White Pizza with Asparagus, Mushroom, and Sun-Dried Tomato

So...Kate and I are trying this thing where we make food. Separately. And post about it. Separately. Since she's all the way in Portland and I'm up here in Tacoma kickin' it without her, it seems like our days of happy communal eating and posting (well...when we weren't overwhelmed by schoolwork) are on a short hiatus. However, since we are us, we are not letting this short separation deter us from a summer of wonderful cooking followed by even more wonderful eating. And we've decided that the food blog will continue even though we won't technically be cooking or eating together most of the time. While this may be a slightly sad turn of events, it's also pretty exciting because - wait for it - you'll get to see my and Kate's individual chef flare! So, without further ado, here is what your resident crazy vegan gets up to when her non-vegan co-conspirator is not around...

Apparently mostly what I do is put random veggies in the food processor. 

...EAT ASPARAGUS!! Okay, so I also eat asparagus when Kate is here, but for the past few weeks, asparagus season has been going on full force here in Washington, and since I work at a farmer's market, I have been eating asparagus almost non-stop. Like, way more than is probably normal. Asparagus has been my constant side-dish for everything, has gone into a myriad of sandwiches and stir-frys, and, no joke, I even had asparagus for breakfast the other day. Needless to say, I've been looking for really creative ways to use up asparagus.

Look at that beautiful crust! Props to Marta for the fancy crust-shaping...

I would not normally think to put asparagus on a pizza. It's not a very intuitive pizza topping like olives or tomatoes or basil, but I've been craving pizza for a while now thanks to my new housemate Marta, who is a Pizza Guru (see: Master of Pizza or Professional Pizza-er). Basically, Marta also really likes to cook and while she is not a vegan chef,  she definitely has some pretty awesome pizza stylin' going on. In fact, the first day we met, Marta offered to make me pizza, and ever since I had to turn down her admittedly delicious-looking but unfortunately meat-and-cheese-covered pizza, I've had a secret plan to make a pizza of my own. And I just happened to have a bunch of asparagus lying around that I really needed to use. So. Asparagus on a pizza. Marta, being a Pizza Guru, was on hand to make helpful suggestions and teach me the art of Beautiful Crust-Making.

I actually got the idea for this particular pizza where I get most of my inspiration for eating: Pinterest. Now, before you judge me, Pinterest is actually a really cool thing for foodies because you can save all the random internet recipes you find in one place AND all of them are saved as PICTURES. I don't know about you, but looking at food is about 3/4 of what gets me excited about eating food. It's nice because when I'm not sure what I want for dinner, I can go look at a bunch of really good-looking food pictures THAT I PICKED OUT and THAT HAVE RECIPES ATTACHED TO THEM. Anyways, the other day I found a pin claiming diary-free white sauce made from cauliflower that tastes just like the real thing. And I had to try it.

The white sauce comes from Sodium Girl's post here, but if you read her post and leave expecting a sauce that tastes like milk, butter, and cheese, I would tell you to not believe everything you read on Pinterest. I hate to break it to you, but this sauce does not taste like that. Don't get me wrong - it's creamy and garlic-y and gets kind of bubbly and crisp-y on top when baked, but it also tastes like cauliflower. Not cheese. The original recipe just used cauliflower and water, but I am not one to skimp, so I fattened it up a little with some olive oil, almond milk, and nutritional yeast for a more savory, cheese-y flavor. It turned out really well AND was a great pair for the copious amounts of asparagus I have lying around. I of course added my mother's homemade whole wheat pizza crust and - voilà! - PIZZA! 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough*

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 plus 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Thyme, rosemary, or other fresh or dried herbs (optional)

1.  Combine the sugar, warm water, and yeast in a bowl and let sit five minutes, or until the surface is bubbly.

2.  Add 1 cup all purpose flour (save the 1/4 cup), whole wheat flour, salt, and olive oil and combine. You can also add any fresh or dried herbs to the dough at this point, a fantastic idea from my resident pizza guru Marta that makes a really delicious crust. I added about 2 tsp of thyme. 

3.  Knead the dough for fifteen minutes on a floured surface, adding the 1/4 cup as necessary until the dough is only slightly sticky.  

4.  Place in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, or until the dough doubles in size.

5.  Punch the dough down - it is now ready to roll out!

*this recipe comes from an ancient pizza cookbook of my mother's and is absolutely delicious!

Cauliflower "White" Pizza Sauce

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 head garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tsp oregano

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk

salt and pepper to taste

1. Roast the head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the head, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in tinfoil. Place in the oven at 400°F for at least 20 minutes, or until very soft. Let cool.

2. Steam the cauliflower florets. 

3. Combine the streamed cauliflower florets and the roasted garlic (you can just squeeze it right out of the skin once it's cooled) in a food processor. Add the olive oil, nutritional yeast, and oregano and blend.

4. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk) until the sauce is your desired consistency - I left mine a little thick so it would be easily spreadable. Add salt and pepper to taste.  

