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 #22: Seitan Stew from The Hague...

When we were in The Netherlands back in March we stopped in the Hague on our way from Brussels to Amsterdam. It was it was only scheduled to be a pit-stop, a one day adventure, a chance to see the Peace Palace, some other historical landmarks and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. I had not intended to fall in love with The Hague, but I did. The people there - and everywhere in The Netherlands really - were so friendly, the city was so calm and peaceful, a really nice change of pace from busy Brussels and crazy Amsterdam. I wish we had been able to stay their longer, and I wish we could have eaten more of the local food.

Our trip to The Netherlands inspired me to check out some books on Dutch cooking, and in one of those books I found a recipe for ‘Duck Stew from The Hague’ That sounded interesting to me, and since I’d already tailored my go-to seitan Chicken recipe to be a bit richer as a stand-in for Duck I thought I’d give this stew a try. It didn’t turn out quite like I thought it would, but it was still good. I have the feeling that it is lacking something though I can’t quite put my finger on what. I’ll have to play around with it in the future to get it just right, but overall I thought the experiment went well. The stew was tasty, and rich, and I liked the combination of red wine, olives, mushrooms and onions. Put olives in anything and I’m bound to eat it.

Seitan Stew from The Hague

Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
1 ½ lb’s Chicken Style Seitan
1 Large Onion Diced
2 Cups Vegan Chicken Broth or 2 Cups Water + 2 Vegan Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1 1/4 Red Wine
1 tsp Dried Tarragon
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper to taste
1 ½ Cups Pitted Green Olives
1 Leek (White and Light Green Part Only) Sliced
2 Cups Button Mushrooms Sliced
6 Garlic Cloves Minced
1/4 C All Purpose Flour
½ Bunch Parsley Minced

- Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add seitan and brown on all sides. About 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

- Melt the nondairy butter in the pan, add the onion, and leek. Saute for 5 minutes until tender.

- Add the Mushrooms, and Garlic, saute for another 5-10 minutes until veggies are soft.

- Add in the flour, and stir to combine, coating all veggies.

- Add in the stock, wine, olives, seitan, tarragon, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine, bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 40 minutes.

- Add parsley and stir to combine. Serve in large bowls with toasted bread and extra parsley for garnish.

Vegan Mofo #21: Seitan aux Pruneaux d’Agen...

I came across this recipe in Joanne Harris’s book “The French Market” and found it interesting. The original recipe calls for Rabbit which I have no idea how to veganize since I’ve never eaten it before but I thought seitan would make a good stand-in. I love the idea of cooking savory dishes with fruit, and so the combination of seitan and prunes really got me thinking. A bit of Googling told me this is a pretty popular recipe in Southern France where Prunes from Agen are a pretty big deal. I like interesting culinary traditions so I was excited to give it a try. Obviously the original recipes call specifically for prunes from Agen but you can use any large plump pitted prunes, California Plums are what I used and it worked out great. I know it probably sounds weird to you, but give it a try, you might be really surprised.

Seitan with Prunes 
(A.K.A Seitan aux Pruneaux d’Agen) 

2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 Bay Leaves
1/3 C Brandy
2 Stalks Celery Diced
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme
2 Cups Red Wine
1 ½ lb’s Beef Style Seitan
25 Pearl Onions
2 tsp Liquid Smoke
20 Agen Prunes (or Large Dried California Plums) Halved
Sea Salt and Black Pepper as Needed

- Heat a small pot of water over high heat, when boiling add the onions. Boil 1 minute then drain and drop into a bowl of iced cold water to blanch. Slide off the skins and put the onions aside.

- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Melt 1 Tbsp of the nondairy butter and cook the seitan until brown on all sides. In batches if necessary. About 8-10 minutes. When browned, remove from the pan and set aside.

- Heat the remaining nondairy butter in the pan and add the peeled onions. Saute for 5 minutes until golden, add the garlic and celery. Saute another 3-5 minutes until celery is soft.

- Pour the wine into the pan, and add bay leaves, thyme, and the browned seitan back with it. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

- Add in the Brandy, the Prunes, liquid smoke and season with salt and pepper as desired. Let simmer another 20-30 minutes.

- Remove from the heat, taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. Remove the bay leaves and serve with mashed potatoes and peas as I did, or whatever your favorite side dish. Some crusty bread wouldn’t hurt either!

*** Note - Unfortunately this recipe is my best approximation as I didn’t actually write anything down while cooking. Since I made this several days ago I’m relying solely on memory here.*** 

Vegan Mofo 15: French Onion Soup...

