March Hack: Vegan Ravioli!

Thanks to some great ideas from last month’s Twinkie hacking participants, this month’s hack will be vegan ravioli! We will be making vegan dough and fillings for a myriad of  ravioli combinations!

Imagine what you could create!! A delicious ravioli made of plain pasta and a grilled asparagus/tofu filling? Perhaps a samosa-like ravioli with a curry filling? A ravioli made with spinach pasta and a cashew cheez filling? A ravioli that somehow involves tofu dogs? A dessert ravioli??? The possibilities are infinite!  

Vegan Hacker SF will provide the ingredients (and instruction) to make a basic semolina dough for the outer (pasta) part of the ravioli. YOU are responsible for the fillings, as well as any additives that you would like to add to the dough for the pasta part (e.g. spinach to make it green, chili powder, etc). Also, if you are a wheat-free type, you’re welcome to bring the ingredients for a wheat-free vegan dough (a quick online search shows that it’s totally possible!)! 

If you have never before made ravioli, don’t worry!! We will teach you! it is ridiculously easy, and once you have made it once (and seen how inexpensive and easy it is), you’ll never want to buy it ready-made again! 

As a friendly reminder, “vegan” means that no animal products were used in the creation of the food. This includes meat, dairy products, honey, eggs, and more. If you’re new to this whole “vegan thing” and you’re not sure if something that you want to bring is vegan, shoot us an email and we’ll let you know! 

Vegan ravioli hacking will take place 3/27/12 at Noisebridge at 7:00 pm sharp. 

If you plan to attend, please RSVP via email, and let us know what ingredients you would like to bring! Also, we would love it if you could bring any of the following kitchen supplies to use/share for the duration of the event: ravioli rolling pins, regular rolling pins, and a bowl and fork to eat your ravioli with (as Noisebridge has limited supplies).

We’ll see you there!

Email us if you have any questions!  

Results: Pumpkin!

Thanks to everyone who came last night! There were a ton of pumpkins (organic canned but mostly fresh!) and we even made pumpkin muffins with ginger snap cookies crumbled over the top. Check out all the photos on facebook.

Let’s talk about October. More pie? It’ll be the week before Halloween and we’d love to hear your thoughts.

September Hack: Pumpkin!

It’s never too early to start thinking about pumpkins. Wanna be the star of the fall food season? Next week we’re doing a hands-on demo on two different ways to make pumpkin pie!

Interested in coming? Email us to see what you can bring! (veganhackerSF at gmail dot com). We’ll be doing mini pies so you can take them home without walking around/taking Muni with a giant pie (not that anyone would bat an eye). We’ll also be doing less involved, pumpkin muffins.



Q: What can I bring?

We love that people are asking! If nothing else, the tin as you can take it home! We’ll have a few on hand to give out but it seriously helps if you bring one for yourself as it’s unclear how many people will come and we want to make sure everyone can make something!

Ideas: Your own pie tin, mini pumpkins (regular pumpkins make A LOT of filling, trust us), maple syrup, Earth Balance, graham crackers without honey. Have other ideas? You can totally send us an email for any reason!

Results: Corn Dogs

Thanks for everyone who came last night and brought things! It was awesome to try an array of vegan dogs, including baked versus fried AND three types of batter (regular, purple maize and purple maize with jalapenos). 

The great part about the event and the evening is that this is all about hacking. Sure, it’s a little weird to put the word “hack” together with “vegan” but it’s all about figuring out the best way to tackle a recipe. It’s just as much about YOUR knowledge as it is whatever hack we choose for the month. Don’t know a lot about making food? Take a guess! What sounds like it might work. That’s the great part, we can figure it out together. Taste-testing is a great way to spending an evening, no?

Also, we have a mini-announcement: There will be no VH for June. Sad! But half of the team is going to Maui. Happy! Since it’ll be a group of food fans, there will be hacking, Hawaiian style, we’re sure. But! Please send suggestions for the July hack. So far we’re thinking a vegan ode to man’s best friend: treats, chew toys, whattya think? We want to hear your thoughts via twitter or Facebook!

May Hack: Corn Dogs

Inspired by the intermittent nice weather we’ve been having and baseball season (not that we ever need an excuse!), we’ve decided to tackle the perfect corn dog. There are loads of options as far as vegan dogs and we want to find the best one for this recipe and you can help! We had such a great response at the last hack that this is your chance to really get your hands dirty.

We’re starting with two types of dogs, Smart Dogs and Tofurkey’s vegan kielbasa. We’re encouraging you to bring your own favorites for the hack, or if you don’t have one yet, get crazy and bring one (or two!) that you’re curious about! The second part of the hack is baked versus fried batter.

The only thing you have to do is bring your vegan dogs and your love of experimentation! We’re gonna discover the perfect corn dog that you’ll want to share at all the summer barbecues, picnics and Wednesdays this summer! Not sure what to choose? Send us an email and we’ll help! And lastly, bring your favorite condiments, we’re definitely going to be taste-testing.

photo via the lovely acozykitchen

April Hack: Pierogi

Upon request, we’re doing savory baked goods for April’s hack! This has actually been in the queue for a while now so we’re excited to finally get this on the schedule. We’re going to pick two items for stuffing so drop us an email and cast your vote: potato, faux sausage, mushroom, cabbage, or get hacky and let’s do something crazy!

We’re going to be using a family recipe but this is the gist as far as method and inventory. As always, the non-vegan ingredients are up for negotiation because we’re hacking it. Get it? Yum, can’t wait for April!