Our Veggie Kitchen

I was reminiscing with my old roommate from High School about the crap that we used to eat. We both worked at McDonald's and ate there three or four times a day. We would stack 2 or 3 1/4 pound patties on top of bacon and several slices of cheese and, maybe, a tomato. We'd make a basket of french fries just for ourselves, use mayonnaise by the cupful and eat fish sandwiches dripping with tartar sauce. It's a wonder we survived.

Well, it's his birthday this week, so I thought I'd revive one of his favorites, and mine. It was a greasy, dripping mess of sausage, eggs, potatoes and cheese and it left a pit in your stomach, especially if you overindulged, which we usually did. It was something that we really dug. McFarland: Potatoes McFarland. And Happy Birthday!

So, in my ongong attempt to veganize, here's my healthy version of that nostalgic classic that should have never passed our lips. (Pictured here with Ranch Dressing and Tabasco).



Potatoes McFarland
2 Pounds New Potatoes, cubed
3 Tbs vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Recipe Tofu Scramble, made concurrently
1/2 lb homemade or store bought meatless sausage links
1/2 cup Chedda Cheeze Sauce

Heat enough oil to liberally coat a large fry pan over medium high. There should be enough oil so that the potatoes do not stick. If the potatoes stick to the pan, add some more oil. Add the potato cubes and fry, turning as they brown. I use a sloped fry pan and toss them occasionally. Fry until the potatoes are browned and cooked through, about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes.

While the potatoes cook, prepare the tofu scramble as described here. Cook the sausages along with the tofu scramble. When they are done, cover and remove from the heat.

To assemble, stir the tofu scramble into the potatoes. Drizzle with the cheddar cheeze sauce and gently fold into the potato mixture. Serve with catsup, Tabasco and/or ranch dressing. If necessary, wear a bib =)

5 Servings: 449 cal (17g fat, 50g carbs, 25g protein)

The sun is rapidly fading here in Eugene. I've been working hard to use all my basil before it withers and I've had a healthy Thai Basil plant that needed to be on my plate. I've been kicking some ideas around and invited a nice family of willing guinea pigs. We had taco fixins left over from yesterday, so I made no attempt to make our meal kid friendly. In the end, we had a nice meal of mostly good food and always good company. Here was my menu:



Thai Fried Rice - I'd made this before. I love it. It's a mixture of fried tofu, thai basil, cilantro, thai peppers and ginger. Not hot, but a nice warm treat.

Thai Sausage - I'd been reading about Thai street food and came across this. Originally cased and skewered, I decided to make patties. I've been eating it all weekend; on a bed of jasmine rice and doused in sweet chili sauce. One day soon, this will make a great hamburger, pot stickers too.

Thai Basil Pesto - I had high hopes for this. I blended cashews with lime juice, thai basil, cilantro, galangal (yum), Kafir Lime leaves (double yum)and birds eye chili peppers. I marinated it in tofu and baked it. . . I'm going to call this a work in progress.

Red Curry - Sweet potatoes and spinach in a red coconut curry. Pretty simple, pretty tasty, but, as you can see, it only barely looked edible. Probably the subject of a future post.

Not on vegan Thai cousine - Thai cooks are amazingly adept at concealing non-vegan food in their meals. Eggs are easy to spot, but sauces and pastes commonly have fish parts. Curry paste, especially red, usually (but not always) has shrimp paste, and fish sauce is in everything. I use Golden Mountain Sauce as a substitute for fish sauce. It has a more authentic Thai flavor and a bit of a fishy taste. Its worth getting. You may sub soy sauce instead, though.



Thai Sausage
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup cooked & chilled white rice
1/4 cup shallot, minced
1 tbs galangal (or ginger), minced
1 tbs lemongrass, minced
1 tbs green Thai birds-eye peppers
1 tbs garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup cold vegetable broth
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tbs Golden Mountain Sauce (or soy sauce)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

Mix the vital wheat gluten with the other dry ingredients. Make sure that they are thoroughly mixed and no lumps of rice remain. Use your fingers! Mix in the wet ingredients, adding a (very) little gluten or water to make a moist dough.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form into 15 small patties and fry in a large fry pan (or double batch) in a little oil, over medium-high heat until brown on both sides (about 10 minutes). Transfer patties to a 9 x 13 casserole, cover and bake for about 40 minutes, turning once. Test a patty to check consistency and cook more if necessary.

5 servings: 253 cal (7g fat, 19g carbs, 30g protein)

Thai Fried Rice
2 tbs vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbs ginger, grated
1 tbs chopped red chilies
4 oz fried tofu, chopped small
3 cups jasmine rice
2 tbs golden mountain sauce
2 green onions
1 cup thai basil, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add garlic, ginger and chilies. Stir fry for a couple, until fragrant. Add the rice and toss well, breaking up any lumps. Add the golden mountain sauce and toss through with the green onions, tofu, thai basil and cilantro.

4 Servings: 335 cal (13g fat, 45g carbs, 10g protein)

I took my seitan on the road through rural Washington, visiting two foodies that are both very omni. They both were surprised, stunned that a seitan sausage tastes good. My Italian Sausage passed the taste test with my olive-skinned father and his Mediterranean roots, so it's time to post.



Italian Sausage
1/2 cup white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cold vegetable broth
1/4 cup tvp
1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
2 tbs nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp anise seed
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes.

