Millennium Cooking Class: June 2013 (Albion Cooks)

Another fantastic cooking class at Millennium, San Francisco's premiere vegan restaurant today produced the most delicious black bean cakes I've ever tasted. Pictured above topped with plum relish, over corn toasted with epazote, dried sage, and cilantro, with a simple mole sauce and tomato relish. The black bean cakes (recipe after the photos) combined black beans, Mexican spices, pecans, and chickpea flour. Stellar in taste and straightforward to make - you can't beat that!
Below is Eric's family style plating of the dish, with a creamy tofu mayo seasoned with miso and nutritional yeast:

We started off with a Chilled Beet and Pickled Cherry Soup with herb-infused almond milk foam:

As a fresh side to our Mexican themed main, delicious green beans braised with preserved lemons, agave, vinegar and chiles:

Eric demoed how to add a charred, smokey flavor to our simple mole sauce with the carbon remains of a charred corn tortilla:

To round out our Mexican theme, masa griddle cakes! One team used toasted, fresh ground blue corn (Vitamix with the flour-grinding blade), the other added fresh corn puree:

On the grill pan:

These were topped with Mezcal (smokey tequila) -marinated mushrooms, onions, and zucchini with a toasted pumpkin seed pesto:

And when you're wondering what to do with all those zucchini, add them to dessert! Below are Oatmeal Raisin cookies made with zucchini, topped with avocado ice cream and sweet nectarines roasted with a rose geranium syrup:

Thanks to my super-organized classmates and Eric, Thomas, Ann, and intern Eric for another fabulous class. Oh, yes, that awesome black bean cake recipe - here you go!

Black Bean Pecan Cakes:

2 tsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp whole cumin seed, ground
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/3 tsp ground all spice
2 cups black beans, cooked
1 cup toasted pecans, crushed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chickpea flour
salt to taste

Heat the oil and sweat the onions and garlic until softened. Add the cumin and all spice and saute for 30 seconds. Remove to a mixing bowl. Add the black beans, pecans, and cilantro and mix well. Kneed in the chickpea flour with your hands. Shape into 12 cakes approx. 3 inches in diameter. Pan fry in a little oil for 2 minutes on each side, then bake in a 350 oven for 7 minutes.

As always, here are links to my posts on my many previous Millennium cooking classes: *Millennium Cooking Class: Easter 2013 *Sept. 2012 Cooking Class *June 2012 Cooking Class
* July 2011 Class