Buchty

By Monica on April 2nd, 2008

Buchty, Czech baked donuts, also known as “a delicious, but gross misuse of butter”. If your arteries are just too clean these days, look no further.

These donut-style mini-cakes are extremely dense and rich, and stuffed with your favorite homemade jam or preserve. These aren’t quite as fluffy as the egg and butter laden buchty I ate as a kid, possibly due to the veganization, but they are still sinfully rich, flakey, and moist, with a very sweet, crunchy exterior… Kind of a donut-croissant!

Buchty
1/2 cup soymilk
1 packet dry yeast
2 cups flour
1/4t salt
4 Ener-G eggs
1/2c sugar
3/4c Earth Balance, separated
Your favorite jam or preserves
Confectioners sugar

Warm the soymilk slightly, add yeast and dissolve.
Into a large bowl, add flour and salt.
Whisk Ener-G eggs into the yeast-milk mixture, then add to the flour. Mix well.
In another bowl, whisk together the sugar and 1/2 cup EB until it is light and creamy. Fold this into the dough. Dough will be very sticky! Cover and let rise for 45 minutes.
After dough has risen, tear off a tennis ball sized chunk and work it into a round shape. Poke two fingers into the dough to make a small well, fill it with 1T of jam, then cover up the well and pinch it closed.
Fill up all the donuts this way and let them rise for another 15 minutes.
Grease a 9×13″ baking pan. Melt the remaining 1/4c EB. Place the doughnuts close together in the pan and drizzle the melted EB on top.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, until golden brown. When done, tear dougnnuts from each other and serve warm or cooled, sprinkled with confectioners sugar.

In the ‘other food that won’t kill you’ category this week, we had a Mexican Pasta Casserole from VegWeb. I used TVP as the taco “meat”, added black olives, omitted the vegan cheese, and doubled the recipe to make an extra casserole for a rainy day. Easy, easy, easy!

I also found a recipe on VegWeb for a seitan “Chicago Italian Beef”. I went into this pretty skeptical. I tried the recipe as written, then doubled the giardiniera, added more garlic, and more fennel. I was still disappointed, though the seitan did improve drastically after letting it marinade in the “aus jus” for 2 days after cooking. Looks good though, no?

And then with some melted vegan mozzarella, which I am absolutely done buying. This cheez had been sitting around in my refrigerator for a long time and now I’m finally rid of the waxy, flame retardant crap. Good riddance! (The ‘beef’ was also better without its overpowering grossness!) But again, looks good, no?

My wieners, take 2

By Monica on February 5th, 2008

Ok, they’re technically Julie’s wieners, but this was a catchier title. And unlike my last attempt at sausages, these came out perfectly! (My sausage skills might be improving, eh?) My only modification to Julie’s recipe was to use caraway seed instead of fennel seed, and they are absolutely fantastic! Way better than packaged Tofurkey sausages and certainly healthier and less expensive. These are now on permanent rotation in my house.

Here’s a wiener now, nekked in all its glory:

And then we move onto other possibilities, like Sausage & Dumpling Soup. Believe it or not, it isn’t tomatoes coloring this Czech soup, it’s all paprika.

This was also an excuse to use up more dried beans from my pantry. There is seemingly no end to them.

I think this next dish was originally German, but surely everyone knows the old Saurkraut-Potatoes-Sausage medley. Boiled taters, saurkraut, a handful of caraway seeds, and your favorite sausage. One of the easiest one pot meals ever!

And lastly, a French Bean & Basil Stew. I modified this from an old cookbook I found at the thrift store called The Peasant Kitchen. It was 25 cents, a bargain for this recipe alone. This was crazy good - pureed beans, loads of basil, vegan Parmesan, and of course, sausage.

A noteworthy mention - all of these recipes were made using just one batch of Julie’s sausages and I still have one sausage left over. How economical is that?!

