recipe for a vegan version of pan bagnat, which is a specialty in Nice. I still haven't tried it yet but hope to soon.

Last week, we tried to make the Roadhouse Vegan burgers. And by "we", I mean Mark. Unfortunately, some of the directions were vague and quite frustrating. Though the result was actually quite good (in fact, so good we're never buying store-bought veggie burgers again), Mark felt like he needed to tweak the recipe.

So, last night, he adapted the recipes from Veganopolis and Real Food Daily cookbooks. Then, he coated the cooked burgers in soyaki and browned them in our convection oven. OMG!!! They were delicious. And didn't even taste like veggie burgers.

He added baked fries & beans to the meal, with homemade barbecue and mustard sauce for dipping. I'm a lucky woman :)

online baking

Lately, Mark & I have been feeling it was time to spruce up our menu. We found several cookbooks, at Barnes & Noble, last weekend that we would like to add to our library but things are kind of tight right now. So, I found this blog, meet the shannons, from a link on facebook. We're basing tonight's dinner & dessert on recipes we found there. As well as the next few lunches & dinners ;)

I decided I'd try the Mexi Shells first. So far, it's slightly out of my comfort zone but I haven't tasted it (it's baking in the oven as I type this) so I'm not judging yet.

It has been remarkably easy to prepare though I admit I didn't form little balls & individually stuff the shells. Seemed like too much bother so I tossed everything in & coated them evenly in the tomato sauce. There wasn't any mention of garlic so I added a clove to the onion mixture (we like lots of garlic in our food). Oh, and I cut down on the amount of FYH Mozzarella, by approximately one-third.

For dessert, I chose the Carrot Cake Cupcakes. I know we have lots of cupcake recipes at our disposal but these looked scrumptious & we love carrot cake.

recreating mantécaos

Ever since I first traveled to Nice, in October 2009, I have been obsessed with finding mantécaos. Then, in June 2010, I was fortunate to visit Nice again & purchased a few packages of mantécaos. They were just as delicious as I remembered. Once back home, I set about searching for recipes online and have found a few that seemed similar to the ingredients on the package of Les Biscuits La Belle Boulange, which were available at the Monoprix located by the Nice Étoile.

Here is the closest recipe, translated into English:
The post date a little but this is not serious. I sought recipes of mantécaos (and not montecaos) in order to bring me closer to that which my Spanish mother-in-law did and fell on this post. I carried out 2 tests to fall on the good recipe (given by several) and especially on the good method.

500g of T55 flour
250g sugar (not ice)
250g of oil or molten lard extract
lemon zest
cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a pot and to work quickly your fingers right time all to mix.
The paste must have same texture as that of fine sand with water at the edge of the beach.
Make balls of the size a large nut and to put them on a sheet or, better, a sheet of cooking or greaseproof paper.
Make a small indentation with your index finger and powder with cinnamon (very little) or drinking chocolate (that is me which I could not resist)
Bake for 25 minutes with 165° with revolving heat
When done, let cool and preserve them in a metal tin.

Do not:
* Work the paste too much because you will end up with dry biscuits
* Use an electric mixer
* Flatten the ball of paste too much before baking, they will take fine shape with baking
* To use a cold greasy substance, which is what I made the first time and anything to see with mantecaos

I adore these very simple biscuits that my children claim me for a long time, that points out their childhood to them of a Spanish granny.

I had to edit a bit from the online translation tool as it left bits of french mixed in that didn't make sense. For example: "j' made the first time" makes absolutely no sense at all! Should read "I made the first time".

The original French post:
Le post date un peu mais ce n'est pas grave.

Je cherchais des recettes de mantecaos (et non montecaos) afin de me rapprocher au mieux de celle que faisait ma belle-mère espagnole et suis tombée sur ce post.

J'ai fait 2 essais pour tomber sur la bonne recette (donnée par plusieurs) et surtout sur la bonne méthode.

500g de farine T55
250g de sucre (pas glace)
250g d'huile ou de saindoux fondu
extrait ou zestes de citron
cannelle

Mettre tous les ingrédients dans une terrine et travailler rapidement avec les doigts juste le temps de tout amalgamer. La pâte doit avoir la même texture que lorsqu'on touille du sable fin avec de l'eau au bord de la plage.

Faire des boules de la taille d'une grosse noix et les poser sur une tôle ou mieux un tapis de cuisson ou du papier sulfurisé.

Appuyer juste un peu avec l'index et saupoudrer de canelle (trés peu) ou de chocolat en poudre (ça c'est moi qui n'ai pas pu résister)

Faire cuire 25 minutes à 165° à chaleur tournante

Les laisser refroidir et les conserver dans une boite en métal.

Ne pas faire :
* trop travailler la pâte sinon vous vous retrouvez avec des biscuits secs
* utiliser un robot
* trop aplatir la boule de pâte avant cuisson, ils prendront la bonne forme à la cuisson
* mettre un corps gras froid, c'est ce que j'ai fait la première fois et rien à voir avec des mantecaos

J'adore ces biscuits tout simples que me réclament mes enfants depuis longtemps, ça leur rappelle leur enfance auprés d'une mamie espagnole.

I'm also interested in trying the recipe, with vanilla sugar, located at this website: sucrissme.com

I will post updates once I try both recipes.