Happy New Year (and late Festivus dinner photos)

      
           Seitan "Ham" with Onion & Garlic Chutney                                              Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower

      
              Balsamic Glazed Portobello Mushrooms                                                               Freshly Baked Bread

Happy New Year! 2009 sucked on so many levels for a lot of people so I am really hoping that 2010 will be better for everyone.

Now on to the food. The Mr. and I had a couple friends over for a Festivus dinner on the 26th. I really didn't manage to get enough photos and the seitan was taken the next day. It's hard to take photos when you've got guests waiting!

Here was the full menu:

• seitan "ham" with a pineapple chipotle glaze
• roasted cauliflower & broccoli
• mashed potatoes (not shown)
  
• mushroom gravy (not shown)
  
• green bean casserole (not shown)
  
• thyme scented onion and roasted garlic chutney
  
• balsamic glazed portobello mushrooms
  
• freshly baked bread
  

The seitan "ham" was modified from Bryanna's recipe and the glaze was modified from a Recipezaar recipe (warning, the original recipe is NOT vegan). Aside from those two, everything was my own recipe/concoction. The glaze was amazing with the "ham" and the onion chutney was a perfect accompaniment.

I thought everything turned out well and I hope our friends enjoyed the meal as much as I enjoyed cooking it! I think I'm done with holiday menus until Easter. Next dinner I think I'll do a cuisine that is generally not vegan friendly like Thai or Vietnamese or Korean.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

P.S. If you're not already vegan, go vegan and stay vegan!

Thanksgiving 2009

Glazed carrots, Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, mushroom gravy, broccoli casserole, roasted brussel sprouts, bread dressing and mashed potatoes.



Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, broccoli casserole, bread dressing, roasted brussel sprouts, freshly baked bread, cornichons, dill cream "cheese", Tartex vegan pate. Not shown: Mushroom gravy, chickpea gravy, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and brought by our guests, a salad, apple pie and ice cream.

I love cooking for people and back home I used to always have people over for Thanksgiving. In RVA however, I didn't have any friends there so there were no dinner guests. Not this year though! I was determined to feed some friends and I was delighted to be able to cook a big dinner for more people than just me and the Mr. In the food frenzy, I only took a few flash pics which didn't turn out great (second set of photos) so the next day I took a pic of my leftovers (top photo).

The full menu was:

• Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze
• roasted brussel sprouts
• bread dressing/stuffing
• mashed potatoes with scallions
• mushroom gravy
• chickpea gravy
• glazed carrots
• broccoli casserole (like green bean casserole but with broccoli)
• fresh bread with some sides of Tartex brand pate, dill cream "cheese", cornichons

Now I know that a bunch of you are going to ask, "how was the seitan 'turkey'"? How did I know that? Well, that recipe has been floating around for some time and is fairly involved so a lot of people don't try it but it always sounds amazing. Before I made it, I read mixed reviews which some said the texture was too soft or too spongey. Those were the main gripes. I was a little worried but well, Bryanna is the seitan queen and everyone's favourite vegan grandmother, so I put my trust in her. Boy, am I ever glad I did. That was by far the best textured seitan I've ever made. Taste-wise it could have used more sodium (I like salt) but the addition of gravy took care of that.

Bryanna's description of the roast is spot on: "tender, not rubbery, and which slices easily". All I have to say for those folks that had sub-par texture results is to try it again and follow the recipe to a "T". When it says 12 oz of tofu, shave approximately 2 oz from your 14 oz block. Don't try and over compensate by adding in more gluten flour because you might mess up. The texture of this dough when you first mix it is very different than your usual seitan dough. Also when she says to knead it in a bread machine or mixer with dough hook for 10 minutes, rest for 1 hour and then knead for 10 minutes more, she means it. The dough will indeed be shiny and uniform in texture after the extensive kneading — something that is very difficult to do by hand. This step is really important for the proper texture. In addition, when she says to bake it until the liquid is absorbed, do it. If you follow all her instructions AND cook a day before, cool in fridge and reheat the next day (I glazed mine for the reheating), you will be rewarded with one of the best textured seitan "turkey" recipes you'll ever make. It takes some planning to make this but the results are worth it. Trust me. This is definitely going to be my "go to" holiday seitan recipe.