Bean & Dumpling Soup
2 cups white beans
8 cups water or broth
2 bay leaves
2 strips SmartBacon, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 small celeriac, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium parsnip, diced
2T olive oil
2T flour
2T sweet paprika
1t marjoram
2 veggie sausages
salt & pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup water
2T Earth Balance
2T chopped fresh parsley
bread crumbs

Soak the beans in water overnight. The next day, drain and discard the water.
Place the beans in a large pot and cover with the water or broth. Add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, simmer for one hour or until beans are almost tender.
Fry the diced SmartBacon n medium heat until browned. Add onion and fry until almost golden. Add celeriac, carrots, parsnip, and olive oil; cook for 5 minutes.
Add flour and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add paprika, marjoram, and sausage. Cook for 3 more minutes and then add all of this to the beans.
Season with salt and pepper, simmer for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, first make a bechamel sauce. Put the soy milk and 1/4 cup water in a small pot under medium heat. Add the EB. When melted, add the flour and cook for a few minutes. stirring constantly. Take the pan off the heat and add milk and water. Return to heat and add parsley and as much breadcrumbs as needed for a semi-thick paste. Season with salt and pepper. Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the soup and cook for 3-5 minutes until done.

Bean & Basil Soup
2/3 cup olive oil, separated
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced, separated
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tomatoes, diced
2T tomato paste
1/2 oregano
5 cups cooked soup beans of your choice, separated
5 cups vegetable broth, separated
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked spaghetti, broken up
1 cup tightly packed fresh basil
1/2 cup vegan Parmesan
1 veggie sausage (optional)

Heat 3T olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, 2 cloves of the garlic, and the parsley and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and oregano. Continue cooking until all the tomato juice has evaporated.
Add 2 cups of the beans and 1 cup of the stock. Season with salt & pepper, simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove this pot from the heat and allow to cool, then place in a blender or food processor. Puree until completely smooth.
Pour the puree back into the pot & return to medium-high heat. Add the remaining beans and stock.
Add spaghetti and simmer for 10-12 minutes until spaghetti is done.
In the blender or food processor, combine the remaining garlic, the basil, remaining olive oil, and Parmesan. Blend until smooth. Add this to the soup and stir in.
Add sliced sausages and cook until heated through.

Life is short, have a kolach.

By Monica on January 6th, 2008

Perhaps the most famous Czech food item, and certainly its’ best known dessert, I have probably eaten my own body weight in kolache over the years. They come in many forms, shapes, and sizes. Some use raised dough (like the photo above), mine do not. All of them are delicious and must be given away immediately once they emerge from the oven, or they have a tendency to be eaten like popcorn and disappear within minutes (relocated straight to your ass & thighs).

They can be filled with farmer’s cheese, fruit fillings, poppyseed, or a variety of other temptations. My favorites were always the raspberry or apricot kolache, so that’s primarily what I make at home now. Solo makes a brand of fruit filling under the label “Bohemian Kitchen” that I’ve always used, if you can’t find this, use your favorite preserve or make an easy cream cheeze filling.

Instead of the raised dough variety, mine are the very light, flaky, pastry crust version. While this makes the dough hard to work with, they practically melt in your mouth. Like pie crust, the key to this dough is to get it, and keep it, very cold.

Health conscious vegans, look away from this recipe! These delicious suckers are comprised entirely of sugar and fat. They are easily veganized with non-dairy cream cheese and Earth Balance, but are still atherosclerosis on a plate! I reward myself with these only once per year because in all seriousness, we eat 2 full platters within 24 hours. It may as well be cocaine dusted on top of them instead of powdered sugar, though that might be a tad more costly.

Czech Kolache
12 ounces Tofutti cream cheese
2 cups Earth Balance
3 cups flour
Confectioners’ sugar
Filling of your choice (2 jars Solo filling, or about 16 ounces of your other choice)

Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together EB and cream cheese until light and fluffy, (2-3 minutes).
Add flour, one cup at a time, until well combined.
Dough will be a little sticky. Divide into thirds, shape into flat circles, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, overnight is even better.

