Caramelized Pear & Ginger Cake

I have envisioned this tangy, sweet and delish flavor combo for a while now. Ginger and Pears. I could not get this out of my mind, so I came up with a way to combine these two flavors into a sort of cobbler like cake. The cake has a bottom layer, then the fruit, and then topped again with small pieces of dough that was used for the bottom layered on top of the fruit.

Pears have such a great sweet and mild taste, the addition of the ginger and some other spices really are a nice addition to this cake.

Here is what you will need:
4 - 5 pears
1/2 c water
2 tbsp finely minced ginger
1 tsp fresh nutmeg
1 tsp fresh all spice
vegan sugar to caramelize pears

For the dough:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (i used the chunkier, kosher salt here)
1 cup vegan sugar
3/4 cup vegan earth balance
3 egg equivalents for Ener-G (use warm water)

Begin by making the dough, as it will need to set in the freezer for about 30 minutes for you to be able to handle it easier, and it won't be a sticky mess.

Begin by adding the earth balance and the 1 cup vegan sugar into your mixer, beat for about 5 minutes so it becomes a nice, light, fluffy mixture. In a seperate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Also mix 3 egg equivalents of Ener-G together.

When your sugar and butter mixture is nice and fluffy, slowly add about 1/3 of your ener-g mixture at a time, making sure each 1/3 is incorporated before adding your next 1/3. Add your bowl of dry ingredients slowly. Continue to mix until it comes together into a very smooth dough. It is going to be very sticky, wrap this up in plastic wrap and leave in your freezer for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is in the freezer, start to prepare your pears. I cut mine in half length wise, then in half again. Do this to all of your pears. Then, take a small plate and pour some of your vegan sugar onto it. This will allow you to place each pear section into the sugar to coat it.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium high, and place each pear slice into it, cut side down. They might be a bit smooshed in the pan, but that is ok. Cook for about 5 minutes, and then add your 1/2 cup of water, in addition to the ginger, nutmeg and all spice. Let this cook for another 10 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on this, you don't want the sugary syrup to burn. If it looks like it is getting too thick or burning, add a little bit of water to it. Set aside and let cool.

While the mixture cools down, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take out your plastic wrapped dough, take 1/2 of the dough and use this to create the bottom layer of the cake. I used a pie pan for mine, but I think a 9" springform pan would work nicely as well. Spread out the dough to get a nice, even bottom layer.

Take your pear mixture, and spoon the pears over the bottom dough layer. Make sure to save the sauce, but feel free to scoop out all of the small pieces of ginger and add to the pears. Take your other 1/2 of the dough and layer the top with table spoon sized chunks of dough. Try to cover almost the whole layer, but there will be small spots where the pear layer peeks through. This is ok, as the dough will spread out during baking.

Now for the neat part. Take your sugary, syrup like sauce and cook it on high heat for about 2 - 3 minutes. It will bubble like mad, start to turn a caramely brown color and get thicker.



Pour this syrup over the top of your cake. This will make the top layer of your cake have a nice, really cripsy top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is baked golden brown.

Also, learning this from experience, put another pan, like a pizza pan, underneath your cake just in case there are some juices that bubble and spill over. Not fun to clean up.

Eat right away, or let cool and savor later.

Carrot Ginger Soup

I did not have the faintest idea what to make for dinner yesterday, I checked the fridge and my cupboards, and then checked them again. And....again. Nothing. Then I realized I had a few key ingredients to make a really simple and delish soup...carrots and ginger. I have never made this kind of soup before, but I thought..."Hey, how hard can it be? You can figure it out!" So I did my best, and came up with a really tasty little soup.

This is a really nice, light soup but it is filling at the same time. I think normally this is made into a sort of cream soup, which is easy to veganize and do, but I wanted to avoid the heavy feeling of the creamy soups, and just have a really nice, clean and savory soup.

Here is what you'll need:
1.5 pounds of carrots
1 medium - large onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-4 tbsp of minced ginger (adjust to taste)
5 c. veggie broth (or use water with corresponding amounts of veggie bullion)
1 tsp of fresh grated nutmeg
2 tbsp Earth Balance or your fav. vegan butter sub.
salt
pepper

Start by slicing each onion, then chopping each sliced section into about thirds. The pieces will be kind of big, but you will be putting the soup into a food processor anyways. Add your Earth Balance or vegan butter to a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add your onions. While these cook, give your garlic a rough chop and toss them into the pot as well. Finely mince your ginger and add. Cook for 3 minutes longer, or until onions start to turn a golden color.

Add your veggie broth. While this comes back up to temp, start with your carrots. I used a mandolin slicer for mine, and sliced them at a 1/4 inch. Alternately, you can just roughly cut your carrots into slices. Just keep in mind, the larger pieces of carrots you cut, the longer you will have to let it simmer to soften them up. Add the sliced carrots as you go, and keep the soup at a simmer.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Check the tenderness of the carrots. If they easily come apart with a spoon or fork, you are good to go. If not, cook for 5 more minutes, check and repeat if neccessary.

You will notice at this state it just looks more like a vegtable soup than carrot ginger soup. Here is where the magic happens. Turn off your burner, so your soup can start to cool down a bit. With a slotted spoon or ladel, spoon out the slices of carrots, and if you get onions and garlic too, that is even better. Fill your food processor no more than 2/3 full, and pulse until it is a mushy mess and add it back into the soup. Spoon out the rest of the carrot/onion/garlic and food process again, add back into soup. I left some slices of carrots and onions in mine, I probably processed about 3/4 of all the carrots and onions in my soup.

Now, it should look more like a real carrot ginger soup. Since the consistancy is right where you want it, take the time to season your soup now. Add a bit of salt and pepper to your taste. Grate fresh nutmeg, and add to your soup. If you love nutmeg like I do, feel free do add maybe 2 tsp and adjust to your taste. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes, serve and enjoy!

Ginger & Agave Eggplant

The latest addition to the cookbooks has been "The Spice and Herb Bible" by Ian Hemphill and it is such a great book! I love how it goes through poretty much everything under the sun, gives you a history of it, how to store and use it. It even has many spice combinations in the book, so I can do cool things like make my own curry powder! It has some really great flavo combinations and ideas that are almost counter-intuative but when you follow this guide, you will be really surprised by the results.



That being said, this appetizer is inspired by this book and I was not sure if it would be bad, or just ok. The combo seems a bit strange at first....smokey cumin...sweet agave....ginger...? What on earth would this become...but man, I am sure glad I went with it and tried it out. It is unlike anything I have ever had before, in a good way. A really good way. It is tangy, zesty, sweet and savory all in one taste. It does have a pretty intense flavor, so I would suggest making this as an appetizer, or maybe making some jasmine rice with it if you want to make it into a meal.

Here is what you will need:
1 medium to large eggplant
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced very fine
4 tsp fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp. cumin
1 lemon, for juice and zest

Start by slicing your eggplant into at least 1/2 inch slices. Add oil to pan, and fry the sliced eggplant in batches until each slice is brown on both sides. I found doing this that eggplant absorbes a whole lot of oil, quickly, so you will need to add more oil as you go. You can also brush each side or eggplant and fry it that way if you want to cut down on the oil. Set aside on a plate and drain on a paper towl on plate.


After your eggplant is done, add a small amount of oil to your pan, just enough so the garlic and ginger can cook on a medium low heat for a few minutes. When the garlic is just starting to get a bit toasty/golden brown, add your: water, agave nectar, cumin, lemon juice and zest. Cook for 10 minutes, and then add in the eggplant you have already fried. Cover this and let simmer for another ten minutes.

Enjoy and have your tastebuds be amazed at what you just made!