When we were in Paris we went to this incredible vegan restaurant. I don’t recall the name of it at the moment - I’ll have to consult my travel notes because I do plan to post about it at some point - but while there I had the most incredible French Onion Soup. Seriously, I’ve had some decent vegan French Onion Soup before but it never quite lives up to expectations in my opinion. This soup however was out of this world amazing! It had such a rich flavor, and I loved that instead of using Nutritional Yeast or shredded store bought cheese that they melted on top, the soup actually had slivers or shavings of vegan cheese right in the soup. Large thin squares of vegan cheese, that hadn’t melted in, but were soft and melted easily when they hit the tongue. It was such a good soup, such a different experience that ever since getting back I’d been thinking of trying to recreate something similar at home. Well, this year’s Mofo provides the perfect opportunity, so here’s my take. I think it turned out really well, though it doesn’t quite live up to that restaurant soup I had. Something tells me, no French Onion Soup ever will, and how can you really beat French Onion Soup eaten in France anyway, right?

French Onion Soup 

2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
1lb Yellow Onions Sliced
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
1/3 Cup Plain All Purpose Flour
8 Cups Vegan Beef Stock or 8 Cups Water + Vegan Beef Bouillon Cubes.
1 Cup Red Wine
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme
1 Tbsp Marmite
Sliced Baguette
Sea Salt if needed
1/4 tsp Black Pepper or more to taste
Vegan Cheese sliced into thin squares. (I used Provolone.  In France they use Gruyere, but there is not vegan Gruyere on the market. You can really use any flavorful vegan cheese that isn’t mozzarella or cheddar. Havarti or Swiss would be good in place of Provolone)

- Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium high heat and add the onions. Lower the heat and cook on low for about 25 minutes stirring occasionally until golden brown and beginning to caramelize. .

- Add the garlic and flour to the pan and stir continuously for 2 minutes.  Gradually blend in the stock and wine, bring to a boil.  Add the Bay leaf, thyme, pepper, marmite and season with salt if desired. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

- Preheat the broiler. Place the baguette slices on a broiler sheet and toast on each side for a minute until golden. Remove from the oven.

- Add the sliced cheese to the soup and let simmer for 5 or so minutes just to let the cheese incorporate and blend. It’s okay if it melts in, but if it stays in tact that’s good too.

- Divide the soup into serving bowls, break the toasted baguette into crouton sized pieces and top each bowl. Taste or seasoning and add more salt or pepper as desired.

Enjoy with a glass of wine and a nice side salad.

Vegan Mofo #7: Beef Carbonnade...

So, I found Beef Carbonnade listed in a French Cook book, but the internet says it’s a Belgian dish originally. Since the French are more accustomed to cooking with wine instead of beer I suppose that wouldn’t surprise me but the truth is I don’t know where it comes from and I don’t care to wager a guess. They eat a lot of French food in Belgium, and what with the countries bordering one another, and sharing similarities in cuisine origins can be confusing. In any case the dish is delicious regardless of whether it’s French or Belgian. Think of it as a more basic Bourguignon but just as delicious!

I never actually ate Carbonnade in France or Belgium but from the moment I saw the recipe for it I knew it was something I’d have to veganize and I’m really glad I did. Typically in Belgium a dish like this would be served with Frites (Fries) but in France it may be served with boiled or mashed potatoes. On the day I made this I decided to opt for something a little lighter and served our Carbonnade alongside Salade aux Noix. You could do either or both, and make sure you enjoy a nice glass of wine or a bottle of beer with your meal too!

Beef Carbonnade

2-4 Tbsp Non-Dairy Butter
2lbs Home Made or Store Bought Beef Style Seitan Cubed
4 Onions Sliced in Quarter Moons
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 tsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
1 Bottle of Stout Beer
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme Leaves
1 tsp Sea Salt
Black Pepper to taste
6-8 Slices Baguette
Dijon Mustard

- Preheat the Oven to 300'F

- Heat 1 Tbsp Butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the beef seitan in batches and brown on all sides. Add a second Tbsp of butter for the second batch if needed. This could take up to 10-15 minutes and it’s okay if they get a little extra brown. If they stick to the pan deglaze with a splash of water.

- Once the seitan has browned remove from the heat and place in a large lightly greased Dutch Oven.

- In the same pan add the sliced onions. Add a little more butter if needed and saute for 10 minutes until softened.

- Add the garlic and sugar to the pan with the onions and saute another 5-10 minutes until the onions are nicely browned. Then remove the onions from the pan with a slotted spoon and add them into the Dutch Oven.

