Happy Thanksgiving for those celebrating!
My (omni) husband is getting in on the Vegan MoFo fun so I’ve decided to highlight his vegan cooking adventures here because I’m thankful that he is so supportive!
Enjoy some of his fabulous vegan creations!
db’s Grandma’s Szekely Goulash
Serves 2-3
So, this is an adaptation of my Hungarian grandmother’s Szekely goulash. I say adaptation because, like all of her really good recipes, this one was never written down. It’s pretty much what I remember from watching her. There are lots of recipes for “Hungarian Goulash” on the web – and there are plenty of Szekely goulash recipes as well. But those recipes don’t really look like, or taste like, my grandmother’s. Of course, she didn’t make vegan goulash (goulash was peasant food and, well, you can guess the rest……)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 container (8-10oz) of Seitan (cut into bite size, or slightly larger, pieces)
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups of veggie stock
- 1/2 a large onion, diced (large dice)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- One container (1-1/2 pints or so – about 25 oz) of sauerkraut. Squeezed, and drained (but don’t squeeze too much. Leave a little juice in there)
- Tofu sour cream – about 2 heaping tablespoons
- Salt
- Pepper
- Paprika
METHOD
- In a large pan (soup pan – a skillet won’t work here!) heat some olive oil on medium heat. Toss in your seitan and season with a little salt and pepper. Saute a bit, and add a little paprika.
- Toss in your onion and garlic. Stir and let onions cooks for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the sauerkraut. Add a little more paprika (just another dash or two) and combine. Once it gets hot, add about a cup of the veggie broth. Let simmer on low for a while. Maybe 20-30 minutes. Add more stock if need be. You don’t want it soupy – it should still be “thick” but you don’t want things to burn! In reality, the longer this simmers, the better. You’ll need more stock for that, but it’s still yummy after cooking for only 30 minutes.
- After about 20-30 minutes, turn the heat up just a bit, and add the tofu sour cream. Heat / simmer for another 10 minutes. Add some more paprika (just another few dashes for a little color) and stir to combine.
So, if you’re bored of store-bought pickles, then follow on below. I adapted this recipe from two different recipes from FoodTV.com (Emeril Lagasse and Alton Brown)
Grab 2 quart sized Mason Jars
In a large pan, boil water, and add the jars, and lids, and screw bands to the water. Boil for 5 minutes and remove to dry and cool on a clean rack. This isn’t the full blown sterilization method, but it gets them cleaner than just washing alone.
The Brine:
- 1 1/4 cups of water
- 1/4 cup of white wine
- 1 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup of sugar (maybe a touch more)
- 1 Tablespoon of salt (maybe a touch more)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of pickling spice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon whole celery seed
- 1 1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seed
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
Combine all the above ingredients into medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and wait for 4-5 minutes longer. When that’s done, pour into a large glass container to cool. Let cool to room temp.
The vegetation:
- 6 mini cucumbers or Kirby cucumbers
- 2 regular, organic, cucumbers
- 1 medium to large onion, cut in half and sliced somewhat thin.
- 10 cloves of garlic – 8 minced into large chunks and 2 smashed left whole
- 2 green chili’s (long thin ones) diced.
Wash all your cukes and cut the ends off.
Then, take the mini, or Kirby’s, and slice into thin rounds. You can use a mandolin if you like. I used a knife because it felt, well, more homemade.
I took the ‘regular’ cukes, and sliced them the long way for sandwiches – they might be a little long for regular bread, but that’ll be the charm of your homemade pickles. Not too thick, but not too thin either.
Next, slice the onion in half (one for each mason jar) and cut that into semi-thin slices. Mince the garlic and cut in half. Smash the other two whole cloves and set aside as well. Then set aside the chili’s.
The preparation:
Once the brine is cooled, take a mason jar and start putting the long, thin, sliced cukes in there. I held the jar on an angle to make it easy. Every 4 or so slices I would toss in some onion and garlic. Keep “layering” until full. Then pack some extra onion and garlic (just from the half allotted to that jar!) on top. Then pour the brine in (slowly). Spoon some of the seeds and “solids” on top and finish it off until the liquid comes up to the shoulder of the jar.
In the other jar, take the sliced rounds and start layering from the bottom up: a hand-full of cukes, then some onion – garlic – and chili’s. Then more cukes, then onion, then garlic and chili’s. Rinse and repeat till you’re at the top of the jar. Then, fill with the brine, spoon in the “solids” and finish off the brine to the shoulder of the jar.
