Late Spring by Mary Oliver (from Felicity part II)

Finally the world is beginning
to change, its fevers mounting,
its leaves unfolding.

And the mockingbirds find
ample reason and breath to fashion
new songs. They do. You can
count on it.

As for lovers, they are discovering
new ways to love. Listen, their windows are open.
You can hear them laughing.

Without spring who knows what would happen.
A lot of nothing, I suppose.
The leaves are all in motion now
the way a young boy rows and rows

in his wooden boat, just to get anywhere.
Late, late, but now lovely and lovelier.
And the two of us, together – a part of it.

Mary Oliver’s poetry is remarkable in its ability to describe the way that our inner rhythms reflect the outer rhythms of the natural world we reside in — every word finding resonance in the space between the uniquely human and universally animal parts of ourselves. This poem, in particular, feels almost too on-the-nose for these times we’re living in. Late spring in 2020 sees us all in uncharted waters.

Finally the world is beginning
to change, its fevers mounting,
its leaves unfolding.

It is true that without the spring, a lot of nothing would happen. No flowers, no fruits, no harvest, no babies. No mama bears or tulip bulbs awakening from their winter slumber. While the human world has held its collective breath, hidden in homes and staying apart… The spring still awakens these wild forces within and around us. We can feel these rhythms rise and fall like so much ample breath. We can sense them as we rearrange our closets and notice them as sunlight lingers, even after dinner dishes are done. We can, hopefully, see it on our plates as well — Spring is, after all, a highly edible season.

Late spring is especially magical. The intersection of spring’s renewal and summer’s effervescence brews up a special sort of aspirational, hopeful joy… It seeps in through open windows and fresh berries and evening drinks on the balcony. May and June bring us produce that epitomizes the vibrance of the two seasons as they shake hands.

This pasta, on the surface, does not feel very fancy or involved to make — in fact, it only takes about as long as bringing water to a boil and cooking pasta once you get the hang of it. But by highlighting vibrant veggies and layered sauces, it punches way above its culinary weight. It’s a bridge between pantry-friendly and produce-forward, using fresh and frozen produce along with our pesto recipe aimed at reducing personal food waste. It might even impress a sweetie for an at-home date night.

As for lovers, they are discovering 
new ways to love. Listen, their windows are open.
You can hear them laughing.

Pasta Primavera — literally “Spring Pasta” in Italian — Is an American invention of the 1970s that usually consists of long noodles, seasonal vegetables, and a buttery sauce… We didn’t mean to walk right down that avenue when developing this recipe, but it seems the concept of multiple independent discoveries even applies to seasonal pasta. The pasta is even good on its own, without the pesto. By emulsifying two different fats (olive oil and butter) with salty pasta water, you create a simple glossy sauce that lets the creamy-sweet peas and zucchini shine in the mix. Black pepper, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest cut through the richness to prevent it from becoming cloying and provide bright focal points on the plate. Serving the pasta atop cool pesto rather than mixing it in not only looks nice but also provides a more interactive dining experience with a juxtaposition of hot and cold — a sensation that is decidedly late spring. Flowers from an herb like chives or rosemary are a lovely garnish if you have some.

There are some tips below to help you live your vibrant pasta dreams. Write us if you want any help adapting this or any other recipe to suit your needs, or if you just want to say hello. Pay attention to the rhythms outside and in.

Late, late, but now lovely and lovelier.
And the two of us, together – a part of it.

Tips & Info

• We love frozen peas. We almost always have a two-pound bag in the freezer — since peas have such a short season, it’s quite a privilege to be able to have them around often. If you are lucky enough to have fresh peas in your house, it’s probably the middle two weeks of June! You can use them instead of frozen ones, just boil them for about 3 minutes in your pasta pot before you add salt and pasta — salted water can turn them tough. Skim them out and set them aside to be added back later, then add salt and cook your pasta like normal.

• The pasta type is a choose-your-own-adventure. With limited imports and reduced grocery trips, our advice is to use what you have! That said, as you can tell from the photos, our favorites were gnocchi and spaghetti for this dish. Wanna use rigatoni? Make homemade gnocchi? Use some fresh linguine you got at the farmers market? More power to you — go wild. Our only advice is to do the math on cook times before you’re elbow-deep in cooking. The zucchini takes an average of 6 minutes to cook — Gnocchi takes 3 mins to boil? Then cook the zucchini for about 3 minutes before you boil the gnocchi. Spaghetti takes 11 minutes? Drop the zucchini in the pan 5 minutes after the noodles hit the water. Capeesh?

• No radish tops? Just like the pesto recipe says, you can make pesto from whatever greens you’ve got around! Chard? Arugula? Turnip tops? Kale? Go for it. Heck, we’ve even heard that basil leaves make a good pesto. Wild, I know. (Store-bought pesto is acceptable here, too, if that’s better for ya.)

• Speaking of pesto… If your pesto is refrigerated, set it out when you are gathering your other ingredients before cooking so it has time to come closer to room temp. Olive oil coagulates at fridge temperature and you want to give it some time to relax back to a nice serving texture.

• No vegan butter? Just use a little more olive oil. Sure, it won’t be quite as creamy and layered without the butter, but you’ll still love it.

• Serving-wise, this pasta was originally designed to use a whole package of dried gnocchi, making it 4 servings. Cut it in half, double it, or leave it as is. Whatever you see fit to feed you and yours well.

• Make a meal out of this dish — Literally and figuratively. Light a candle. Pour some dry white wine. Drop the needle on your favorite record. Put some cushions on the stoop. Whether you’re dining in with a sweetie, al fresco with family, with friends over a webcam, or by yourself — this vibrant, rich, fresh, luxurious pasta is an excuse to slow down and savor a fleeting spring evening.

Power Plant Pasta Primavera with Pesto

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | May 22, 2020
Time: ~30 minutes | Makes: ~4 servings

Equipment:

Knife and cutting board

Measuring spoons and cups (optional if you choose to eyeball)

Heat-safe mug or measuring cup (for reserving pasta water)

Grater (for lemon zest)

Pasta pot

Sauté pan

Spatula or tongs

Ingredients:

1 cup radish top pesto (for plating)

4 servings of dry pasta (follow package instructions to determine servings)

1-3 zucchini, sliced into thin half-moons (2 cups sliced)

⅔ cup frozen peas

Olive oil

1 tbsp vegan butter (or more olive oil)

Heavy pinch chili flakes

Salt

Fresh-ground black pepper

Lemon zest (for serving)

Preparation:

1) Bring 3-4 quarts of water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat a skillet or sauté pan over medium-low heat. Refer to the tips in the blog post for this recipe and make a plan for your cooking times depending on ingredient factors.

2) Either before or during the zucchini’s cook time, depending on the pasta — Add pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook al dente according to package directions.

3) Raise sauté pan heat to medium. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to pan along with the zucchini, a pinch of salt, and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring infrequently, until creamy-tender and lightly caramelized (4-6 mins).

4) Reserve 1 cup of starchy pasta water. Add peas to the pasta water right before draining (cooking frozen peas in hot water rather than the sauté pan keeps them from shriveling). Drain pasta and peas and set aside in preparation of final sauté stage.

5) Once the zucchini is done cooking add butter, a small splash more olive oil, and 5 or so grinds black pepper to the pan. Add in pasta and begin tossing to coat (careful not to let it sit on the bottom and stick). Stream in ¼-½ cup pasta water, sautéing until a glossy sauce that sticks to the noodles forms.

6) To serve: Spoon ¼ cup pesto onto the center of each plate. With the back of a spoon, smear the pesto into a “donut” shape. Coil/spoon pasta over top, covering the “donut hole.” Top with a couple more grinds of black pepper, lemon zest, and some herb flowers if you’ve got ‘em. Enjoy!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Have you eaten radish greens before? Embarrassingly, despite radishes being a favorite in our house, we had never given the tops a second thought… Until recently. And now we feel foolish for all the deliciousness we’ve wasted in the past!

We get weekly produce deliveries through Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Cooperative’s CSA — which makes reducing our trips to the grocery store easier (still very important to help slow the spread of COVID-19). It has also made us feel ~extra sensitive~ about letting produce go to waste… A pleasant symptom of an elevated connection to where our food is coming from and how much work goes into producing it.

Naturally, as recipients of a spring CSA box, we’re getting so many gorgeous radishes lately! Whether topping a taco or gracing a salad bowl, having them around has been delightful… But we just had no idea what to do about the tops! Composting vibrant, green radish leaves by the bunch doesn’t feel right. So we did some experimenting and it turns out we have a new slogan... When in doubt: Pesto!

Lively as the spring itself, this peppery pesto is the perfect complement to any number of springtime dishes. Pasta? Pizza? Tempeh? Toast? Check, check, check, and check! It’s even good as a dip for regular old radish roots (yes, really). Thin it into a dressing. Marinate some white beans in it. It is v-e-r-s-i-t-i-l-e!

Switch it up as needed to suit what’s in stock in your pantry and fridge — Use another green, reach for whatever nut or seed you have around, etc. If green garlic is in season, swap that for the garlic cloves! Get the formula down and then experiment with different combos. Become a master at rescuing flavor- and nutrient-packed greens from the compost!

Check out the notes below for pointers and tips that will help you achieve the delicious, bright, springy pesto you’ve been waiting for — Regardless of what your pantry and kitchen appliance situations are.

Tips & Info

• Radishes tops are usually pretty dirty, and they wilt quickly. You know that day-five radish top slime? Yuck. It’s a good idea to separate the leaves from the roots when you first get your radishes home, then store the tops like you would any salad green or tender herb. Use them within a few days before they go bad! Before using them, give them a bath in cold water to loosen dirt and revive their crispness… Just be sure to shake them dry thoroughly before making pesto so it doesn’t end up watery.

• Other greens work in place of/in combination with radish tops. Arugula, kale, chard, watercress, and mustard greens are a few we think would be good candidates.

• No walnuts? No worries. Use cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, whatever you’ve got. Just make sure they’re in small pieces before they go into the mix (think baking pieces of walnuts instead of walnut halves)

• If you happen to have green garlic when you are making this, use it instead of garlic cloves for an extra springy pesto! Use about ¼ cup chopped (1-3 stalks depending on size). 

• This recipe works great in a food processor or a blender. Using a blender? Just keep the speed between low and medium or else too much air will incorporate, creating a frothy smoothie-like consistency (ew). You want to use a low speed over a longer time rather than giving in to the temptation to speed things up with a higher setting... Treat medium like maximum here. Work in pulses and low-speed settings, scraping down sides (and using your blender’s plunger, if it has one) frequently.

Radish Top Pesto

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | May 16th, 2020
Time: 5-10 minutes | Makes: ~1 cup pesto

Equipment:

Measuring cups and spoons

Knife and cutting board

Blender or food processor

Flexible spatula (for scraping blender/food processor)

Ingredients:

¼ cup walnuts, chopped small (or whatever nut/seed you’ve got in your pantry)

2½–3 cups radish leaves and stems, rinsed well and chopped.

1-2 cloves of garlic, cut in half

1 tbsp lemon juice (½ a lemon)

1 tsp nutritional yeast

Heavy pinch salt

Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

8-10 grinds fresh black pepper

¼ cup olive oil

Preparation

1) Toast the walnuts in a pan over medium heat, stirring often, until lightly golden (3-5 minutes). Meanwhile, place all the ingredients except for the walnuts and oil into your blender/food processor. When the walnuts are done, add them too!

2)Have your olive oil measured into something easy to pour from. Pulse your blender/food processor until the ingredients are chopped-up and beginning to combine. With the blender/processor running on medium-low speed, stream oil in slowly (this helps it emulsify) through the top “feeder.” Once all the oil has all been added, continue processing on medium-low for 20 seconds or so. Turn your blender/processor off.

3) Scrape down the sides with a spatula and return to blending, either in long pulses or on medium-low, scraping down sides as necessary. Repeat until a smooth, shaggy pesto forms — The longest this should take is a few minutes.

4) Test your ability not to eat the whole batch with a spoon immediately. If you pass the test, serve and/or save your pesto for later in the fridge!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

David here. You’ve probably gotten the picture by now, if you’ve been following our recipes or our Instagram, that comfort food is a big deal for me and Mars. Not only do we think that every recipe we’ve published fits into the category of comfort food... We kinda think any food can be a comfort food. 

Food is inherently personal, emotional, nostalgic, and comforting — And why wouldn’t it be? Nourishment should be a comforting thing! Cooking allows us (as a species) to elevate nourishment beyond necessity. We can bring ourselves comfort and ease by preparing or purchasing foods we know and love, stirring up memories and associations that bring us comfort and joy. In a time like we’re facing right now — with raw nerves and worries galore — nostalgic, we tend to think that comforting foods are worth their weight in gold!

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, teriyaki was a staple comfort food for me. Usually, it was from a strip-mall hole-in-the-wall joint, eaten from styrofoam containers at home or plastic plates on wobbly tables in a tiny restaurant between a pizza place and a sandwich shop… Those meals are burned in my mind, in the best way. The thing is, those meals were decidedly non-vegan. And even though we’re very lucky that so many local Teriyaki restaurants have vegan options... I still miss those teriyaki combo plates that I grew up with. You know the ones: Listed on a handwritten “today’s special” sign by the cash register... Grilled chicken, syrupy sauce, steamed rice, iceberg salad with sweet-tangy-creamy dressing... There’s not an option to stir up those memories with the vegan dishes available in restaurants. So, since I wanted to have a vegan version of that meal, I made it myself! 

In the process of developing this recipe, which took a while, I turned our kitchen into a take-out-at-home test kitchen. Many many batches of sauce were made with tiny tweaks here and there. Finding the balance of the elusive “Teriyaki Restaurant Dressing” took a while! The good news is that meant I got to eat a lot of broiled tofu, which is the best. We’ve already posted all of these elements separately — but I hope this “recipe” will help you make a meal out of four recipes without losing your mind. The instructions are a bit simplified from their solo posts and interwoven at times to help you multitask. There’s even a pretty good, otherwise unpublished-on-here method for steamed white rice woven in there. 

In around 45 minutes (even less if using a rice cooker), you’ll have tofu that’s crisp-tender with leopard-spotted charring on the outside, thick and sweet restaurant-style teriyaki sauce, fluffy steamed rice, and a classic side salad with sweet-tangy-creamy dressing. Put something nostalgic on the stereo, take a few minutes to tidy up your kitchen and gather ingredients, and enjoy the best dang vegan teriyaki dinner you can’t get at a restaurant.

Tips & Info

• Steamed white rice is a quintessential part of this meal. To be honest, we typically let our hand-me-down rice cooker do the work when we’re making a teriyaki dinner. It’s an easy, set-it-and-forget-it appliance that makes perfect rice for us every time (it’s a little quicker than the stovetop, too). Rice cookers are available in a variety of prices, quality levels, and sizes — But we also know that not everyone has room to store a uni-tasker kitchen appliance! Not to mention, we don’t expect you to rush out and buy one right this second. So we’ve included a method in the recipe below for cooking rice on the stovetop. It’ll make 2-3 servings (~3 cups of fluffed rice) of fluffy, perfectly steamed rice in a little under 40 minutes. 