- Stir the seitan and onions together until they are well mixed.

- If the pan is a little dry, heat one more Tbsp of butter in the pan, and add the Tbsp of flour. Stir to make a roux, and cook it for a minute or two until it’s golden. Add in the beer, the bay leaves, the salt and pepper, and let simmer gently for 3-4 minutes.

- Pour the beer mixture into the Dutch Oven with the Seitan and Onions, add the thyme leaves, and mix to combine.

- Place a lid over the Dutch Oven and place into the oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. After it’s done cooking remove from the oven, take the lid off and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

- Lightly toast the baguette slices on both sides, then spread one side with Dijon Mustard. Arrange the slices mustard side up on top of the Carbonnade, then return the dish to the oven and broil on high for a minute.

- Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy!

Quickie Pan Gravy...

The other day when My husband and I had our little impromptu Thanksgiving celebration I needed to make a gravy to go with our holiday roast. Unfortunately since the dinner was impromptu my resources were limited as I had not been shopping. Using what I had on hand at the time I came up with this super simple, yet super flavorful gravy. I couldn’t believe just how good it turned out, and it tasted amazing on our roast and our mashed potatoes. So if you’re in a bind this year, and you need a quickie gravy, this is the one for you. Or if you just want to cut a few corners, and do less work - who’d blame you? - I got you covered.

Quickie Pan Gravy 

1/4 C Earth Balance
1/4 Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp Minced Dried Onion
½ tsp Garlic Powder
1 Vegan Beef Bouillon Cube
1 ½ C Water
2 Tbsp Tamari
2 Tbsp Red Wine
1 tsp Thyme Leaves
Black Pepper to taste

- Melt the Earth Balance in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat.

- Whisk in the flour. Whisk vigorously to form a roux, when the Earth Balance and Flour have come together and are beginning to turn golden, and smell toasty, add in the water, vegan bouillon, onion, and garlic.

- Bring to a boil, and then lower heat and let simmer, whisking frequently.

- Add in the Tamari, Red Wine, Thyme Leaves and black pepper.

- Continue to whisk on low heat until the gravy has thickened. This should take about 5 minutes.

- Once you’ve reached your desired consistency, remove the gravy from the heat. Pour it into a serving bowl and use liberally on your favorite holiday roast or a mound of mashed potatoes.

Irish Style Seitan In Mustard Cream Sauce With Wild Rice and Crispy Cabbage...

St. Patrick’s Day is only a week away, can you believe it? Now, I’m not Irish, and I’ve never really ‘celebrated’ St. Paddy’s but I do like to observe most holiday’s and occasions with at least a good or special meal. This year I’m feeling a little more festive, I guess it’s the ugly weather we’re having, it makes me daydream a lot, and one of the places I’ve been dreaming about lately is Ireland in the Summer. Thanks no doubt to all of the Flogging Molly, The Pogues, Gaelic Storm and Dropkick Murphys I’ve been listening to of late. Anyway, I feel festive and inspired so I wanted to observe this year’s St. Paddy’s with a weeks worth of Irish style cooking.

Crispy Cabbage

Now, I know Irish fare may not seem all that vegan friendly to you, after all what is Irish cuisine most famous for? Potatoes, Cabbage and Meat - particularly bacon - and it’s also probably never struck you as a particularly creative or mouth-watering style of cooking. You never hear people say “I’m really craving Irish today.” Anyway. However I think the culinary traditions of England, Scotland and Ireland get a bad rap, it may not be ‘haute cuisine’ it may not have the fire of Latin cuisine, or say the romance of Italian but to say the Irish lack culinary creativity is to do them and their cuisine a disservice. Honestly I think the lack of creativity when it comes to Irish cooking has more to do with people outside of Ireland trying to re-create Irish food. I mean just open up any Vegan cook book that includes recipes for St. Patrick’s Day, and tell me what you see. Recipes for Champ, Colcannon - both of which I might add can basically be defined as mashed potatoes - cream of broccoli, pea, asparagus - anything green really - soup, and Irish soda bread. It’s repetitive and boring! But don’t think omnivores are any more ingenious when it comes to recreating Irish cooking. Bacon and cabbage, mashed potatoes and corned beef are about all I ever hear omnivores eating, and corned beef, really? Now I have a huge bone to pick with people who say corned beef is Irish - it’s not. First of all corned beef is just a name for salt-cured beef, and salt curing beef as well as other meats has been done since ancient times. As the dish that we know today noone is exactly sure who started it or when but it became popular with the British Navy during the 18th century English Industrial Revolution. The Irish may have been making a form of corned beef around this time to sell to the British navy but they likely weren’t eating it themselves.

