Italian Sub, Veggie Style

I decided to make some submarine buns today (or hoagie rolls, whatever you want to call them) but wanted to steer away from the rather obvious seitan route when filling them. Instead I went with a "bruschetta meets grilled veggies" route for a different spin on an Italian sub. If you have leftover sandwiches, wrap them up tightly in waxed paper and refrigerate--the flavours will meld together and the veggies really do taste great cold. Perfect for lunch at work.

INGREDIENTS
Makes 2 foot long sub sandwiches
- 2 foot long submarine buns
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 tsp basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 small eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/8" slices
- 2 small zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/8" slices
- 1 red pepper, roasted
- 10 cremini mushrooms
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- sliced tomato
- shredded lettuce

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic for 5-7 mins until softened. Add vinegar and tomatoes and stor well. Cook until liquid has cooked off. Season with basil and salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. While tomato mixture is cooking, toss eggplant and zucchini in some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on a BBQ over medium heat until soft, turning regularly. Roast the pepper at the same time. Skin, seed, and slice when done.
3. Toss mushrooms in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. BBQ cap side down until water has been released. Remove from grill, thickly slice, and mix with smoked paprika.
4. Assemble sandwiches. Spread a thick layer of the tomato mixture on the bottom bun. Top with red pepper, then eggplant, then zucchini, then mushrooms. Top that with tomato slices and lettuce. Top with bun and enjoy!

ON SUBMARINE BUNS
The buns are Peter Reinhart's Italian bread recipe (p. 172). I subbed the biga with 180z of sourdough starter, then reduced the liquid by about 2 tbsp (add slowly until dough forms). I brushed the final buns with soy milk and baked for 15 mins at 450 degrees.

Vegan Dad on Facebook

I really like to keep the blog mainly about food and recipes, so I created a group on Facebook to discuss the larger issues surrounding veganism and ethical eating. If you are a Facebook type, search for "Vegan Dad Blog" and join the group!

Strawberry Daiquiri Sorbet

Prepare for strawberry nirvana, my friends. As promised, I ventured away from ice cream and into sorbet. I searched around for recipes and found two basic methods, one which required making a simple syrup (sugar cooked in water) and one which required no cooking at all. I decided to go for the latter and make things simple. The rum adds a nice subtle touch here--this recipe is not particularly boozy (there are young kids in the house, after all). You can probably make this with slightly thawed frozen berries, but I have not tried it. I hope it works, though, because it would be a real tragedy to only get this sorbet once a year.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 lbs fresh strawberries hulled (around 6 cups)
- 2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tbsp rum

METHOD
1. Place strawberries, 2 tbsp of lime juice, sugar and rum in a food processor. Process for about 5 mins on high, until smooth. Taste, and add more lime juice, if needed.
2. Place in a ice cream maker and churn as per the directions.

NOTE
You can make this right away, or you can put the mixture in the fridge to chill (you might want to do this if your ice cream maker is not super cold (at least -18 degrees Celsius). Or, you can place the ice cream maker back in the freezer and take it out to churn every few minutes. The sorbet will be quite soft (but should not be liquid) when done, and will firm up overnight in the freezer.

Sourdough Starter: Making Great Things Even Better

The thing about sourdough starter is that you need to keep feeding it in a regular basis--it must be doubled in size every few days with fresh water and flour to remain active. This sounds pretty daunting, and you've probably heard stories of the starter from hell that took over somebody's kitchen. I was also concerned about keeping things under control when I got my starter going a few weeks ago, and I envisioned throwing a lot of starter out as I kept refreshing. And, as much as I like sourdough, I really don't want to make and eat just sourdough bread.

Solution: add sourdough starter to other bread recipes. This way you can use up some of the starter whilst adding some great flavour to your other loaves. Here is the basic idea: the starter is a 50/50 mix of water and flour, so if you add 8 oz of starter to your dough, reduce the flour by 4 oz and the water by 4 oz. Proceed with your recipe as usual. I have used the starter in hot dog buns, whole wheat bread, and Italian bread so far (since I was using the starter I made this loaf in one day, rather than letting it sit for a day to develop flavour). I have yet to throw out any starter and all my bread tastes great.

Speaking of sourdough, my starter is developing in flavour and potency, and I am getting the hang of making and shaping the dough. Check out this beautiful loaf.

Near Global Cookbook Contest Winners!

Thus endeth another cookbook contest. The chances of winning were pretty good this time with 56 correct guesses of the mystery utensil (it is a strawberry huller, but I also accepted "that thingy that pulls the green thingy off a strawberry"). Hopefully you picked up on the very big hint since my next post was about fresh strawberries. Random.org generated two random numbers: 28 and 33. Congratulations Meera and Summer! I will email you with the details. Thanks again to all who played. I know I had fun.