Ask the A2K cooks!

I'm certain I won't be.
Feeling confident about this!

I should have told you that the amounts I gave you are for one person! Two big sandwiches, maybe three. The proportions are the same but the amounts are much greater if you want more than a single portion. I say this with the wine in mind. This is a small amount. I remember my grandmother used to have six or eight eggs boiled and ready (sometimes more) before she started chopping. I came in handy at such times. I kid with boundless energy for chopping.

I looked online for a picture to give you an idea of what this should look like. Feh, pooh, yuck. This is NOT pate. Here's a photo that's about as close to the right texture as I could find:

Thank you, Roberta.
I am really touched by your concern, possum.

Never mind about the over-sized recipe for one person.
There are usually extra hands/mouths around to consume surplus supplies.
I ALWAYS cook too much.
Am I going to break such an established habit?

ps ... that photograph is very useful.
OK, I will not turn my chopped liver into sloppy mush!
Got it!

Watching..

Whoops, I misread!
This is what happens when you cook dinner & try and read information online at the same time.

OK, Roberta. A recipe for one, it is.
A perfectly fine staring point, I'd say!
This week sometime, I hope!

I'll be attending a regular Christmas gathering on Saturday night ... a group of around 10 of us who worked together in the early 90s.
Same old challenge every time: to produce an interesting dish which can be cooked beforehand & eaten cold. (Or warm-ish, if I make it not long before I leave home.) Oh & gluten-free. One of our group has celiac disease.
Something that each person would only have a small, easily managed serve of. There's always way too much food!
Any suggestions would be much appreciated, though I know it's a tough one .
If I'm stuck, I'll make my usual standby, baked spinach & ricotta. But It'd be nice to come up with something different for a change.

In this post, I have no particular recipe to offer, just a neat trick that may help others.

Problem: To better control my cholesterol, I am gradually phasing out animal fats to replace them with unsaturated vegetable fats . Unfortunately for this project, I have also taken a liking to American sandwiches, which tend to use a lot of Mayonnaise. To make matters worse, I care little for its animal-free substitute, Veganaise. Where do I find a plant-based, Mayonnaise-like sandwich spread I can enjoy?

Solution: Mash an avocado and smear it on the sandwich like mayonnaise. Ounce for ounce, Avocados have half as many calories as Mayonnaise and a quarter as many as Veganaise. (Most of the calories come from fat in all three cases.) To top it off, avocados add some fiber. And they taste great on a sandwich!

Olga - perhaps you could post some liver to Roberta - to see if the texture is correct! Be good after a couple of weeks in the mail.

Cheat party food.
Toothpicks or small skewers.
1 bocconcini, 1 cherry tomato, 1 stuffed olive - per stick

or if you really want to go overboard - do it twice - but just one set is good. Easy to eat, eaten cold.

I just made a ricotta torte this week, only this time I added - leftover and chopped green beans with a little garlic and squeezed lemon (slight olive oil), frozen peas, leftover peeled, sliced, and roasted spicy (chile powdered) sweet potato newly diced, two cloves minced garlic, some chopped previously roasted sweet red pepper that I had jarred in olive oil, so I patted the olive oil off; the cheeses were ricotta, a hunk of cheddar shredded, and some monterey jack with jalapenos (a white cheese with not wildly hot chile bits, available here). No spinach in sight.. and for a change for me, no onion.

Avocado, yes!
I also routinely have a pesto in the fridge, usually walnut/parsley/olive oil, and use that on piece of bread #1 .... sometimes with mayo (dastardly, but I like it) on the second piece of bread. More and more, I use only one piece of bread. This takes some juggling on the eating, but cuts the wrongo carbs, and I'm still happy enough with the result. Wrongo meaning not wrong, but carbs I'm trying to keep at a low portion of my total carbs.

Also, I seem to remember avocado fat is "good" fat.

This all makes me think of cooking liver and onions. I've never done that. I grew up despising liver, wiggly in its original state and then the sole of shoes. But once long ago, at some restaurant, I tried someone else's order of liver and onions and it tasted great. It wasn't a fancy restaurant either.

Here are some versions you may find more tasty:

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe – Vegan Mayonnaise Recipe

Makes 3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup soaked almonds (soak almonds for 8 hours)
1/2cup purified water
Juice 1/2 lemon
3/4 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil

Place all the ingredients for your homemade mayonnaise recipe in a heavy duty blender except the olive oil. Puree the ingredients until very smooth. With blender still in motion, slowly pour a thin stream of olive oil through the opening in your blender’s cover. Continue to puree until you reach the right consistency. Taste and adjust flavors to your liking.


Eggless Vegan Mayonnaise Recipe
Ingredients:

* 3 tbsp lemon juice
* 1/2 cup soy milk
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp paprika
* 1/4 tsp mustard
* 6 tbsp vegetable oil

Preparation:
Put all the ingredients except the oil in a blender. Blend on the lowest speed. Gradually - one drop at a time - add the oil until the mixture starts to thicken. Continue blending until thickened and smooth. Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

Check out some of the recipes at these links:

http://foodallergies.about.com/od/wheatallergies/a/wheatfreerecipe.htm

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/glutenfree/glutenfree.html

http://www.livingwithout.com/

You might also try making a batch of onion jam to use as a spread and substitute for mayo.

I made and canned a big batch of it last night for gifting to neighbors and included some dried cranberries, raisins and jerk seasonings in it. It is more like a thick onion chutney. I had some on a roast turkey sandwich for lunch today and it was very good; no fats at all, and no loss of flavor.

Perhaps it would be a better idea if I printed the photograph Roberta posted & kept used it as my reference, margo?
I'm glad shed did post that, I think I would have ended up with a pat'e-like texture.


That sounds good!
And very easy.
Will definitely consider it.
Thanks!

Thank you, Butrflynet.
I've checked out the first one & will investigate the others in a minute.

Onion jam sounds interesting. I'll give it a try.

We have a great sandwich store here and they make unusual combos -
sourdough bread with pesto sauce, put a raw red cabbage leave on it,
and some smoked Black Forest ham and Swiss cheese on top.

Reporting back, Roberta.

I plan to make the chopped liver tonight ... assuming that the chicken livers are available at the butcher's at my local market.
I'm certain the bread will be available at the deli.

I've discovered (while trying to print your instructions just now) that my printer is out of black ink. All dried up.
Which means I'll have to run between my computer & the kitchen to follow your recipe.
This is going to be an interesting experience!

Anyway, I'll report back on how this goes.