Seitan in Mustard Cream Sauce

In fact, the entire time I was in Ireland - and keep in mind that I traveled the entire country from Dublin to Derry, and the Giants Causeway, to Galway, to Kerry, to Waterford, Cork and the Wicklow Mountains - I never once, on any restaurant menu saw Corned Beef as an option. It’s interesting that in Ireland Corned Beef is almost exclusively only sold to tourists or sold in tourist geared establishments, and that the majority of Irish in Ireland do not identify this food with Traditional, National Cuisine. It’s also interesting to note that corned beef actually has a stronger connection to Jewish Cuisine then it does Irish. But I digress - we were talking about a lack of creativity. When you ask the average person what they eat in Ireland you’ll undoubtably get the response “potatoes” and while it’s true that the Potato - still to this day - is the number one most commonly eaten vegetable in Ireland - along with cabbage and carrots - it does not mean that Irish cuisine has to be bland, boring, or potato heavy.

A lot of wonderful things grow in Ireland, from herbs such as parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme, to garlic, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbage artichokes, sunchokes, asparagus, and seaweed! Eating seaweed in Ireland isn’t just for the vegetarians and vegans! Mustard, wine and cream are also common for making sauces and flavoring dishes, so you see there’s a bounty of available options that any chef worth his or her salt could use to invent a dish that’s far more creative and tastier then corned beef or colcannon.

So for my first foray into Irish cooking I decided to try out a dish that utilized a mustard cream sauce. I’m a big fan of mustard - Dijon or stone ground in particular - and so a creamy, mustardy sauce with fresh garlic and herbs quite appealed to me. Now traditionally this is a sauce usually served with lambs kidneys - or the kidneys of any game animal - which is disgusting, and not something I would have even eaten back in the days when I ate meat, so I had to come up with something else. However since I wanted to keep the spirit of the dish alive I didn’t just want to throw some tofu or tempeh into a mustard sauce, that’s not all that creative is it? Besides organ meat is reported to be so flavorful that I didn’t think tofu would really make a good stand in.

I wanted something meaty and something with flavor and so I decided to make some Irish Style Seitan. I call it Irish Style because I flavored it with all of the most common herbs used in Irish cuisine, basil, celery seed, mint, sage, thyme, onion, garlic and parsley. It may not taste like a lambs kidney but it holds flavor notes true to Irish cooking and that’s all that matters. Seitan also stands up well to a good simmer, and retains a nice chewy texture.

Since the dish is also traditionally served over a bed of white rice - to soak up the sauce - and a salad I decided to do one better. I served my Irish style Seitan in mustard cream sauce over wild rice, and served it with a big ole’ pile of crispy cabbage. Crispy cabbage by the way is also another traditional Irish side dish, and while it may not be super creative it is surprisingly really satisfying as well as delicious! It’s hard to believe something so simple can be so good, but it is.

Make sure when you eat this meal you get a fork full of rice, sauce, seitan and cabbage all at once. Heaven!

The Full Plate - Seitan, Mustard Cream Sauce, Crispy Cabbage
and Wild Rice

Irish Style Seitan with Mustard Cream Sauce 

1 lb Irish Style Seitan Sliced into rounds or cubed (Recipe Follows)
2 Tbsp Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter
1 C White Wine
2-4 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
8 Garlic Cloves Minced
6-7 Green Onions sliced thin
½ Bunch Fresh Parsley Minced
2 Tbsp Fresh Minced Rosemary
1/4 tsp ground Thyme
Celtic Sea Salt to taste
1/4 - ½ tsp White Pepper
6 Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk)

- Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Place seitan rounds or chunks in the butter and fry for 2-3 minutes a side until nice and brown. Remove seitan from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.

- Pour the wine into the pan, and add the garlic, onion, and herbs. Stir to combine and then let simmer for 5-10 minutes until reduced slightly and garlic is cooked.

- Add the almond milk to the pan and stir until combined and creamy.  Season with salt and pepper, then return the seitan to the pan and heat through.

- Serve Seitan and mustard cream sauce over wild rice, garnished with extra parsley. With a nice side salad or crispy cabbage (recipe follows)

Now - Making Seitan is super simple and actually really quick. Trust me when I say that if you can bake a cake you can make seitan. I love the steam method, it's fast, cheap, and requires little prep. Basically mix a bunch of stuff in a bowl roll it into loaves and steam away, what could be easier and it's done in under an hour! I like to make a big ole' batch of seitan every 2-3 months and sore it in the freezer for quick and easy use. I will probably use this particular seitan recipe for several dishes to come later this week.

