Plant Based Parties

PETA Time

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:53:40 +0000

This last weekend was a busy one for Jennie Cooks. It was a great way to mark the beginning of what seems to be a very busy spring and summer season. We have yet to encounter the blushing brides and prom queens, but our birthdays and cocktail parties have proven to be quite interesting.

We started the weekend off working with one of our new favorite plant based clients, PETA! And NO, they were not protesting or throwing fake blood on anyone’s fur coats. Their major donor appreciation party was on the rooftop of their new building on Sunset (we love catering in the hood!) across from the famed vegan friendly (and delicious) Mohawk Bend.

PETA love

The whole gang serving vegan treats!

Our Cute Staff

Not only was the most famous vegan chef of all time there, Tal Ronnen, but one of our favorite grooms, Shawn Bannon was hanging out too. He is PETA’s fab photographer and a JC enthusiast.

I am happy to report that everyone loved the food and we are (unofficially) PETA approved!

: White Bean Pesto, Fresh Spring Rolls & the Infamous Olive Tapenade

Working with PETA’s awesome event staff was also a real pleasure and the entire experience effectively started off our weekend with a ba-bang!

-miranda

The best FUNgi recipe

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:07:44 +0000

As we all I know, I love the Hollywood Farmers Market. This past week I decided to try a different shopping strategy; instead of going my usual route (north to south through the booths), I started from the east. It sounds insignificant I know, but I always end up buying the majority of my produce from the north side of the market and don’t give the southern vendors the appropriate attention. I’m all about spreading the JC dollar love. Anyway the point is, at the very end of the market is the LA Funghi Booth. They have so many mushrooms, over 40 different kinds apparently. I had never seen it before, as its at the end and hidden behind the oyster bar. I was amazed, I wanted it all.

: compliments of lafunghi

Luckily, they had a nice sized “grab bag”, a delicious mix of wild mushrooms and absolutely perfect for JC’s “Asian” Mushroom Soup. Which I’ll have you know was a big hit this week! We got emails from our Personalized Cuisine clients and our Hollywood writers were scraping their bowls. So I decided that I would share the recipe. The best part about this soup is that it tastes like creamy butter heaven, but has no cream or butter and is actually super healthy. At the fungi booth, I learned about the many advantages of making mushies a regular part of your diet. I’m gonna make this soup again next week, before the summer comes and steals away all of my cravings for hot foods.

Wild Mushroom Soup

10 qts of mushrooms

1 onion chopped fine

3 TBS chopped garlic

1 c rice vinegar

1 c white wine

2 qt veggie stock

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch scallions

1 bunch basil

2 TBS tamarind puree

soy sauce to taste

1 can coconut milk

Cook onion in 3TBs sesame oil and a little corn oil until transparent. Add mushies and garlic. Cook until mushroom have released their liquid. Add vinegar and cook it down until almost nothing. Add wine, reduce it to 1/2. Add stock, cayenne, herbs season with soy sauce and finish with one can of coconut milk.

Enjoy!

-miranda

The Rise of the South

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:19:50 +0000

Southern cooking seems to be all the rage these days. Despite America’s call of late for healthy & “natural” foods, there seems to still be room for the traditional down home country cookin’. Thankfully, not all southern dishes are wrought with pounds of butter and grease and cheese, despite what Paula Deen says. The onslaught of foodie buzz regarding the recent sophistication of southern cuisine brings up some interesting points about the grub coming from Mason Dixon Line. While the best fried chicken and fish muddle don’t quite interest our vegan sensibilities, sweet potatoes and southern greens sure do. Not only are both outrageously nutritious (high in fiber, antioxidants & minerals), but at Jennie Cooks we have found a way to put them in just about everything (even lasagna.) As a side note I do admit we are slightly obsessed. Thankfully, our chefs have the touch when it comes to both the kale massaging and the sweet potato fritters. By now everyone knows how to make a delicious raw kale salad or shake. But do you know how to make a savory-yet-sweet potato patty that will melt in your mouth? I didn’t think so.

yummy

Sweet Potato Fritters

1 lb red-skinned sweet potatoes

2 tbs earth balance

1/2 c sugar

2 tbs chopped fresh mint

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c egg substitute

1 c all purpose flour

1/2 c fresh bread crumbs

1tbs baking powder

veggie or grape seed oil for frying

Preheat oven to 350. Pierce sweets with forks and bake until tender. Spoon the sweet flesh into a medium bowl mix with butter and mash well. Mix in sugar, mint, salt, cinnamon and the fake egg last. Then whisk the flour breadcrumbs and baking powder into the mixture. Roll the dough into small balls and fry and flatten for about a minute or two on each side, then bake in the oven for 20 or so minutes until crisp around the edges. I like eating them with applesauce or garlic vegan aoili mixed with mint and parsley.

