Ste Martaen » food-blog

Corn Chowder (long awaited)

laviyah — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:54:40 +0000

I made this corn chowder twice the week of the great blizzard of 2011. It was so good, comforting and just yummy. With the weather warming up and the snow melting, I know I am a little late. I’ve been super busy–which is a good thing for Ste Martaen. I have a to-do list a mile long and I purposely didn’t take the 4 year old to pre-k today so that I could accomplish writing to you at the very least.

Recipe: Corn Chowder

Ingredients

1/2 stick of vegan margarine
1 large onion chopped
4-5 small red potatoes, cubed
3 thyme sprigs 2 teaspoons of salt or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
6 cups of water mixed with 1 T of Better than Bouillon (Vegan Chicken Flavor)
6 cups of corn (fresh or frozen)
1 cup of MimicCreme
Fresh Chives (optional)

Instructions

In a large pot over medium high heat, add the vegan margarine.
Once the margarine has melted, add the onions and cook until translucent.
Add the potatoes, salt, thyme, cayenne, stock and corn.
Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.
Once everything is cooked through, turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to blend everything.
Turn the chowder back on to a low simmer and add a cup of the MimicCreme.
Taste and add more salt if needed.
Garnish with fresh chives and dig in.

Quick Notes

This recipe is a veganized version of the corn chowder recipe from Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks by Linda Carucci

Vegan Food Truck Week 3 …and a giveaway

laviyah — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:15:05 +0000

The focaccia sandwich that we introduced last week was a huge hit! We are overjoyed that people love our food.

We’re doing thanksgiving dinner this week, vegan style of course. Check out the menu over on the vegan food truck page.

In honor of giving thanks week, we’re giving away all 5 of our cheeses to one lucky winner! This contest is open to everyone, however if the winner is from Chicago, we’ll do our best to make sure you get your cheese before feast day. Otherwise, we will ship your cheeses out between Monday and Wednesday of next week. A winner will be chosen at random.

Instructions:

In the comments section: a) If you have tasted a meal from the vegan food truck, what was your favorite? b) If you have not tasted a meal from the vegan truck, what would you try if you could? c) If a) & b) do not apply to you, then what do you dream about eating from a vegan food truck?

Rules:

Keep it vegan.
Have fun.
All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, November 24th, 11:59PM.

Vegans are awesome!

Vegan Food Truck Week Two

laviyah — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:22:43 +0000

The pic above is an unadulterated vegan breakfast burrito that is a regular featured item on the vegan food truck.

The pic below is an adulterated breakfast burrito via @winnie

We love feeding the hungry vegan masses! You guys are amazing! We are so grateful for the support from our Chicago vegan family and the shout outs (foodtruck requests) from other states! We love what we do!

Oh yeah, we still make gourmet vegan cheese.

El Jibarito

laviyah — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 04:58:40 +0000

This sandwich won for three reasons:

This sandwich starts with tostones.
We never heard of a sandwich with tostones in place of bread.
How can one go wrong with tostones as a foundation for a sandwich?

I bought the plantains today in anticipation of making this treat! My only quandary is what vegan protein will I put in between my fried plantains? We’ve discussed seitan, tofu, vegan pastrami, the opportunities are endless. We’re going to have so much fun figuring out what is most delicious.

So Mark, you are the winner! Contact laviyah@stemartaen.com to claim your vegan pecan pie!

Name that sandwich!

laviyah — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:02:19 +0000

UPDATE: The contest has come to an end, stay tuned for our next giveaway. The winner will be posted shortly!

Because we’re doing a vegan food truck and because it’s Vegan MOFO, we are launching contest giveaway #1. Winner of this contest gets a vegan pecan pie!

The inspiration for this contest is: Sandwiches!

We at Ste Martaen love sandwiches and we’ll smack anything in between two pieces of bread. (We’re also looking for any excuse to use Veganaise.) We are looking for a sandwich to feature on the Food Truck. So, not only will you win a vegan pecan pie, but your winning sandwich entry will be featured on the Food Truck Menu!

Instructions:

Post your sandwich concept/recipe and sandwich name in the comments section of this post.

Contest Rules:

All sandwich entries must include 100% vegan ingredients, if we are “veganizing” you must include a vegan substitute.
If you are suggesting a recipe from a cookbook, please be kind enough to list the title and author of the cookbook.
Your sandwich idea does not have to include a recipe, however your concept/idea must be clear enough for us to make a sandwich from it.
All entries must be submitted by midnight on Wednesday, November 10, 2010.

