Thursday, May 21, 2009

Two Nights, Two Dinners

Since I'd been itching for another excuse to use the sourdough starter that my pal Stephanie gave me, I just had to make Vegan Yum Yum's Rustic Bread and Eggplant Lasagna on Wednesday night:

She substitutes slices of sourdough bread for noodles. Those bread slices (mine was whole wheat sourdough) are layered with roasted eggplant, tomato sauce, and though the recipe did not call for it, I had to throw in some mozzerella Teese. Check out Vegan Yum Yum's recipe here.

Check out my awful plating!

First, I made the bread using the starter, but something went wrong on the second rise and it stayed flat as a board in my loaf pan. Since I knew it didn't really matter how dense the bread was for this (you are covering it in sauce so a sturdy, dense bread is actually perfect), I baked it anyway.

This dish is unbelievably good, as to be expected from the awesome Vegan Yum Yum. If you make it, use a sourdough loaf . The sour taste is a perfect complement to the smoky eggplant and garlicky tomato sauce.

On Thursday night, I took a cue from Skinny Bitch In the Kitch with this Spaghetti Squash with Braised Greens, Raisins, and Pine Nuts:

The greens are local rainbow chard from Dodson Farms, but the recipe is versatile. You can use kale, collards, whatever. This is so tasty and it felt like a really healthy week night meal. The greens are braised with chipotle pepper and garlic and served atop strands of baked spaghetti squash with pine nuts and plump raisins. I ate this with a slice of soy-buttered Ezekial bread because spaghetti squash tastes best when eaten with bites of buttery toast.

Hey tester friends! A new recipe is posted on the Cookin' Crunk tester site....

21 comments:

Jenn said...

Wow, I'll have to try sourdough lasagna. Looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

The spaghetti squash sounds sooo good. I am glad the lasagna worked out for you, even though the bread didn't rise. I bet it was extra tasty with Teese.

The Voracious Vegan said...

Mmmm! Both of those meals look so tasty! I love sourdough bread and I imagine it would be very tasty in lasagna, quite creative of you!

And wow, that spaghetti squash looks fresh and delicious!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

ooh i bookmarked that lasagne recipe when it was posted too, it sounds soooo good!! i'm gonna have to try and find sourdough bread!!

Anonymous said...

I have that recipe saved for future noshing =) It looks amazing!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

It's been too long since I've had a good lasagna!

Lisa said...

both of those meals sound so good! The tomatoes in your lasagna look delicious too. I can't wait to find some good tomatoes in MO.

Gina said...

That lasagna looks freaking amazing.

For some reason though, I just can't get into spaghetti squash. I tried it once, hated it, tried it again, and it was....edible. It makes me sad, its so pretty.

Andréa said...

Ai, ai, ai, every time I stop here I get soooo hungry!!

Bianca, are you on Twitter? I'm there (deinha_ny) and there's a great bunch of cool vegans. Come join us! :)

Anonymous said...

The lasagna looks delicious and I think that your plating is beautiful, so there! The little casserole dish you baked the lasagna in is cute.

Tara said...

Your lasagna looks incredibly yummy!

A said...

I saw that lasagna on VYY and I thought it looked fab! I bet it tasted wonderful!! I've always been a little freaked out by spaghetti squash. The texture looks weird. Yours actually looks kind of good though! Maybe I'll try it some day..... when I feel REALLY brave! :)
-A

East Village Vegan said...

Your pictures turned out great. I would've never thought to sub bread for lasagna noodles. Looks tasty and the squash dish too.

jessy said...

i can’t believe i missed that lasagna on veganyumyum! wow! your lasagna looks amazing, Bianca – and i think your plating is pretty! i’m also dig’n your spaghetti squash dish – especially with those pine nuts on top! mmmmmmmmmm! i'd like to add an extra mmmmm for some ezekeil bread ‘n margarine, too! huzzah! happy weekend times to you!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Mmm, I love a good casserole!

Cyn said...

ZOMG That lasagna looks so delicious, I totally need to make it. What a great way to use up bread that didn't rise right!

a.bumblingbee said...

Hi, hi!

Love the blog and I was wondering...how does someone become a recipe tester? Everything you makes looks delicious. :D

Theresa said...

Yum, soggy bread lasagna sounds really great. I'm such a bread loveer that I'm sure that would disappear quickly in my house!

Anonymous said...

Oh Spaghetti squash! I so miss it! I must have eaten 6 of them last summer when I was in the U.S. And that sourdough lasagna looks great!

Gena said...

I love that SKINNY BITCH recipe!!

aTxVegn said...

I thought that YumYum recipe sounded good - yours turned out nice!