• Speaking of rice: While traits vary between varieties, long-grain white rice will have a lightly aromatic, subtly sweet quality on its own that doesn’t require salt to bring it forward. To achieve the flavor associated with a classic teriyaki plate, skip the salt! Trust us.

• And don’t forget to rinse your rice! This is an important step because it reduces clumping and makes the cooked rice fluffier by washing off the starchy, dusty powder that builds up on dry rice. We recommend using a fine-mesh strainer for ease, but you can also use your cooking pot by draining the rice carefully between several changes of water.

• Get your kitchen ready by tidying, cleaning, and organizing your tools before you start. There’s nothing worse than searching around drawers and countertops and your dish-drying rack for a measuring spoon while you have multiple dishes going! Take five or ten minutes to prepare your tools, organize your ingredients, etc. You’ll have a much better time cooking, trust us!

• Check out the original posts for each recipe for more detailed instructions, individual recipe tips, equipment lists, etc.

  • Broiled Tofu

  • Teriyaki Sauce

  • Side Salad & Dressing

Power Plant Teriyaki Special

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 18th, 2020
Time: ~45 minutes (depends on rice method)| Makes: 2-3 Power Plant Teriyaki Specials

Ingredients:

Steamed White Rice

1 cup white rice (any grain-length, but we recommend medium- or long-grain)

1¼ cups water

Classic Teriyaki Restaurant Side Salad

Dressing:

½ c vegan mayo

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp cane sugar

1 tsp soy sauce or tamari

¼ tsp garlic powder

Fresh black pepper (6-8 grinds)

1 tbsp water
Salad (approx. per serving)

A small handful of iceberg lettuce, torn or cut into bite-sized pieces

A large pinch/small fist-full (~¼ cup) shredded cabbage

A pinch of shredded or thinly-sliced carrot

A pinch of thinly-sliced scallion (optional)

Teriyaki Sauce

¼ cup water

¼ cup soy sauce or tamari

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

4 tsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

¼ tsp dried ginger (powdered)

¼ tsp garlic powder
Cornstarch Slurry (step 2)

¼ cup tap-cold water

1 tbsp cornstarch

Broiled Tofu

1 block of firm or extra-firm tofu

High-heat oil

Salt

Black pepper

Preparation:

Rice - Begin by starting the rice cooking, since it takes the longest! (If using a rice cooker, start that during this step instead)

- Rinse rice in a fine strainer for 30 seconds to a minute, until the water draining is no longer cloudy.
- Combine your rinsed rice in a small/medium saucepan with 1¼ cup of water and stir gently to combine. Place over high heat on a small burner and bring to a boil (this will take around 5-7 minutes).

Salad - Teriyaki Restaurant Salad Dressing and salad ingredient prep is next.

- Combine dressing ingredients in a small mixing bowl, whisk together until creamy and well-combined, and set aside.
- Wash a few leaves of iceberg lettuce and tear into bite-sized pieces. Shred a small amount of cabbage. Peel and shred, julienne, or thinly slice a carrot. Set these ingredients aside for plating later.

Rice - Keep an eye on your rice pot! Once the water is boiling, cover tightly with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook undisturbed for 16 minutes — Don’t open the lid to peek at it! You need to keep that steam trapped in there.

Sauce - Next up, it’s time to make Teriyaki Sauce.

- Combine all ingredients except cornstarch slurry in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk thoroughly to dissolve sugar and spices. Stir frequently until it reaches a rolling simmer — about 5 minutes.
- While that is happening, whisk together the cornstarch slurry. Set aside for next step.
- Once sauce has reached a rolling simmer, reduce heat to medium (carefully manage heat, keep sauce below a boil at this step) and whisk in the cornstarch slurry thoroughly. Stir often until it reaches a glossy, rich consistency — about 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let rest until ready to serve.

Rice - How’s the rice doing? Probably a few minutes or so left on that timer right? Wouldn't want you to get lost in the sauce.

Tofu - Now we’ll make Broiled Tofu

- Drain tofu and cut into halves or thirds (sliced lengthwise) and pat to dry excess moisture with a clean tea towel or paper towel. It doesn’t have to be dry-dry, just not dripping wet.
- Move an oven rack to the top position and turn your broiler on high.

Rice (again) - After 15 minutes, remove pot from heat (still keeping the lid closed tight!) and let stand covered for 15 minutes to finish steaming (or keep it covered until you’re ready to serve it.)

Tofu - Back to it!

- On a clean and dry dish or cutting board, brush/rub tofu with a light coating of oil. If needed, wipe or pat with a lint-free cloth or paper towel before moving to the sheet pan, leaving only a light coating of oil on the tofu. Season the top with salt and pepper to your preference.
- Broil until tops are beginning to turn from golden brown to dark at the edges — Until you see “leopard-spotting,” like on the crust of a wood-fired pizza. Timing varies greatly depending on tofu moisture, broiler, etc. Watch closely and cook for “a few minutes.” Once first side is done, remove from broiler and flip, salting the second side. Return to broiler, cooking second side until done — Another few minutes.
- Remove from broiler and let rest for a minute or two before handling.

Serve - (Make sure your rice has actually had 15 full minutes to rest off-heat before you move onto this step. Don’t rush fluffy perfection!)

- Rice - Remove the lid from rice pot and fluff rice with a fork. (This helps separate the grains without mushing them for perfect fluffy white rice.) Place a scoop of rice on the plate.
- Salad - Build salad next to rice, taking up about one-third of the remaining empty plate. Iceberg first, then cabbage, carrots, and a spoonful of dressing!
- Tofu - Slice tofu into long, thin strips. Place cut tofu on the remaining empty part of the plate, spreading it out in a thin layer to ensure even sauce coverage.
- Sauce - Drizzle teriyaki sauce over the top of the tofu (don’t be shy!) with a spoon or small ladle.
- Finish - If you’re feeling fancy, garnish your plate with sesame seeds and/or thinly-sliced scallion.

That’s it! You did it! You get to enjoy your own homemade Power Plant Vegan Teriyaki Special!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

The rice. The salad. The tofu. All your best-laid plans… None of them mean anything if your teriyaki sauce is disappointing. We all know the feeling — You splurged and bought the nicer-looking bottle of the two you were debating between on the grocery aisle. You’ve spent your evening preparing a meal that should be full of nostalgic, comforting flavors and textures… And after all that, the sauce is just… Not there. Too thin, weirdly-seasoned, too salty, or just inexplicably “off.” Those bottles are fine as marinades, but they just aren’t quite the sauce you desire. Teriyaki sauce like the one from your favorite restaurant just isn’t available on store shelves. But do not fret. Cast aside the last of your doubts. You can make it yourself, and it’s easy!

There are many teriyaki sauce recipes out there. There are many variations of teriyaki, and every restaurant has its style. Every home cook has their own way of recreating those flavors in their kitchen. When developing this recipe, we had two major priorities in mind. 1) David wanted it to taste like his childhood memory of the sauce at the hole-in-the-wall teriyaki joint he grew up going to. Maybe it has a different vibe than your favorite teriyaki sauce, but this is how his quintessential teriyaki tastes. 2) We wanted to use ingredients we already keep in our pantry. While traditional teriyaki sauce uses mirin (a sweet, low-alcohol rice wine used as a condiment in Japanese cooking), we use seasoned rice vinegar in its place. This provides the subtly sweet-tangy, umami-enhancing acidity mirin lends to teriyaki sauce with an ingredient we already had in our pantry. (If you’ve got mirin around, then feel free to use it instead.) Seasoned rice vinegar is a real workhorse in our kitchen, so it will help you to have some around if you want to cook our recipes often! (It’s made appearances in our Weeknight Fried Rice & Teriyaki Restaurant Salad Dressing)

Another reason we wanted to develop this recipe for ourselves? Even though many local teriyaki restaurants have vegan options, many restaurant teriyaki sauces themselves contain honey! Maple syrup jumps in here to provide a deep, complex sweetness in place of honey.

Toasted sesame oil is certainly the most “special” ingredient in this recipe. It might be the thing you are least likely to already have around (but you’ll want it around to make salad dressing to go with your teriyaki). You can omit it if necessary, but we recommend spending a few bucks on a small bottle and adding it as a pantry staple. It’s high in polyunsaturated fats, so unless you’re cooking it into a sauce, it can become overheated at relatively low temperatures — it should be used primarily as a finishing oil. Drizzle some on roasted broccoli before serving, add it to stir-fried noodles during the last minute of cooking, or dress a salad with it! (Want to learn more about cooking oil types and when to use them? Check out our oil page. Drop us a line via our contact page or hello@powerplantpnw.com if you have more questions!)

Check out our tips and recipe below! You’re less than 15 minutes from homemade, restaurant-style teriyaki sauce.

Tips & Info

• Why make a separate cornstarch slurry instead of mixing it in with the first step? Cornstarch is an effective, accessible, neutrally-flavored sauce-thickener. Trouble is, it can seize up and/or get lumpy if added to a sauce incorrectly. Mixing the cornstarch and cold water into a slurry before adding it to the hot sauce reduces the likelihood of clumping and ensures even mixing.

• If you want to use this sauce as a marinade: Omit the cornstarch, cook only to a rolling simmer, then cool before marinading. That will make sure flavors still get developed without it getting too thick to soak into the food you are marinading.

• How do I store this if I make it ahead or have leftovers? Well, here’s the thing… Depending on the source, teriyaki sauce either requires refrigeration or stores well at room-temp. Here’s what we know: 1) Teriyaki restaurants keep their house-made teriyaki at room-temp, which seems to be accepted by local health departments. 2) All the ingredients used in this recipe, individually, are shelf-stable when stored at room-temp. 3) We end up refrigerating it anyway most of the time out of habit. Most things last longer in the fridge. But you’ll probably be fine if you store it in your pantry or cupboard. Either way, you should be using clean utensils and containers and keeping things that can introduce contaminants that lead to spoilage, like other food or dirty utensils, out of your leftovers.

• If it becomes too thick while stored, just add water 1 tbsp at a time while reheating.

Vegan Teriyaki Sauce

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 17th, 2020
Time: 10-13 minutes | Makes: 1-1 ¼ cup sauce

Equipment:

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Small mixing bowl or glass (or use your measuring cup, if using a 1-cup liquid measurer)

Small saucepan

Whisk

Ingredients:

¼ cup water

¼ cup soy sauce or tamari

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

4 tsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

¼ tsp dried ginger (powdered)

¼ tsp garlic powder

Cornstarch slurry (step 2)

- ¼ cup tap-cold water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch

PREPARATION:

1) Combine all ingredients except for the cornstarch slurry in a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk thoroughly to dissolve sugar and spices. Stir frequently until it reaches a rolling simmer — about 5 minutes.

2) While that is happening, whisk together the cornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch & ¼ cup water). Set aside for next step.

3) Once the sauce has reached a rolling simmer, reduce the heat to medium (be careful to manage heat, keeping the sauce below a boil at this step) and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Whisk thoroughly to combine, then stir often until it reaches the desired glossy, rich consistency — about 3 minutes.

4) Serve and enjoy! We recommend spooning it over broiled tofu and steamed rice. It’s also a great stir-fry sauce!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Whether your go-to order at a teriyaki restaurant is a combo platter, a big plate of noodles, or the lunch special advertised on a hand-written sign by the cash register… Chances are good that you’re familiar with the ubiquitous teriyaki-joint side salad. Iceberg lettuce, crunchy veggies like cabbage and carrots, and that mysterious sweet-creamy-tangy dressing. 

It’s the sort of dish that is easy to overlook — Maybe to some, it seems like cheap filler… Maybe many don’t give it a second thought. But it plays an important and surprisingly complex part on the combo plate. Juxtaposed with hot steamed rice and a salty, crisp, chewy protein covered in sweet and aromatic teriyaki sauce: The salad provides a necessary flavor, texture, and temperature contrast. (Iceberg lettuce deserves more credit, pals!) Sadly, because the dressing is mayo-based, we have yet to come across a vegan version of this iconic salad in a restaurant. Don’t fret though! It’s really easy to make at home — Even sharing some ingredients with our recipe for restaurant-style teriyaki sauce (we love a pantry full of multitasking ingredients).

A quick Google for “teriyaki restaurant salad dressing” will show you what a mystery it truly is… Countless threads exist in the question-asking corners of the internet filled with people asking what the heck it is, pleading for a recipe to satisfy their teriyaki dinner cravings… They mostly get answered with suggestions of totally different, unrelated dressings. (One answer reads: “Have you tried Green Goddess? It's great!” Thanks for nothing, Audrey M.) Truly, the dressing varies business-to-business and most recipes you’ll find are based on a specific restaurant’s dressing. Instead, we tested this recipe diligently to create something that will satisfy the craving for the amalgamation of every teriyaki side salad you’ve had.

And listen: You might be tempted to fancy-up this classic salad. You’re welcome to do whatever you please, but we urge you to not stray too far from the real deal! Iceberg lettuce is undervalued and decidedly unfancy. It plays a very important role here, though! Its hearty leaves hold up to the rich dressing (and even the teriyaki sauce when some inevitable crossover happens on your plate). Its crunch is invaluable to balance out starchy rice and chewy protein. Each crunchy bite is a refresher and palate cleanser and treat at the same time. Lean into the iceberg. Learn to love it. It’s your friend. Maybe even your new best friend. Plus it keeps longer than more delicate greens, making it ideal for keeping on-hand during a global pandemic. 

Okay, okay. We’ll get off our iceberg soapbox (lettuce box? salad crate?) and let you enjoy your salad. now that we’ve defended this classic and irreplaceable side dish, we might as well admit that this dressing is great in a lot of contexts beyond this simple side salad. We particularly love it as a dressing for coleslaw — Mars is a cabbage superfan. Just don’t forget to show iceberg some love, okay?

Tips & Info

• What’s up with all the different types of rice vinegar out there? Rice vinegar is made by fermenting rice first into alcohol (rice wine) and then into acid (vinegar). Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are only really different in name! However, seasoned rice vinegar has a bit of sugar and salt added to balance its acidity (it’s usually found dressing steamed vegetables or tossed in a salad). We keep seasoned rice vinegar in our pantry because it’s so useful on its own — so it makes an appearance in many of our recipes. If you use plain rice vinegar in this recipe, just go ahead and add an extra pinch of sugar.

• This dressing is also great for coleslaw! Shred some cabbage and carrots, throw in some sesame seeds and sliced scallions, and toss with this dressing. Let sit for at least a few minutes or chill for up to one day before serving.

• Different vegan mayos have different flavor profiles and fat contents, meaning the final dressing will come out a bit different with each one. Trust your tastebuds and adjust seasonings as needed to your taste.

