Fiesta!

I just realized that I never posted the awesome Latin dinner that I had, courtesy of Veganomicon recipes. I think with all of the Vegan MoFo posting, I somehow thought that surely I must have already talked about my dinner awesomeness.

You've waited long enough! On with the food porn! You are about to see Black Bean and Acorn Squash Empanads, Chile-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu, Green Pumpkin Seed Mole, Salsa Verde and Sour Cilantro Cream all from Veganomicon. Yum! Plus, I threw in some Love Muffins because they seemed to fit nicely with the other food.

Let's start by talking about the empanadas. Yes, I realize that they look more like dumplings than empanadas. I don't know why I shaped them like that. I think my acorn squash was super huge and I ended up with a ton of filling, so it ended up working out that I piled it in like that. I just sorta rolled up the edges and squashed them to the middle. Not authentic, but effective.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the flavor, but it was a nice balance. The squash was just slightly sweet and nicely offset by the chiles that I added.

Ooh, now you're thinking about those sauces and wondering what those are. I realized only after making everything that I made three green sauces. I should have added some color somewhere, but this is what sounded like it would taste good. At least it's three different shades of green! If you're going to make all of this stuff, do what I didn't - make the sauces a day or two ahead of time. I'm crazy for making all three of these, but damn were they good. I had a bunch of extra Pumpkin Seed Mole and Sour Cilantro Cream, so I put them in containers and put them in the freezer. I'm not sure how well the Sour Cilantro Cream will do since it's tofu based, but I'll surely blog about it whenever I decide it's time to eat it again.

And the Chile-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu... This is a fantastic way to bread and cook tofu. It's got a ton of flavor and goes well with all of the sauces! I've seen on the PPK forums some people talking about making sandwiches with the leftovers. A great idea and one that I'll definitely try the next time I make these. I don't make sandwiches very often, but I guess chile tofu is cool enough for me to put it between bread and give it a go.

Everything kept well in the fridge. I ate leftovers of this for a few days and even took some to work. As long as you keep your sauces separate, you're golden. The tofu isn't as crispy reheated, but that's to be expected.