Iron Chef: Stuffing

This week's Iron Chef turned out to be a twofer for me. I love stuffing so I was stoked to hear that this was the challenge. I've also been needing to use some of the random ingredients I've accumulated and of course those couple of perishable items that really need using. Yeah you know you all have them. An ingredient you bought for a recipe but don't use regularly so you have a 1/2 cup or so sitting in the cupboard doing nothing but taking up space for the next several months. That piece of fruit that rolled behind something on the counter so you didn't eat it while it was prime.
So yeah, this is my cupboard. it's pretty full of stuff and only about 1/3 of it is easily navigable. Enter Iron Chef Challenge.

I decided not to go out for any ingredients for this challenge. It's not like I needed to. I have enough random stuff to make several kinds of stuffing.

This isn't the most beautiful plate of food for sure but it's pretty good and everything was what I already had in the house. With the stuffing I made kidney bean cutlets (replaced chickpeas in the VCON chickpea cutlet recipe) using left over kidney beans. The sauce is VCON Red Wine Roux halved, I had the perfect amount of red wine to use up. And then the stuffing. I don't have a recipe for you but stuffing is good like that.

Almond Apple Bread Stuffing

1 onion, diced
2 medium apples, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
some thyme, oregano, sage
a pinch cumin and black pepper
1/3 ish cup rye flakes
1/3 ish cup barley flakes
2 cups veg broth
2 ish cups stale bread

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9x9" square pan. Saute the onion until softened, add garlic and apples. Cook 7-8 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except bread and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 mins. Remove from heat. Stir in bread. Press into prepared pan and bake 30 mins.

Iron Chef: Pears & Nuts

Here's a little dish that didn't quite work first time around but should be a good and easy little dessert.

Bex' Not Quite Cooked Barley Pecan Pears
2 Pears, cut in half
some barley flakes,
sugar, cinnamon, canola oil, & flour
agave for drizzling

I kinda fail this Iron Chef challenge but oh well. They were still tasty. I want to make something quick and small that doesn't really need a recipe.

Iron Chef: Apples & Ginger

This VeganMoFo Iron Chef Challenge comes to you from Katie at Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk. I'm posting this a little late but there's a recipe in it so I've got to share that.

For this Iron Chef Challenge our ingredients were Apples and Ginger. Immediately I thought dessert and could not escape the allure. I asked my husband what he thought I should make (sometimes two heads are better than one, sometimes you want everyone to shut up, today I wanted ideas). After throwing out a few standard flavors, pie being the quickest to mind, he stopped and got this slightly excited look on his face.
"Make ginger cake"
Me: "Make a ginger cake, ok . . " It sounded kinda boring to me but I had forgotten, he's a brit, he didn't mean just any ol' ginger cake
Him: "Yeah ginger cake, my Nan used to love them. Ever heard of Lyons Ginger Cake? "
Me: "No . . . What was that brand name again?" Now I'm poised over my keyboard, cursor at the search bar.
After some searching around I kinda found what he meant. This wasn't just any ol' ginger cake indeed. This was a classic packaged cake. One that I had never had so I was going to have to try and make it and then rely on his sensory recollection for the flavor and texture.

For the cake a did a little searching for recipes for a jumping off point. I found one and it seemed easy enough to veganize. My version goes a little something like this:

Like Lyons Ginger Cake

2 Tb flax meal 6 Tb water
3/4 cup earth balance vegan margarine
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup agave nectar 1 scant cup nondairy milk
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2-3 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 300. Lightly spray loaf pan and line with baking parchment. Whisk together flax and water, set aside. In a saucepan melt the margarine with sugar and agave. Remove from heat and mix in milk then add in flax mixture and combine well. In a bowl mix together flour, ginger (use anywhere between 2-3 tsp depending on how strong you want your ginger flavor), baking powder and baking soda. Combine flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hr then cover the top with parchment (so top doesn't burn) and bake another 25 mins. The cake is done when tester (or knife) inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool for 5 mins in pan then turn onto rack to cool completely.

This cake may keep forever, you'll see what I mean when you slice into it. That's one dense cake. You get an idea on how this is pretty shelf stable.

So now I needed an apple component.
I used local Ananas Reinette Apples from Scottfarm in Dummerston for this delicious fall treat. Ananas Reinette, an old European variety that resembles a Granny Smith a bit which makes it great for baking or just eating, means royal pineapple for it's flavor has a slight pineapple twang to it.

Caramel Candy Apple Topping
4 Ananas Reinette apples (or 2 Granny Smiths)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tb water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon a pinch of nutmeg

Slice or dice your apples, go for 1/4 inch thickness. Combine all the ingredients in a large heavy bottom skillet. Simmer this mixture over medium heat for 5-8 mins, you want the liquid to thicken to a syrup consistancy and the apples to get a little tender but not fall apart.
Serve this however you like. The cake is moist enough to eat on it's own if you want so fear not if you run out of topping, or just double to topping recipe.