Vegan Braunschweiger

(pictured: vegan braunschweiger on wasa crisp with dijon and pickled red onion)

Credit for this concept goes to Bryanna Clark Grogan and her recipe posted on August 6, 2009. I am very excited about this recipe. Topped with Dijon and onions this reminds me so much of liver without the negative health impact.

I made some changes to the Bryanna’s original recipe; most noticeably I swapped out the silken tofu and sunflower seeds for the pulp that is left when I make almond milk. I make almond milk so often I always have the pulp on hand and wanted another way to use it. There are only so many veggie burgers I can make with the almond pulp before I have a freezer full. I thought this recipe would be a good way to use the almond pulp, and it was!

The texture of this loaf is firm, but spreadable. Texture is one of those things that I think is critical in cooking and this one turned out really well. This is so good spread on a hearty bread or cracker with a little mustard and pickled onion.

Vegan Braunschweiger
Serves 8 – ½ or each small loaf

Ingredients:

wet strained pulp from making almond milk (recipe here)
4 ounces of Yukon Gold Potato, scrubbed and cut into small chunks (peel on)
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons of onion flakes
¼ cup of nutritional yeast flakes
¼ cup of whole-wheat flour
¼ cup of liquid aminos
2 cloves of garlic
½ teaspoon of thyme, dried
½ teaspoon of oregano, dried
5 allspice berries, ground (approximately ¼ teaspoon)
1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon of liquid smoke
8 ounces of almond milk, unsweetened

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put everything in the blender with half the almond milk and puree until everything is combined. If the mixture is too thick add the remaining almond milk 1 tablespoon or 2 two at a time until the mixture will pour (mine was still somewhat thick).

I used four small loaf pans (4 ½ by 2 ½ by 1 ½) and the mixture filled each to within ¼ inch of the top of the pan. Place the pans in another pan and add water so that it comes half way up the sides.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the mixture is beginning to set, but is still somewhat soft. It will firm significantly as it cools.

Wrap tightly and store in the refrigerator. I plan to freeze half of mine like Bryanna suggested on her site, assuming it lasts long enough to make it to the freezer.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 80.32
Calories From Fat (37%) - 29.41

Total Fat - 4.62g
Saturated Fat - 0.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 832.11mg
Potassium - 388.89mg
Total Carbohydrates - 9.41g
Fiber - 1.01g
Sugar - 0.55g
Protein - 3.6g

Comments:

It has been a few years since I have had brauschweiger, but I think this is a reasonable approximation. The flavor is quite good, and as I said earlier the texture is great.

If you make almond milk and are looking for a way to use the leftover pulp this is great option. There are so many options for where you can take this base. I can imagine many different pate varieties in the coming months.

Update:

I took this to cooking class tonight, and please note this is not a vegan class, and ..... it was much better received than I expected. The men definitively seemed to like it more than the women. But, overall I think this is a winner. The texture is definitely dead on. Most people thought the flavor was good, although I did get a few suggestions that I will try to incorporate into the next batch.

Eggplant tomato sauce

Dinner tonight was Italian for a few reasons. First. Italian food is always welcome in my family. Second, I have been on such a Middle Eastern kick recently I have been neglecting my roots. Today we returned to a Sicilian inspired dinner. This is the sauce I used tonight.

I made my tomato and eggplant sauce, and I made a vat of it. If you shop at Costco and know those giant cans of tomatoes, that is what I turned into sauce today. I will put the leftovers in the freezer to use over the next month or so when I want a little sauce.

Eggplant tomato sauce
Makes 16 cups

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon of canola oil
3 cups of red onion, finely minced
4 carrots, finely diced
6 cloves of garlic minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so the allicin can develop)
102 ounces of diced tomatoes
5 cups of eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes (2 medium eggplants)
6 ounces of pitted black olives, sliced into 1/8 inch rings
1 ½ tablespoons of dried oregano, or to taste
½ tablespoon of dried thyme, or to taste
½ tablespoon of kosher salt, or to taste
½ tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or to taste

Directions:

Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in the olive oil until tender. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over a low simmer for at least an hour. Stir occasionally to make certain the sauce doesn’t try to stick on the bottom.

Nutritional Information (per 1 cup):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 76.99
Calories From Fat (22%) - 17.2

Total Fat - 2.03g
Saturated Fat - 0.29g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 247.95mg
Potassium - 568.49mg
Total Carbohydrates - 14.51g
Fiber - 4.77g
Sugar - 6.35g
Protein - 2.64g

Comments:

This is a good all purpose Southern Italian tomato sauce that works on pasta, pizza or anywhere else you use tomato sauce.