Irish Style Seitan 

1 ½ C Water + 1 Vegan Beef Boullion Cube (Could use a dark vegetable broth instead)
1 ½ C Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 C Chickpea Flour
1/4 C Nutritional Yeast
1 ½ tsp Dried Basil
½-3/4 tsp Celery Seed
3/4 tsp Dried Mint
1 tsp Sage
1 1/4 tsp Dried Thyme
3 tsp Dehydrated Onion Flakes
3 Tbsp Tomato Paste
3 Tbsp Tamari
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
6 Garlic Cloves minced

- Mix all dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl.

- Whisk together the broth, tomato paste, tamari, olive oil and minced garlic, in a small bowl.

- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet ingredients in. Mix until combined and a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and kneed for 2-3 minutes. Then return the dough to the bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.

- Cut 4 rectangles of aluminum foil.

- Turn the dough out and kneed for another minute. Then divide the dough into 4 chunks. Shape the chunks into small oval loaves.

- Place one chunk of dough onto one sheet of aluminum foil. Fold the long side of the aluminum foil over the dough. Fold over the sides of the foil, then roll up like you would roll a burrito. Don’t roll the foil too tight because you need to leave a little room for the seitan to expand.

- Once all the chunks are rolled in the foil, place them into a steamer basket and steam for 45 minutes until nice and pulp. Seitan should be firm but springy.

- When seitan is done, remove from the steamer basket and place on a wire rack or plate to cool. Let cool for one hour and then place in the refrigerator or freezer until you’re ready to use it. Should keep in the freezer for 2-3 months if placed in an airtight container or zip-lock bag.

Crispy Cabbage 

1 Medium Head of Green or Savoy Cabbage sliced thin
2 Tbsp Peanut Oil
2-3 Tbsp Fresh Minced Parsley
Celtic Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

- Heat Peanut oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.

- Add the cabbage and stir-fry 3-5 minutes, until just cooked but still crisp. Make sure you really watch it, you don’t want it to wilt, get mushy, or burn. A few golden spots are okay but it should retain it’s bright green color.

- Season with sea salt, pepper, and parsley and serve.

Wild Rice

1 ½ C Wile Rice
3 ½ C Water

- Place in a rice cooker and cook according to cooker’s directions.

PS: Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the seitan making process but I promise to do so next time! Also if you need this to be wheat-free you could try it with Tempeh. Tempeh is chewy enough to work, though you wont' get the added flavor of the seasoned seitan.

Memories of Ireland, Potato and Leek Soup

When my husband and I were in Ireland in 2009 we ate a ton of Potato and Leek soup, we probably ate it once everyday, served with a few slices of thick dark bread. It was the main staple of our diet on that particular trip, and not because we were vegetarian - at the time neither of us were - but because it was cheap, abundant, delicious and filling. My husband and I have never been the kind of people that travel for the food. We don’t seek out exotic culinary delights, or spend copious amounts of money on fine dining. When we travel we spend our money on seeing and doing amazing things, because if you’re not going to get the most out of your trip then what’s the point in going right? Which explains the potato and leek soup. You see, it’s a pretty standard offering in most pubs and restaurants in Ireland, and when we were there you could get a nice hearty bowl of it with bread for between four to six euro, four to six pounds if we’re talking about Northern Ireland. That makes for a pretty cheap lunch or dinner for two people while traveling and because potatoes are so heavy one bowl really is sufficient. If you’re extra hungry you might want to throw a three euro side salad into the mix, but it still keeps the cost pretty low.

We traveled to fourteen different cities in Ireland, and we ate Potato and Leek soup all the way from Dublin to Belfast, to Derry, to Galway, to Killkenny, to Cork, to Waterford, back to Dublin. No matter where we went the soup was always phenomenal, and I just fell in love with it - as I did so many other things about Ireland. After we returned home, despite having eaten it every day for the duration of our trip I wanted more potato leek soup. So began my mission to make a potato leek soup from scratch that was just as good as those I’d sampled in Ireland. For the past 2 and a half years I’ve failed at every turn and I have tried so, so many recipes. Whether the recipes be vegetarian or vegan I was never able to find a good recipe, not online and not in any cook book. Every recipe I’ve tried the soup was too bland, too thick, too much potato, too much thyme. The consistency was never right, the flavor was never spot on, it was never quite rich enough or creamy enough, and for a while I thought all was lost.