Classic Teriyaki Restaurant Side-Salad & Dressing

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 16th, 2020
Time: ~5 minutes | Makes: ¾ cups of dressing, about 4-5 side salads-worth

Equipment:

Small mixing bowl

Whisk or fork for mixing

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Ingredients:

Dressing:

½ c vegan mayo

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp cane sugar

1 tsp soy sauce or tamari

¼ tsp garlic powder

Fresh black pepper (6-8 grinds)

1 tbsp water

Classic Teriyaki Restaurant Side-Salad (approx. per serving)

A small handful of iceberg lettuce, torn or cut into bite-sized pieces

A large pinch/small fist-full (~¼ cup) shredded cabbage

A pinch of shredded or thinly-sliced carrot

A pinch of thinly-sliced scallion (optional)

Preparation:

Dressing:

1) Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk thoroughly until combined and creamy. Add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, if it’s thicker than desired.

2) Let sit for a few minutes so flavors can combine, then serve! Keeps for at least a week in the refrigerator.

Classic Teriyaki Restaurant Side-Salad:

1) On a plate, assemble your salad: A small handful iceberg lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces, a sprinkle of shredded cabbage, a big spoonful of dressing, some shredded or thinly-sliced carrots sprinkled over top. Enjoy the simple creamy, tangy, sweet, crunchy delight of it. No fancy greens or herbal flourishes necessary! If you must scratch some fancy itch, hit it with some sliced scallion.

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

We are proud tofu lovers! There’s so much to love about tofu — its versatility is at the top of the list for sure. You can cook it and eat it a million different ways, there are countless types, and it takes on any flavor you give it! While it’s such a versatile and beloved staple food… Preparing it at home can be daunting! Even seasoned vegans struggle with it. Sure, a tofu scramble is easy enough, and you can throw soft cubes into a dish. But what about tofu like your favorite restaurants make?

For us and many others out there, the most sought-after tofu is crispy and chewy on the outside with a soft interior that melts in your mouth... We often see this achieved through frying, baking, and even coating in cornstarch before cooking. All fantastic options, but those methods just weren’t cutting it when it came to our everyday needs. (And David already has too many oil-stained shirts from pan-frying...)

David developed this super easy method while searching for the perfect protein base for a vegan teriyaki-combo-plate... He was on a nostalgia kick, and while we love our local teriyaki restaurants and their vegan options, the cornstarch-fried soft-centered tofu doesn’t satisfy his craving for the (decidedly non-vegan) teriyaki platters he grew up with. Not only did it unlock the key to achieving our vegan teriyaki dreams, but it opened the door for so many other quick and delicious tofu meals! 

The answer was a little obvious. It felt like it’d been under our nose (stovetop?) this whole time. Just broil it! Upon mastering this method, it felt like we had unlocked some arcane secret of tofu alchemy, thus making it our duty/curse to pass this knowledge along until every soul is free from the anguish of mediocre, overcomplicated tofu. But seriously… We’re not sure why broiling doesn’t seem to be a more common method for cooking tofu. If your friends have been doing this for ages, please introduce us... Because we want to be their friends!

Broiling tofu is about as quick and easy as it gets... Heck, you could even make this in a toaster oven as long as it has a broiler. It’s somewhere between grilled and fried, crisp and soft, chewy and tender. It can be seasoned for any cuisine or dish. As we hinted at, we tend to use in any recipe one might use grilled meat. Dry-rub it with cajun seasoning and serve it up with braised greens and grits! Add chili powder then dice it up and drizzle with lime juice for tacos! Cut it into wedges and add into a stir-fry! Slice it and drizzle it with teriyaki sauce alongside rice and veggies. Toss it into a Caesar salad! Is anyone else getting hungry? The point is… The tofu limits don’t exist! You’re free to go forth and conquer any dish with this delectable tofu at your side.

Tips & Info

• Don’t be afraid to generously salt your tofu. This will help draw out excess moisture and develop flavor while it cooks.

• Be careful with spices and liquids in the broiler. Such intense direct heat can cause things to get pretty smoky and turn from browning to burning at a moment’s notice. Just keep an eye and stay close to your oven while the tofu is cooking. Add any liquids, especially sugary ones like citrus juice or sauce, in the last third of or after cooking. Cook with all your senses, and trust your ears and nose during the process!

• Speaking of high heat: Make sure you use a high-heat-safe oil for this! If you don’t, you’ll get some pretty nasty smoke pouring out of your oven. Who needs that? Check out the link above for our oil guide! For the record — We usually use high-oleic sunflower or canola oil for this recipe. 

• Even with a heat-safe oil, excess oil will still smoke. Oil your tofu on a separate dish from the sheet pan you’re broiling on. Keep a paper towel or clean, lint-free cloth handy to pat excess oil. You only want a light coating and no excess on the pan.

• How thick you slice your tofu is up to you and depends on preference and application. Most of the time I either slice the whole block into two or three, butterfly-style. The thickness will impact how well-done and firm the center becomes.

• Does your tofu get done cooking on the outside before the center is done? If so, move your oven rack to the second position instead of the top position to broil.

• Towel it off! In the recipe below you’ll see a step that involves pressing some excess moisture out of the tofu. This is a great opportunity and reminder to use a clean cloth towel instead of disposable paper towels in your kitchen! By stocking up on some flour sack tea towels, you’ll end up saving tons of paper (and money, too!). We have about 10 that we keep folded in a stack on top of our fridge, which is near our stove. You can find these affordably everywhere from Swedish budget furniture warehouses to local sustainable goods stores. Shop around and get what’s right for you!

• If you’ve got a tofu-pressing setup you’re stoked to use, you totally can. But since the heat from the broiler is so intense and direct, we’re gonna cook a lot of the moisture out anyway. If you go full-pressing, your tofu might just cook a bit faster.

Broiled Tofu

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 15th, 2020
Time: 15-20 minutes | Makes: 1 block of tofu

Equipment:

Cutting Board

Chef’s Knife

Heavy pan, bowl, or something else to press tofu lightly.

Few paper towels or a clean tea towel

Small plate or pan for oiling tofu (optional - cutting board works)

Broiler-safe sheet pan

Oven (broiler)

Ingredients:

1 block of firm or extra-firm tofu

High-heat oil

Salt

Black pepper

Preparation:

1) Drain tofu and cut into halves or thirds slices lengthwise (like a hamburger bun or English muffin — Check out the photos above for a visual). Thin slices with a lot of surface area are best for broiling!

2) Move an oven rack to the top position and turn the broiler on high.

3) Working on a clean, dry surface: Place your tofu on a clean tea towel or 2 layers of paper towel. With the rest of/another towel, press down lightly and evenly on the top of the tofu. You don’t have to do a full-on tofu pressing, but it helps to get some excess moisture out.

4) On a clean and dry dish or cutting board, brush/rub tofu with a light coating of oil. (Handle with care!) If needed, wipe or pat with a lint-free cloth or paper towel before moving towards the pan, leaving only a light coating of oil on the tofu itself. Do not use your sheet pan — it needs to be oil-free to avoid smoke in the broiler! Once oiled, place tofu, evenly spaced, on your sheet pan. Season the top with salt and pepper to your preference.

5) Broil until tops are beginning to turn from golden brown to dark at the very edges — You’re looking for very slight “leopard-spotting,” like on the crust of a wood-fired pizza. The timing here varies greatly depending on tofu moisture, gas vs. electric broilers, etc. Watch it closely and consider “a few minutes” your guideline, but don’t rush it either. Once the first side is done, remove the pan from broiler and flip your tofu, salting the second side. Return to broiler, cooking the second side until your desired doneness is reached — Another few minutes.

6) Remove from oven and let cool for at least a minute or two before handling. Slice or dice and serve as desired!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Cashew queso. A thing so ubiquitous in the vegan-sphere that it’s practically a rite of passage as a vegan home-cook. Heck, even as a modern consumer! Maybe you had a mind-blowing plate of nachos at your favorite vegan restaurant that got you hooked... Or a spicy “cheese” dip at a potluck (that your coworker never texted you the recipe for, ugh)... Or you’ve just liked so many pictures of dreamy cashew cheese on Instagram that it feels more like a legend than something to attempt in your kitchen.

Truth is, though? Making bomb cashew queso sauce at home is easy. No more “I wonder how they do it...” This is how you do it! Treat this recipe like an intro: Tweak it, make adjustments to your taste, and figure out what you like. Once you know how easy it is, you honestly might wanna stock up on cashews to support your new queso habit.

We’ve been making cashew queso sauces for years, improvising and tweaking ratios and flavors depending on the final use or what we have in the pantry, never really writing anything down. Developing a recipe then came as a challenge... How does one set out to make something that can be measured and duplicated based on taste and feel? We did our best, and we’re pretty dang happy with the result. (It’s even good cold if you can believe it.)

We mostly use cashew queso to make nachos — Especially in the warmest months, when our little AC-free Seattle apartment is unbearably hot, because the only kitchen appliance required is our Vitamix! (Okay, and microwave or stove if we’re heating beans.) We’ve been planning from the get-go to share a queso recipe with you. We’d hoped it would be during the summer, along with tips for keeping your home cool and your plate full when you’re burnin’ up...

But here we are, smack-dab in the middle of spring. Flowers are blooming and fragrant, it’s dipping below 40°F some nights, and our apartment is cool enough to cook with abandon — Which is good news because we’re stuck in here for a while during a pandemic... So why publish a queso recipe that we’ve been planning to share as a hot-summer-tip? Because we think that finding easy comforts and luxuries in our days is a great way to combat the stress and turmoil we’re all experiencing right now. And what’s more comforting and luxurious than smoky, savory, golden queso?

This Chipotle Cashew Queso is so easy and quick. Like really quick. Like, from “Hey, do you want a snack?” to warm cheesy queso dip in just a few minutes! It might seem like a lot of spices or ingredients, but trust us, they all lean on each other and build and balance flavors to achieve cheesy magic. Don’t sweat it if you have to omit or substitute an ingredient — Use whatever vinegar you’ve got, any miso on hand, double garlic powder if you don’t have onion powder, etc. We’ve written some detailed tips below to help you make the best of your pantry situation and even included two versions of the actual recipe for different types of blenders. 

What are you waiting for? Cheesy comfort awaits. Grab that blender. Put on some good-vibe sunny-day tunes. (We recommend the compilation Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump — A wonderful and diverse compilation of Nigerian popular music from the 70s that is full of sunshine and positive vibes).

Tips & Info

• This recipe can be served so many ways and while we have our favorites, we encourage you to get creative and use it however you want. For classic queso dip pour into a bowl, garnish with onions or scallions or cilantro, and dip some chips! Want to make a slightly heartier appetizer with this recipe? Cook up some of your favorite crumbled vegan chorizo. Mix in about half, then spoon the rest over the top of the bowl and serve with chips or small flour tortillas! For easy nachos drizzle over chips and top with beans, salsa, cilantro, onions, or whatever else you want. Just chips, queso, and pickled jalapeños make for a classic plate of nachos. Refrigerate it for later and spoon into enchiladas or reheat gently on the stove… It’s even dippable cold.

• Cashews are the best nut for this type of recipe — The fat, protein, and sugar balance in raw cashews is ideally suited for creating a dairy substitute. They blend well, take on other flavors readily, and provide structure to the sauce. Unfortunately, they have a pretty high human cost — It’s an industry rife with labor abuses. We try to only purchase fairly-traded cashews when stocking our pantry. If you’re in a position to, we encourage being picky about where your cashews come from!

• If you don’t have cashews on hand or can’t eat them, experiment with another raw nut or seed! In general, you want to shoot for neutral flavor and high fat content. If we were looking to substitute those out we’d start with almonds, pepitas, or sunflower seeds… Heck, even walnuts might work. Definitely add another tablespoon of oil. Follow the technique of this recipe and experiment to adapt it to your needs — No guarantees, just some ideas! 

• Miso is a major staple in our house. It’s a long-lasting, versatile vegan tool for deepening and enhancing flavors in dishes and cuisines of all types. It’s like an umami cheat code. We keep classic red soy miso in our fridge at all times — If you’ve got a different type, use that instead! No miso? Use tomato paste instead and double the salt. No tomato paste either? Use a dash of soy sauce instead. Or omit it. Don’t let a teaspoon of miso stand between you and your beautiful queso future.

• Chipotles in adobo are smoked and dried jalapeños canned in a sweet-tangy-vinegary sauce of tomato, garlic, and other spices. Opening a can of chipotles in adobo for a single pepper can feel a little silly — Just pop the rest in an airtight container in the fridge and they’ll last a long while. Take the excuse to make some chipotle mayo, some marinated tofu, some spicy BBQ sauce… Trust us, you’ll figure out some ways to use ‘em. No chipotles? Use ½  a fresh jalapeño, a spoonful of pickled jalapeños, or 2 teaspoons of chili powder and an additional teaspoon of paprika instead.

• Need more help adapting or adjusting a recipe of ours to suit your needs or your pantry staples? Drop us a line via our contact page or email us at hello@powerplantpnw.com — We’re here for you!

Easy Chipotle Cashew Queso

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 11th, 2020
Time: 5-8 minutes | Makes: 2 cups of queso

Equipment:

High-powered blender (like a Vitamix) OR standard blender (see tips and recipe)

Measuring spoons & cups

Saucepan & flexible spatula (only if reheating or using a regular-powered blender)

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

¾ cup water

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

½ to 1 chipotle in adobo (depending on size of pepper & the spice level you desire)

1 tsp red soy miso

4 tsp nutritional yeast

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp salt

Instructions:

High-Powered Blender:

1) Combine all ingredients in blender pitcher, beginning with liquids.

2) Using your blender’s manual settings, start blending on the lowest setting, gradually increasing the speed until it is at the highest setting. Blend on high until the pitcher is warm and steam begins to escape the lid (a few minutes). If your queso starts getting too thick, add more water 1tbsp at-a-time.

3) Serve as desired!

Regular Blender:

1) Soak cashews in water at room temp for at least 2 hours (or in the fridge overnight).

2) Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Combine all ingredients in blender pitcher, beginning with liquids.

3) Pulse blender a few times, then start blending at the lowest setting. Gradually increase the speed until at the highest setting. Blend until smooth, stopping blending and scraping down the sides as necessary.

4) Once your Queso is smooth and creamy, either store it for later or move onto the next step to heat it for serving.

5) Transfer queso to a small saucepan. Warm over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching (no one likes a lumpy cheese sauce).

6) Once thickened slightly and warmed to your preference, it’s ready to serve!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

When we visited last summer, our Italian family wasted no time introducing us to the tradition of aperitivo. Simply put, it’s like a way-cooler cousin of American happy-hour... And we think it’s some pretty great inspiration for gathering. The problem i that gathering isn’t so cut-and-dry during a global pandemic. More on that in a bit.

Aperitivo is the word for a pre-dinner drink meant to help work up an appetite. But aperitivo has also come to be the name for the routine of pre-dinner drinks and small bites! It’s a couple of hours before dinner when Italians relax, mingle, and enjoy the evening before settling down for a meal. Our favorite aperitivo memories were times spent outside, enjoying the waning summer evenings, laughing with loved ones… Always with a table covered in small plates of salty, savory, bready foods and a glass of wine or bitter-sweet spritz in hand. 