On both jars, put the lid on, and then the screw band. Tighten just a bit (not even finger tight) and let everything sit for a bit. Maybe an hour. Then tighten down to a comfortable snugness and put in the fridge for 3-4 days.
The aftermath:
Sample your goods. If they need to sit longer, then let them sit a couple more days. If not, raid the jars for sandwiches or in the middle of the night.
As usual, let your vegan food blogger wife take pictures of the event before they go in the fridge.
INGREDIENTS
- 4-5 small sweet potatoes or 3-4 larger-ish sweet potatoes
- 1/2 to 1 small-ish onions
- 3/4 a medium red pepper
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 to 3/4 large apple (Honey Crisp if you have it)
- Cumin
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red pepper flakes
METHOD
- Clean the potatoes, then slice and cube them into bite-sized bites. Nuke or bake them until “almost cooked.” (I nuked em’ to keep the cooking time down)
- In the meantime, slice and dice your onion into chunks (just smaller than bite-sized) and mince your garlic
- Also, slice and dice your pepper and apple into bite sized chunks as well.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium / medium high heat. Toss in the onion and pepper. Toss and heat for a few minutes.
- Toss in the potato chunks, garlic, and red pepper. Toss / stir / whatever.
- Toss in some salt and pepper
- Add the potato chunks. Toss. Add cumin and red pepper flakes. Toss some more. Maybe a minute or two. Add more salt if you feel like it.
- Add the apple chunks. Toss and heat for another minute or two until the apples are warmed.
- Take pix like a novice food blogger with your iPhone at 500 p.m. with fading sunlight and feral cats on the back deck stalking you for food.
db’s Black Bean Baked Potatoes (in his own words)
Serves 2
- 2 medium sweet potatoes – washed and pierced
- 1 can organic black beans – rinsed and drained
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- Cumin
- Thyme
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chili powder
Bake, or nuke, your sweet pertaters. Your choice. (If you choose to bake them, get the oven hot, and put them in about 15 minutes before you start the rest of this shenanigans)
In the meantime, over medium – medium-high heat, saute onion, and carrot for 3-4 minutes in olive oil. Add some salt. Add the garlic.
At about this time, toss the sweet pertators in the wave (if you haven’t already tossed them in the oven, like, 15-20 minutes ago.)
Stir or toss if your talented enough to toss the contents of the saute pan without an implement. Add beans. Stir or toss (again, if you have the talent….) Add cumin, thyme, chili powder (eyeball it – do it to taste…..there are no measurements allowed in my cooking unless I’m baking. Cuz then, of course, it’s like a science class in college where it’s mandatory that you measure everything). Toss more, and let heat up for 3 minutes or so.
Yank your taters out of the wave (seriously, don’t bake them…..it takes forever). Cut em’, squeeze em’, and toss a little Earth Balance on em’.
Spoon the bean goodness / mixture / concoction on top of the tater.
Again, as I’ve said before, allow your vegan partner to take pictures of the best looking of the two servings.
Serve with a tall glass of hooch and enjoy.
db’s Reubin-ish Pizza (in his own words)
I was originally going to make Hungarian goulash. But the thought of a sour cream (or fake sour cream) heavy dish made me burp. And as I was craving pizza throughout the cleanse, I thought I’d move ingredients from the stew pot, to the pizza crust.
Pre-heat oven to 450 or so
- Half a package of uncooked whole wheat pizza crust (store bought, dairy section) OR homemade pizza dough of your choice.
- Saute sliced (small pieces) of beef, pork, or seiten (for the omni or vegan in the house). Saute with garlic, dash of onion powder, salt, pepper, cumin and thyme. Set aside
- Drain a few handfuls of good sauerkraut. We get ours from the farmers market – it’s yummy.
Stretch the pizza dough on a cornmeal or flour dusted pan or pizza stone.
Spread your preferred Thousand Island dressing (recipe below) on in place of tomato sauce. Follow that with two pieces of Swiss-flavored rice cheese (for the vegan) or shredded Jarlsberg (for the omni). Toss on the kraut. Note, use a little more dressing and kraut than you think you should. Trust me on this.
Slice up some onion and toss that on there too. Then top with seitan or meat (whichever you prefer).
