Perfect Gluten-Free Vegan Pie Crust

I finally made a delicious flakey gluten-free, vegan pie crust!! The secret? Use vodka instead of water! The vodka alcohol evaporates during baking, leaving a slightly grainy, but tender crust. It was the perfect crust for a yummy vegan pecan pie.
 INGREDIENTS: 6 Tablespoons cold vegan butter 1-1/4 cups gluten-free flour (I used King Arthur brand) 1/4 teaspoon salt 4-6 Tablespoons vodka 1. Add gluten-free flour and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Slice or dollop the cold vegan butter in and work gently with a fork or pastry cutter to cut it in. Don’t overwork, just get it incorporated. 2. Next add vodka a little at a time and use a wooden spoon to stir. Only add as much vodka as you need to help it come together. 3. Once a loose dough is formed, transfer to a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper and work gently with your hands to form a 1/2 inch thick disc. Wrap firmly and refrigerate for a minimum 30 minutes, up to 2 days. You can let it warm back up a little before using, but not too much or it will get too soft to handle. 4. To roll out the crust, unwrap the dough and place it between two layers of wax or parchment paper. Roll it into the shape of your pie pan. It is fragile, but cracks and tears are easily repaired once it's in the pan. 5. To transfer the crust, remove the top layer of wax paper and gently lay the pie dish face down on top of the crust and use the support of the wax paper to quickly but carefully invert it. 6. Once you get the crust inverted, press it into the pan, working the crust up along the sides. Any holes or cracks can be mended with a little excess dough and the heat of your hand. 7. Some recipes call for pre-baking - 6 or 7 minutes should do it. The crust doesn't brown like butter/wheat crusts do, and I had no issues with over-browning. It came out perfect even when I baked for an extra 20 minutes to make sure the filling had set!

Recipe: Dill Pickle Seasoning

Dill Pickle Seasoning

In a spice grinder (or cleaned-out coffee grinder, which is what I used) combine:

1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds    
1 tablespoon salt    
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds    
1/2 teaspoon dill seed   
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (Penzey's is the best)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon citric acid powder
1 tablespoon dried dill weed  

Grind to a powder, but try not to inhale it when you take the lid off. 
Sprinkle on everything until you get tired of it.

Sarah's Oven Caramelized Onions

So I screwed up at the grocery store and bought too many onions and since these are the expensive organic onions I didn't want any to go to waste. I love caramelized onions, but don't usually have time to make them. This is an oven method that takes a couple of hours, but you can do other things while they're cooking and cook a whole lot at once.

I used:
3 lbs organic onions
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
some salt

You also need:
Deep lidded oven proof pan
Some kind of timer


Preheat the oven to 425˚


Cut up your onions like this:

I have a kitchen exhaust fan that sounds like a 747 and sucks the dust bunnies from the attic, so onion tears aren't an issue for me. If you don't have a kitchen fan, you might want to consider a pair of extremely practical and oh so fashionable Onion Goggles.

Heat up the oil and butter in a deep oven-proof pan with a lid (I use a cast iron dutch oven) then throw in the chopped onions and stir to coat with the oil. Sprinkle in some salt - I used about 1/2  teaspoon, but you can use more or none at all.

Put the lidded pan into the preheated oven. Yes mine looks like this. So much for getting the self-cleaning model.

Set the timer for 15 minutes.
You are going to stir the onions every 15 minutes for about 2 hours, so it's a good time to get stuff done around the house. Or watch movies on netflix.

They will go from looking like this:

To looking like this:

All done!

I put them into an ice cube tray to freeze in small portions for using in recipes, but I don't recommend you do this. They were really hard to get out after they froze. Next time I will probably just freeze  separate little mounds on a sheet of freezer paper

 Also a word of warning - this method will make your house smell like onions for days after. Best done on a nice day when you can open windows and when you aren't expecting company!

Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John, cornbread and collards. Happy New Year!




....
My vegetarian Hoppin' John: Saute some onion & garlic in olive oil, add celery and bell peppers and then canned (rinsed and drained) or frozen black-eye peas. (I never have time for the dried ones.) Add vegetable broth up to the top of the peas and season with bay leaves, parsley and savory and salt and black pepper to taste. Simmer until it looks soft, but not mushy. Serve over rice (I used wild & brown rice) and serve topped with fresh tomato, scallions and hot peppers.

Sarah's Delicious Crispy Kale Chips

Ingredients:


A pile of curly kale (this is two bunches from the supermarket)










1-1/2 cups cashews











I dropped them on the floor when I was trying to take the picture











Cashews are expensive - wash them off and use them anyway

2 cloves garlic
(see previous post: Peeling Garlic in 10 Seconds)

Juice of 1 lemon

some salt






 

some olive oil

Wash the kale and remove the stems. Tear the leaves into large pieces and put in a large bowl.

The kale bones (throw these out.)

Put the cashews, lemon, garlic, and salt into a food processor and blend for a few seconds. Add enough olive oil to make a gloppy paste.

Mix the half of the cashew glop with half of the kale. Go ahead, just mush it around with your hands until the kale is evenly coated. (Save the other half for later)

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spread the kale mix on them. Bake at 300˚ F for about 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. When done the kale should be crispy. Repeat for the remainder of glop and kale.








Store in a plastic container



















Feed to a hungry Morris Dancer just in from practice.