But now, in the time of social distancing and working from home for the health and safety of our communities… How do we gather? Without inviting friends to our table, how do we laugh over drinks? If the bars are all closed, how are we going to meet up for a spritz? In a strange way… We’ve never really lived, as a species, in a better time to stay connected and gather despite our physical distance. Sure, virtual hangs are never quite the same as gathering in person — but video-call happy hours have become a favorite of ours during this time. And if aperitivo is happy hour’s cooler cousin… Then say buonasera to video-call aperitivo, because it could be the new tradition that gets you through these weird times. 

Make the evening feel like an actual time of day, instead of just a short bridge between the hustle of the day and the end of the night. Invite a friend to a video call in the limbo time between lunch and dinner. Pop open a bottle of wine or make a light cocktail or mocktail. Compare notes on what snack foods your pantry is stocked with. Make the same recipe to munch on, in your separate kitchens, and compare notes. See if your wifi works on the balcony/porch/patio. Catch up, laugh, snack, drink, and enjoy each other’s company! Heck, you might easily end up making a meal out of it.

One of our favorite aperitivo foods? Bruschetta! The name probably conjures an image of tomato tossed with basil, oil, salt, and garlic served atop toasted bread… But while much of the world remains fixated on that seemingly ubiquitous (and admittedly delicious) bruschetta topping — the toast is the bruschetta, not the topping! Toasted (traditionally grilled) bread that has been rubbed with raw garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with salt. It can be topped with many things or served without a topping at all.

This bruschetta recipe is inspired by piccata — specifically, the savory lemon sauce made with capers, butter, and white wine. The sauce is traditionally part of a dish of thinly sliced meat that has been dredged in flour and pan-fried served with pasta or potatoes. To take inspiration from these flavors and turn them into the ultimate vegan aperitivo bite, we had to get creative! We took a look at all the elements that make piccata so wonderful and reverse-engineered an easy, delicious appetizer (erm, antipasto)! It’s made up of pantry staples and hearty produce with long shelf lives, too, so it’s even practical in a quarantine kitchen.

Cannellini beans provide a starchy base of protein while olive oil that’s been infused with garlic and pepper flakes becomes a buttery, savory framework to hold every other flavor in balance. Sautéing the capers softens their briny bite and white wine vinegar works as a no-cook solution to provide the flavor and fruity acidity of white wine without getting you tipsy on hors d'oeuvres. (Though we do recommend serving this dish with a glass of your favorite white wine — or, even better, a spritz!) 

You could have video aperitivo with a different person every night this week — or even just once — and feel a bit more connected in these stressful and isolating times. Andrà tutto bene, amici. Ci rivediamo (we will see each other again)!

Tips & Info

• Prep it! You can pre-make the topping to lighten your load when it comes time to serve up some cocktail hour eats.

• This recipe works great as a sandwich filling or salad topper. Make some for meal prep! Try it out in different contexts — make a melt with it, serve it on top of a green salad — the flavors are versatile and work warm or cold.

• Serve it as a dip! Add a splash of extra oil and mash the beans a little more. Serve with torn-up crusty bread, pita chips, crudités, etc!

• Fresh Lemon Juice is always best. If you want to use bottled lemon juice, look for 100% real lemon juice for flavor’s sake. Oh, and zest your lemons before you juice them (you’ll thank us later).

• Gluten-free? The topping is still your new best friend. Toast up some GF bread, go for the dip option we mentioned above, or use it as the filling in a wrap… The world is yours! Seize the day (and the beans)!

White Bean Piccata Bruschetta

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | April 4th, 2020
Time: 15-20 minutes | Makes: 12-14 Bruschetta

Equipment:

Cutting board

Knife

Small/medium mixing bowl

Fork or potato masher

Mixing spoon

Small saucepan or sauté pan

Bread knife

Baking sheet

Ingredients:

White Bean Piccata Topping

1 15.5oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

½ small shallot, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

¼ cup capers, drained and rinsed

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of red pepper flakes
(you decide the spice level here—a pinch or two will be mild-medium, ¼ tsp will get you into spicier territory)

2 tbsp lemon juice (about half-to-one med lemon depending on juiciness)

1 tsp lemon zest, plus extra for garnish

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

¼-½ cup chopped Italian parsley (depending on preference—we really like parsley)

Salt

Black pepper

Bruschetta

Baguette or other crusty bread of your choice

Whole garlic clove

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Instructions:

1) In a medium mixing bowl, mash the beans lightly with a fork or potato masher, leaving about half the beans intact. Place sliced shallots on top of beans in the center of the bowl — Don’t mix them in yet!

2) Heat oil in a small skillet or saucepan on medium. Saute garlic, capers, and red pepper flakes until the garlic is soft and just beginning to brown around the edges.

3) Pour warm oil mixture over beans, focusing the pour on the shallots — This will soften and par-cook them, reducing their raw bite in the final dish. Add lemon juice, zest, vinegar, and parsley. Mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

4) Toast sliced bread under the broiler on high until just beginning to char at edges. Flip and repeat on the other side. Remove from the oven and rub with a raw garlic clove while still warm. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a small pinch of salt.

5) Top each bruschetta with a scoop of the white bean mixture. Sprinkle evenly with lemon zest and serve!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

In our home, the change of the seasons is often marked by our meals — Not just what we’re eating, but how and where we eat. Like clockwork, springtime kickstarts our cravings for tacos and tostadas. That can’t just be us, can it? There is nothing quite like the first meal of the year that we eat on our balcony, which usually happens around this time with a meal much like this recipe. Vibrant salsa and crispy tortillas, sitting in the sun and eating with your hands… In fact, it was years ago that we decided on our wedding date while eating tacos and drinking wine from our balcony. Good food, sun, and a bottle of wine is a guaranteed recipe for a special kind of life-changing magic.

This year, the springtime almost feels antithetical to what the world is going through. We never associated global pandemics with daffodils before… But here we are, staying at home as the earth continues its seasons and flowers bloom. Like most of the world, we are under a stay-at-home order. Where we sleep, work, eat, and rest is all taking place within the walls of our little North Seattle apartment — Making us that much more grateful for the moments we can venture out to our balcony and enjoy a good meal. The view is… Less than satisfactory, but the right food can (even if just momentarily) calm our nerves and transport us to another place and time.

This tostada recipe was a direct result of us looking to satisfy our springtime cravings without making an extra trip to the grocery store. Within the first week at home, we made several different versions of this recipe using the pantry-staples we had on hand (you saw if you follow us on insta). We often encourage you to experiment and customize our recipes, but truly, there is no better time (and no better recipe) to get creative! We want you to consider this recipe more as a guide or inspiration than a lawbook. Yes, if you follow the recipe to a T, you’ll experience the reliable deliciousness of our go-to toppings. But, if you don’t have all the ingredients, just use what you have! It’s truly as simple as throwing it all on a pan and letting the oven do its thing. Your tortillas will be transformed into delicious crispy edible plates. (Fun!) Your vegetables will get roasty and toasty and delicious. Trust us. And yes, while we endorse eating these tostadas outdoors, they’re good enough to be eaten inside from your kitchen table, couch, or desk.

Leave a comment, email us, or slide into our dms to tell us what you put on your tostadas!

Tips & Info

• Ingredients vary. Different canned beans and tortillas, both individual and combined, will have different fat and moisture levels — So your tostadas might crisp faster or slower. Don’t sweat it, just keep an eye on ‘em!

• Top it off however you want! We just happen to love shredded cabbage and rely on cabbage when we need long-lasting veggies to keep around. Fresh cilantro, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and avocado would all be awesome on these tostadas. Toss some vegan cheese shreds on there. Dollop some pre-made vegan sour cream. Cover it in crunchy toasted sunflower seeds. Pickled jalapeños. Charred scallions. You really can’t go wrong.

• Potato problem? If you don’t have small waxy potatoes (like red, purple, or gold), any potatoes will do! Sweet potatoes would be great here. No potatoes at all? Skip ‘em, or toss another veggie on there. These tostadas are here to make things easy, not limit you!

Vegan Sheet-Pan Bean & Potato Tostadas

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | March 31, 2020
Time: ~30 minutes | Makes 4 Tostadas

Equipment:

Oven

Sheet pan

Knife and cutting board

Can opener

Small mixing bowl

Measuring tools (unless you’re, like, really confident at eyeballing)

Ingredients:

Sheet-Pan

Neutral high-heat cooking oil

4 corn tortillas

1 cup of canned refried beans (about ½ can)

4-5 small waxy potatoes, diced small (½ inch cubes)

½ tsp dried Mexican oregano, crushed with your fingers

½ tsp chili powder

Pinch of salt

Toppings

Jarred salsa of choice

Shredded cabbage

Vegan crema (or sour cream of choice)

- ½ cup plain unsweetened vegan yogurt
- 2 tsp lime juice (or lemon juice, if it’s all you’ve got)

Pinch of salt

Diced onions

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400°F. Oil both sides of each tortilla by pouring a splash of oil on your sheet pan, then rubbing the tortillas around on it. Spread ¼ of the beans on each tortilla, leaving a slight border around the edges, then arrange the tostadas so there’s room on one end of the sheet pan for the potatoes. Add the potatoes to the empty portion of the pan and drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, chili powder, and oregano.

2) Bake for 15 minutes undisturbed — A perfect time to prep toppings. After 15 minutes, pull the pan out of the oven, toss the potatoes, and rotate the tostadas to ensure even crisping.

a) To make the vegan crema, simply mix the yogurt with lime juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside until done. This keeps for a few days if you end up with extra!

3) Return your pan to the oven. After 10 minutes, check the bottom of a couple of tostadas by lifting the edge. You want to see an evenly dark-golden-brown, crispy tortilla that doesn’t bend too much — If that’s what you see, you’re done! If not, return to the oven for 2-3 more minutes, and check again (don’t let the edges burn!).

4) Once they are crispy and golden, remove them from the oven. Add the potatoes to the tostadas, spoon some salsa on top, pile on the shredded cabbage, drizzle the crema, sprinkle some onions, and serve!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

When we started Power Plant, we heard from friends time and again that they wanted easy weeknight meals with minimal clean-up that are also filling and satisfying. (And, like, same.) Sound familiar? This meal is for you. 

Sheet-pan meals have been on-trend in the food-blog-world for a while now… But it wasn’t until recently that we tried our hand at cooking original sheet-pan dinners! (To be honest, we usually tend to over-complicate our home cooking more than that.) Now we’re hooked! One of the biggest reasons? It’s so easy to clean up as-you-go, meaning that at the end of the meal the only dishes left to do are your plates and the baking sheet. A dream come true!

This particular recipe was inspired by classic American steakhouse-style “meat and potatoes” meals, as well as Pacific Northwest bar-and-grill fare. With its balance of protein, fat, starch, and veggies — It’s a vegan meal that, without any imitation-meat in sight, achieves a classic plate that even an omnivore could recognize. 

Savory marinated tempeh with roasted garlic and black pepper is the main event of this dinner. Tempeh is a true staple food in our house — It’s also perfect during this time because it’s so nourishing and long-lasting. If you’re on the fence about tempeh or haven’t enjoyed it in the past, we urge you to give it a chance!! When prepared properly it’s nutty, versatile, and satisfying. We have turned plenty of omnivores and picky-eaters into tempeh-lovers — It’s all about how it gets cooked. In this case, the tricks are cooking it thoroughly and using a marinade that soaks into the tempeh, flavoring it while keeping it moist and tender.

Sauce-wise, this recipe went through many iterations. Chimichurri, romesco… But it was talking to a friend about recipe development that finally helped us realize mustard was the perfect complement to the meal’s flavors! Whole grain dijon already has a great sweet-spicy-acidic balance. Combined with sweet maple syrup, fruity olive oil, and bright Italian parsley — It becomes the perfect springy, sweet herbal blanket to balance the tempeh’s savory, peppery vibes

With the beginning of spring comes the peak of asparagus season. Add it to your grocery list! During our “new normal” of limited trips to the grocery store during social/physical distancing and shelter-in-place orders, spring produce is perfect for cooking the first few days after a grocery trip. We’re trying to limit our grocery trips to less than once a week if possible, and having a few days where we’re relying on fresh foods before dipping into pantry staples helps us feel a sense of normalcy and vibrance in our kitchen. Asparagus makes the perfect bright, fresh, and delicate pairing to the earthy and hearty flavors of roasted tempeh and potatoes. 

Baby fingerling potatoes roasted with salt and thyme are a classic steakhouse-style side dish. Potatoes also last a long time if kept in a cool, dark place — They’ve been a year-round staple the world over for this reason, and are a perfect choice if you’re stocking up on versatile ingredients during your limited grocery trips. If you can’t find baby fingerling potatoes in your store, or you’ve already invested in twenty pounds of Yukon Golds to get you through this crisis, check out our tips for some help.

This meal makes exactly a Mars-and-David-sized amount of food, making this ideal for a date night. It’s easy-but-refined enough that it will be a perfect dinner no matter what you’re doing. Feeling fancy? Break out the linens, light some candles, and dust off the wine glasses (probably to be filled with a dry white in our house, but a young red would go well here too). Feeling quarantine-casual? Take your plate to the yard or balcony, crack a beer, and enjoy the fresh evening air. Not cooking for two? More for you! Now you don’t have to make lunch tomorrow. You can also divide or increase this recipe easily to adjust for the number of diners. 

That all might be a lot of detail. We like food. But sheet pan dinners aren’t meant to make you think too hard, they’re meant to soothe your nerves and make your life easier. So put on some tunes, dip into the wine a little early, and you’ll have a delicious meal in less than an hour.

Tips & Info

• Asparagus not your thing? Not in season where you are? Have everything else already? If you can’t cook with the veg that you want, reader, cook the veg you’re with! Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, green beans, and carrots would all be excellent roasted in place of asparagus here. Braised kale, a green salad, wilted spinach, salted tomatoes… Get creative. Think of the sides menu in a steakhouse. Trust yourself.

• Keep your whisk handy! Both the mustard sauce and tempeh marinade will separate a fair amount after sitting for a few minutes. That’s okay! Just give them a whirl with the whisk again before spooning them over the tempeh. No whisk in your kitchen? Don’t sweat it, just use a fork.

• Be flexible with herbs. Parsley and thyme are faves of ours and work to balance the flavors on the plate in this meal. That said, use whatever herbs you prefer or have on hand! Dill or chives would work in the mustard sauce for an extra springy vibe. Dried oregano or fresh rosemary would be great on the potatoes.

• Sheet pan too small to fit everything? Don’t worry! Just split things between 2 pans. Cook your asparagus on a second pan, for example!

Vegan Sheet-Pan Springtime Tempeh Dinner for 2

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | March 28th, 2020
Time: 45 minutes | Feeds: 2

Equipment:

Cutting board & knife

Measuring spoons

2 small mixing bowls

Tupperware or another marinating dish for the tempeh (not necessary if your marinade mixing bowl is large enough)

Sheet pan (½ sheet size is ideal)

Whisk (or fork)

Ingredients:

Thyme Fingerling Potatoes:

¾ lb baby fingerling potatoes (no larger than the size of your thumb — if using larger potatoes, cut in half/quarters as necessary. Think two-bite-sized!)

