Destination: Diana (Adventure Post #1)

As an avid reader of this blog (as I’m sure you all are)  you’re well acquainted with my best girl Diana, she’s my best vegan friend and I freaking love her for it. We love each other and food and the two of us together was a match made by Seitan. We’re both avid Quarry Girl readers and are constantly saving up to knock items off our bucket list. This week’s item? Doomie’s Home Cookin’

Doomie’s Home Cookin’ is pretty much the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s a total hole in the wall that’s super hard to find, but it’s menu includes pot roast, fried chicken, pulled pork sandwiches, and fettucini alfredo. It is out of this world.

I hate going to vegan restaurants and ordering things I easily could’ve made myself for a fraction of the price (ahem, Golden Mean Cafe). I love the food I make, but no matter my labors, I don’t think I could ever create anything of equal caliber to Doomie’s fried chicken. It’s just not possible. Forget about any health conscious vegan ideal you’ve ever held, and settle into a world of mouth watering mashed potatoes and deep fried oreos. In addition to Doomie’s out of control menu, they have a pastry chef that must be a magician–it should be illegal for food to be this good.

This was my second visit to Doomie’s, so I was able to compare and contrast it for consistency. On my first trip I ordered the fettucini alfredo, which was unbelievably saucy and came with a garlic roll that was extraordinary, however for breakfast I had had leftover pasta carbonara, two consecutive meals of creamy pasta resulted in Doomie’s being somewhat overshadowed. Diana had the pulled pork sandwich, which was huge and included a side of mac n cheese (all for like 8$, it’s very reasonably priced). For desert we had the apple tartlet which was quite possibly the most delicious thing ever to reach my mouth. Our waiter was cute and super helpful, and the chef even came out to talk about which of the desert items had nuts, and altered our dish slightly to avoid my allergies.

On our second visit on Saturday I had the fried chicken with mashed potatoes (you have to request the gravy–it’s extraordinary), a roll, and mac n cheese (which I had them trade for the offered side of soup or salad).

The chicken achieved a level of crispy I had never known possible, it was greasy and even somehow seemed to have dark and white “meat” in it. The mashed potatoes were perfect, and I especially enjoyed eating the fried chicken dipped in potatoes. The Mac n Cheese was more soupy than creamy, but still delicious and more fresh feeling than the heavier items. The roll was exactly what you expected to go with the meal, perfect for sopping up any leftover juices. All in all it was a perfect ten. My only criticism would be that afterwards I felt more full than I ever had in my life, and I didn’t have any room to try desert.

Diana had the Philly cheesteak with fruit, and was satisfied.

The picture probably doesn’t do it justice. The biggest difference between our two trips to Doomie’s, on the latest excursion our favorite waiter wasn’t working. It took at least ten minutes for the waitress to notice us (at which point she pretended we’d “snuck by” her, however during our wait we were certain she was pointedly avoiding us). After our order was taken she was obviously frazzled with the delivery of our food and check. Nevertheless, I can not wait to get back.

Pasta Carbonara

Today my bestest girl Diana (who also made a guest appearance in the first post) came over and after pouring over cookbooks for a few hours, I decided I should impress her with my pasta carbonara, so that’s exactly what I did.

Carbonara is a creamy bacon sauce you serve over pasta. I found this recipe on vegan yum yum years ago while I was missing creamy pasta sauce and it more than hit the spot–who says creamy bacon sauce is off limits to ethical eaters?! Since then it’s been a weekly staple for any night where I want plenty of food in minimal time. This is the typical dish I make when I get back from concerts late at night and I’m really hungry but my feet hurt like hell, because it pulls together in no time. I assume at one point it had precise measurements, but that was before I forgot them, nevertheless, I’ll do my best to convey it to you!

Ingredients:

Salted water for boiling pasta

A box-ish of pasta

2 cups soy milk, or whatever you use

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

2 tbsp oil, canola or vegetable oil works fine

5 strips of vegan bacon, I use Smart Bacon

1/4 cup white wine

4 tbsp earth balance butter

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

(Now I’m going to make up spice measurements that I never actually measure)

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp of dried parsley (fresh works too, use more than a tbsp)

First thing’s first, fill up your pasta pot with water and get it on the blazing stove. The key to getting the dish together fast is getting the water boiling in the first ten minutes. As far as pasta for this goes, any pasta will work. I really like to do a combination of pasta with like a 3/4 linguine to 1/4 fun small pasta ratio, but really you can throw whatever half empty boxes you have in your pantry. The amount of pasta you want to use will be directly proportional to the amount of creamy sauce you like. The sauce to pasta ratio decreases at the pasta increases. That said, I usually use around 3/4 lbs to 1 lbs of pasta.

Throw a big pan on with some oil and your bacon strips. In a box of Smart Bacon I get enough bacon to make three pans of carbonara, the first two with five strips of bacon and the last with four. Flip your bacon as you see fit, but don’t worry about it too much, this is mostly about getting the bacon flavor into the oil.

Next, whisk your arrowroot powder into your milk. Arrowroot powder is the bomb, it’s like cornstarch, except you’re supposed to add it to the liquid you want thickened while the liquid is cold, but it leaves a taste that is far superior to cornstarch. I also use arrowroot powder as my thickener for ice cream, but that’s for a different post! Once whisked in, set it to the side.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine. I used to think this step was vital, but I actually forgot to do it tonight, and it tasted exactly the same, so leave it out if you like. If you do deglaze, do it when the bacon is halfway cooked. Also, when you pour the wine in DO IT FROM A DISTANCE. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. It will sputter like crazy immediately, get your hand the fuck out of there!

Once the bacon’s cooked (7-10 minutes after you started cooking it, depending on the heat. I trust you know how to cook veggie bacon) take it out and throw it on your chopping board. I usually spend about fifteen seconds with each bacon strip and my spatula trying to shake off the excess oil YOU REALLY WANT TO SAVE ALL THAT BACON OIL. IT’S THE WHOLE POINT. Once all the bacon’s out, drop in your butter. When that’s basically melted dump in your nutritional yeast and whisk it in.

Before you dump the arrowroot milk, give it a whisk as the arrowroot will have somewhat settled at the bottom, then pour it in. Whisk until combined.

At this point my water is usually boiling. Make sure there’s at least a tablespoon of salt in the pot before you add the water! Dump in your pasta and make sure you know what time it is and what time it’ll be in 10 minutes.

Chop up your bacon into little pieces and add it to the carbonara. Whisk in the spices. Stir the pasta so it doesn’t stick.

When the carbonara sauce is bubbling steadily, it’s usually about ready. I like to use it as carrot dip to judge whether it is properly spiced and at my desired consistency. Once you like where the sauce is at turn the heat down and give it a stir occasionally while you wait for your pasta to cook. After about eight minutes of cooking, scoop out some pasta, run it under cold water and taste it to see if it’s cooked.

Last step! Don’t drain your pasta! Use a cool netted spoon, like the one seen in the above picture, to scoop out your pasta and dump it into your carbonara pan. The pasta water is awesome and starchy and adds flavor to the sauce, so don’t worry if you’ve got a steady drizzle coming from your net spoon (I can not remember what the technical term for this utensil is, my Sur La Table managers would be ashamed). Mix the pasta and the sauce and let it sit for a few minutes (if you can’t wait don’t sweat it, scoop that up and dump it in a bowl). To be eaten with a side of raw carrots.

Diana was impressed. She even modeled what it’s like to eat!