Roast Seitan With Spring Vegetables...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Though I normally go 'all-out' when it comes to holiday cooking, I just don't really have that level of dedication in me these days. Most often I'm looking to cook something simple and quick that's healthy and tastes good, and on those days where I like to spend a little more time on something I typically only make one really nice dish rather then a dozen.

So this year we kept Valentine's Day low-key. At first I struggled with what to make, and then I decided to make something French (of course!)  Last year when we were in Paris I bought a cook book, it's non-vegan but I wanted it because it was full of 'traditional' French recipes as opposed to 're-imagined' French-fusion. I love the idea of French food, even if I can't eat most of it, and I bought the book with the intention of trying to veganize some of the less common recipes.

As I was thinking about what to cook, it occurred to me that Valentine's Day was the perfect opportunity to try something new, so I dug the book out and flipped through it. Suddenly a recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring vegetables caught my eye. I have no idea what makes this dish inherently French, or if you can really consider it much of a recipe but something about the photo was appealing to me. All those tasty spring vegetables I imagined sitting around a Seitan Roast and it just seemed perfect. I'm tired of winter, tired of winter food, lets bring on the Spring already!  So here's my version of it, you could use any seitan roast you desire I suppose, but I made my own. I used the 'Moo-Free Seitan" recipe from "Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day" cooked it in the slow cooker then left it in roast form rather then slicing it as the book suggests. If you make your own roast for the recipe or buy a roast I suggest buying or making one that's beef flavored as opposed to chicken flavor. Beef and Lamb taste little alike, but Beef Seitan is as close as I'm coming to lamb in this life. I also used the original cooking liquid from the seitan roast as my stock, but you could use any vegan beef stock. Also take into consideration that a store bought roast will be much drier then a homemade one, so cooking time may vary.

Roast Seitan with Spring Vegetables

1 Large Seitan Roast
3 Sprigs Rosemary
3 Sprigs Thyme
6 Garlic Cloves Sliced Thin
1 Pound Baby Potatoes Cut in Half
8oz Baby Carrots Left Whole
2 Medium Sized Zucchini Cut into Rounds
6 Small Leeks or in lieu of that 6 Large Green Onions
2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Red Wine
2/3 Cup Vegan Beef Stock
Earth Balance as needed
Sea Salt, Black pepper and Garlic Powder to taste

- Pre-Heat Oven to 350'F

- Spray a large roasting pan with a little non-stick spray. Place the roast inside. With a small knife make several incisions in the top of the roast. Slip the sliced garlic into the incisions. Lightly season the roast with sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Add two small dollops of Earth Balance to the pan and place the roast in the oven.

- Cook for 15 minutes. Add the Potatoes to the pan remove the Rosemary and Thyme from their sprigs and scatter it over the roast and potatoes. Season the potatoes with a little salt and pepper then return to the oven and cook another 15 minutes.

- Flip the Roast over, season the underside with salt and pepper and garlic powder. Add the carrots to the pan along with another 2 dollops of Earth Balance. Return to the oven and roast for 20 minutes.

- Flip the Roast Over once more.  Add Zucchini and Leeks to the pan. (If using Green onions instead do not add them yet) Continue to roast until all the vegetables are fork tender.

- When the vegetables are fork tender add in the green onions if you're using them instead of leeks and roast for an additional five minutes until they are wilted and browned a little.

- Remove the whole pan from the oven. Transfer the Roast to a carving board and spoon the vegetables into a serving dish. Making sure to leave behind any juice

- Now to make the gravy. Heat your roasting pan over medium heat on the stove top. If there wasn't a lot of juice left over in your pan at the end of cooking add in two nice dollops of Earth Balance and wait for it to melt.

- Add the flour and whisk the flour around in the juice and EB until it has become a roux.

- Slowly pour in the stock, and then the wine, whisking the whole time. Season lightly with salt and pepper if you like and whisk slowly until the gravy has thickened to your liking.

-Slice the roast, divide it amongst plates, add a scoop of vegetables and drizzle with gravy. Enjoy with some nice red wine.

Vegan Mofo #17: Boulangere Potatoes...

This is a classic French Gratin dish that tastes similar to scalloped potatoes but doesn’t make use of a lot of heavy cream or butter. The name apparently translates to ‘Potatoes in the Style of the Baker’s Wife’ and the story goes that French families used to make this dish then take it down the baker or the Boulangere to be cooked in the big ovens. Who knows if that’s true or not, but it’s kind of a fun story no?

