It's been a fun month for us, celebrating Mallory's birthday, peaking back through familiar territory, parking in Nashville pal's driveways and streets, and snagging a few shows in between. And the food-- oh, boy. The Rough & Tumble are definitely carrying a few extra pounds on them. In Nashville, between their friend Kristie's celebratory vegan Nacho Night, picking up a few day job hours at her vegan meal delivery service kitchen (and getting to take home a few goods), and she and several other friends' recommendations of the new restaurants "you HAVE to try!", we were sad and surprised to say that more than one vegetable in the fridge went to waste. Which is rare for us. So one morning, before heading into work to sling a few veggies, we cooked up a couple veggies of our own that were in need of saving.
Originally from The Complete Vegan Kitchen by Jannequin Bennett-- a book Mallory's brother got her for Christmas several years back-- we've altered the recipe to be a bit more possible in the everyday kitchen-- or at least, our everyday kitchen. The dish turned out so beautifully, we texted it to friends across the country, and made an extra plate for our pal, Kristie, who had already fed us so much (and was coincidentally picking us up for work). As a legitimate vegan chef, she gave it two thumbs up. Or, rather, she said her taste buds felt like they'd just been stimulated by a circus, and then started singing a circus song. If that's not a high recommendation, we don't know what is.
It's also been a particularly exciting month in the land of The Rumbly Tummy, as Mallory really got down to the grind and finished The Rumbly Tummy: A Cook & Color Book. For those of you who aren't familiar, this book is packed with 56 recipes that we've come to eat in our time as a band-- from our early touring days of Oatmeal Bars to the fancier occasion camper days of Stuffed Squash Blossoms. All the recipes have been printed and cut out into note cards that are able to be pulled from the book-- so you can take them to the store with you for ingredients, or put them safely in your own stash of recipe cards, or so you can COLOR THE CUTE PICTURES UNDERNEATH! Because the thing about a cook & color book is that there's also coloring. And Mallory's been drawing adorable pictures of jumping beans and sleeping mushrooms and even an elephant eating strawberry jam for months, now. And you can color each one of them as you cook along. Also, Scott & Mallory wrote a few from-the-road stories and scenarios so you can feel like you're not just eating like us, but traveling along, too. They were then bound with a handmade wooden cover. We made 20 to start, 10 of which have already been sent out to kind Kickstarter donors. And we just sold our first one in Greenville at a show in the community garden last Sunday (seemed fitting). We've put them up on our website, but they will be in limited supply. So if you're interested, head there to order.
Almost no recipes used on our blog (except the Corn Fritters-- they were just too good not to repeat) are found in the book. But don't worry, we will still be keeping up with the blog. So if cooking and coloring isn't your thing, we'll still be bringing you something tasty the first Wednesday of the month right here for the cooking-only types. Like these corn blinis. Yum.
Savory Corn Blinis w/ Lemon-Garlic Aioli
Ingredients:
For Blini:
1/2 c cornmeal
1/2 c GF flour (we use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp red or green chili flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 c frozen corn (not canned)
1 TBSP olive oil
1/2 c non dairy milk (we used soy)
1 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP water
2 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped
2 TBSP green onions, sliced
oil for frying
For Veggie Topping:
1 TBSP olive oil
1 c mushrooms (we used Shiitake), thinly sliced
1 large bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 TBSP fresh basil, chopped
For Aioli:
1/4 c veganaise, mayonnaise, or Greek yogurt
1/2 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
salt
Instructions:
1. In a small dish, combine veganaise, squeeze in 1/2 lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, soda, tartar, chili flake, cayenne, cumin, salt in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together corn, oil, milk, vinegar, and water. Combine dry with wet ingredients. Stir in parsley and green onions.
3. In a thick, good-for-pancake-making skillet, heat a 2 TBSP oil on medium-high heat. When hot, evenly distribute oil by moving pan around, then place sparse TBSP size batter blobs in the skillet. Smooth out with spatula to make a squat cake. When brown, flip to brown other side (about 4 minutes).
4. While the cakes are frying, heat a second pan with 1 TBSP olive oil on high heat. Throw in mushroom, and let cook until moisture is dissolved. Then, place in peppers and garlic. Don't cook to long, or the peppers will fall apart (you still want a little bit of a crisp). Turn off heat. Stir in basil.
5. When blinis are finished, put them on a plate. Top with veggie mixture, then aioli. Garnish with a basil leaf to impress your vegan chef friend.