Let's see, what else. Well, everything else was my own concoction (I cook by taste so I generally don't have anything written down so no recipes). The broccoli casserole was like green bean casserole but I used porcini mushrooms and homemade french fried onions. Everything was made from scratch (even the bread for the stuffing/dressing) except for the pate and the cream "cheese". I wish I had better pictures of the sides but oh well, next time. I had several other dishes planned but after seeing the amount of food that I already made I had to scale down the menu.

All in all, I was really pleased with how things turned out. Good food and good friends. A perfect way to spend a holiday.

Pseudo Ethiopian Dinner

Due to a few people talking about Ethiopian food for the past day or so (looking at you Lisa), I really wanted it for dinner tonight. A slight problem though: a) we weren't going out to get it (too lazy); and b) I didn't have the key ingredients of berbere or teff (or injera). Regardless, I was determined to cobble something together. I poked around the kitchen cabinets, pantry, fridge and CSA box and after 2.5 hours in the kitchen, the following was served:

• Pseudo Injera (white flour, water, vinegar and baking powder)
• Tikil Gomen (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, cumin, turmeric and I threw in some radish greens)
• Kik Alicha (yellow split peas, onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric)
• Pseudo Doro Wat (soy curls, onions, dark seasoned chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dash of cloves)

So how was it? Pretty good but of course not very authentic. I ran out of pans so I baked the fake injera batter which of course didn't bubble like it would in the pan. Actually I shouldn't really call it "fake" injera since injera can be made with other flours for different occasions. Teff injera is the most common (and super yummy).

Anyway, the meal did manage to satisfy my cravings but I need to stock up on real Ethiopian spices and mixes and I need some good Ethiopian food very soon. Until then, I'm going to gorge on the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Grilled Tofu & Vegetables

Grilled tofu with roasted broccoli & zucchini and a side of roasted red new potatoes.

The tofu was marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, braggs and Bryanna's broth powder and then grilled on my fancy George Foreman grill. I love that grill!

Chickenless Stew & Dumplings

Stew made with vegetables and soy curls with herbed dumplings. Perfect food for fall.

As for the previous post, yup, the secret project is vegan Yorkshire Pudding and between the two of us, I think we've got it pretty close. When Lelly and I get the recipe perfect, then maybe we'll release it publicly. Maybe.

Chickenless Stew & Dumplings

Stew

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large starchy potatoes, diced
• 1/2 pound baby carrots (or diced carrots)
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2 cups (approx) TVP chunks OR soy curls OR seitan OR one to two cans of chickpeas (drained)*
• 3 cups seasoned/salted vegetable stock**
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• seasonings #1: salt, pepper, sage, poultry seasoning (start with about 1/2 tsp of each, less if using ground sage)
• seasonings #2: thyme, marjoram, sage, dried parsley (start with 1 tsp of each but less if using ground herbs)
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast

*use a 1/2 pkg of soy curls, rehydrated. If using TVP chunks then rehydrate in broth first, squeeze out liquid, dust with flour and pan fry in oil first (gives it a better flavour).

**If you’re using bouillon cubes, you can use enough for 4 cups. So if your cubes are 1 cube to 2 cups water, use 2 cubes.

Dumplings

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2-3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp dried herbs (anything you want)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 (approx) cup soy milk

Directions

1. In a heavy pot, brown the onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms until onions are translucent and mushrooms are cooked.
    
2. Add in the TVP/soy curls/seitan/chickpeas and brown for a minute or two.
    
3. Add in the vegetable stock and soy milk and both sets of seasonings to taste (tastewise, it will come together more after cooking) along with the bay leaves and the nutritional yeast. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then cover and simmer.
    
4. Check every 10 mins or so and stir. Continue cooking until potatoes are very soft (maybe 30 mins), checking and adjusting seasonings.
    
5. Make the dumplings by combining the flour, baking powder, salt and herbs. Then add the oil and soy milk and stir well. The consistency of the dough should be really really sticky.
    
6. Drop dumpling dough onto the simmering stew by heaping spoonfuls making sure the dumplings don’t touch. You should get about 5-6 large spoonfuls. They should just be on top of the stew, not submerged. Cover and continue to let simmer for about 15 mins. The dumplings will expand. Check one of the dumplings by cutting it in half to make sure it’s cooked through.
    
7. When the dumplings are done, remove them to a separate plate and stir the stew really well so that some of the cooked potato disintegrates into the stew and thickens it (you could opt for using a cornstarch slurry here if you want but the potato does a pretty good job).
    
8. Serve up the stew and put some dumplings on top with a pat of margarine over the dumplings.