Remove one round of dough at a time from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/8″ thickness on a lightly floured surface.
Cut into 1 1/2″ squares (a pizza cutter works best).
Drop 1/2t of filling into the middle of each square.
Fold two opposite corners of each square over the filling to meet in center. Smooth them together, or give a little pinch so that they stay joined.
Place on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350° until lightly golden, 10-12 minutes.
When cooled, dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 5 dozen. That number will impress you even more once you realize you’ve eaten all of them.

Vánočka - (a.k.a. Hoska)

By Monica on January 2nd, 2008

I must be glutton for punishment, because this Xmas, I set forth to make a Hoska, a traditional Czech Christmas bread notorious for being difficult and time consuming to prepare. Making matters worse, my recipe was an old family one, loosely interpreted into English from Czech. I had to make educated guesses as to what some of the steps were, like what “make sponge” meant. After making it myself, I understand why hoska was made only once per year and why it has this devious reputation - it took us all night and day. How did my grandmother do this every year?!

According to Wikipedia, the silly bread is so temperamental that there are customs and superstitions involved in making it like: “you must think of everyone dear to you while making it”, “avoid touching silver or metal to the Vanocka”, and my favorite “the creator of the Vanocka must not jump up and down while the dough rises”.

Well, we didn’t jump up and down, but we did have a great time making it. Everyone giggled when the bizarre batter started fermenting and farting, and a hearty chuckle was had by all when the dough rose so much it mushroomed out of the bowl and started taking over the kitchen.

Here is one of the loaves rising for the 10,000th time, after we finally figured out how to arrange the dough:

Hoskas in the oven!

Hoskas out of the oven! (You’d think they’d be done now wouldn’t you? But they aren’t! Silly hoskas.)

Finally, hoska totally done, sliced. Insert Earth Balance here.

The easiest part of this experiment was the veganization. Simply substitute veg-friendly replacements for the butter and eggs. As for the rest of it, well, having instructions in English will probably make your experiment easier than mine. Maybe!

Vánočka
1 yeast cake (0.6 ounces)
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 Ener-G Egg
1t salt
2 cups +2T warm non-dairy milk (I used rice), seperated
6 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1/2t ground ginger
1/2t ground mace
Zest of one orange, or lemon
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup candied mixed fruit (use dried fruit pieces if you can’t find candied)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2T powdered sugar (optional)

1.) Dissolve yeast in warm water.
2.) In a large bowl (preferably the bowl of your stand mixer), cream sugar and EB. Add the Ener-G egg and salt. Stir in 2 cups of milk, then the water/yeast mixture. Add 1 1/2 cups of sifted flour and beat until the batter is smooth.
3.) Cover with plastic wrap and let the batter do its’ thing for 1 hour. (Mine fermented, bubbled, made noises, and firmed up like a loose gelatin after an hour).
4.) Stir spices and zest into the batter. With your dough hook attachment, slowly add approximately 5 cups of flour to make a dough. Knead until soft and elastic, either by hand or with your mixer. Knead in raisins and candied fruit.
5.) Place in a very large, lightly greased bowl and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.
6.) Divide dough into ten equal portions and roll each out into a long snake, about the length of a standard cookie sheet. Let these rise for 15 minutes.
7.) Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper, one for each loaf. On a cookie sheet, start making a braid with 3 of the snakes: Start your braid in the center and loosely braid towards each end. Pinch the ends together.
8.) Take 2 more snakes, and loosely twist them. Place the twist on TOP of the braid.
9.) Repeat assembly for the 2nd loaf.
10.) Brush each loaf with the 2T non-dairy milk. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top and sides. Let the loaves rise again for 1 hour.
11.) Bake loaves at 350° for 38-45 minutes, until lightly golden on top. (Baking time will depend on how thick you make your loaves.)
12.) Transfer loaves to a wire rack and cover with a light towel until completely cooled. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar if you like.