2 tsp neutral, high-heat oil

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tbsp fresh)

Garlic-Peppercorn Tempeh and Marinade:

8oz package of tempeh, cut into 4 triangles (in half, then in half again diagonally)

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp semi-refined olive oil (or other high-heat oil)

2 tbsp soy sauce/tamari

1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp very-course-ground black pepper

¼ tsp smoked paprika

Roasted Asparagus:

8oz trimmed asparagus

2 tsp high-heat oil

Pinch of salt

Few grinds of black pepper

Two lemon wedges for serving

Herby Maple Mustard Sauce:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp whole-grain Dijon mustard (or another whole grain mustard, or regular Dijon — use the mustard you’ve got)

1 tbsp water

1 packed tbsp minced Italian flat-leaf parsley (or 1 tsp dried)

1 tsp maple syrup

Pinch salt

Instructions:

1) Preheat your oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower third. Place the cut tempeh into a dish or container just-big-enough to place the pieces in a single layer. Mix together the marinade ingredients, then pour over tempeh in your marinating container and set aside. Scrub potatoes and place them on your sheet pan. Drizzle with oil, salt, and thyme then toss to coat.

2) Once the oven is preheated, the sheet pan with potatoes goes in for 10 minutes. While they cook, make the mustard sauce! Simply combine all ingredients other than oil, whisk, and stream oil in slowly while whisking. It is a loose sauce, so don’t expect it to emulsify too much — Whisk thoroughly and set aside for the flavors to combine.

3) After 10 minutes, remove the sheet pan from the oven. Toss the potatoes and move them so they occupy only about ⅓ of the pan. Place the tempeh on the pan, with each segment close together but not-quite-touching. Spoon about ½ of the remaining marinade over the tempeh. Return the pan to the oven for 10 more minutes.

4) After 10 minutes, remove the sheet pan again. Toss the potatoes and flip the tempeh, spooning the remaining marinade over the latter. Add the asparagus to the pan, adjusting other ingredients to make room as necessary. Drizzle the asparagus with oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Return to the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until asparagus is crisp-tender and developing roasty edges.

5) Once the asparagus is done to your liking, remove from the oven and plate! Serve with lemon wedges for the asparagus and the herby maple mustard sauce spooned over the tempeh.

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

You can just call it “That Alfredo Pasta,” we know it’s a mouthful. 

To say it’s a trying time in the world would be the understatement of the century. With everything going on (read: amidst a global pandemic), it is increasingly easy to feel unmoored — Lost trying to digest information, adrift in the sea of one’s own mind. As most of us adjust to the shifting paradigm (a slow week at home turns into two, and so on), the reality sets in more and more: “This is really happening.”

As we figure out what the future holds, taking it day-by-day, we’re asking ourselves the question over and over... How can we find comfort while being present with the reality we’re facing? For us, it keeps coming back to cooking and music. (Doesn’t it always?) Two things so uniquely human, so inherently “us,” so intrinsically linked to our senses of culture and identity. 

From Great Depression-era ballads to booming pop anthems to groovy funk and soul — Songs have always served the same purposes. They get us outside of our own heads, outside of time. They describe our feelings better than any words can, tell us stories and teach us lessons. Putting on the right record can change your whole day. Choosing a good playlist can make working from home a breeze. Tune in to the right radio station and you’ll be dancing your way through doing the dishes. (Speaking of, local DJ John Richards — a vegan business owner himself — has been doing an incredible job with The Morning Show on KEXP here in Seattle during this crisis. Do yourself a favor and check out their archive to listen to past shows, and tune into his show weekdays 6-10am PST at 90.3 in Seattle or streaming online.) For more of what we’re listening to & playlists specifically for Social Distancing - Follow us on Spotify.

Cooking in a time of crisis and tension works similarly to a good song. It occupies your senses, giving you something to focus on and soothing some parts of your mind that might be “on guard” throughout the rest of the day. When you prepare a dish or meal you are working towards a goal, serving a greater purpose by performing countless little magic tricks that culminate in the experience of being nourished. You become an alchemist, turning solitary ingredients into something greater than the sum of their parts. Every meal is an opportunity to provide comfort and peace to yourself, your loved ones, and beyond. And for the cook, that comfort and peace can be found in the act of cooking, too.

It’s wise to limit trips to the grocery store right now, making us extra-conscious of how we use our resources and other people’s labor... But, then, weren’t those things always important? As we find our equilibrium here at Power Plant HQ (read: an apartment in North Seattle currently well-stocked with canned beans and hand soap), we are relying on simple, affordable, and easy comfort foods that maximize pantry staples and hearty produce. Comfort food is essential when the entire world is basically one big billboard with the words BE STRESSED OUT plastered across it. This recipe just-so-happens to be one that we’ve relied on for years because it is easy, quick, nourishing, and combines pantry staples and hearty veggies in decadent harmony!

Brussels sprouts are delicious — Especially when sautéed until they’re all crispy around the edges. They last well in the fridge, too (google says 5-ish days, but look, we cooked some yesterday that were like twice that old and they were perfect). Cashews make an excellent base for a creamy vegan alfredo sauce (this one is super easy, too). Sun-dried tomatoes are a beautiful gift from the heavens that we don’t deserve, but for some reason we get to have here on Earth. Same goes for pasta.

If you’re missing some ingredients, swap ‘em! Check out the tips below! More questions? Email us! Slide into our DMs on Instagram! Text us if you know us like that! Don’t make a trip out to the store just for one meal, that’s part of the point.

Get comfy. Get cozy. There’s never been a better time to crank up the tunes, dance around your kitchen in your house clothes, and make yourself an impossibly delicious bowl of pasta. And smile, because we still have that going for us.

Tips & Info

• What’s up with soaking cashews? We almost never do that much prep... We have a high-powered blender (ours is a vitamix) so we can blend unsoaked nuts and seeds easily. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you can soak your cashews (at least a couple hours, up to overnight) first to ensure they blend well. Alternatively: You can just use unsweetened cashew butter for this recipe!

• Be careful cutting the brussels sprouts! They’re round. Round stuff likes to roll out-from-under knives. Try cutting them in half first, and then slicing them thinly — Think of it like shredding a tiny cabbage… Because, uh, that’s actually exactly what it is.

• Not a Brussels sprout fan? That’s okay! (But, like, what’s your deal?) You can totally swap them for another veggie — Our first choices would be other cruciferous vegetables like broccoli (or broccolini!) and kale. Any hearty greens would totally work here, and mushrooms would be fantastic.

• Don’t be afraid to get salty! Your pasta water should be very salty. Like, so salty your lips would pucker if you tried to drink it. “As salty as the Mediterranean sea,” some say. Don’t worry, you’re not eating all that salt — most of it washes down the drain with the pasta water — but salty water seasons your noodles and brings out the nutty, savory qualities of the pasta itself in the final dish. Super-salty water is the reason restaurant pasta is so good.

• The leftover sitch: Creamy sauces can be a little weird to reheat. If you’re using the microwave, we recommend adding a couple tablespoons of water to the dish when reheating. Zap it in short intervals, and stir in-between each one. Don’t overheat it!

• Sun-dried tomatoes come in a variety of forms. Whole, julienned, oil-packed, dry-packed, etc… We call for oil-packed because 1) there’s nothing better than olive oil and dried tomatoes mingling — the residual oil on the tomatoes will lend extra richness and umami flavor to the final dish — and 2) they’re usually more affordable per ounce compared to dry-packed! But really, use whatever type you like. Don’t have any? If you have fresh or good-quality canned tomatoes, you can oven-dry them… But really, just cook them down with oil and salt until they’re brown and caramelized before you cook the brussels sprouts.

"That Alfredo Pasta"

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna |March 21, 2020
Time: ~30 minutes | Feeds: 2-3

Equipment:

Pot (for boiling pasta)

Colander

Dutch oven (or pot/pan large enough to stir entire dish together)

Cutting board

Knife

Flexible spatula

High-Powered Blender

Ingredients:

Sauce (Blender)

1 cup of water

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp lemon juice

¾ cups raw cashews

1 tsp nutritional yeast

½ tsp salt

⅛ tsp onion powder

1 tiny pinch nutmeg (optional)

Other

½ lb pasta of choice (½ normal package—we recommend farfalle or penne!)

Olive oil

12oz (¾ lb) whole Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced thin OR ~8oz (½ lb) pre-trimmed Brussels sprouts, sliced thin

1 rounded ¼ cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained (but not rinsed!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Black pepper (finishing)

Instructions:

1) Heat 2-3 quarts of water for pasta. While you wait for it to boil, add sauce ingredients to the blender (beginning with liquids) and blend until smooth. Set aside. Once the water is boiling, salt well and add the pasta—cooking al dente according to package instructions.

2) Once the pasta hits the water, begin heating a dutch oven (or another heavy-bottomed pot) over medium-high heat. Once heated, add a healthy glug of olive oil followed by the Brussels sprouts and a pinch of salt. Stir to coat and distribute salt, reduce the heat to medium, and cook them undisturbed for 3 minutes. Avoiding over-stirring will yield the best results!

3) After 3 minutes, stir the sprouts and let them cook, undisturbed, for another 2-3 minutes. Around this time, reserve about 1 cup pasta cooking water—you can use this starchy, salty water to thin your sauce later if needed without making it seem “watered down.”

4) Once Brussels have been cooking for 5-7 minutes: Add your sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring a few times. If these get done before the pasta, remove from heat to wait. If they’re taking a while and the pasta is close to done, boost the heat a bit and drain your pasta, setting it aside (don’t let it sit in hot water once it’s done).

5) Reduce heat to medium-low. Drain pasta and add to the dutch oven with the veggies, immediately followed by the sauce. Stir well to avoid the sauce sticking and burning on the bottom of the pot. Cook until sauce is heated and just clinging to noodles, but still glossy. Avoid overheating it. If sauce becomes too dry or clumpy, add pasta water a couple of tablespoons at a time, stirring to incorporate until it’s a glossy, creamy consistency.

6) Serve with some fresh-cracked black pepper. Take a deep breath to prepare yourself emotionally to live your creamy vegan pasta dreams. Enjoy.

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

With Seattle and much of the world practicing social distancing to slow the spread of a global pandemic, we are choosing to save the post we had scheduled for this week until another time. We’re reevaluating all of the content we’ll be bringing you over these next few weeks of uncertainty—We still want to be a voice helping you enjoy cooking and gathering, and this dynamic situation will affect both of those concepts in everyone’s lives greatly. 

We had planned to share a bruschetta recipe along with a post about the popular Italian practice of aperitivo and how you can emulate that idea in your gatherings... While in-person gatherings may not be an option at the moment, there is still so much that we can learn from Italians about fostering community during these trying times (don’t worry, you’ll still get the bruschetta recipe someday). If you look at the news from Italy today you’ll see tragic stories of hospitals without enough beds, heartbreaking death tolls, and an entire country under lockdown... But when you look a little deeper, you’ll see that people are finding ways to be hopeful and joyful even in such dark times! 

Our social media feeds have been filled with Italian communities making music with each other—neighbors singing and playing instruments from their balconies and windows—creating concerts for the entire neighborhood. Mars’ family in Italy has assured us that despite the darkness, spirits are high. Households across Italy are painting and displaying rainbow signs that say “Andrà Tutto Bene,” meaning “everything will be alright.” This widespread message is not meant to downplay the seriousness of the situation but to acknowledge that if we work together, we will get through this. At the end of the day, social distancing and staying home are bringing people closer together in spirit and community. We hope that this can become the case here, too, before the US becomes as devastated by this crisis as Italy has been.

Washington state recently announced that all schools must close for at least 6 weeks. Libraries are closing. There have been too many stories of businesses closing permanently and people losing their jobs. We hate to say it, but this is only the beginning. Now is the time that we choose how to engage with and support each other!

Now, more than ever, we must make a conscious commitment to loving our community a little harder. 

It seems that the idea of social-distancing sounds fraught, boring, and unnecessary to many. We urge you all to remember (and to remind your loved ones) that staying home is an act of love. An act of solidarity. An act of compassion. SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19) has an incubation period of up to two weeks, during which you can transmit the virus without any symptoms, making it easy to put others at risk. Staying home and canceling your plans is one of the best ways you can support those more vulnerable than you. (The highly-vulnerable population is more widespread than you may think and is more than just “old folks,” not that it should matter.) Of course, not everyone has the privilege to self-isolate completely. Jobs, lack of housing, a need for childcare... There are many reasons someone may not be able to stay home during this time. So, if you have the privilege to, staying home is actually a way of supporting those who can’t. This is a time when compassion and solidarity are especially important.

We may not be on mandatory lockdown. You may not be singing songs out your windows with your neighbors (doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try!). Still, there are ways that we can draw inspiration from Italy and create community from a distance!

• Check-in on friends and family. Call them, text them, have a video call. It can be for 5 minutes or 5 hours. Remind people you are there. Remind them we are all in this together. It’s that simple. 

• Be vulnerable about how you’re feeling and what you need. Everyone’s unsure of what this crisis holds for them. Talk with your friends, family, coworkers, etc. about how you’re feeling. This is a time to take each other’s worries and needs seriously! They’ll probably return the favor and everyone will feel less alone.

• Consider those who are less privileged than you. Elderly, immunocompromised, freelancer, essential worker, living paycheck-to-paycheck, unhoused: They are all our neighbors, friends, family members, and colleagues.

• Offer your skills. Musician? Yogi? Educator? Get online and share your skills with your community! Find others with similar skills and start a coalition of skill-sharing!

• Share the wealth. Whatever it is. Extra rice and beans? Extra toilet paper? A bar of chocolate? Pass it on if you don’t need it.

• If you are out and about… Look out for each other. Ask people how they are doing. Be kind. Be present with one another.

• Donate. There are endless causes to donate to right now. Your local food bank, Seattle’s artist relief fund, and local shelters are just a few ideas.

• Spread uplifting messages. Remind people that everything will be alright. When we care for one another, we will get through this stronger than before. The kindness and compassion we cultivate now is an opportunity to create a culture we can continue when this crisis blows over. (Make your own sign to hang in your window! Send us a pic!)

• Support local businesses and artists. Instead of eating out, order take-out or buy gift cards to use when this is all over. Stocking up on groceries? Purchase from small markets and suppliers! Looking to send a gift to someone whose birthday falls during a time when you can’t gather with them? Shop with local artists and makers online.

A lot is currently unknown. It’s hard to say just how long we will be facing this new reality. We’re going to do our best to keep bringing you relevant content—Stay tuned for tips on cooking with pantry staples, what a stocked pantry even looks like, and how to take care of yourself from home. Let us know what you need most right now! Comment below, email us, or say hi on social media!