Anyway, it’s a simple dish - even if it takes time to cook - and it’s super tasty, a great accompaniment to any hearty fare, and a nice alternative to the richer gratin’s out there.

Boulangere Potatoes

2lb’s Potatoes sliced thin on a mandolin
2 Large Yellow Onions sliced thin on a mandolin
2 Tbsp Parsley Minced
2 Cups Hot Water mixed with 1-2 Vegan Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1oz non-dairy Butter Cubed
Sea salt and Black Pepper to taste

- Preheat the oven to 350'F

- Grease a large glass baking dish and place a layer of sliced potatoes in the bottom. Top with a layer of sliced onions and season with salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of parsley. Over top of this place another layer of potatoes and keep layering in this fashion until you run out of ingredients or space.

- Pour the stock over top and dot with the butter. Season the top lightly with salt, pepper and any remaining parsley.

- Place in the oven and bake for an hour (maybe a little more depending on your oven) or until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown.

- Remove from the heat, let cool about 10 minutes and serve.

Vegan Mofo #2: Irish Beef and Barley Soup...

Every country it seems has some kind of beef stew as a part of their traditional cuisine, so just like with Buttermilk Pancakes, Beef and Barley Soup is one of those recipes that I can’t find reliable origin information on. The Irish cook books I’ve looked through all claim that Beef and Barley Soup is a traditional Irish Farmhouse Soup, but since it’s so popular in many other countries it’s true origin is anyone’s guess. Though Barley is a pretty ancient crop, and people have been making this soup a long, long time, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out it is Irish, or at least originating in the UK.

I tried to keep this recipe as traditional as possible, and did a fare job of that. The only out of place ingredients are Tamari and Marmite, which I used to enhance the beefy flavor of the soup. Due to the tough cuts of meat this soup is suppose to be cooked with original meat based recipes have a very long cooking time. This vegan version could probably be cooked in less time, but I like the hour long simmer as it provides ample opportunity for the flavors of the soup to marry. However because of the long time, the potatoes do begin to break down, and so this soup ended up thicker and more stew like then a ‘traditional’ beef and barley soup. If that isn’t to your fancy then feel free to add a bit more broth or water to thin the soup out, or decrease the cooking time by 15-20 minutes, to the point where the potatoes are soft but not breaking down.

Irish Beef and Barley Soup 

1 lb Homemade or Store-bought Beef Style Seitan cubed
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 Large Onion Sliced into quarter moons
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
3 Large Carrots Sliced into Rounds
2 Russet Potatoes Cubed
3 Celery Stalks Chopped
1 Large Leek Sliced (White and Light Green Part Only)
8 Cups Vegan Beef Broth or 8 Cups Water + 2 Vegan Beef Bouillon Cubes
1/4 C Pearled Barley
1/4 C Split Green Peas (pre soaked)
1 tsp Thyme Leaves
½ tsp Dried Rosemary
½ tsp Black Pepper (or more to taste)
3 Tbsp Tamari
1 Heaping Tbsp Marmite
½ Bunch Minced Parsley
Sea Salt to taste if needed

- Pour Vegan Beef Stock into a pot and bring to a boil. Once Boiling add Green Split Peas and Barley. Reduce to simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes or until barley and peas are tender.

- Heat 1 tsp Oil in skillet over medium heat. When hot add cubed beef and cook for 8-10 minutes stirring to brown on all sides. When browned to your liking remove from skillet and set aside on a plate.

- Heat remaining tsp of Oil in the same pan, add the onions and saute over medium heat for 8 minutes until soft and golden. Add in the carrots, celery, garlic and leek. Saute another 10 minutes until vegetables are soft.

- Add the sauteed vegetables to the pot with the Barley and Split Peas. Add the cubed potatoes, thyme,.rosemary, black pepper, tamari, and marmite. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce to simmer and let simmer gently on the stove for 45 minutes to an hour. Until all vegetables are tender and the soup has thickened.

- Add in the Browned Beef, and Minced Parsley. Stir to combine and simmer an additional 5 minutes until beef is warmed through. Taste for flavor and add more salt or pepper if needed.

- Serve hot and enjoy!

Our 8 Year Anniversary...

