Domestic Tuesday - Guest Domestic of the Vegan Persuasion

Oh hai. Just wondering, can we just pretend that the title "Domestic Tuesday" is more of a suggestion than an actual scheduled thing? I mean, the "domestic" part is fine, it's just the whole "Tuesday" concept that sometime alludes me. I'll try to be more punctual from now on. Promise.

Secondly, all the photos I took for this entry are stuck on my camera, as I had forgotten to put the memory card in, and can't seem to upload the software to get them off. So aside from the three photos sent to me by the guest domestic, I'm going to include photos of her which I have pillaged off her Flickr captioned by reasons why she is awesome, in lieu of cooking photos. Cool? No? I don't care.

Domestic Tuesday - Guest Domestic of the Vegan Persuasion

Hey look! I got someone else to not only make me dinner, but to also write a blog post about it! Man, am I lazy or what??? Actually, I chose my friend Meghan ("Judy Gloom", to those of you knowledgeable of roller derby) to be the "Guest" in this edition of "Guest Domestic" because, not only is she an awesome cook, she's also a kick ass writer, as you can see for yourself at her blog, The Hollywood Librarian.

I also chose Meg because she is an undeniably healthy person (one the inspirations behind my recent interest in getting in shape) but she also adores food and has a healthy attitude towards eating, which I've found to be a rare thing with women, sadly. So I asked her to create her favorite vegan dish for me, knowing full well that it would closely resemble the awesome seitan dish she made for me a while back. I don't think I would ever have given seitan a second glace (except perhaps a dirty look) had I not tried Meghan's version. This is some seriously yummy stuff, so don't be afraid to give it a shot, even if you're a gluttonous carnivore, like myself. Alright, I'll shut up now and let her take over.

Our Domestic - Miss Judy Gloom

Most of the time when I tell people that I'm a pescetarian, I receive puzzled looks in response. So, the longer story behind my dietary restrictions is that I was a vegetarian for 10 years until I reincorporated fish into my diet about four years ago (a person who eats fish, but not red meat or poultry = pesceterian). Up until recently, I was a "restaurant pesceterian," but lately, I've been trying to cook occasionally with fish at home. My invitation to guestblog here came as a result of the Ahi tuna tacos I made for a post-gym dinner a few weeks ago.

Meghan rides her bike all over the place, including, but not limited to: Hollywood, greater Los Angeles, through European cities during rainstorms, to my house when I promise to drive.

All of that said, old habits die hard. Most of my favorite, tried and true recipes are vegan. So, when Georgia asked me to blog here, I decided to go Meghan Classic and whip up some Jerk Seitan, which is always a big hit among the omnivores (seitan = a high-protein, vegetarian "wheat meat"). I've tried a few different jerk marinade recipes, and this one is my fave.

She indulges, encourages, and fully participates in my penchant for drinking and being silly.

The secret is the sauce, so really, you could use any protein you want here -- I've done it with tofu, and I imagine it would be good with shrimp. And of course, there's always chicken, which is the traditional vehicle for this killer Caribbean marinade.

She has killer fashion sense. See that grey dress she's wearing in the above photo? The next day I went out and bought it (it's this dress, and it's the most flattering thing I've ever worn), and now we have to check up with each other every time we go out together if one of us wants to wear it, to make sure the other isn't. She's only slightly irritated by this, which is sweet.

For this occasion, I made my own seitan. It's a little more time-consuming, but worth it. The quality is far superior to the store-bought stuff, it's much less expensive, and this recipe (my favorite!) yields a ton. I wind up freezing about 2/3 of it for later use.

I went with Meghan to a clothing swap a couple weeks ago, and ended up leaving with pretty much everything she brought. Like I said, girl's got style.

This recipe requires a food processor. I believe Georgia recently wrote about her love affair with a new Cuisinart. I don't know what I'd do without mine.

See that red-haired girl on the far left? That's Meghan. See that dude giving the middle finger? That's Anthony fucking Bordain, with whom she ate dinner and then ended up in his book (along with this lovely blogger). Yeah, she wins at life.

Jamaican Jerk Marinade (from one of my favorite cookbooks, the Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook)

2 c chopped green onion
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 c soy sauce
1/4 c safflower or sunflower oil
3 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper (sliced, seeds and all)
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree. This recipe will yield about 2 1/2 cups, which is way more than you'll need for a 3-4 person dinner. Feel free to halve the recipe, or do what I do and freeze the remaining sauce. I usually get three meals (serving 3-4 people each) from one batch of this sauce.

Did I mention that she's also a Librarian??? It's true.

Let your protein soak in the marinade for about an hour before serving. Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown your meat, adding additional sauce as desired.

Like I said before, she's an awesome cook.

I served this with coconut rice (prepare basmati or jasmine rice as you normally would, but throw in a cup of coconut milk and a few slices of fresh ginger. Toss with pineapple, fresh cilantro and toasted coconut). I also served with baked sweet potatoes. Just scrub em down, stab each a couple of times with a fork, and bake at 400 for about an hour. Sweet potatoes are so good for you...though my doctor remarked during a recent office visit that over-consumption of beta carotene is turning my hands orange. No shit.

Words fail the photo above (that's Meggy in red). But I can say she is the most sensitive tough-guy I've ever met.
photo via Charlie Chu

Drizzle everything with a bit of the cooked marinade and serve!

Thank you, Meghan! It was a truly delicious dinner, despite the fact that you insisted you marinated the seitan too long (you didn't, it was great). The only reason I didn't eat more, is because I had eaten buffalo wings at Big Wangs a couple hours earlier, and didn't want to tell you because I was scared I'd hurt your feelings. Eep!!!

Edited to add food photos!!!