Sign up for our newsletter for more insights and resources! Including being the first to know about Power Plant playlists and for links to other folks and resources out there doing good work for our community and beyond.

Be safe, be kind, and lead with compassion.

Love,
Mars & David

Burgers. Undeniably a classic. Once a rarity, there are now so many vegan burger options on the market! There’s something for everyone: quinoa, black bean, nut-based, beef imitations, and on and on.

We are so thankful that these items are readily available in grocery stores, but do you know how easy they can be to make at home? There are a million different styles of vegan burgers out there making it hard to know where to start. We made this burger to be a loveable staple in any household! We mean it. It’s a real crowd-pleaser and holds up next to its non-vegan competition. 

Yes, this patty is “meaty.” The dough is pink and it browns while you cook, giving you a fully satisfying cooking experience. Based on our experience, this patty leaves both meat lovers and the meat-averse happy and full. No shade here (we love many of the store-bought products on the market), but we’re here to prove that a delicious vegan burger doesn’t have to be rocket science—it doesn't have to be impossible… Look at the ingredients list! It’s all recognizable and easy to source food making it easy for any home cook to whip up.

Each ingredient plays an important role. Sautéed mushrooms for an earthy flavor. Chickpeas, oats, and walnuts combine to make a protein-rich binder and create that “meaty” texture. Beets double down on the earthy, rich flavors of the mushrooms…. They also make the dough pink, creating the appearance of ground meat, which is fun for freaking out your friends.

We hope you enjoy these burgers as much as we do! They’ve become an absolute staple in our house. Mars has eaten these for lunch more days in a row than we’re going to disclose here. They are SO easy to cook ahead of time and reheat to eat at your pleasure making them perfect for weekly meal prep. They are a surprisingly easy way to impress your friends. We’re all about making people ohh and ahh with minimal effort. 

There are endless ways to prepare and serve these! Our go-to is a classic burger: Lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion on a classic bun with ketchup and mustard. Here are some ideas for different burgers to try:

• BBQ Burger: Glaze the fully cooked patty with BBQ sauce in a pan. Serve on a toasted potato bun with yellow mustard, coleslaw, and sautéed onions.

• Hawaiian Burger: Glaze the fully-cooked patty with Teriyaki sauce in a pan. Serve on a toasted sesame bun with mayo, lettuce, seared pineapple rings, and sliced sweet onion.

• Southwest Burger: Melt vegan cheese of choice on the patty. Serve on a toasted bun with chipotle mayo, shredded lettuce, sliced red onion, and green chiles or roasted poblano pepper.

• Diner-Style Patty Melt: Melt vegan cheese of choice on the patty. Serve on toasted rye bread with sautéed onions and thousand-island dressing.

• East Coast Slider-Style: Make patties 2-2.5oz. Serve on warm slider buns with grilled onions and kosher dill chips. Ketchup optional.

Tips & Tricks

• “Help! I don’t have a food processor!” First of all: Calm down, it’s going to be okay. We can get through this. Do you have a blender? If so: Blend all the ingredients except oats in there. Then add the weird smoothie you just made to the oats in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Add a few minutes to the rest time. There will be a more noticeable oat texture present in the final patties, but you won’t suffer for it. 

• Patties of all shapes and sizes... You get to decide how big to make your patties! Since you’re forming them yourself, this recipe is highly adaptable to different preferences or applications. 

  • This recipe makes approximately 1¾ lbs of burgers. “Classic-burger-sized” ends up being ~4.5oz, giving you about 6 patties. Sliders weigh in between 2.5 and 3oz, so this recipe makes 10. Love a square burger to fill out sliced rye for a patty melt? Want to form it into balls for making smash burgers with grilled onions? Go for it! 

  • Don’t go too thick. Mushy middles can happen if you form very thick patties. Try to shoot for 1-1½” thickness for even cooking. (We’re fans of mushy middles, just not on burgers.)

• Rest that dough! It allows the oats in the dough to hydrate a bit. This makes the dough firmer, easier to work with, and gives it the correct texture once it’s cooked. If you skip this step, you’ll end up with softer burgers than the recipe intends.

• We use a 12” cast-iron skillet to cook the patties. Since it fits 3 standard patties, that means there are only 2 rounds of cooking for a full recipe! Any large skillet will do, and if you have a griddle you’re in luck.

• Nut free? Ditch walnuts and use pepitas or sunflower seeds instead.

• These burgers reheat well! Save them for a few days and reheat by returning to a hot pan with a bit of oil and a sprinkle of water.

• Can I make the dough ahead of time? We’ve tested this out to 2 days and here’s what we’ve found: It works alright, but the dough is more crumbly and hard to work with after resting that long and being refrigerated. If you choose to do this, try to pull your dough out so it can come up to room temp about an hour prior to forming patties.

Homemade Vegan Burgers

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | March 7th, 2020
Time: ~1hr total (25-35 minutes of active cooking & 20-30 minutes resting the dough)
Makes: 1¾ lb worth ~6 standard burgers or 10 sliders

Equipment:

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Food processor (or blender - see notes)

Flexible spatula

Mixing bowl

Large skillet or pan (griddle or 12” skillet recommended)

Burger-flipping spatula

Ingredients:

Dry:

¾ cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup sliced cooked beets (about ½ standard can—do not use pickled)

1½ cups rolled oats

1 cup raw walnuts

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

¼ tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

Liquid:

¼ cup water

1 tbsp soy sauce/tamari

¼ tsp liquid smoke

⅓ cup neutral high heat oil, plus 2 tbsp for cooking mushrooms and patties

Instructions:

1) Preheat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add mushrooms with 2 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt. Cook until browned and reduced in size, about 5-8 mins. In the meantime, measure all other ingredients except for oats into your food processor, beginning with liquids to aid blending.

2) Once the mushrooms are done cooking, add them to the food processor and process until smooth. Scrape down sides as necessary. Add the oats and pulse until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl or other vessel, cover, and let rest for 20-30 minutes. This is a great chance to tidy the kitchen and prep burger toppings! This step is important for the dough firming up—If you skip it you can end up with mushy burgers.

3) Form patties to your desired size (see tips for… you know, tips). Heat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add enough oil to coat the pan lightly. Cook each patty for about 5 minutes per side until it is firmed and well-browned. If the pan starts smoking, it’s too hot! Serve however you like your burger!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

During our trip to Italy last summer we only had one precious day to visit Venice… Obviously not enough time, but one day in Venice is better than no days in Venice. Despite the oppressive heat and our limited time, we had the time of our lives in such a surreal and historic place.

By lunchtime, we’d already had a full day of catching trains and walking for miles—we were hungry and on a mission. We found the restaurant we’d been searching for nestled across a small bridge from its namesake, the Basilica dei Frari. We arrived just before they were set to close for the afternoon riposo and were told we could be the last table to sit for lunch on the condition we would order quickly. Exhausted and grateful, we were served the best Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food of our lives—despite being in northern Italy. One of our favorite parts? A Moroccan-style tagine stew of gorgeous veggies over couscous with a steaming bowl of spiced tomatoey broth to spoon over top. It was one of those life-giving, reinvigorating meals… The sort that’s necessary when you’re experiencing the exhausting parts of travel.

Ever since then, we’ve labored to find some semblance of those flavors and feelings at home. Without the right equipment and experience, we just weren’t doing it justice... So we set out to create a recipe for ourselves that feels easy enough to be a weeknight staple while still referencing the qualities that made us love that dish we had five thousand miles away.

Ultimately, we landed somewhere a little different from the reinvigorating dish we had that afternoon in Venice. It still carries many of the same qualities: Fresh veggies that have been simmered in a broth flavored with vibrant herbs, warm spices, savory alliums, and rich tomato. It’s the kind of meal that warms you from the inside out, like any good comfort food should. Parsley, olive oil, and fresh lemon brighten the plate as finishers—keeping it from feeling one-dimensional. Squeezing a wedge of lemon over the plate that’s been warmed by resting against hot veggies gives you a tactile way to connect with the dish before diving in. Anything that encourages eaters to get hands-on with their food is a big plus in our book.

This meal comes together very easily. Almost half the cooking time is just simmering! We like to get as much clean-up and dish-washing done during that time as possible, that way all we have to clean up after dinner is the pots and whatever bowls and utensils get used. It’s also an easy and satisfying meal to entertain with since you can clean up while it cooks! Also, because it relies heavily on long-lasting pantry staples (canned goods, dry spices, veggie broth), it’s easy to keep the components around for a while and grab fresh veggies whenever you want to cook it.

So get ready to be transported… Maybe not to Venice or the Mediterranean—but at least to a tasty and comforting dinner. Invite some friends over, pour some wine, and turn the music up a little… You’ve got a stew going.

Tips & Info

• We use dried oregano because it doesn’t require a special trip to the grocery store—We always have some in our spice drawer! If you’d rather use fresh oregano, use 1 rounded tablespoon or 2-3 sprigs.

• Couscous is the traditional companion for Moroccan Tagine dishes like the one that inspired this recipe. Since there are so many types out there, follow the instructions on the package/for the specific product to determine servings and cooking instructions.

  • If you can find whole-wheat couscous: We recommend it! It boosts the heartiness of the dish and is extra nourishing. Whatever type you go for, we’d say avoid mechanically pearled couscous for texture’s sake. Instead, find a type with craggy irregular edges that will hold on to the sauce of the stew! From Trader Joe’s to your local coop, great couscous is easy to find.

  • Not a couscous person? Use whole-grain wheat like bulger, freekeh, or farro! 

  • Gluten-free? This recipe rocks with quinoa or millet. We’ve even enjoyed it served over mashed potatoes!

• Can’t bear the thought of dirtying a second pot? We feel ya. This stew is excellent served with warm, crusty bread.

Chickpea-Cauliflower Stew

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | Feb 29, 2020
Time: About 45 minutes | Feeds: 4-6

Equipment:

Knife

Cutting board

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Can opener

Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed high-sided pot

Mixing spoon

Small saucepan (if making couscous or another grain on the side)

Ingredients:

Optional: Couscous, equivalent servings to stew—refer to package/product instructions (see alternatives in tips)

¼ cup semi-refined olive oil (or mix 50/50 high-heat cooking oil and extra virgin olive oil)

1 medium onion, sliced thin

4 garlic cloves, sliced thin

¼ cup of tomato paste (about ½ a standard can)

1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp smoked paprika

¾ tsp cumin

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 rounded tsp dried oregano (or 1 rounded tablespoon fresh)

1 bay leaf

3 cups veggie broth

Salt

Pepper

Instructions:

1) Heat your dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat. Once heated, add ¼ cup oil to the pot along with the sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are soft, browning around the edges, and significantly reduced in size (6-7 minutes). Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, soft and just beginning to brown, another 1-2 minutes.

2) Add the tomato paste, chickpeas, red pepper flakes, cumin, and paprika. Cook—stirring frequently—until the whole mixture is jammy, thick, and has turned a dark brick-red color (three-ish minutes). It's okay if some beans break and get smushed a little—texture variance is good! It’s also okay if the pot starts to get coated with caramelized tomato paste because next, you will...

3) Add 1 cup of broth and use it to deglaze the dutch oven, making sure to scrape with your mixing spoon to get all the browned and burned bits (read: flavor!) off the bottom.

4) Add the rest of the veggie broth along with the cauliflower, bell pepper, oregano, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste—For us a heavy pinch of salt and about 15 grinds of black pepper.Increase the heat to high. Once it reaches a rolling simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally (until liquid is thick and reduced, and cauliflower is just crisp-tender)

a)This is usually a great time to start your couscous or other grain/starch option.

5) When the stew is done, let it cool for 5-10 minutes.

6) To serve: Spoon into bowls, preferably over a scoop of couscous (or other grain/starch). Pile a heap of Italian parsley (⅛-¼ cup) on top, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and serve with a lemon wedge to squeeze over top!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Real talk: We’ve eaten a lot of bad homemade fried rice, most of which we’ve made. Homemade fried rice shouldn’t have to be an oily, soggy, mushy mess that you end up eating out of spite after a 60-minute battle with your kitchen! And yet, it kept turning out that way.

We’ve experimented. We’ve cooked in batches, switched up oils, and tried countless sauces. We’ve invited various specialty ingredients to the party. We’ve even gotten the broiler involved. (Listen—sheet pan fried rice actually kinda rules but that’s a topic for another time.) 

To get a handle on homemade fried rice, we had to go back to basics. There are fundamental reasons why wok-fried rice is so good! Namely, the texture variance and complex smoky flavor created by wok cooking. Think of stir-fried veggies at your favorite restaurant—crisp-tender with caramelized outer edges. Think of the specks of crisp and chewy grains mixed throughout a plate of your favorite fried rice. (Hungry yet?) Wok cooking is practically alchemical, transforming food from simple ingredients into a dish greater than the sum of its parts.

Restaurants that rely on wok cooking can achieve these results because the extreme heat of the cooking method (much higher than Western home stoves) blasts away excess moisture allowing for maximum caramelization of foods and vaporization of cooking oils. All of this happens in seconds—David used to work with a cook who had run the wok in a Thai restaurant and said he never minded remaking orders, since most dishes on his station cooked for under a minute! 

Trouble is…Your landlord and/or lungs won’t abide by the use of that sort of equipment and heat in a home kitchen. The smoke produced by traditional wok cooking requires a serious ventilation setup for the safety and comfort of cooks and diners alike.

But you can have delicious fried rice at home without a six-figure kitchen remodel! The trick? A combo of cold pre-cooked rice, low-moisture veggies, sauce that aids in caramelization, and letting heat and time do their thing. By not over-stirring your ingredients, they have a chance to caramelize and develop some of those sought-after flavors. The ingredients just need more time in contact with the surface of your pan than a commercial wok!

This fried rice is a go-to in our home for tired weeknight dinners and easy weekend lunches alike! It’s ideal comfort food, with starchy-salty-sweet vibes meeting fresh and bright flavors. The recipe makes 2-3 servings, so if leftovers are your thing, you might need to make a couple of batches.

Tips & Info

• Tofu fills in here for the scrambled egg commonly present in fried rice. Salt, oil, and minimal stirring help it to develop texture and flavor variance that elevates its presence in the final dish.

• You can choose-your-own-veggie-adventure by switching up the veggies. Large chunks of green onion and broccolini are our favorites, as the recipe calls for. One of the big reasons is that they’re lower in moisture, preventing the final dish from getting soggy. But you do you! Half an onion leftover from Tuesday’s pasta? Cabbage you over-bought when you made coleslaw last weekend? Swore you’d use up all two pounds of those carrots but they’re starting to wilt? Now you have a home for them. Just make sure you drain off any excess moisture that’s accumulated in the resting veggies before adding them back to the rice.

  • Rule-of-thumb regarding veggie quantity: 1 large handful of alliums (like 5 green onions, ½ a large yellow onion, etc.), and 2 large handfuls of another veggie (like a head of broccoli, a bunch of asparagus, etc.)

  • No matter what veggies you choose—be sure to give them as much time on the bottom of the pan as they need to develop some dark color and charred texture.

