Home Grown Tomatoes...Trigona, Baklava's fraternal twin

Trigona...say it a few times, it's pretty fun.

Home Grown Tomatoes is a weekly Vegan/Vegetarian column written by Giovanina Bucci

I think I might have lied a little.  Remember last week when I apparently thought I was superwoman?  Ya know, that whole thing about painting a room, cleaning a lot, etc. etc.?  Well, all I can say is, not so much.  When Beau returned from San Francisco yesterday, he was 100% unshocked that I hadn't painted our bedroom.  He said, "I knew before I left that you weren't going to have any time!"  Well, damn.  I guess leaving the house every day last week at 7:30am and not returning before 9pm would constitute "not enough time."  I continue to loathe the baby blue ceiling...but alas, I'll have to deal with it a little bit longer.

I believe I've mentioned on here that I am part of the Master Chorale of Flagstaff, and Friday was our last concert (hence, getting home at 10pm three nights last week).  We did a Broadway review concert and performed with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra (which is AMAZING) and two Broadway performers, Jodi Benson and Hugh Panaro.  Jodi was the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Hugh is most famously known for his roles in Phantom, playing both Phantom and Raoul. 

Listening to Jodi sing "Part of Your World" was surreal.  I shut my eyes and thought to myself, "Damn, it's like I'm swimming in a sea of gadgets and gizmos with red hair flowing everywhere."  It was pretty awesome, and yes, it reaffirmed my undeniable love for musical theater.  Cheesiness included.  The whole experience also solidified my complete and utter love of and need for music in my life.  Watching the passion that poured from the maestra as she led well over one hundred musicians was infectious and completely inspirational.  It's those kinds of nights that make all of the time and energy spent on practicing so incredibly worthwhile. 

On a completely random note my very dear friend, Amy, had her bachelorette party this past weekend (which I'm still recovering from) and I volunteered to make the desserts.  And yet another recipe from Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan made a seriously delicious party statement.  I think of trigona as baklava's fraternal twin: similar, not quite the same.  And the prep time for this dessert is less than 10 minutes, which I also adore.

1 package of phyllo dough (defrosted if you're buying frozen)
16 oz. shelled pistachios
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. Earth Balance butter
1 1/2 C. maple syrup (you can use a bit less if you're using Grade B)

Begin by preheating oven to 300 degrees F.  As you melt the butter on the stove on low heat, roughly chop pistachios in a food processor.  In a small bowl combine chopped nuts, sugar, and cinnamon.  In a 9x13 greased baking dish begin by layering  (1 piece of ) phyllo dough and brushing it with butter.  I do this piece by piece, and repeat it four times.  Once you've buttered the fourth piece of phyllo, layer with the pistachio mix and just keep repeating the process until you end up with one last layer of the pistachio mix on top.  At this point, cut the trigona into squares or triangles and then pour maple syrup along all the cuts.  Finish by baking for 70 to 80 minutes.  Once I plated the baked trigona, I drizzled it with a smidge more maple syrup and that's it!  

I've also made this with walnuts and it has come out equally as tasty.  Give them a whirl and see what you think!  Enjoy!