Domestic Shipping Only.

Ready. Set. Go!

Vegan Food Truck Week One

laviyah — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:21:07 +0000

Vegan Shredded Chicken Tacos with Pico de Gallo

We launched the vegan food truck this week. It’s been a really, really busy week. We’re so pumped by the response from the vegan community! We are so thankful to those of you who have spread the news, who have given us feedback on our culinary skills, who have come out in the rain to get some vegan good eats! We are appreciative of our customers old and new. It is an honor and a privilege to serve you! Continue to check back here on our website, following us on twitter and facebook in order to keep up with our whereabouts.

I have posted some pictures of two of our menu offerings this week. Enjoy!

Vegan BBQ Beef Sub

More of the same from a different angle. (Just in case you didn’t get a good look)

Vegan Shredded Chicken Tacos with Pico de Gallo (just in case the first pic above was lacking)

Oh yeah! This is just the beginning.

Giveaways

laviyah — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:20:37 +0000

Vegan Pecan Pie

Your eyes do not deceive you. You can win this pie! Its true! Take a closer look.

I know.

I’m wrong for this. Not really though because I am willing to part with a vegan Pecan Pie that I have slaved over. Ste Martaen will do 2 giveaways! One giveaway will be the pie, another will be five cheeses! Yes, all five flavors of Ste Martaen cheese. We appreciate you guys so much!

Have another gander.

Stay tuned!

Pasta Pie

nahum — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:19:12 +0000

After much cajoling, helpful nudging and threats, I am finally posting our Pasta Pie recipe. I appreciate all the interest after my wife’s set up post. Thanks for the requests and reminders from our social network of friends.

But truly, how can I say no to her?

Hey Abba, how about using that green box of pasta? Pleeaassee!

The recipe is super simple, so I should be smacked in the head for taking 3,000 months to post this. Like my daughter suggests, cook a pound of Rigatoni per instructions. Also, preheat your oven to 350.

You will also need:

Marinara sauce: I prefer our recipe, of course
And, 1 batch of our creamy soy cheese

Next up, add 1/2 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive oil to a 9″ spring form pan and coat the bottom and sides.

When the pasta is cooked, strain and cool down with cold water.
The pasta doesn’t have to be cooled all the way through, only if you have soft and sensitive baby hands like me.

Start stacking. In the spring form pan, stack each noodle upright. This is probably the most time consuming part…but, patience, young grasshopper. The effort will be worth it.

There you go, wasn’t that fun?

Next, ladle on your marinara sauce. Spread the sauce around carefully, and try your best to fill all the individual rigatoni tubes with sauce.

That looks pretty good. You may not be able to fill all the holes, but that’s alright. We have the creamy soy cheese to help fill in the blanks.

Pour on the soy cheese and spread evenly over the top.

Sprinkle a little parsley and for an extra (un-pictured) bonus add some sliced tomatoes on top.

Time to bake. I suggest placing the spring form pan on top of a sheet pan or in my case a flat cast iron skillet. This will catch any saucy drips that may try to escape. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

You’ll know it’s done when the cheese just begins to brown.

Unlatch and remove the side of the spring form pan.

Slice and serve.

And your results:

Happy children! It could be the joy of eating pasta with chopsticks, but I think it’s my cooking.

What do you think, my love?

Uhhh, Naptime!

Good News!

laviyah — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:45:53 +0000

We have partnered with Soul Veg to bring delicious vegan food to a Chicago neighborhood near you! We will be offering catering too! Follow @stemartaen to get updates on where we’ll be, what’s on the menu and how long we’ll be there! Click on our food-truck page for more info. Catering page will be posted soon. Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support!

Gratitude

laviyah — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:16:31 +0000

It has been such a crazy month. We did Vegan Mania! We had an incredible amount of orders to keep up with and everybody is happy and healthy with their sanity intact. I just wanted to express my gratitude to all of our customers; old and new! It is our joy to continue to provide you with a wholesome, delicious vegan cheese product.

My husband loves to prepare good vegan food, period. I’m a lucky gal. Vegan cheese is not the only thing we do. It’s just the beginning. We will continue to keep you updated on here and post yummy recipes. Part three of my series will be posted shortly.

Thank you for sticking by us, supporting us, cheering us on, giving us feedback, ordering from us, asking for our product in your local store and most importantly, giving us the opportunity to share what we love with you!