Zucchini, Tomato, Okra and Seitan Sausage Over Polenta

All is right with the world again because my sweetie is home safely from Oklahoma. I get is such a funk when we are apart. Ok, enough of that, back to cooking. Since I wanted to get a lot of veggies into my husband, I made a vegetable medley to serve over polenta for a late lunch today.

In order to keep the fat down, since I wasn’t certain how much fat he had on the road, I used only a teaspoon of oil to sauté the onion, and no fat in the polenta. Normally I would use a little more fat but I wanted to try to get the fat percentage a little lower than normal to bring the two day average down.

I used what I had in the house that I knew would go together. The okra was included for its ability to lower cholesterol. Okra isn’t my husband’s favorite (he complains about the “slime factor”). However, I have found if okra is a component of a larger dish he will eat it without much complaint. At least without any serious complaints (only his joking complaints), so that works for me. The zucchini was added for bulk. Zucchini is great to use as a vegetable filler. The red bell pepper adds a lot of vitamin C (more than an orange). Onions, garlic and tomatoes are cancer fighters, but also provide great flavor and are the foundation for many of my dishes. I included a seitan sausage to add a little more protein to the dish. I served this over polenta because I wanted to increase the calories without adding fat.

Zucchini, Tomato, Okra and Seitan Sausage Over Polenta
Serves 2

Polenta Ingredients:

1 cup of dry polenta
3 cups of cold water
1 teaspoon of salt

Vegetable Medley Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of canola oil
1 red onion, finely minced
1 red bell pepper, minced
1 cup of zucchini, minced
1 cup of okra, minced
15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, grated or minced
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
½ teaspoon of dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 Mexican spiced seitan sausage, sliced thinly

Directions:

Add the polenta, water and salt and stir to incorporate the three. Taste the water to see if it tastes salty enough for you. Polenta is like rice, you can’t salt it later, it just won’t ever have enough salt if you do. Turn the heat on lower and periodically stir the polenta. When it starts to tighten up and bubble like lava turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan. You can hold the polenta for 10 – 15 minutes before it begins to firm. If necessary you can leave the heat on low and add a little water to keep it from getting too tight.

When you start the polenta you should also begin the vegetable medley so that they are both finished at the same time.

Sauté the onion in the olive oil until soft. When the onion has softened add all the remaining ingredients and simmer until the polenta is ready. The cooking process should take about 15 minutes.

Serve the vegetable medley over the polenta. If you have fresh parsley, that would be a good garnish on top of the vegetables.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 463.63
Calories From Fat (11%) - 51.97

Total Fat - 6.05g
Saturated Fat - 0.71g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1393.27mg
Potassium - 1316.03mg
Total Carbohydrates - 82.85g
Fiber - 13.88g
Sugar - 5.31g
Protein - 26.51g

Comments:

Lunch today was very filling. I don’t think we will be having a heavy dinner tonight. The flavor was mild, but complex. There were no complaints about the okra (thankfully).

Overall, I think we both liked this meal. My husband did comment that the texture of the sausages was good. It appears we both prefer the pressure cooked seitan sausage methodology. This meal was all about comfort food to me. The creaminess from the polenta makes it very comforting, in my opinion.

Seitan Piccata with Fiddlehead Ferns, Potatoes and Onions

Dinner tonight was something quick from the freezer and the refrigerator. I defrosted a couple of seitan cutlets and fiddlehead ferns today in the refrigerator while I did other things. This was a dinner made completely from things I had in the pantry. This is my version of piccata, it is not a traditional Italian recipe. I started using Marsala after I ran out of Pinot Grigio and found I like it better this way.

If you don’t have fiddlehead ferns in the freezer, asparagus is very close in taste and makes a good substitute. If you want to purchase fiddlehead ferns out of season go to the website for Earthy Delights they normally have blanched frozen fiddlehead ferns.

This dinner took about 15 minutes to make but would be a great dinner if you have unplanned dinner quests. I have made these dishes many times and they are always well received.

Seitan Piccata with Fiddlehead Ferns, Potatoes and Onions
Serves 2

Piccata ingredients:

½ teaspoon of canola oil
2 pressure cooked seitan cutlets
¼ cup of Marsala wine
¼ cup of vegetable stock or water
2 tablespoons of caper
zest and juice of one lemon
½ tablespoon of cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 sprigs or fresh parsley, finely minced
4 very thin slices of lemon to top piccata - optional

Fiddlehead fern ingredients:

1 teaspoon of canola oil
½ red onion, roughly chopped
5 ounces of Yukon gold potato
1 pound of fiddlehead ferns (or asparagus)
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
dried thyme, to taste
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice - optional

Directions:

Scrub the potato, pierce it a few times with a paring knife and microwave a few minutes so that it is just tender. Cut the potato into bite sized pieces.