• Leftover white rice is the real star of this recipe. We often prep extra servings of rice over the weekend to have on hand for easy-meal-moments. Turns out, though, that cold leftover rice actually works better than the fresh-cooked stuff when making fried rice. This is because rice grains become more separate and less starchy when refrigerated! It’s the trick to getting the crispy-chewy rice you want, whereas fresh rice will stick to the pan and end up soggy. 

  • Don’t have day-old rice? Cook some up fresh, then spread it out on a plate or sheet pan to cool and dry uncovered in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.

• Use a pan with a large flat cooking surface that can handle sustained heat (like a 12-inch cast-iron skillet). You want the rice and veggies to cook through direct heat, meaning they need to be in contact with the bottom of the pan as much as possible. This will make the difference between mushy and crisp-tender veggies! The heat retention and distribution of cast-iron also makes it the best choice for crisping the rice.

• No matter what pan you use, make sure you have a spatula that is safe and effective to scrape up all the crispy bits of rice as you go! This is essential for texture and flavor! You want to see variance in the final dish, with speckles of dark caramelized rice throughout. 

• Seasoned rice vinegar swoops in at the very end to liven up this dish with a hit of acidity and sweetness, turning the aromatics up to eleven. But what’s up with all the different types you see in the store? Rice vinegar is all made by fermenting rice first into alcohol (rice wine) and then into acid. Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are just different names! However, seasoned rice vinegar has a bit of sugar and salt added to balance the acidity (it’s usually found seasoning steamed vegetables or tossed in a salad). If you want to use plain rice vinegar in this recipe, do a slightly lighter pour. It’ll still work great.

Weeknight Fried Rice

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | Feb 22nd, 2020
Time: 25 minutes | Feeds: 2-3

Equipment:

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Knife

Cutting board

12” inch cast-iron (or another skillet with a large, flat cooking surface. If cooking in a much smaller pan, cook in 2 batches or reduce the recipe.)

Sturdy spatula for scraping your pan (we recommend metal or wood if using cast iron)

Ingredients:

Stir-fry

2 tbsp high-heat cooking oil, divided in half

1 bunch broccolini cut into bite-sized pieces

4-6 green onions cut into 2-inch pieces, roughly 1 cup chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

⅛ cup roasted peanuts (optional)

½ block firm tofu

2 cups leftover/chilled white rice

Salt

Seasame seeds (optional garnish)

Sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

1 tbsp sugar

½-1 tsp chili sauce like sambal olek

2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar (keep separate - reserve until end of recipe)

Instructions:

1) Heat your cast-iron over medium-high heat (6-7/10) until it is nice and hot! (To test the heat, sprinkle some cool water into the pan. Droplets should skitter around for a second before evaporating.) We usually chop veggies while the pan heats. Add 1 tbsp oil to the pan and add the broccolini, onions, garlic, and peanuts. Add a pinch of salt and stir to coat them in the oil. Arrange in a single layer and press them so they are in contact with as much of the pan as possible. Cook these undisturbed for 2-3 minutes.

2) While the veggies cook, mix your sauce ingredients together, keeping rice vinegar separate.

3) When the veggies are done: Remove them from the pan and set aside—use the plate or bowl you’re going to eat out of to save on dishes! They probably won’t seem fully cooked yet. They will steam and carry-over cook while they wait for you to finish the other steps!

4) Add the remaining tbsp of oil to the pan. Crumble your tofu (not too small!) directly in and add a pinch of salt. Stir, then let cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes until edges are crisp and there is no excess moisture in the pan.

5) Add the rice to the pan, crumbling it evenly as you go, and stir in the sauce. The rice will start to stick to the pan—don’t worry! The secret is to avoid over-stirring and do a good job scraping with your spatula later. The sugar in the sauce will help the rice brown, and the soy sauce will take on a deeper flavor as it cooks. Watch your heat from now until the end, adjusting as necessary to avoid smoking or under-cooking! Pack everything down into the pan and cook, undisturbed, for 1.5-2 minutes. By then the rice will be getting a little charred on the bottom, which is good! It’s the only way you’ll get the texture and flavor you want throughout the dish with a home-hitchen setup.

6) Stir, making sure to scrape burned bits off the bottom of the pan thoroughly and incorporate them throughout the dish. Pack down and cook another 1.5-2 minutes. Add the veggies back to the pan, stir and scrape again to incorporate them, and cook for 1-1.5 minutes.

7) Remove from heat. Stir in rice vinegar. (The vinegar will cook off if you add it sooner—it really brightens the dish to wait until the end!) Serve, garnish with seasame seeds, and enjoy!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Brunch. Millennials have come to be known for it, with weekend-morning lines stretching around the block from popular restaurants in cities big and small... But we challenge you to find us a single person who doesn’t love a late-morning feast! 

What makes brunch so glorious? It’s undeniably luxurious. For brunch to be brunch, you have to slow down. It’s a break from slapping peanut butter on toast and eating in the car on the way to work. (Anyone else?) Brunch practically requires you to sleep in and not have plans until late in the day. Or maybe brunch means that you already accomplished an early-morning outing and you’re ready to rest and refuel! Brunch is perfect as a treat-yourself moment, a romantic morning, or a lively setting for gathering with friends. (Start pouring the mimosas!)

We are here to say that you deserve this. Yes, making your brunch rather than eating out may require waking up a hair earlier or working a little harder. Ultimately, though, you’ll save money and you can do it all without changing out of your pajamas! Plus, there’s no wait for a table in your kitchen… (We hope?) We believe that food is the ultimate love language and if you’ve never made brunch for your loved ones, now is the time to try!

For our brunch series, we’ve compiled what we think is a perfect classic vegan brunch-from-home feast. We’ve been making some variation of this meal for years. Tofu scramble, breakfast potatoes, side salad, and vegan sausage—All incredibly simple, but when they cozy up together on your plate they create a deeply satisfying plate with a dynamic balance of flavors and textures. Savory and sweet. Bright and rich. We love the feeling of making everything on the plate ourselves, but if you’re crunched for time, there is no shame in using store-bought breakfast sausage or cutting some corners. The important thing is that you enjoy what you are eating and share a meal with others when you can!

We’re serious about our love for brunch, so stay tuned for more delectable dishes to start your weekends with!

Tips & Info

• Write out your process before you start! For me, it always helps to map out the steps of a big meal before I start cooking. What do I need to prep? What takes the longest? What has long periods of cooking when I can accomplish other steps? Making bullet points and crossing off steps as you go can help to feel organized and at ease when preparing multiple dishes at once. Use this post as a guide!

• Keep a kitchen towel with you. It’s nice to be able to quickly clean off your hands, grab pan handles, and wipe up small messes without fumbling around the kitchen for a towel or pot holder.

• Gather all your ingredients, cookware, and serveware in groups. It is much easier to feel organized while cooking if you’re not searching through the refrigerator or pantry while things on the stove need your attention. Gather salad ingredients in/around a salad bowl, potato ingredients on your sheet pan, etc. This is especially helpful when cooking in the morning while waiting for your first sips of coffee to take effect.

Make brunch with ease and confidence

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | Feb 15^th, 2020
Timing: Around one hour—give yourself more time if you’re getting the hang of juggling multiple dishes at once
Feeds: 4
(We don’t know how hungry you are!)

Recipes

Roasted Breakfast Potatoes

Breakfast Sausage

Simple Tofu Scramble

Simple & Bright Side Salad

Equipment:

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Cutting board

Knife

Salad bowl and tossing utensils of choice

Mixing bowl and spoon for sausage

Small saucepan or pot

Medium sauté pan for scramble

Medium-large pan for sausage

Baking pan for potatoes

Timing

Here’s a rundown of how I juggle this week’s recipes to make a killer brunch. Since timing varies for each recipe, it’s a bit hard to estimate the exact timing. (Also, I developed the recipes, so I might be a little quicker than average when preparing them for the umpteenth time.) That said, I usually give myself about an hour to make brunch, and it usually works out just about right. Don’t beat yourself up if it takes a little longer, brunch is a relaxed thing. Plus: You’re the cook, you’re supposed to snack-as-you-go.

1) First thing’s first: Start your coffee or tea and pour a big glass of water (throw a lemon wedge in there, this is about luxury). Having something to sip on makes cooking nicer, building in little breathers. Morning hydration is no joke, especially when you’re working hard in the kitchen. While coffee brews or tea steeps, gather your materials and take any notes you need to take. Spread out in your kitchen and set yourself up to feel organized now!

2) Your first dish to tackle will be roasted potatoes. These have the longest cook time, including long periods cooking undisturbed in the oven allowing you time to prepare other recipes. They also do well keeping warm in the oven after it’s turned off if needed. Wash, cut, and dress the potatoes while the oven preheats. While you’re at it? Start boiling the potatoes for the sausage at this point, too. Once potatoes are on to cooking...

3) Work on breakfast sausage. Since you’ve already started boiling the potatoes, you’re a step ahead! Combine everything into a big mixing bowl and mix well. Let it sit while the spuds finish boiling. Once those are done, mash them and mix them in. Set the dough aside until you’re ready to cook the patties (if you want to pre-form patties, do that now!)

4) At this point your roasted potatoes might need a stir. Keep an eye on them—After their first stir (15ish mins) is when I prefer to turn my attention to salad. I start with greens in the bowl (wash them if they need it, please!) then prep the other ingredients. If I’m roasting my own seeds, they go in the oven now with the potatoes for just a few minutes (I like to use the cast-iron skillet I’ll using for tofu later to save dishes). Slice shallots, jalapeños, and any other veggies you are including and add them to your salad bowl. Measure oil and prep your lemon, but don’t dress the salad until right before you serve it to avoid wilting! Alternately, even easier: Assemble single portions of salad on each plate before serving, drizzle with olive oil, and serve with a lemon wedge like in our picture.

5) Don’t worry about the potatoes: I know it’s weird to leave them in there without stirring more than a few times but I promise they’re okay. You want crispy, right? At some point during the next step, they’ll be done. When they are, give them a good stir, kill the heat on the oven, and pop them back in to keep warm. (keep an eye to make sure they’re not cooking too much as your oven cools off - remove them if necessary).

6) Get your game face on. Refill your water glass. It’s time to cook sausage patties. I recommend having a spare plate or sheet pan ready with tin foil or a clean tea towel to keep finished patties warm while the rest cook. Tend to the heat as you go, making sure they have a chance to cook through before getting too dark on the outside. I make 4 patties at a time in a 12” cast iron skillet, meaning there are 2 batches if I’m cooking all the dough. Whenever you begin your final batch of patties is the perfect time to start tofu scramble. It’s also a good time to make toast, if that’s your thing. We’re not going to tell you how to do that, we trust you to handle it.

7) Tofu scramble comes together pretty quickly. Multitasking on the stove can be a bit challenging—Your primary focus is to not burn the sausage because tofu is much more forgiving. Tofu is a ready-to-eat product in and of itself, so the “doneness” you’re looking for here is primarily textural. You want to strive for a moist, almost custardy texture that resembles a perfectly-cooked scrambled egg. This varies on the brand of tofu, how much of its water made it into the pan, and how hot your stove is. Follow our recipe, follow your instincts, and you’ll be in good shape.

8)When it’s all done, you plate it! I usually start with potatoes (gotta make sure they have enough plate real estate), then nestle scramble right next to them. Salad goes on the other side of the potatoes and sausage further separates the salad from the scramble (look... I’m not trying to get tofu crumbles in my spring mix, but no judgment if that’s your thing). Hot sauce and ketchup are both musts in our house! Also: A professional-level brunch table needs like three beverages per person (cocktail/juice, coffee/tea, water) so make sure you plan ahead for that.

Enjoy your home-cooked brunch. Whether you’ve cut each recipe down ¾ to treat yourself to a lazy morning feast, you’re entertaining family or friends, or you’re sharing it with a sweetie—You’re bound to have a good day if it starts like this.

—David

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

“...I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something, to give something up. But human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious. And I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and to the environment.” 
- Joaquin Phoenix, in his moving 2020 Oscars Acceptance Speech

Like many nations amidst the crisis of WWII, Britain faced a devastating food shortage which led to severe rationing. The Ministry of Food distributed leaflets printed with inventive recipes to aid citizens in facing the challenges this presented. Some wartime recipes made sausage patties using oatmeal and seasonings to stretch rations and recreate a satisfying staple food. Such recipes meant people didn’t have to give up foods they loved entirely.

Now, we too face myriad crises—climate, animal rights, and human rights issues to name a few—and many of us are seeking personal changes out of compassion. The good news? We can make positive changes to our impact on the planet, animals, and each other while still eating brunch with joy. We can all do our part! We can fight for a more compassionate world and still enjoy staple foods thanks to the inventive nature of humanity. And we can look to the ingenuity of generations who’ve weathered hard times before us for inspiration. (Brits in WWII also planted edible gardens to combat shortages—something we can do today to benefit our world and communities, too!)

This recipe is inspired by but not based on historic oat sausage recipes. Oats, walnuts, and potatoes combine to provide a meaty texture without any additional binders. Smoked paprika, maple syrup, and liquid smoke mingle to create the smoky-sweet flavor of classic breakfast patties. Cumin and oregano are valuable tools in creating deep and vibrant layers of flavor. 

We like to make a batch of these patties on Sunday as breakfast prep for weekday mornings! They reheat well on the stove or in the microwave and go great with a slice of vegan cheese on an English muffin. Any breakfast sandwich is a good home for this recipe—or any breakfast plate, for that matter.

The whole thing is easy and only takes a few steps. Waiting for the dough to sit and the potatoes to boil will take longer than anything else. Luckily that gives you time to multi-task and prepare other brunch dishes to go along with the sausage, or just sip your coffee and peruse your news feed. Maybe you’ll share a meme. Maybe you’ll share this recipe… Maybe for just a moment you will be a wartime Ministry of Food, and your internet friends will be the citizens with their leaflets, and we will all be doing our part and winning the war (for animals/for an easy brunch) together.

Tips & Info

• Quick-cook oats are rolled oats that have been cut or rolled smaller and par-cooked to speed up their preparation time. If you use other, longer-cooking oats: Let them sit between steps 1 and 2 longer (15-20 minutes total) for extra hydration. This will ensure you don’t end up with undercooked oats in the final product.

• Can the dough be made ahead? Sure, but only a by day or two. In my (limited) make-ahead testing, I found it difficult to work with and cook through properly beyond that. We recommend reheating cooked patties instead! Pre-cook the sausage patties, refrigerate them, and then reheat them in a pan (over medium heat with a light sprinkle of water until warm through and crisp on the outside) when you want to serve them.

• If your pan gets too hot, your patties may end up undercooked inside even though they look done outside. Keep the heat at medium, adjusting as needed, to ensure it cooks through. It also helps to avoid forming overly thick patties.

• Tweak seasonings to your preference. No liquid smoke? That’s alright, just toss an extra pinch of smoked paprika in there. Sage would be a great herb to swap in. Omit maple syrup for a plain, classic American breakfast sausage.