Sweet Potato Love

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:55 +0000

Yesterday was a good day. We are uber busy at the catering company, and it seems that VEGAN thing is catching on. So glad we are all putting our health as a priority this year. Over the holidays, my girl Allison turned me on to Pinterest. Oh my. What a delightful way to suck time right out of my day! I think I love it more than Facebook. It’s like an e-zine with everything I love on every page, I cannot get enough. I found this sweet potato lasagna recipe and we tried it on that sensational country western singer Carrie Underwood. She’s va va va vegan.

It’s so delicious I had it for lunch AND dinner.

Another way I like sweet potatoes in in my quinoa salad. I cut it up and boil it, roasting would also work. I toss it with the quinoa, toasted walnuts, shredded spinach and a bit of onion because I love it. Toss with a Maple lemon vinaigrette. OO la la - delish.

To make the day better than good, Pepe found this adorable potato. I celebrated my good fortune with a dog walk.

God Bless our Beautiful Produce. Keep it natural!

Top Ten of 2011 – Wedding of the Year, Vegan of course!

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:18:59 +0000

I must say, I love me some vegan brides. They have great style.

And their grooms are cute too.

They indulge my ideas – like letting the staff come in Dia de los Muertos makeup for their All Hallow’s Eve wedding.

They are great with a budget and they have cool friends who design their wedding and also add a dash of celebrity.

We also lurve working at the Smog Shoppe and their amazingly functional catering kitchen.

Cheers to a great 2012 Megan and David, I look forward to the BABY SHOWER!! (No pressure, just sayin’)

The Best Vegetable Recipe Ever

admin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:33:40 +0000

I had a very odd tasting last week. It was the day before Christmas Eve and a vegan couple from Arizona were in for the holidays and wanted to come in for a tasting. Naturally I made it work. They did not tell me that the mum was an editor of some Fancy Schmancy food mag. They made some jokes at my expense while I was trying to extract what exactly was going on. But that’s OK, I can take it. I’m 99% sure I will NOT be awarded the job. However, the Fancy Schmancy food editor loved the vegetable tian and vowed to make it for her holiday party. (Glad to be of service of course.)

It doesn’t get any better than this, when it comes to deliciousness on the plate.

A Classic Vegetable Tian

Preheat the oven to 350*.

Prepare your vegetable slicer (Mandoline) to the medium slicer. Without cutting your fingers, slice a mess o’veggies. Our favorite combination is zucchini, carrots, onions and potatoes. Slice SO MUCH that you’ll think ” this is crazy! We’ll never eat all these vegetables!” The picture below was for a tasting for 4 people. Get it?? That was about 3 zucchinis.

Toss everything thing together with a crazy amount of olive oil if you’re me, or a moderate amount if you are you. Add lots of chopped garlic. Add fresh thyme. You may chop it or de-stem it, we throw it in on the stem and pick them out after.

Listen to me now, DO NOT SALT!! This mass of deliciousness reduces so much that if you salt now, it gets very concentrated and overpowers the finished product.

Now, spread the veg out on a sheet pan, or a 9 x 13 at your house. A cookie sheet with a lip would also work. Press it down. let it cook and cook. It’ll take about an hour, maybe an hour and a 1/2. As it browns around the edges, turn it into the middle and smash it down again. it should look like this. Pull off the thyme sprigs and salt lightly. Serve and enjoy.

A little something different..

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:02:34 +0000

Thanksgiving is here! And this year, per usual, I still haven’t decided exactly what to make. I wanted to spice it up a bit and make something that we usually don’t eat. A vegan dish that everyone will love makes the WOW! factor even better. I actually got the idea from sampling at Trader Joes, one of my favorite activities. They make a similar dish, but frozen. I’m gonna use root vegetables in place of potatoes for a healthier, but still creamy dish. I adapted the recipe from Taste, a food blog.

Celery Root, Parsnips & Turnips

Baked Root Vegetable Puree

Serves 6-8 as a side dish

3 medium parsnips
2 large turnips
1 large sweet potato
1 large rutabaga
4 tablespoons unsalted margarine(vegan, obviously)
1/4 cup veganaise or non-dairy cream substitute
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sage leaves or rosemary for garnish

Peel and cut vegetables in 2 inch chunks. Steam in a large pot until super soft, 20-30 minutes. Cut the batch in half and puree it in a blender or food processor with 2 tablespoons margarine.

Combine puréed vegetables, veganaise, salt and pepper in large bowl and mix well. Transfer the glob into a baking dish. Put a sage or rosemary leaf on top of the glob. The taste will seep into the dish while its baking, adding extra flavor. If you don’t like either of those spices, add one you like or leave it out. Bake in pre-heated 350 F. oven 25 minutes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Enjoy your family and good food, always!