Toss in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until crust looks yummy and cheese is bubbly.
Slice, plate, and eat. (or take pix if you’re a food blogger.)
db’s Thousand Island Dressing (in his own words)
(adapted from a recipe found on Food Network)
As I only needed enough to cover a pizza, I cut all the measurements down quite a bit.
- 1/2 Clove garlic, minced
- 2-3 Tablespoons of Vegenaise (mayonnaise for the crazy omni in the house)
- 1 Tablespoon of organic ketchup (plus a little more to taste as necessary)
- 1 Teaspoon of sweet pickle relish
- Dash of salt and pepper
Mix it all together. Adjust ingredients to taste. Easy-peasey.
db’s Grilled Veggie Sammy (in his own words)
Inspired / half-stolen from a great restaurant (Sweet Lorraine’s) I used to hit up back in my Michigan days.
- Hearty bread – Sourdough works very well.
- Cheese – Muenster, Swiss, or Daiya mozzarella cheese for the vegan
- Avocado
- Onion
- Tomato
- Alfalfa sprouts
Use Earth Balance or some other vegan butter-esque spread of choice to slather on the bread.
Heat up your grill pan or skillet, and slap the bread in there (“butter” side down, of course). A griddle is easiest, as you can do all four pieces of bread at the same time and save yourself the hassle of flipping a large sandwich.
On one side of the bread / sandwich, put your cheese of choice, avocado slices, and a hunk of sprouts. On the other half, place the onion and tomato slices.
Grill until bread is golden brown and cheese is melty. Gently grab the half of your sammy with the onion and tomato and place it on top of the other half (again, this is much easier than trying to flip the whole darn thing.)
Cut in half, plate, take a photo, and snarf down.
db’s Stuffed Peppers – or, Wait, there’s no meat in this?
2 large green peppers, cored and cleaned. If they don’t stand up on their own, carefully cut the “feet” on the bottom to make them stable. Don’t cut too much as you’ll make a hole in the bottom and all the liquid goodness will drain out.
Preheat oven to 400 F (as opposed to Kelvin)
In a saute pan:
Heat olive oil over med – med high heat
- Dice approximately 1/2 of an onion
- Dice up approximately a dozen mushrooms (use the spore of your choice, Crimini’s were the fungus of the day here)
- Mince a couple cloves of garlic
- Drain and clean about a 1/2 can of beans (again, your choice – black beans were the legume of the day here)
- 1/2 – 1/3 cup of veggie stock or diced tomatoes, either one will do. (or cut each in 1/2 and use both)
In a saute pan, with a bit of olive oil, throw in the shrooms, add a little salt and pepper. When they’re getting soft, toss in the onion and garlic. Stir, toss, flip, whatever for about 3 or 4 minutes – then toss in the beans. Toss all that together for another minute or two.
Now, place the two peppers in a glass baking dish (or whatever works for you) and fill both with the filling from the saute pan. Bake for 30 mins. Plate, and watch your vegan wife take pictures of the better looking of the two peppers.
Enjoy.
(this recipe brought to you by my husband!)
Adapted from about 3 different recipes on the web
- 2-3 cups of grated carrots
- Approx 4 ‘big’ tablespoons of Vegenaise
- About 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice (eye-ball it)
- About 2 tablespoons of olive oil (eye-ball it)
- big handful of raisins (golden or dark, you choose)
- Average handful of walnuts (or not, your choice)
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Grate approximately 2-3 cups (I was closer to 3 cups) of carrots. Use the food processor with adapter or do what I did – use a veggie peeler and do it the old fashioned way. Set aside in a large mixing bowl. Throw in the raisins and walnuts (or not!)
In a small bowl, whisk together the Vegenaise, olive oil, and lemon juice.
In the large bowl, pour the dressing over the carrot and raisin / nut concoction. Throw in salt and pepper to taste, and mix with your hands (wash them first, please) to get the best coating of yummy dressing goodness possible. Taste test, and adjust seasonings (more dressing, more salt, etc.) as necessary.
Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to let it all “come together”.
I have been asked if Dave has his own blog. Why yes, he does! It’s not a food blog, but it’s a good blog! Check him out: Stalking the Podium: Updates from the world of triathlon racing in the M40-44 AG. Trying to help age group triathletes move from the middle of the pack to the age group podium.
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