The 25th of August was me and my Husband’s anniversary, and though our celebration was pretty low key this year we did start the day off right with a delicious breakfast. I didn’t go all out this year as I tend to do some years because I didn’t get home from work until 8am and then we had a little overnight getaway planned. I chose three simple - yet tasty - dishes from my new copy of Mastering the Art of Vegan Cooking by Annie and Dan Shannon (of Betty Goes Vegan fame)

A combination of something savory and something sweet sounded just right to me and so I started with the Cinnamon Peach Skillet Rolls. Yes, these are exactly what they sound like, Cinnamon Rolls filled with sliced peaches with a peach glaze. Oh my god! I don’t know why I don’t make Cinnamon Rolls more often! They are a bit time consuming but always so worth the effort. Unfortunately my cast iron skillet wasn’t near big enough to accommodate the rolls and so I ended up just baking them in a glass dish, but that’s okay, they were amazing regardless. We each ate 2 right out of the gate, and they didn’t survive longer then a second day, that’s how fantastic these were.

For the ‘main’ course I made the Tofu a la Goldenrod which is a simple plain seasoned tofu scramble served over toast and drenched in a milk based gravy. It probably sounds weird, and if you’re like me you might even think that sounds slightly disgusting, but trust me, it was soooo good! The only reason I even made it was because it was simple and I thought I could at least utilize the tofu scramble even if I wasn’t interested in drenching it in gravy but I’m really glad I took the chance on this dish as it was super filling, and so unexpectedly wonderful. I loved the flavor combo of the tofu, the toast, and the savory gravy.

As a side I made the Roasted Red Flannel Hash, which is a standard Hash of potatoes and beets baked in the oven with red onion and some spices, there’s even kale thrown in there for good measure. This was pretty good too, though I thought it could use a bit more salt, but that’s me.

It was a fantastic way to start our anniversary, and the perfect opportunity to try out some new and interesting recipes.

9 Days of Valentine's: Part 7, The Big Day...

So, this is it, what we finally ended up having on the big day. We started off with a bang - did you expect anything less? - I got home form work Saturday morning to find my husband had decked-out my desk in all sorts of Valentine’s Day love. A bouquet of flowers, a Valentine’s Day balloon, a stuffed skunk holding a heart, some heart-shaped decorations strung up across the desk and the bookshelf and a card. I really did marry the most amazing, thoughtful man in the world. After I marveled at his little surprise I set about making breakfast.

Crepes were on the menu, Chocolate Hazelnut crepes to be exact.  The recipe comes from the French chapter of Mark Reinfeld’s book “The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe.” I am not a skilled crepe maker. I love to eat them, but they always fall apart on me. I like to say it’s because I don’t have a proper crepe pan, but that’s just an excuse. In the end though some of my crepes fell apart I at least got enough good ones out of the deal for a halfway decent picture, and broken or not they were all freaking-delicious! Also, much easier then one might expect crepes to be. The batter comes together quickly and because they’re so thin they cook up fast too. The chocolate hazelnut filling is simply made with hazelnut butter, cocoa powder, soy milk, and sweetener. I thought these might be too nutty for my picky husband but he loved them. They were just perfect. Really the recipe should have been served with strawberries, but I was fresh out and so I used blueberries instead and I think it worked just as well.

So that was it until dinner. We went French for breakfast and decided on Italian for dinner. For our feast I used Alicia C. Simpson’s book “Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations” which I’ve come to realize I don’t use often enough! And I made the Seitan Parmesan as well as the Garlic Green Beans from her chapter on Valentine’s Day. I chose the seitan Parmesan because it sounded sexy, and Valentine’s Dayish, also because there was a time when my husband loved Chicken Parm. Personally I have never really liked Chicken Parm, I’d never eaten it until I moved to Chicago and I wasn’t particularly impressed. I made the non-vegan version a couple of times on my husband’s behalf but I was never crazy about it. Holidays though - at least for me - are about making things you don’t normally make, and about finding something special to cook for your loved one. This seemed to fit the bill on both counts and so I was curious to try the recipe out.

First you need to make a seitan ‘chicken’ which Alicia provides a very quick and simple recipe for making. Actually this is probably one of the simplest ‘boil’ version seitan’s I’ve made, and probably one of the most delicious too. Seriously, the broth SMELLED like chicken. I also loved that her recipe only called for water and seasonings unlike so many other boil recipes that call for 6 cups of broth. Honestly, I don’t have the money to waste on using 6 cups of broth to make a few chunks of seitan. This is probably one of the most economical recipes I’ve made.