Lightly coat or spray a non-stick, or seasoned cast iron pan with canola oil and sauté the onion over medium heat. Add the potato to the pan to lightly brown.

Meanwhile heat another non-stick or seasoned cast iron pan with canola oil and sear the cutlets on both sides. Deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine and add the water and capers and put the cover on so the seitan will steam for a few minutes. If you are topping with thin lemon slices add them here.

Add the fiddlehead ferns to the potato pan and turn the heat down as low as possible and put a lid on the pan. You want the ferns to be just cooked and this will take a few minutes only. Treat the fiddleheads like you would asparagus. Season the fiddleheads and potatoes with salt, pepper and thyme, to taste. Add a little fresh lemon juice to the pan, if desired.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and cornstarch to the pan. Stir to incorporate the cornstarch.

Top the piccata with the sacue and then fresh parsley when you are serving.

Nutritional information (Piccata ½ of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 234.94
Calories From Fat (14%) - 32.18

Total Fat - 3.64g
Saturated Fat - 0.34g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 648.4mg
Potassium - 410.27mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.25g
Fiber - 1.52g
Sugar - 1.54g
Protein - 30.24g

Nutritional information (Fiddleheads and Potatoes ½ of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 164.97
Calories From Fat (17%) - 28.04

Total Fat - 3.22g
Saturated Fat - 0.21g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 146.63mg
Potassium - 601.69mg
Total Carbohydrates - 28.48g
Fiber - 2.41g
Sugar - 0.57g
Protein - 11.63g

Comments:

This is a great dinner when you don’t have much time but you want something a little special for dinner. My husband is going to be gone for a day and a half on business so I wanted to make a nice dinner tonight. Seitan Piccata is a family favorite (it is another Italian thing).

In the bad old days I would have served this with a chocolate and hazelnut semifreddo for dessert. I guess I should work on making a vegan version of semifreddo while my husband is away so I can surprise him when he comes home. Expect to see that semifreddo soon once I work out the details.

Tofu Frittata with Potato and Hot Peppers

We used to eat a lot of egg frittatas in the old days. I guess you could say it was an Italian thing. When I didn’t know what to make for dinner I would turn to a frittata variation. I tried many times to get the texture right with tofu but wasn’t happy with the result until very recently. I guess that is what perseverance (and a lot of mistakes) can do.

You can put anything you want into a frittata. The only rule to remember is that you need to cook the vegetables first so that they release their liquid before you add the tofu mixture. If you skip this step you will need to cook it much longer to evaporate all the water, and the tofu texture on the bottom (where the liquid is) will be “wrong”.

I had read in the past (specifically in Anticancer) that turmeric should be cooked in little oil and with black pepper so that the human body was best able to absorb it. However, this is one of those facts that didn’t stick with me until I read this article. Now I understand that the black pepper contains and ingredient (piperine) that allows the curcumin to be better absorbed. I still haven’t seen anything that explains why it needs to be cooked in a little oil. But I am going to guess that it is fat-soluble and that is the reason.

Tofu Frittata with Potato and Hot Peppers
Serves 4 with a big veggie side dish

Ingredients:

1 potato, scrubbed and pierced with a paring knife to vent steam
pan spray for your skillet (or olive oil in a pump style mister)
½ teaspoon of turmeric
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
½ red onion, finely diced
¼ teaspoon of dried thyme
½ tablespoon of hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
12.3 ounce package of low fat silken tofu
2 tablespoons of flour (you can use wheat, almond or garbanzo bean)
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
¼ teaspoon of dried thyme
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Put the potato in the microwave and cook until it is tender. This took 4 minutes in my microwave. Cut the potato into bite size pieces.

Meanwhile spray the skillet you are going to cook the frittata in with oil. Add the turmeric, black pepper, oregano and onions and cook until the onions have softened. Add the potato and hot crushed pepper to the skillet and toss to coat.

While the potato is getting crusty, put the tofu, flour and cornstarch into the food processor and combine. You may need to scrape the sides of the processor once to get all the ingredients to incorporate completely.

Put the tofu mixture on top of the potato mixture and cover the skillet. Sprinkle the top with salt, pepper and thyme. Cook on medium for 15 minutes (or until the tofu in the center is set).

This is good equally good hot or cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 102.14
Calories From Fat (8%) - 7.69

Total Fat - 0.86g
Saturated Fat - 0.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 195.51mg
Potassium - 271.75mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.83g
Fiber - 1.87g
Sugar - 0.8g
Protein - 7.15g

Comments:

It took me a while to get the texture right on the tofu frittata. My early attempts were too firm or not firm enough. I think the texture of this version is very close to the traditional egg version.