Then Friday I woke up to cold weather as one so often does in Chicago at the end of November, and I found myself with a hankering for potato and leek soup! I looked through a handful of my cook books trying to find recipes for said soup that I hadn’t yet tried, but to no avail. Nothing was catching my eye. After some moments of impatient contemplation I realized I didn’t really need a recipe at all. All I needed was my own creativity and knowhow, and so I went to the kitchen and set myself to work, with nothing to guide my endeavor except countless memories of Irish pubs and magical landscapes.

After having tried so many recipes - some from very renown people in the culinary profession - I had no hope that my little effort would yield anything palatable, but I had to try, and in the end, when I tasted what I had created I knew I had come as close to the perfect Irish bowl of potato and leek soup that I ever would. This soup turned out so rich and creamy, and bursting with flavor. It is everything a good potato and leek soup should be, and it’s fairly quick and easy to prepare. If you’re a potato leek soup fan I urge you to try it, and serve it a long a nice thick slice of pumpernickel bread.

Memories of Ireland, Potato and Leek Soup

2 Tbsp Earth Balance or other Vegan non-dairy Butter
1 Very large leek, washed and sliced.
3 medium sized Yukon Gold Potatoes skin on chopped
2-3 Celery Ribs chopped
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Thyme
½ tsp Sage
½ tsp White Pepper
1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
Sea salt and Black Pepper to taste
1 ½ C Vegetable Broth
1 ½ C Water + 1 Vegan ‘Chicken’ Bouillon Cube
1 Bunch Parsley Minced
2/3 C Cashews + additional 1/3 C Cashews as needed
1 C Water
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp White Miso

- Melt Earth Balance in a pot on the stove over medium heat. Add in the leek and celery. Saute for 4 minutes then add in the garlic, bay leaves, thyme and sage and saute another 4-5 minutes until leeks are tender and bright green.

- Add in the potatoes, the vegetable broth and the water with the bouillon cube. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a good simmer. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.  Around the last five minutes of simmering add in the white pepper, smoked paprika, black pepper and salt. Stir to combine.

- While the soup is simmering combine the cashews, the water, the lemon juice and the white miso in a high speed blender and process on high until completely smooth. About 1 minute. If the mixture looks a little to watery you can add in up to another 1/3 cup of cashews for a thicker cream.

- Remove the cashew cream to a measuring cup and set aside. It should have yielded roughly one and a half cups of cream.

- No need to clean the blender out, instead remove the bay leaves from the soup and discard then transfer the hot soup to the blender being careful not to spill any or burn yourself. Once all of the soup is in the blender blend on high until completely smooth and creamy. Return the soup to the pot.

- Stir in 1 cup of the cashew cream. Stir in minced parsley, and season with any additional salt and pepper.

- Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with an additional swirl of the cashew cream, and a few twists of a black pepper mill. Enjoy!

PS: You can make this soup oil-free by using water to saute instead of earth balance. You can make the soup soy-free by using a chickpea or barley based miso instead of a soy one, or just leave the miso out altogether.

PPS: If you’ve never been to Ireland you really must go. It is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been! 

Wild Ramp Pesto...

So, the other day I mentioned that one of the things I did with my bounty of ramps was make a pesto. It may not have been the most original idea out there, but since I’d never used ramps in that way before and since I’m a big lover of pesto I thought why not? Sounded like the perfect dish to me.

Initially I wasn’t sure if I should leave the ramps raw or cook them first. Amongst ramp pesto lovers there seems to be quite the divide. Some prefer raw, some prefer cooked. After tasting one ramp raw, I decided to go the ‘mostly’ cooked route. Ramps are very pungent, and while a few raw ones here and there probably taste great, I thought it would be a bit too over powering to have them all raw. So I decided to blanch 18 and leave 2 raw and honestly I think it worked out great. 2 raw ramps were enough to give the pesto that oomph without giving it any ugh factor. At least in my opinion, but if you like a little more pungency feel free to use more then 2 raw ramps. Use them however best suits your taste, but definitely use them, and definitely use them to make pesto, because this is without a doubt one of the best pesto’s I’ve ever eaten! And I’ve eaten a lot of pesto in my time.

Wild Ramp Pesto 

20 Ramps - 18 Blanched, 2 Raw
2 Garlic Cloves
2/3 C Walnuts
2/3-3/4 C Olive Oil
Dash of ground Thyme
Sea salt and Black Pepper to taste
½ Tbsp Dried Oregano
2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
½ bunch Parsley

- Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Trim the roots off the ramps and when the water is boiling add the 18 whole ramps into the water. Boil for 1-2 minutes until ramps are soft. Immediately drain, and then plunge into a bowl if ice water to stop them from cooking.

- Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until it resembles fine crumbs.

- Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and raw ramps to the processor, pulse until combined.

- Add the blanched ramps to the food processor along with the thyme, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and parsley. Pulse until creamy and smooth. Taste for flavor and adjust seasoning as needed.

- Enjoy over your favorite pasta. I used Gluten-Free Rice Spaghetti, and it tasted fabulous. It’s also great garnished with a handful of halved cherry or grape tomatoes!

The Ultimate Spring Onion Phyllo Tart

When I first thought about what I wanted to make and then eat for Earth Day, onions were the first thing to come to mind. I had just discovered - and fallen in love with - ramps, I had leeks and green onions handy, and I’ve always been an onion fanatic. A tart using spring onions would be the perfect main course. The only problem was that I’d never cooked a tart before. I made a French Onion Pie once but that’s not exactly the same. So I searched the internet looking for a good onion tart recipe, and you know what I found? A whole lot of nothing, or at least nothing good. None of the onion tart recipes I found were vegan for one thing, the only vegan recipes I could find that came even close were for vegan French onion pie which I absolutely did not want to make. The vegetarian recipes were all very heavy on egg and cheese, and the non-vegetarian recipes were heavy on eggs, cream, cheese and meat. All of those things I might have been able to remedy however, but the problem was that almost none of the recipes used more then 1 kind of onion! Only one kind of onion? What kind of tart was that? Where was the creativity? Where was the onion love?

No, no, no... they wouldn’t do at all. I wanted to showcase a variety of onions in my tart, particularly fresh spring type onions. I wanted a ton of onion flavor, pure and simple. I didn’t want my tart stuffed with mushrooms and veggie meats, and heaping cupfuls of non-dairy cheeses. I didn’t want it full of breadcrumbs and other such nonsense. I just wanted onions. I didn’t think that was asking too much, but by the looks of the recipes I found it was. Sometimes despite all the cook books I own, and the wealth or recipes available I just feel like there’s a lack of creativity out there. Like everyone gets stuck in the same culinary vacuum. Not that there aren’t creative people out there, because there are, I read lots of awesome vegan blogs written by the most inspirational and talented people, but it’s like that old saying. Sometimes if you want something to get done and get done right you just have to do it yourself.

So I had to put on my thinking cap and figure out how to work out this tart. It didn’t take a lot of time to come up with a recipe and I’m so, so happy I was able to put this together because this Onion tart is simply incredible! I’m telling you, it’s a plate of absolutely mouth-watering, mind-blowing awesomeness. Really, I am going to be making this again and again! Really, It's got five kinds of onions, plus garlic!  If that isn't Ultimate I don't know what is. It was also rich, creamy, buttery and full of good old onion flavor. However, despite the massive amount of onions in this dish the onion flavor wasn’t overpowering at all. It was perfect, and just a tad sweet thanks to caramelized onions.  However if you prefer a little more sweetness you can add in the optional sugar I’ve listed, I don’t think it’s necessary but decide for yourself.

This turned out to be the perfect main course for my Earth Day dinner. Everything about it was amazing. For me the dish really embodied spring, so I hope you make it and enjoy it too. Oh, and FYI - It tastes even better reheated the next day!

The Ultimate Spring Onion Phyllo Tart 

2 Large Shallots
10 Garlic Cloves minced
3 Knob Onions sliced (White and Green parts)
1 Large Leek sliced (White and Green parts)
12 Ramps (Bulbs and Leaves)
1/3 C Sliced Green Onions
2 Tbsp Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter
3/4 tsp ground Thyme
3/4 tsp dried Sage
3/3 tsp dried Summer Savory
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp White Pepper
Sea Salt to taste
½-1 Tbsp Sugar (Optional)

1/4 C Non-dairy Sour Cream
8oz non-dairy Cream Cheese
3 tsp White Miso

1/4-1/2 C Melted Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter
Sliced Green Onions to Garnish
Black Sesame Seeds to Garnish
10oz Phyllo Dough

- Preheat oven to 375'F

- Heat 1 Tbsp of non-dairy butter in a pan over medium heat. Saute garlic, shallots, and white parts of knob onions until caramelized. About10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside in a bowl.

- Heat remaining 1 Tbsp of non-dairy butter in pan, and add the leeks, ramps and green parts of knob onions. Saute over medium heat until fragrant and soft. 8-12 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the bowl with the other onions.