So, once that’s done you bread your seitan, bake it, then cover it in sauce and vegan mozzarella, bake some more and voila! Amazing! Seriously, dish wins second place in my favorite for the week, and actually, might even tie for first place. It was incredible! Trust me when I say the price of the book is worth this recipe alone!

Of course the green beans were damn good too, but then I have a soft spot for sauntered green beans. She uses garlic, oil, shallots and almonds in the recipe as well, only I left out the almonds since my husband is not a fan. I have to say these were super flavorful and a good accompaniment to the seitan.

I also decided to make the Roasted Potatoes with Germolata from Chloe Coscarelli’s book “Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen” these were super simple and yet super delicious. It’s just potatoes roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper, then once cooked they’re tossed with a mixture of minced garlic, parsley, oil, grated lemon peel, and more salt and pepper. It sounds simple, but these were some of the best potatoes I’ve ever had.

For dessert we had the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting also from Alicia’s book “Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations” I can’t tell you how good these were, the cakes were super moist and so full of flavor I loved every bite. However I had a bit of a problem, actually I had several problems all day. 1) I didn’t have enough gluten to make a full recipe of Chicken Seitan, so it’s a good thing I always keep seitan on hand in the freezer. I used a chub of Mediterranean Seitan from Terry Hope Romero’s “Vegan Eats World” for the Parm. In the picture the Big cutlet is Alicia’s and the two small cutlets are the chub from the freezer cut in half. 2) I didn’t have any lemon so my husband had to go to the store on the way home. 3) I ran out of powdered sugar. I thought I had enough but I was wrong. So instead of cream cheese frosting I had a cream cheese glaze - still delicious though. 4) I also ran out of cream cheese! I thought I had enough and I might have only when I opened the container it had got moldy! So instead of cream cheese I used vegan sour cream, it may not be exactly the same but similar enough that an unsuspecting pallet may not notice. In any case it turned out and none of these problems are any fault of the authors.

To wash everything down I made the Ginger Champagne Cocktails form Alicia’s New Years Eve chapter. These were super good. Loved the ginger bite!

And that was our Valentine’s Day. Of course Valentine’s should have been the last hurrah but I started cooking my 9 days a little late, so I have 2 post Valentine’s meals to talk about. Check back tomorrow to see Day 8.

9 Days of Valentine's: Part 6...

On day 6 of our Valentine’s Celebration we went Italian again - are you sensing a theme? French, Italian, French, Italian, French, Italian..... what’s more romantic then that?

For our sixth day I decided to try another dish I’ve never had before either in vegan or non-vegan form, and that’s Ossobuco. Like Foie Gras, Ossobuco has got to rank amongst some of the worlds most controversial dishes. Everyone has an opinion about it, some people love it and defend it fearlessly, others hate it and demonize the people who eat it. The reason? Traditional Ossobuco is made with veal, and veal is undoubtably one of the cruelest meats you can eat. Even when I was a meat-eater I never ate veal for moral reasons. I have no idea what it tastes like, because the flesh of malnourished-crated-baby-cows has never touched my tongue - but, that doesn’t meant I can’t heartily enjoy a vegan version of the famed dish.

The dish as it happens originated in Milan, and there are two versions. One made with tomatoes, and one without, this is the kind without tomatoes. Typically Ossobuco in Milan is served with risotto, but is also sometimes served with polenta or mashed potatoes. Annie and Dan Shannon who penned “Betty Goes Vegan” chose to go the mashed potato route, and really, I think that was truly wise.

The Shannon’s recipe is fairly simple. Bread some vegan beef, fry it up, and then simmer it in apple juice, garlic, vegan beef stock, tamari, white wine, bay leaves, lemon peel, parsley and salt. This dish makes a rich thick gravy that’s so freaking good you’ll want to lick it right off the spoon and scrape it out of your cast-iron skillet. They keep their mashed taters simple too, red skinned potatoes, non-dairy milk - I used coconut - pepper, and Earth Balance. So once everything is done cooking you scoop some potato onto your plate, top it with the Ossobuco and make sure you give yourself a generous dollop of that delicious, mind-blowing gravy.

