Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health

The first Moosewood cookbook came out in 1977. To this day, the Moosewood collective continues to put out quality vegetarian cookbooks loved by believers. The idea behind this book is that by eating more fruits, vegetables and legumes, one can live a healthier life. How this differs from any other vegetarian cookbook confuses me. The one thing I noticed was that there are nutritional values for each recipe. Does that make it more healthy? or just gives one the power to choose wisely?
Last night we cooked out of their newest offering, Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health. Here is what we cooked.

Curried Tofu and Mango Salad
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Raw "Tacos"
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Savory Asparagus and Mushroom Bread Pudding
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans
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Silken Tofu Pudding

People tend to be on the fence when it comes to tofu. Texture and taste, or the lack there of, are the main offenders. But as I always say, everything tastes good if it's cooked the right way. In this salad, the tofu is cooked the right way.
We used very firm tofu that was broken into large chunks and then fried in a frying pan until golden and crispy. Already sounding pretty good. Now because tofu has no distinct flavour, you have to add it. Tofu is a great vehicle for flavour. In this case, a mixture of soy and miso. Once the tofu was browned, the sauce was added and quickly tossed together. We had to be careful not to cook it too long because soy can over cook and become to salty and bitter. So a quick toss and out of the pan.
The salad part was simple. These days, Ataulfo mangoes are in season. I love these. The smooth, creamy texture and sugar sweetness is a great combo. To me, it's the best fruit in the world. Anyways, the mango was mixed with celery, red pepper and green onions. We added some spinach to bump up the salad.
The dressing had a yogurt base with madras curry powder and a touch of cumin. I used Mediterranean yogurt when the recipe called for non-fat yogurt. It may not fall into the "Healthy Cooking" concept of the book, but we only used a very small amount of the dressing. Just enough to lightly coat the salad. The cooled tofu was mixed in and there you go.
For the people that didn't like tofu, and there were a few, they loved it. Some even went so fr as to say this was the best tofu they had ever eaten. And mixed with the fresh vegetables it was a great fresh and light, but satisfying salad. The complex flavours of the curry and soy and miso balanced well. I think if you are a vegetarian, or even a non vegetarian, you would love this salad if it was served to you.

The idea of Raw Tacos fascinated me. I love making tacos, but never imagine making them raw and vegetarian.The whole idea of raw is that nothing is cooked, or brought above 115*C. It is believed that cooking the food destroys the "life force" of the ingredient and kills certain enzymes that aids in the digestion and absorption. Whether or not this is good for us, the Raw Taco was tasty to eat.
It is started off by making the "Cheese", which consisted of ground sunflower seeds, lots of herbs, soy, lemon, and olive oil. It was mixed into a sort of salsa like consistency that really did not look like "cheese".
The next part was the actual filling. In the food processor we mixed sun dried tomatoes, lots of walnuts, garlic, olive oil and more herbs. It was processed until smooth but still a bit chunky. Because it was a raw dish, we could not use the tortillas used for a typical taco. We used lettuce cups as the shell. The "cheese" was spread on first and then a spoonful of the filling.
I think it was a surprise for a lot of people. First of all, you would not even consider it a raw dish. The richness with all the nuts was, in my opinion, was more rich than adding meat. The flavours with the sun dried tomatoes, garlic and soy really made this dish exciting. The texture of the nuts gave it some crunch that made it very palatable. It was a surprise at hoe good it was. Another winner.

I have been seeing savory bread puddings an a few cookbooks lately. It's definitely a great one dish meal. With the mixture of bread, vegetables, combined with the richness of eggs and milk or cream, it's a satisfying option.
In this case, we used some seasonal asparagus and mushrooms. If you have never made bread pudding before, i highly recommend trying it out. We started by sauteing some onions and then adding the asparagus and mushrooms. It was mixed together with some multi grain bread and the eggs and milk. Baked in the oven for 20 minutes and it was done.
The meatiness of the mushrooms along with the freshness of the asparagus really balanced out this dish. The bread added a nice texture and the creamy custard kept it really moist. You would not even think you are eating "bread pudding". And it was so simple to make. This is a great base for a savory bread pudding. Mix in a number of any seasonal ingredients and make it your own.

On the side we simply prepared some roasted Brussels sprouts. The were put in a hot oven and then tossed with a lemon Dijon vinaigrette and sprinkled with crushed pecans. So simple. I love the idea of tossing roasted vegetables with a light vinaigrette and Dijon. It really brings the flavours together and balances it all out. A great side dish not only for a bread pudding , but for really anything you serve.

IN vegetarian classes, i not only like to try and incorporate tofu once or twice, but I also like to try and make a vegan dessert. IN this book, there was a dessert recipe that allowed me to do both. The Silken Chocolate Pudding incorporates silken tofu, which is a very smooth tofu with a high moisture content which gives it an almost custard like texture. It is used in many vegetarian and vegan desserts as a dairy alternative.
This Chocolate pudding pureed the silken tofu with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla and a touch of water together until smooth and rich. Portioned into small ramekins and chilled until needed. It was that easy. The pudding was amazingly smooth like a pudding should be. But when tasted, you sort of know it's vegan. The texture was rich and creamy, but it was missing the cream. It was very smooth on the tongue and did not give the creamy aftertaste a regular pudding would. But that's not to say it was a bad dish. I really liked the rich chocolate flavour and the non creamy creaminess of it. I also really liked the quickness of the recipe. As you can tell in the picture, it looks like a really good pudding. Surprise, its vegan!
I'm not too sure if people really liked it though. Most of the dishes were left half eaten. But in their defence, i gave a pretty big portion. I think it is an acquired taste and once acquired, you could easily gobble it up. Also, I think we compare it to a full cream and egg pudding. This does pale in taste to that, but if you don't compare it, it's a great dessert.

The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for health was one of the best vegetarian cooking classes I have ever done. The combination of dishes, flavours, and cooking techniques were vast and exciting. When we first received this book, the second I opened it, it gave me good vibes. The recipes on any given page really spoke to me. These were only a few recipes we cooked, but I look forward to trying a lot more. The Moosewood Collective continue to produce some of the best vegetarian cookbooks out there, and this new one is no exception.

Next Class: Nutmeg and Custard