• Can’t do walnuts? Swap them with more oats or some finely minced sunflower seeds.

• Make a full brunch spread! Find a guide to complimentary recipes and tips on how to put it all together here.

Breakfast Sausage

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | Feb 14^th, 2020
Time: 25-30 minutes (35-40 if cooking in two batches) | Serving: Makes ~8 2oz (1/8lb) sausage patties

Equipment:

Mixing bowl

Mixing spoon

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Small saucepan or pot

Skillet/pan with a flat cooking surface (we use a 12” cast-iron skillet)

Ingredients:

3-4 Small, 2-3 medium, or 1 medium-large potato (you want to end up with between ¾-1 cup mashed. We like using Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe!)

¾ cups quick-cook oats

½ cup minced walnuts (Really tiny! Pulse in a food processor for best results)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp salt

1½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

Liquids

¼ cup water or veggie broth

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

1 tsp liquid smoke

2 tbsp medium-to-high-heat cooking oil like refined olive, canola, or sunflower (plus more for the pan)

Instructions:

1) Wash the potatoes and, if they're larger than 3 inches across, cut them into 3-inch "cubes." Place them in a small saucepan, submerging them in by about an inch of water, Bring to boil over high heat. While the potatoes cook, combine everything else in a big mixing bowl adding the liquids last. Mix ingredients thoroughly and let them sit for 5-10 minutes so oats can hydrate somewhat (10-15 minutes if using longer-cooking rolled oats).

2) Once the potatoes are fork-tender and mashable, drain and mash them. Add the mashed potatoes to the bowl with the other ingredients. Thoroughly mash or mix potatoes into the mixture, forming the final dough. It should resemble the texture of ground breakfast sausage and feel form-able.

- This recipe makes about 1lb of sausage “dough,” meaning you can make 8 evenly-sized 2oz patties (usually 2-3 batches in a single skilelt, depending on size). If you don’t have a kitchen scale, 2oz of this dough is roughly ¼ cup. (That said, a kitchen scale is one of the best investments you can make for your kitchen!)
- The dough is sticky! You can give your tools and hands a rinse in cool water periodically to make handling the dough easier.
- We like to form the final patty shape as we go, dividing the dough into 2oz balls beforehand and flattening them into a patty when ready to add to the pan. If you prefer to form all your patties before cooking, now’s a good time to do it!

3) Heat your pan over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp high-heat oil to the pan when heated. Place patties into the pan, avoiding overcrowding, and cook each side for 3-5 minutes or until browned. Don’t be afraid if they get a little dark—maple syrup and soy sauce will do that! Patties are done cooking when browned and firm. Let cool for a couple of minutes before serving—this helps the texture firm up a bit more.

4) Serve on their own, on a sandwich, with hot sauce… You name it!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Salads are defined most simply as dressed raw greens. Sure, that description isn’t enticing, but it leaves open so many possibilities. So why do we often script salads into being something boring and blasé? Why do we relegate them only to lunch and dinner? We are here to proudly celebrate salads as a brunch staple! Salads, at their best, should enhance and highlight the bright flavors of their components. When utilized as a side dish, they should provide contrast to the other flavors and textures expressed in a meal. Why wouldn’t you want to enjoy them at any time of the day?

Our Simple Side Salad recipe is inspired by many dishes and moments. Primarily? The salad on the veggie combo at our neighborhood Ethiopian restaurant.

What are the basics of a good salad? Tasty greens, fat (oil), and acid (lemon, in this case). We’ve added toasted sunflower seeds for some salty nuttiness and jalapeno and shallot for added brightness.  Despite the focus on brunch, this salad will work at any time of the day. And the best part? You don’t have to think too hard about it. We’ve included some alternate “measurements” in the ingredients list if you don’t feel like measuring. This is a salad you toss together when you realize you want to liven up a frozen pizza night, build a base for a meal with some leftover marinated tempeh, or contribute something to a dinner party without having to google wine ratings.

We encourage you to make it your own. We urge you to invite some friends over and spread the good word about salad as a breakfast staple.

• David & Mars

Tips & Info

• Tender greens wilt fast. If you’re prepping many plates or otherwise want to prolong the life of your salad, hold the acid until the last minute. Try dressing with only oil and pepper and serving with a lemon wedge on each plate!

• This recipe is so basic it’s almost a non-recipe. Do whatever sounds good to you!

• Great addition ideas are sliced oranges, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, berries… You name it! Use another citrus juice to change it up! Top with a different nut or seed! Choose your own adventure!

• Make a full brunch spread! Find a guide to complementary recipes and tips on how to put it all together here.

Simple Side Salad

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | 2/13/20
Time: < 10 minutes | Feeds: 2-4
(We don’t know how hungry you are!)

Equipment:

Cutting board

Knife

Mixing or serving bowl

Salad tongs, tongs, or other utensils for tossing

Small skillet or baking pan (if roasting your own sunflower seeds)

Ingredients:

¼ lb spring mix or other tender salad greens (three good, big handfuls)

¼ cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds (a palm-full)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (a couple healthy glugs)

1 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice (¼ of a large or ½ of a small lemon)

1 tbsp thinly-sliced shallot (½ a small one)

2 tsp-1tbsp jalapeño, seeded and cored, minced (about ½ an average pepper)

6-8 grinds (½ tsp) fresh-ground black pepper

Instructions:

Need to roast your own seeds?

Toss ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds with 1 tsp neutral oil (sunflower works great here!) and a pinch of salt. Combine in a pan and roast in the oven (whatever temp your oven is at when cooking other food, I usually roast mine for a few minutes at 425°F while cooking potatoes) or on your stove at medium heat until just golden-brown. Watch carefully as they can burn quickly and continue to roast after removed from heat.

Salad

Combine all ingredients except sunflower seeds in a large bowl, ending with oil and lemon juice (make sure to only dress right before serving to avoid wilted salad!)

Toss, making sure to recirculate any bits that end up on the bottom of the bowl

Top with sunflower seeds (either in the bowl or on the plate, depending on if you’re serving it family-style or plating individual portions)

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

Everyone will arrive at this post carrying various associations with tofu scramble. Maybe you’ve never had it before. Maybe you’ve only had it at the natural cafe your grandma loves. Maybe you’ve decided you hate tofu and don’t even want to consider it. If that last one is the case: We’re here to change your mind!

Regardless of how you feel about it, it is undeniable that tofu scramble is a right of passage in the realm of vegan cooking. Personally, I felt incredibly accomplished years ago when I taught David how to make tofu scramble, something I had learned while away for an internship in New York. (The cooking lessons are usually the other way around.) We’ve since been making it for our friends and families and teaching them how to make it as well.

It’s one of those staples that you don’t need a recipe for. Everyone has their own twist that they put on it. That is why we are keeping this recipe super simple! We want to give you the basics so that you can find your personal tofu scramble style. This recipe doesn’t require strict measurements - follow along with the alternate measurements and let your taste be your guide! We trust your scramble intuition, do you?

Here’s the thing: Like many vegan dishes, this dish isn’t meant to perfectly replicate the non-vegan thing it’s replacing. It’s not faux-eggs. (There are plenty of products on the market doing that now!) Yet, it does satisfy eggy cravings! We find its yellow color incredibly appetizing, and it has a round flavor fit for breakfast and simple enough for your favorite hot sauce or veggies to be mixed in.

If you can master this—and we promise you can—you’ll have endless breakfast options! Serve with toast, as part of a large brunch spread, on a breakfast sandwich, in a burrito, or whatever else you can dream up! 

• Mars

Tips & Info

• What’s with all these different types of tofu? “Regular” tofu has a crumbly texture, with curds that allow for crumbling and scrambling. Silken tofu is smooth and lacks curds, making it best for blending. Firmness is a measurement of how much water was pressed out of it during the production—The firmer, the more water was pressed out. For this recipe we recommend firm tofu, because of its balance of developed curds and softness. However, you can use medium tofu (one notch below firm) as well to good effect. We find extra-firm too crumbly for a scramble.

• Sautéed veggies are a great addition to tofu scramble. 

  • Diced scallions: Add during step 3 then proceed as normal.

  • Onions and/or mushrooms: Sauté before adding tofu with a pinch of salt until mostly cooked to your preference, then proceed as normal.

  • Spinach: Stir-in during last few minutes of cooking.

  • Other veg: Sauté until about 80% cooked prior to adding tofu, then proceed as normal.

• Craving a creamy-cheesy scramble? Stir in a few tablespoons of your favorite vegan cream cheese (chive and onion anyone?) during the last minute or two of cooking!

• Make a full brunch spread! Find a guide to complimentary recipes and tips on how to put it all together here.

Simple Tofu Scramble

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | 2/12/20
Time: 10-15 minutes | Feeds: 2-4
(We don’t know how hungry you are!)

Equipment:

Measuring spoons

Knife

Cutting board (optional)

Medium sauté pan (we use a 10” cast-iron skillet)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cooking fat of your choice (we like vegan butter for this!)

1 block firm tofu, drained (see tips for more on types of tofu)

Salt (just a pinch!)

2 tsp soy sauce or tamari (a splash!)

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (a spoonful!)

¼ tsp onion powder (a good pinch!)

A pinch of turmeric (optional, for color)

Fresh ground black pepper to taste (we use about 8 grinds)

Minced chives for topping (optional)

Instructions:

1) Heat a medium skillet (we use our 10” cast-iron) over medium heat. Once heated, melt butter or add oil and swirl it around to coat.
2) Crumble the Tofu directly into the pan, taking care not to over-crumble. Leaving large crumbles maintains a scrambled-egg-like texture. Add a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Cook, stirring only a few times, for 3-5 minutes—Or until most but not all water has evaporated.
3) Add soy sauce or tamari and stir to combine. After 1 minute or so of cooking, stir in the rest of the seasonings (except chives). Cook for 2-4 more minutes, stirring frequently. Your scramble is done when most of the liquid in the pan is evaporated, but tofu is not yet browned.
4) Serve with chives or any other toppings of your choice.

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!

The undeniable champion of the brunch world? The towering colossus of morning meal staples? The conqueror of hearts and minds across vast chasms of forenoon cuisine? The very bedrock on which the greatest breakfasts are built? Potatoes. No question.

Hashbrowns. Homefries. Potatoes O’Brien. Latkes. Croquettes. Fritters. I could go on… No matter how you cut ‘em or cook ‘em, they’re the ideal food to start your day with. They’re the best friend you could ask for! They pick you up when you’re down. When you’re up, they’ll lift you even higher! They are as complex or plain as you want them to be. They’ll never judge you. Potatoes are perfect on their own, but also play well with an endless number of condiments. I say all this as if you’ve never even tasted a french fry—I am aware and I appreciate your indulgence. 

To me, there’s nothing better than a crispy oven-roasted breakfast potato. Wedges of savory spuds with crispy outsides and fluffy-creamy interiors. As a teen, I went to a summer camp for a few years where almost every morning for two weeks, we’d have roasted potatoes with breakfast. You better believe I learned how to make them at home. The recipe varied from cook to cook, year to year, but it always involved boiling the cut potatoes before roasting them. Countless restaurants and home recipes use this trick too—with good reason! In a restaurant setting, par-cooking means all you have to do to them during service is brown the outside in a fryer or on a flat top grill. Beyond that, also provides the aforementioned texture variance between a crisp outside and a fluffy interior.

That said... I am not an incredibly patient person. And I hate extra dishes. Both are especially true when I’ve slept in on a weekend and need to get brunch going. Have you ever scrubbed potato starch out of a pot, knowing it could have been avoided? Never again. You won’t have to drag your sleepy brain through a many-step process to live your potato dreams any longer. This recipe uses heat and time to achieve top-tier potato texture. Just a sheet pan, oil, and seasonings. 

So grab your choice of morning beverage, turn up your music, and get to work chopping. The day is still young, but potatoes can’t wait any longer.

• David

P.S. These potatoes are a wonderful side dish at any time of day. Make tweaks of herbs and spices to suit your preference or the context in which they’re being served!

Tips & Info

• What potatoes are best for roasting? All potatoes fall on a spectrum between waxy (red, purple) and starchy (Russett, Idaho). Waxy potatoes hold their shape when cooked and are great for gratin and salad, whereas starchy ones fall apart when cooked and are perfect for mashing or baking. But what about the middle? That space is occupied by the ultimate spud: Yukon Gold potatoes. Semi-starchy, these potatoes will crisp and keep their shape while the inside becomes starchy and creamy.

• Your potatoes might seem “done” before the final bit of cooking. Fork-tenderness is a common test of potato doneness. However, “cooked enough to eat” isn’t the same as “done cooking”—an important lesson in the kitchen and a useful metaphor for the rest of your life. Allowing them the extra time will ensure they develop a crisp outside and creamy center! You’ll know they’re done when they look “puffy.” This is from the outside forming a crisp barrier that traps steam while the inside continues to cook!

• All veggies cook best and get crispiest when uncrowded. Crowding causes the veggies in the pan to sit in steam and/or hot liquid, keeping them from drying out and getting crisp. If your pan is crowded, with potatoes touching closely, make sure to give them a little extra cooking time.

• Don’t skip scrubbing your potatoes! Not only is it wise to remove excess dirt (these things grow underground!) and grocery store gunk (yuck), but it will also affect the cooking. Moistening the outside helps the inside steam during the early stage of cooking, and prevents the skin from getting tough.

• Feel free to adjust herbs and spices to your taste. These are great with rosemary, chives, and thyme to name a few!

• Make a full brunch spread! Find a guide to complementary recipes and tips on how to put it all together here.

Roasted Breakfast Potatoes

Power Plant | David Griffin-Luna | 2/11/20
Time: ~45 minutes | Feeds: 2-3
(We don’t know how hungry you are!)

Equipment:

Cutting board

Knife

Medium-large baking pan (like a quarter- or half-sheet)

Measuring spoons

Ingredients:

1lb potatoes (about 3 cups chopped - we recommend Yukon gold or red)

1 tbsp neutral, heat-stable cooking oil (like high-oleic sunflower or canola)

¼ tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp dried oregano

6-8 grinds (¼ tsp) fresh-ground black pepper

A heavy pinch (⅛ tsp or so) salt

A heavy pinch (⅛ tsp) garlic powder

A small pinch of cayenne (optional)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 425° F with a rack set at the lowest position. Rinse and scrub your potatoes and cut into 1-1.5” wedges or cubes. Place them on your baking sheet and drizzle oil and sprinkle spices evenly. Stir to coat thoroughly.

2) Bake on bottom rack for 15-18 minutes without stirring—Stir too early and they’ll stick! This may seem like a long time, but this is how you’ll ensure some nice crisp sides for texture and flavor.

3) Remove from oven and stir, taking care to scrape with a spatula to avoid breaking up potatoes that have stuck to the pan. Return to the oven for 12-15 more minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from the oven and stir. Let them cool for 2-5 minutes before serving. Grab the ketchup and hot sauce. Enjoy!

We would love to see what you make!
Tag #cookwithpowerplant & @powerplantpnw on Instagram!