I have to say, I’m having a lot of fun cooking this week. Every dish I’ve made has been great. The Coq Au Vin is still my favorite but the Shannon’s Ossobuco comes a close second. Say what you will about “Betty Goes Vegan” and as a health-conscious person and a holistic health practitioner I totally understand the criticisms, but damn if their recipes aren’t fan-freaking-tastic! And really, we could all use a break once in a while, sometimes it’s just nice to eat something naughty, so get down off your high-horse for a while and enjoy life! That’s my philosophy anyway.

Check back tomorrow to find out what we ended up eating on Valentine’s Day itself. I promise, it’ll be delicious!

9 Days of Valentine's: Part 5...

For Day 5 of our celebration we went French once again with another recipe from Annie and Dan Shannon’s book “Betty Goes Vegan” This time I picked the Coquilles St. Jacques which sounded both fancy and interesting to me. I’ve never had Coquilles St. Jacques before - vegan or otherwise - in fact I’d never even heard of it until I picked up this book. Most likely this is due to the fact that most of my life I had a strong aversion to seafood and even after I grew to like some sea-dwelling creatures I never liked Scallops.

Coquilles St. Jacques in the pan before transfer
into the tart pans

The recipe that The Shannon’s use in their book is one made famous by Julia Child, but what The Shannon’s don’t tell you is that Coquilles St. Jacques is really just French for Scallops. In fact, it’s a very particular kind of scallop not the actual name of a specific dish, and so if you went to France and ordered Coquilles St. Jacques what you’d eventually end up getting would probably not be this exact dish - unless you could specify in French how you wished your scallops to be prepared - but I digress. Coquilles St. Jacques Scallops are popular in France as well as Spain and there are many ways to prepare them, though this recipe - thanks to Betty Crocker and Julia Child - seems to be the most common preparation in North America.

Fresh from the Broiler 

The Shannon’s version of the dish includes hearts of palm, artichoke, mushroom, red onion, and vegan shrimp - I used Sophie’s Kitchen Vegan Prawns - sauteed in butter. White Wine, Herbs de Province, lemon juice, parsley and a few other seasonings are thrown in to simmer, and then the whole thing is scooped into individual tart pans, topped with breadcrumbs and vegan mozzarella and broiled just long enough to melt the cheese and toast the bread. It looks fancy, and sounds like a lot of work but really this was a super quick and easy dish. Now, I’m not exactly sure why the Shannon’s used vegan shrimp rather then vegan scallops in the recipe considering Coquilles St. Jacques literally means Scallop of Saint James, but my guess is it’s possible that their book was written - and published - before Sophie’s Kitchen Vegan Scallops were on the market, or before they were widely available. Had I known prior to writing this post that scallops were supposed to be used in the non-vegan dish, I might have replaced the vegan shrimp with vegan scallops. In fact, I might just make it again with that switch in mind, anyhow, Sophie’s Kitchen Prawns were nevertheless a good fit here. They had the texture of shrimp, a subtle flavor that reminded me of actual shrimp and the whole dish tasted great together.

Because one can’t survive on Seafood Tarts alone, I also made a side of Potato Gratin Dauphinois from Robin Robertson’s book “Vegan Without Boarders” This is basically your standard gratin - or scalloped potatoes for you North Americans, - made with a home-made cashew cream, vegan sour cream, and vegan cream cheese. There is absolutely nothing healthy about it, it is rich beyond belief but it is oh so good! Possibly one of the best gratin’s I’ve made. Sprinkled with a little sliced green onion this made the perfect accompaniment to our Coquilles.

Then, for the Coup de Grace I made the decadently delicious and super easy Molton Chocolate Cake from Joy, Angel and Jorge’s book “Vegan Holiday Cooking from Candle Café” This recipe was also suppose to include a raspberry coulis but as I said to my husband ‘ain’t nobody got time for that’ and so I sliced some fresh berries instead. The cake is a pretty standard chocolate cake, the batter you pour into some greased muffin cups then you stuff about a tablespoon of chocolate chips into the middle and bake for 20 minutes until the cake is mostly cooked through but the middle is still soft. Flip the cakes out, and serve with berries or coulis. The minute you cut into your little cake all that ooey-gooey chocolate from inside comes drizzling out, making every bite heavenly. Though this particular cake doesn’t have a European element, it was featured in the books Valentine’s Day Chapter and so that was good enough for me.

Check back tomorrow, we’re going Italian yet again!

