Saturday, April 04, 2009

Twilight- Dinner & a Movie....

With the release of the TWILIGHT movie on DVD, I thought it was time we had another "theme night" dinner - So Dinner & THE movie it was. So, what do you serve at a vampire inspired dinner?????

Well of course you start out with Bloody Marys....



In the Bloodies I had celery spear, but also homemade pickled green bean, carrot strip and asparagus. Goods' SIL gave us the asparagus, and I made the others (always on hand in case we have a Bloody Mary). Recipe to follow at end of post for the pickling of the veggies, but here is a photo of the almost empty jar....
For pre-dinner food- homemade red pepper hummus served with organic veggies....hummus recipe from "Vive le Vegan"


Then the dinner menu was:


*Black Pepper Stake Tips
*Mushroom Raviolis w/ Garlic Bechemel/White Sauce
*and Chickpea flat bread w/ another attempt of a Garlic Spread.


We found these, on our shopping trip to Whole Foods...


They were totally awesome....you would swear you were eating "the real thing" which kind of freaked me out. The sauce was great...a little tiny bit sweet side, but oniony and peppery.


I took one of many the chickpea flatbreads I made previously here, out of the freezer. This time I made a NEW garlic spread...to keep the vampires away of course..

The spread is suppose to be a lot fluffier (compared to what we get at a local Mediterranean restaurant). I think if I had THIS, I could get the consistency I am looking for. I'll be working on this recipe, so no post yet.

I really want a Vita-Mix, but for those who don't know, the economy isn't the best, especially in MICHIGAN, where I am...but I really NEED one of these...foofoo cocktail season is coming up too. I guess it's always good to have dreams.....

On to the "mushroom" ravioli. If you have read the TWLIGHT Book, or have seen the movie, you know that Bella ordered mushroom ravioli when she and Edward were at a restaurant. So that is why it was on our Dinner & a Movie Menu. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms, so I put minimal amount it the stuffing mixture.



So for the ravioli stuffing I mixed:

sauteed chopped portabella mushrooms
sauteed shallots
sauteed minced garlic
cooked chopped spinach (fresh)
mooshed up extra firm silken tofu
vegan Parmesan cheese
vegan mozzarella cheese shredded
dried italian seasoning

I don't have amounts because I winged it. We then (Goods helped) put a scoop of the stuffing on a wonton wrapper, wet the outside edge of the wrapper with water and placed another wrapper on top. Pressed and sealed. (also did some trimming)

After completion, we boiled them in water for maybe 5 minutes- until they floated to the top. The batch looked like this....
Served with a Garlicky Bechamel Sauce:

Sauce Recipe:
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup vegan milk
salt & pepper

Saute the garlic & butter in a saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes. Add flour and stir until mixture is well blended. Gradually stir in "milk". Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sauce begins to boil and thickens. Simmer, stirring frequently, over very low heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

And the final product..... The verdict...Loved them, except for the fact the wrappers had EGG IN THEM. I can't believe I didn't check the package before I bought them....that is so unlike me. I did eat two of them, guilt ridden with every bite, but the deed was done. I will definitely make them again with VEGAN wrappers, once I find them....they are out there I've heard. Goods really liked them too, he had them again as leftovers with spaghetti sauce, which he preferred. Now don't think they are like REAL raviolis, the wrapper makes the raviolis really light, unlike the noodle dough. Oh, and they don't store well- leftovers was like on big blog of ravioli.

The movie was enjoyed by both of us. Of course the book was better but I will be looking forward to the next movie.

And now for the Pickled Green Bean Recipe- amounts depend on how many you do, I don't actually do the canning process on them, they are just put in the refrigerator until ready.

The juice:
Boil together a mixture of
1/2 water & 1/2 vinegar

In jar put:
whole cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp kosher salt. (2 tsp for qrt size jar)
Cleaned whole green beans
Carrot spears

Pour "the juice" in jar to cover veggies.
Add a sprig or two of the whole dill (big flower part)
Refridge for at least a couple of weeks until pickled.

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