- Add Thyme, Summer Savory, Sage, Smoked Paprika, White pepper, salt, Green Onions, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese and Miso, and sugar if using to the bowl with the onions. Stir until well combined. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, then set aside.

- Lightly spray a 11 inch quiche or tart pan with non-stick spray. Melt a quarter cup of Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter and keep handy. Carefully layer sheets of the phyllo dough into your quiche pan, covering the bottom and sides. It’s okay if some over hangs. Lightly brush every sheet of phyllo with melted non-dairy butter before adding another sheet.

*** Note - Ultimately how many sheets you decide to use is up to you. You want enough to form a nice crust on the bottom, but not so much that there isn’t room for the filling. Also a sheet of phyllo dough isn’t going to fit your quiche pan perfectly, so it’s okay to cut the sheets into workable pieces that you can layer in 8-10 sheets (depending on the size of your sheets) should be more then sufficient. Also don’t worry about it looking perfect, a little looseness around the edges will give it a nice rustic look. ***

- Once you’ve layered your phyllo sheets into the bottom and over the sides of the pan, add in your filling. Spread the filling evenly inside the pan.

- Carefully layer more sheets of phyllo over top of the filling. Use roughly the same amount that you used to form your crust and make sure to brush each sheet with melted non-dairy butter before applying it.

- When you’ve finished layering your top crust, carefully break or cut away any excess dough hanging over the edges. A little hang is okay, but you don’t want excessive dough hanging over or it’ll just burn. Brush the top crust with a little melted non-dairy butter then sprinkle with black sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until your tart is a nice golden color.

- Let cool 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

PS: Don't let all the steps worry you, this is actually really simple and pretty easy to make. Phyllo is a pain in the ass to work with, but once you get over that, this tart's a snap! and it's SO worth it!

Kickin’ Kale Coleslaw...

This salad recipe is partly inspired by the one my friend J brought to Easter this year, and partly inspired by the delicious kale salads I ate at Choice Health Bar in Lahaina, when I was in Maui in October. It’s the perfect blend of sweet, tangy and spice. The sweet coming from the dried fruit, the tang coming from the mayo, and the two vinegars, and the spice coming from smoked paprika, pepper, allspice, clove and curry powder. It may sound like a strange combination but trust me when I say they work in perfect harmony together. Paired with earthy hemp and sesame seeds this salad is a powerhouse of awesome flavor, and it got gobbled up faster then anything else when I made it for Earth Day.

One important thing to note about this salad is that, par usual I didn’t really measure the spices as well as I should have. You see I started off with a certain measurement, either 1/4 or ½ tsp and then kept adjusting from there. Unfortunately I neglected to write down what the final mastermind became for some of the spices. With the ingredients I’ve noted as (to taste) I suggest erring on the side of caution and going with the conservative measurement first, then tasting and adjusting to suit your preference. With the garlic and curry powder it’s also important to keep in mind that you want enough of each of those flavors to taste them, but not so much that either one of them is overpowering. You want to shoot for a mild garlic flavor and a mild curry flavor. In fact as you prepare the salad keep in mind that the flavors should be working together not fighting one another, meaning no one flavor should really overshadow the others. Instead they should be layered together to enhance the dish as a whole. With that in mind, you can’t go wrong. I know I at least will be making this salad - or some variation of it - for years and years to come!

Kickin’ Kale Coleslaw

4 ½ C Shredded Kale
3 Carrots Grated
1/4 C Raisins
1/4 C Dried Cranberries
3 Tbsp Hemp Seeds
2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
½ C Chopped Green Onions

½ C Non-dairy Mayo
1-2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar (to taste)
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 tsp Umeboshi Plum vinegar
 2-3 Packets Stevia (to taste)
½ tsp Ground Allspice
3/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
3/4 tsp Dried Oregano
½-3/4 tsp Ground Thyme (to taste)
½ tsp Garlic Powder (to taste)
½-3/4 tsp Curry Powder (to taste)
Dash of Cinnamon and Cloves (slightly less then 1/8 tsp each)
Black Pepper to taste

- The easiest way to shred kale is in a food processor. Just pop it in and pulse a few times until you have fine shreds. Don’t puree it! If you don’t have a food processor just slice it thin with a knife.

- Once the kale has been shredded place it in a bowl with the grated carrot, cranberries, raisins, seeds, and onions.

- Combine all dressing ingredient in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Taste for flavor and adjust seasoning as needed. For an additional kick you can always add a pinch or two of Cayenne pepper! Enjoy!