The process is similar to Andouille (illustrated here)

Combine the vegetable broth with the tvp and let sit until it softens. Mix the anise seed, fennel seed and red pepper flakes in a mortar and bruise with a pestle. Get your steaming apparatus set up and bring water to a boil while you assemble the seitan. Tear 6 sheets of tin foil (about 5 inches each) and have ready.

To prepare seitan, mash beans with a fork in a flat-bottomed bowl. Add the wheat gluten, nutritional yeast and spices, including fennel, anise and pepper flakes. Mix together with your fingers, then incorporate with the mashed beans into a coarse meal. It is not necessary to be thorough, just make sure the beans are not clumpy. Pour in the remaining ingredients and mix together with your fingers, until a moist dough is formed. Add a tablespoon or two of water if necessary.

Divide the dough into six equal parts. With each part, form into a log about 5 inches long. Roll the dough in foil and twist the ends. Place the wrapped 'links' into a steamer and steam for about 40 minutes, until the sausage is firm.

Edit: ingredient list did not include tvp.

6 Servings: 201 cal (5g fat, 15g carbs, 25g protein)

There's a great basic recipe for Seitan Sausage here. These sausages are wrapped in tin foil and steamed instead boiled or baked. The result is a sausage with a great texture that tastes great for cooking or on a bun . . . nothing like the mushy erasers they push at the grocery.

I'm working on two variations of this recipe: Italian Sausage and Andouille. These are intended to flavor a dish, not as a stand alone, so I've increased the fat content. Further, Italian Sausage is not a smoked sausage. It has a very different texture that I am trying to emulate. It is definately a work in progress.

My first shot at Andouille turned out well, if not mild. It flavored my Jambalaya nicely.

Seitan Andouille:

1/2 cup white kidney beans
1 cup cold vegetable stock
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp cayenne (more to taste)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp chili powder

Here's my basic Seitan Sausage procedure:

Get your steamer ready. This goes together pretty quickly. I don't have a steamer, and don't intend to get one. I use a wide stock pit, a pie dish and a plate, pictured below. It works well.

Mash up beans in a glass pie dish. I pull out the skins when it's easy, but this is for presentaiton more than anything else. Push the beans aside and combine all the dry ingredients on the other side of the dish. Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork. Using your fingers, work the dry ingredients into the mashed beans; much like you would cut shortening into flour (right).

Combine the wet ingredients and pour into the pie dish. Knead with one hand until the liquid is incorporated. The dough should be moist and pliable, but somewhat firm. I sometimes need to add a little more wheat gluten. If so, dust the top with wheat gluten and knead it in. When the dough looks like this (left) divide into equal parts (8 parts for hot dogs, 6 for sausages). I roll them into balls.

Work the balls into a sausage shape, about 5"-6" in length, about the length of a sharpie. It won't really roll, I just work the shape with my hands. It doesn't need to be perfect either, when you wrap them in foil, they will take shape. As you form each sausage, place it on a piece of tin foil and roll tightly. Twist the edges and set aside.

Note: For breakfast sausages, I form into a 'rope' about the width of a breakfast sausage, roll half way in tinfoil, turn the tinfoil around and roll the other end in another 'rope' of dough, meeting in the middle.

Put the rolled sausages into the steamer and steam for around 45 minutes. I do a 'pinch' test to check for firmness. The longer you cook them, the firmer they get. When I cook them with intent to finish on the barbeque, I cook for about 30 mintutes. If you have to stack the sausages, turn half way though cooking. And the smaller the roll, the shorter the cook time. Breakfast sausage cooks for about 30 minutes.

The whole process, not including cook time, only takes about 15 minutes, and they freeze well, just make sure and lable them.

Sunday we had biscuits and gravy again. I've discovered that VeganDad's Breakfast Sausages are perfect for gravy. I make a batch, steamed in tin foil, and then fry them in water and maple syrup. Half gets chopped in saved for gravy. The other half gets served on the side. The syrup adds a perfect sweetness to the gravy.

I made the first batch with skim milk and it turned out perfectly. This batch was made with plain soy milk and it was a bit sweet, but still very good. Next time I'll use unsweetened soy milk.

9/26/08 Edit - I use unsweetened soy milk for my white sauces. The flavor doesn't interfere with sauces like plain does. Also, I minced the sausage, instead of chopping it for this pic. You could also run it through a blender.



Country Gravy
Sausage:
1/2 batch VeganDad's Breakfast Sausage
2 tbs water
2 tbs maple syrup

Gravy:
4 tbs Butter
1/4 cup Flour
1 quart unsweetened soy milk
1 small onion, halved
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare and steam the sausages as directed. When done, remove the links from the foil, chop or mince, and fry in 2 tbs each of maple syrup and water, until the moisture has cooked off and the sausages have browned a bit. Remove and set aside.

Meanwhile, pour soy milk and a small onion into a saucepan. Bring just to a simmer and reduce heat to keep warm. Do not allow to boil. Discard the onion before using.

Melt the margarine in another sauce pan and add the flour. Cook, stirring frequently for a few minutes, until the roux browns slightly. Remove from heat and whisk in the warm soy milk. Return to heat and add the sausages and salt and pepper liberally to taste. Continue simmering to desired consistency.

5 Servings: 272 calories (12g fat, 24g carbs, 18g protein)