VeganMoFo 2011: Happy Halloween!

I'm so so so sad because I couldn't manage my time/activities to give some love to my blog this year, but I wanted to do a Day 31 last post : )

We celebrated my dad's birthday on the 23rd and went to Puerto Nuevo to eat.
Puerto Nuevo is a small town near Rosarito here in Baja California and it's known because of all the lobster restaurants that are there.

I thought I was doomed!
Until my mom decided to go to one of the larger places so I could probably have more options; fortunately, I did.

We went to a place called La casa de la langosta AKA The Lobster House.
I checked the menu and saw they had a 'green salad' but none of the dressings were vegan : (
I ordered guacamole and corn tortillas, but my mom asked if I could get sautéed mushrooms or something (they had some sort of melty cheese with mushrooms on the menu) and the answer was YES! Wheeee n__n

Here's what I had:

Guacamole and pico de gallo tacos:

More guacamole/pico de gallo tacos with these garlicky mushrooms:




Bonus pic. My dad looking at some of the weird stuff most curios shops have here.
Check that awful baby "homer" out! haha:

Champiñones al Ajillo

This one's pretty easy and nice : D, but i had a problem with the guajillo peppers (sometimes, they don't cook enough..so i'll just show you what i did and tell you what i will do next time to make them taste as perfect as they were meant to taste).

Well...
Hello there, meet the Guajillo pepper.

Usually, you can find them dehydrated (just like those in the pictures).
And because of that, i put them to soak in some hot water while i sliced the mushrooms.

pretty mushrooms waiting to be sliced by me, muahahah...

Ingredients:

5 (more or less) Guajillo peppers
6 cups sliced mushrooms
2 1/2 tsp. Diced garlic
Aprox. 1 tsp (vegan) veggie bouillon powder



OK.. first of all, i washed and then soaked my peppers in some hot water and meanwhile, sliced the mushrooms.
When I finished slicing the mushrooms I put them on a side and started working with the peppers.

I pulled the stem of every pepper and shook them to get all the seeds out.
(follow this onlt if you prefer my wrong method [don't think you'll do that, but just in case...]).
I recommend you use a pretty sharp knife to slice the peppers (lengthwise). Once you do this, slice them widthwise.

Put a pan in medium heat and cover all its surface with olive oil spray.
Sautée the garlic and the pepper; add the mushrooms when garlic gives any sign to start popping around.
Keep sautéing until mushrooms are well cooked.

Okay..now, the other method for the peppers.

Pull the stems, shake the seeds out and boil them 'til soft (not too soft; you probably won't be able to slice them).
Slice them and if some seeds are left, you can discard them or leave them if they're just a few.

Now you can sautée the peppers and the remaining ingredients ; ) !

I'm looking forward to post some more recipes the next week : D

Remember to pull the stems.




Sautéing the guajillo peppers and the diced garlic.



The good and messy result.