-miranda

A True Blood Vegan Love Story

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:28:11 +0000

This year Jennie Cooks spent Halloween at the beautiful Smog Shoppe, for what I will now declare my favorite wedding of this year (which is a big statement since we do oodles of them). Not only was the celebration entirely VEGAN! (I know right?), but it was True Blood themed (hot), the staff got to dress up and last but not least, the bridal party did an MJ Thriller Flashdance at the end. Jelly yet?

The bride and groom were some of the sweetest people. I’ve never seen a girl more excited about her wedding food. She wanted all of her non-vegan guests to see how good plant based food can be. They had a lot of food and ate almost all of it! From the Tempeh Sliders to the Cashew Cream Lasagna, the meat eaters were getting down. They even destroyed the Gluten Free Mac n Cheese, which lets be honest seems hard to do.

Cuties

The theme colors were red and black, very vampy. There were beautiful bouquets of red roses, a red “True Blood” signature cocktail, compostable black dining ware and dead decorations everywhere.

The eating tables

: They look different..

Even their guests dressed up. My two favorites were a man guest who came as Arlene, the waitress, from True Blood and the adorable Witches of Eastwick.

And last but not least, our glorious staff, who gave up their Halloween night to be dead in Culver City.

A bunch of lookers thats for sure..

I wish I had a video of their dance at the end but alas, it was too dark. It was a definite mini version of this though, maybe better actually.

-miranda

Fall is Here

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:57:24 +0000

Along with the welcomed change in weather, fall brings back into fashion all of my favorite warm comfort foods. This means at Jennie Cooks we get to start serving soups and stews again. And what better to put into those soups than the ubiquitous winter squash. The colors and the textures make for a naturally creamy dish that is really nice to look at.

This week was the annual debut of the JC Butternut Squash Soup, Pepe does it up vegan and with a kick of course.

: Delicious & Nutritious

Most recipes will yield a yummy yellow goodness, we put it a bit of coconut milk and soy milk to sweeten the flavor and then a few pinches of curry powder to give it that zing. I prefer to roast the squash before cooking it, but some people like to just do it over the stove. The oven makes the squash very tender and makes the kitchen’s smell inviting. Serve with a toasted slice of your favorite bread and you have got yourself a lovely little meal.

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

1 diced onion (1/2 cup)

1 clove garlic cloves (minced)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 ½ c vegetable broth (water)

2 small to medium sized butternut squash

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp powdered ginger

½ cup cocomut milk

1 dash of cinnamon

1/3 cup soy milk

Dash of nutmeg

Preheat the Oven to 375* Bake the squash until soft, about 45 minutes, face down in the oven. Add a bit of olive oil and salt to it so it doesn’t dry out. When it’s done scope out the flesh and chop into small chunks.

In a Dutch oven, heat up your olive oil and sauté your onions and garlic till they are a nice brown color. Add in the rest of your ingredients and bring to a boil. Once the soup has boiled, put it on low, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Voila, your soup is done! Heat back up and garnish with nutmeg, scallions or chives.

-miranda

Just another fabulous party

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:24:24 +0000

One pretty great thing about doing events is that occasionally you come across some pretty fantastic houses, where you just know they’re going to have a pretty fantastic party. This weekend we did a Caribbean themed 50th birthday party for this couple in the Palisades. The house was fully decorated when we got there, complete with a place for their favorite Cuban band. It already looked like a lot of fun, even without anyone there yet.

Their bar was Caribe themed, serving Red Stripe, Margaritas, Mojitos and Mai Tais.

Complete with adorable fruit skewers

And for dessert, my personal favorite the chocolate fountain! In this case it was dark chocolate, which is vegan and delicious.

The birthday boy’s parents, indulging..

As most of you know we don’t always get to do Plant Based Parties. To make up for it, we like to slip in plant based foods whenever we can. The dishes are always a big hit, among carnivores and herbivores alike. As long as you don’t use the word “vegan,” they don’t know what hit them. We had a panini press station and the Balsamic Fig Preserve on Pumpernickel was a real crowd-pleaser. Jennie prepared the jam a few days before the party and it was perfect! Here it is! Couple it with crostini, polenta bites, or toast and people will love you too.

Fig Balsamic Jam
(adapted from Ad Hoc)

1 lb. dried figs, roughly chopped
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Place the figs, sugar, balsamic and water in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat. Once it comes to a bubbling simmer, reduce the heat to low, add the sachet and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the figs have absorbed most of the cooking liquid.

Wait for it to cool down a bit and use a blender or food processor to puree the jam, for less than a minute so it retains some chunkiness.

Stir in the lemon juice and let cool completely to room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. It can last for a month or so, but my guess is you’ll probably eat it faster than that.

-miranda