Another great recipe from Vegan Brunch. I had actually planned to make my own pumpkin pancakes but my brain was just not functioning and the thought of figuring out yet another recipe completely eluded me that morning. So, I opened my trusty copy of Vegan Brunch and flipped straight to this recipe.

These were not what I expected. Once I whipped up the batter I gave it a quick taste test and I was shocked. It was spicy and sharp, not sweet at all. I added a few tablespoons of evaporated cane juice to sweeten everything up and then, once satisfied with the now slightly sweet taste, ladled the batter into the frying pan. The texture of these pancakes is extremely luscious and moist, absolutely dense with pumpkin and spice, not the fluffy and light pancakes you would usually think of. But they were good, in fact, as I took bite after bite, I realized that I really liked them! And they were the perfect way to start our Halloween weekend. My only regret is that I didn’t fill these with chocolate chips, the combination of chocolate and pumpkin is one of my favorite.

After spending hours poring over the exquisite Silk Road Cooking, one of the most beautiful and educational cook books I have ever seen, I decided that I just had to try the recipe for the Scicilian Fava Bean, Garlic & Dill Crostata. I had to veganize the original vegetarian recipe, but it was surprisingly easy and turned into an impressive and delicious dish. This was so good. The buttery crust is crumbly and flaky and the inside is filled with savory beans, spicy garlic and bright dill.

Ingredients:
store bought pie crust
1 onion – chopped
4 cloves garlic – diced
1/3 cup of fresh dill – chopped
2 Tbsp ground flax seed simmered in 6 Tbsp of water for a minute or two (will have the stretchy, runny consistency of an egg)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp butter
2 cans fava beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup soymilk
1 tsp cumin
pinch of salt and pepper

-Saute the onion and garlic until tender

-Combine cooked onion and garlic in a bowl with the beans, dill, nutritional yeast, butter, soy milk, spices and the simmered flax seeds in water

-Stir mixture until everything is evenly incorporated and spoon it into the store bought pie crust

-Bake on 350F for about 45 minutes. Don’t wait until the crostata is totally firm and done because then it will be burned. Pull it out when a clean knife inserted into the center comes out almost clean. Pull it out slightly before it is done when it is nicely browned and golden and then allow it to sit and finish cooking by itself, out of the oven.

-Once the crostata is at room temperature, slice, and serve topped with more fresh chopped dill.