Caramelized Onion Apple & Asparagus Tart

**I didn't think to add apple until later

Oral arguments at the downtown courthouse are tomorrow. Am I ready? Sort of.
Tuesday is our group presentation about access to nutritious food in Chicago. Am I done? Not really.
Finals start in less than a month. Am I prepared? uh....

It's in the 80s today! Yes, 80+

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have turned on the oven and heated up the whole house, but it was SO worth it. This tart takes some leftover fall flavors (apples and onions) and mixes them with a bright spring bite of asparagus.

I'm always drawn to items in bakeries made with puff pastry. Last time I was in Seattle, I spent nearly 40 bucks on a box of puff pastry related desserts and realized that I could probably make half the things in the box at home.

I looked at Whole Paycheck Foods recently, and they wanted 17 bones for a box of puff pastry. Really?

Luckily, on a recent trip to the outlet mall in Pleasant Prairie, WI I discovered a Pepperidge Farm puff pastry for two dollars. Yeah, a dollar a sheet. I bought several.

It's a super-easy recipe that looks and tastes way fancier than it really is.

Just shred some asparagus

Peel and slice an apple

And layer with some caramelized onions!

Apple Asparagus Tart with Caramelized Onions

1lb asparagus

2 large or 3 small onions

1 apple (I used a Braeburn, but a Granny Smith would probably be better)

1 sheet puff pastry

Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

Preheat oven to 425

Set the puff pastry out to thaw. Once it's softened a bit, cut a 1/2 inch border around the perimeter to it can puff up and make a crust.

Next, thinly slice and caramelize the onions in some olive oil over medium low. This'll take a good 20-30 minutes. 

In the meantime shred the asparagus with a potato peeler to get long ribbons. Also peel and thinly slice the apple. 

Cook the apple for 1-2 minutes on each side in some olive oil over medium head to soften them and get some of the moisture out. Remove apples, turn off the heat, and toss the asparagus in the leftover oil so it warms up and softens.

Once the onions are done, layer the apples first, then the onions, and finally the asparagus staying inside the border you cut earlier.

Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes and you'e set!

Roasted Cauliflower & Tofu Enchiladas

I got a job! Yes, I'm working as an intern at Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois. It's nice to feel like a useful member of society again, and know that my summer will not be spend eating obscene amounts of baked things and feeling sorry for myself. The weather has yet to improve to match my sunny outlook on the next few months though...

It's times like these I get a little homesick for California. It's April and the weather has still been in the 30s. Not only that, the produce at our local grocer is still mostly sub-par. I was lucky enough to find an awesome-looking head of cauliflower though, and for some reason I immediately thought of enchiladas. 

I seem to be drawn to them whenever I end up in a Mexican restaurant and a lot of the time, I end up mildly disappointed. I'm no enchilada snob, but I always seem to think "this would be awesome if it had more veggies in it," or "wow ground beef does not belong in an enchilada." 

I might get it from my grandma - she always scoffed at restaurant enchiladas, even if we were IN Mexico! When I realized that she uses canned sauce, I'll admit I was a bit shocked, but they're still pretty good regardless. I just picked up some dried chiles though, so I'll post a recipe with homemade sauce sometime soon. In the meantime - here's what I used...

The first step is to chop up the cauliflower, toss with salt and olive oil, and roast it at 425 degrees until it starts to brown up

Then toss it with some semi-carmelized onions, mushrooms, garlic, and seasoned tofu

then fry some tortillas 

sauce 'em up, and cover with a pile of cheese before baking. **Note, you can also omit the cheese (and sour cream later) to make these vegan!

Roasted Cauliflower and Tofu Enchiladas

1 head cauliflower

1 block extra firm tofu

1 medium onion

8-10 white mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 packet taco seasoning (I know, it's processed but so good!) or 1-2 Tablespoons mexican spice blend

12-15 corn tortillas

1 bunch scallions

1 large can enchilada sauce (red or green, it's up to you)

olive oil

shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

sour cream (optional)

Make the filling:

Chop the cauliflower into small bite-sized florets and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast at 425 until they begin to brown and crisp. Reduce oven temp to 350 after you remove them.

In the meantime, press the tofu by wrapping in a paper towel, then a kitchen towel, and placing in a pan with something heavy over it (i use my cast iron skillet) for 20-30 minutes. This will get most of the moisture out, and improve the texture by like 5000%.

Dice the onions and mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat until onions are semi-carmelized and mushrooms have shrunk. Add minced garlic and mexican seasoning. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes and add roasted cauliflower before setting aside.

Assemble the enchiladas

Fry tortillas for a few seconds on each side in 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a shallow pan. Once each tortilla is fried, toss into a bowl filled with the enchilada sauce. Remove from sauce, and fill with some of the cauliflower/tofu mixture. Roll it up and begin filling a 9x13 baking dish. Repeat the process with the rest of the tortillas until your filling is used up and the baking dish is full.

Cover with cheese if you'd like and bake covered at 350 for 30-40 minutes until cheese is bubbling.

Serve with sour cream and chopped scallions.