White Pizza Assembly

Whole wheat pizza dough

Cauliflower "white" pizza sauce

6 stalks of asparagus, cut into 1-inch sections

6 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, sliced 

Sliced sun-dried tomatoes

Daiya mozzarella cheeze (optional)

1. Roll out pizza dough and place on a pizza pan or cookie sheet (fancy schmancy crust rolling in my pictures is thanks to my pizza-talented housemate Marta!)

2. Spread on a thick layer of the cauliflower pizza sauce. I personally like my pizza saucy, so I put on a LOT.

3. Layer on asparagus chunks, mushroom slices, onion slices, and sun-dried tomatoes.

4. Finish with a little bit of Daiya cheeze on top or actual cheese (optional).  

**As I mentioned before in this post, I got the idea for this pizza sauce (and the pizza) at Sodium Girl, here. You should check her out - she's got some great stuff!**

Korean BBQ Tofu Tacos

Last summer, I stayed in the Pacific Northwest for the first time, and was able to visit Kate at her home in Portland, Oregon. When I arrived, I was treated to a wonderful tour of the city which involved multiple surprise stops, including the rose gardens, Powell's City of Books, and, my personal favorite, the food carts in downtown Portland. It all played out a bit like a romantic movie montage - Kate and I shared food from almost every cart, and sat by some fountains watching a wedding and multiple adorable children splashing around, all while the sun was shining brightly and downtown was bursting with Portlanders starving for sun. We both remember the day fondly and fervently hope that we will one day experience a real romantic date that fulfills this level of awesomeness. One of the things we most vividly remember, however, is a Korean BBQ fusion food cart, where we bought some of the most fabulous tacos of our existence - Korean BBQ tofu tacos. While at first they sounded a bit odd, the combination of corn tortillas and the sweet-savory Asian-inspired barbeque sauce was so good that we practically licked the cardboard container they came in, despite having already eaten enough to qualify about three meals.

The infamous food cart tacos

Fast forward a year, and I am again staying in the Pacific Northwest for the summer. Today, while visiting Kate in Portland, we decided to stop downtown for some Korean BBQ tofu tacos, assuming that we would find them with ease. However, while downtown searching around the food carts, we realized several important details we had missed. Firstly, we don't know the name of the food cart. Also, food carts, as their name might imply, move. We ran across two carts selling fusion Korean food, and while only one was open, they had tofu tacos, and we got some. No luck - they were not the warm, messy goodness we were expecting. They were good, but not great. 

Kimberly enjoying said tacos on the best date of her life.

Undeterred, we ate several other lovely things at the food carts and spent the rest of the afternoon happily watching the dragon boat races on the waterfront. But after a year spent thinking about how wonderful those tacos had been, it was still something of a let-down to not find them. While we fully intend to find that food cart again, Kate and I decided on an even more expedient solution: We would attempt to make them ourselves!

After searching the internet for likely-looking recipes (surprisingly, there are several Korean BBQ tofu taco recipes out there), none of which looked at all like the tacos in our hearts, we decided to just make up the recipe ourselves based on the one picture we have of that fateful day. We wanted lightly seasoned tofu smothered with a rich, smoky sauce, and completed with some salty roasted seaweed (nori), which had given the tofu tacos a more Asian flavor. 

Our attempt wasn't actually that far off. In fact, it was a lot closer to the original tacos than the tacos we ate at the food carts today. We only put things we could see in the picture (and what we could remember) on the tacos, so the assembly is really simple. The avocado is an added bonus which we don't think was originally there, but we firmly believe avocados make everything better. Best of all, these tacos are as messy and saucy as we remember the originals being, and there is no greater sign of good food than having to lick it off your fingers and face. You've been warned - bring a napkin.

Korean BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

3/4 cup soy sauce*

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 Tbs honey

4 Tbsp brown sugar (or to taste, depending on how sweet you want your sauce)

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 shallot, diced

1 tsp cayenne

2 Tbsp water

1. Combine all ingredients.

*We might recommend slightly less soy sauce, as the final product was a bit salty.

Tofu Marinade

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tsp garlic, minced

Equal parts soy sauce and rice wine vinegar - enough to cover at least half of the tofu while marinating.

1. Combine all ingredients.

Korean BBQ Tofu Taco Assembly

1 Tbsp canola oil
corn tortillas
sliced cabbage
diced avocado
nori slices
cilantro
limes (optional)
sriracha (optional)

1. Drain tofu by placing between two paper towels and weighting the top with plate or bowl. Wait about fifteen to twenty minutes.

2. Place tofu in a plastic bag with the marinade. Marinate for at least half an hour in the refrigerator, making sure to turn the tofu so that all sides get covered.

3. Heat canola oil in large skillet. Cut tofu into thin slices, and fry in oil for about 4 minutes on each side.

4. Lay out corn tortillas. Put on cooked tofu, sliced cabbage, avocado, nori, and drizzle with Korean BBQ sauce. Top with cilantro, lime, and sriracha if desired.