9 Days of Valentine's: Part 1...

I interrupt this Whole Foods Cleanse to talk a little about the holidays. Valentine’s Day is next Saturday and while my husband and I don’t do anything particularly special for most occasions, y’all know I’ll take any excuse to cook a lavish meal. Valentine’s Day is actually one of my favorite holidays to cook for, and the reason is that it’s a low-key holiday. Meaning I’m typically celebrating with only my husband not a house-full of people. I can cook whatever I want on a small scale and keep it as simple or fancy as I want and even if I go all out crazy, there isn’t any stress. Valentine’s Day is also the perfect opportunity to cook something challenging and fancy, but also romantic - because lets face it, even if you love to cook as much as I do, ‘romantic’ food on a not too special Tuesday in June just seems out of place, you know?

Normally I choose dishes that are European, despite my favorite cuisines being Asian and Indian, European food just seems sexier and more romantic doesn’t it? For example last year I went French and Dutch with Seitan Filet mignon, and a potato dish, the year before I went Eastern European with Blintzes for breakfast, then Italian for dinner with Seitan Scallopini and a Green Salad with Roasted Garlic dressing, and Tiramisu for dessert. In 2012 we had waffles for Breakfast, and Italian again for dinner with Caponata and a dish of Rotini with roasted beets, onions, sun-dried tomatos and spinach. Dessert was chocolate cherry cheesecake! Of course every year there is also wine or sangria and lots of it.

French Onion Soup

This year was no exception. After a little over a month of eating nothing but whole foods, mostly raw, sugar-free, gluten-free I’m ready for a little decadence, and I am super craving some down-home, comforting European flavor. I am particularly in the mood for rich French food, and seeing as how my husband and I will be in Europe again next month - Paris being one of our stops - what better cuisine to celebrate the holiday of love with, but the decadently romantic food from the city of lovers? Of course, as usual, I could not narrow down my choices, in the end I found myself starring at a sheet of paper with 9 different meal ideas written down. I spent about 2 minutes trying to cut 8 dishes off the list before I said “To hell with it, I’m making them all” and that is how my husband and I decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day for 9 days instead of 1. Some people might think that’s a little crazy or excessive, but so what? There’s a great quote in the FX series “Fargo” in which Billy Bob Thorton says to Martin Freeman “You live your life like there are rules. There are no rules.” truer words have never been spoken, THERE ARE NO RULES! Life is short, enjoy it the way you want to!

So, with that being said we started off our Valentine’s Day week with a bowl of French Onion Soup, from Mark Reinfeld’s lovely book “The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe.” I love this book, and I really don’t use it enough. I was pretty excited to try this recipe out because it just sounded good, and really there’s nothing better then a steaming hot bowl of soup on a cold Chicago evening. This is a simpler French Onion Soup recipe then those I’ve tackled in the past, and so since I had an excess of time last night I let the onions and the soup cook down a lot longer then the recipe calls for. I like my Onion soup really caramelized, and it turned out pretty good. The ingredients are simple, onions, red wine, vegetable broth, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Once that’s done you slice some baguettes, brush them with oil, sprinkle them with salt and broil them. Then you plop a toast in a bowl of soup, add some vegan mozzarella and you can either serve as is or broil it a few minutes to let the cheese melt. I didn’t bother with the final broiling, and it was great as it was. The toast was particularly fantastic, especially drenched in the slightly sweet, somewhat savory soup.

Portobello Frites 

For our Main Course we had Portobello Frites from Rich Landau and Kate Jacob’s book “Vedge” this is another book I don’t use near enough, but everything I have made out of it has been out-of-this-world-fantastic! These Portobello Frites were no exception. Portobello Mushrooms stand in for steak. You brush the caps with olive oil, garlic, shallot, and salt then roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Once they pop out, you mix red wine into their cooking juice add a bit of veg stock, Dijon mustard, and tarragon and then simmer the sauce in a pan on the stove until reduced. Meanwhile you bake some potatoes, slice them into wedges and then fry them in a deep-sided skillet on the stove. Serve the Mushrooms smothered in the wine sauce, with a hearty helping of Frites. Oh my, perfection! Seriously, my favorite thing about the whole dish was the wine sauce covering the mushrooms. I even smothered my Frites in it.

So that was our first day of celebration. Check back tomorrow to see the Mixed Italian/French meal I have planned for tonight.