Yield: 12 main dish cakes, 24 appetizer or 36 hors d’oeuvres portions
At Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law, Tina, and I made Vegan Thai Corn Fritters that were a big hit. Ever since, I’ve wanted to try the same basic method using other vegetables and legumes. So, when I saw a vacuum sealed box of seasoned and cooked black eyed peas in the grocery store, this southern girl knew just what she’d do with them. And, boy, am I glad I did.
Though fried in canola oil, these hearty and colorful cakes are otherwise nutritional powerhouses and lip-smacking good. Black eyed peas, fresh spinach, red bell pepper, green onion, parsley and seasonings are bound together by pureed tofu and a mixture of flour and panko bread crumbs for a little crunch.
The tangy sundried tomato and caper-studded mayo is just the right creamy kick to set complement the cakes’ creamy-chewy-crispy goodness. Garnished with parsley, grape tomatoes and lemon slices, they are pretty as a picture, don’t you think?
I hope you enjoy this sanitized version of southern soul food.
For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:
The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes
Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011
Vegan Tempeh in Creamy Dijon-Mushroom Sauce
Yield: 4 servings (or 8 with a hearty side and/or salad)
This is from my “higher protein” series of recipes, great for weeknights, but special enough for company. The sauce is creamy, tangy, delicious and satisfying–a perfect foil for the crisp-coated tempeh–but it doesn’t contain greens, so be sure to serve a side or salad of something dark and leafy.
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (you can use whole wheat for a nuttier coating)
pinch coarse sea or kosher salt
pinch freshly ground black pepper
pinch garlic powder
pinch onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2-8 ounce packages tempeh, each “slab,” cut into 4 equal pieces (I used the kind with wild rice because rice and mushrooms are so good together, but use whatever protein–including seitan or tofu–that you like
1 + 1 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
2 + 1 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup white wine or sherry
3/4 cup plain soy creamer
Garnish: paprika and parsley, minced or left as sprigs
Preheat oven to warm. Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a shallow bowl and dredge tempeh in the mixture. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon vegan butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil to shimmering. Saute tempeh for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown on each side. Remove to a serving platter or individual plates and keep warm in the oven. Add remaining tablespoon of vegan butter and olive oil in skillet and, again, heat until shimmering. Add shallot and mushrooms and saute 2-3 minutes or until both begin to soften, stirring occasionally and scraping up browned flour from the bottom. Add mustard and whisk in until smooth. Do the same with the wine, followed by the creamer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes or until sauce is reduced by about half. Turn off heat and ladle sauce over tempeh. Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika and a little parsley. Serve immediately.
Source: Unknown (this is an old chicken recipe in my files from many many years ago before I was vegetarian that I have since veganized)
Vegan Southwestern Ground "Beef" and Corn Quiche with Vegan Press-In Chili-Cornmeal Crust
Yield: one 8 or 9-inch quiche or four 4-inch tartlets (this recipe easy doubles and can be baked in a 9 x 13-inch pan, but adjust the baking time as the batter will be deeper and, hence, need a few extra minutes)
This rustic, but pretty, crowd-pleasing iteration of my go-to quiche is one of those “endless guises” I referred to when I posted the quiche recipe. This one is heartier because of the vegan ground beef, but it lacks greens, so be sure to serve some on the side. Expect this dish to pull a major disappearing act!
For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:
The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes
Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011
Vegan "BLT" (Vegan Bacon, Linguine and Grape Tomatoes)
Yield: (2 servings; but I didn’t have lunch, so I ate the whole recipe!)
You may have noticed that I’ve been posting a fair number of recipes calling for grape tomatoes lately. The reasons are simple: they, along with Romas, look better in the winter; my grocery store sells them in large containers; and my husband doesn’t care for them. So, in order to use these beauties before they spoil, I’ve concocted several new ways to enjoy them. Here’s the latest:
Coarse sea or kosher salt to taste
4 ounces whole wheat linguine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-4 ounce package tempeh bacon, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons plain soy creamer
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon dried or 3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
In a medium put, bring a generous quantity of salted water to a boil. Add linguine, reduce heat to a simmer, stir, cover and cook for a few minutes or until al dente. Meanwhile in a cast iron skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil to shimmering. Add bacon and saute on both sides for a minute or two or until a light brown crust develops. Add two scant ladles of pasta water to the skillet, followed by soy creamer, maple syrup, nutritional yeast, and pepper. Stir gently to combine well. Stir in tomatoes and heat through, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta. Gently toss with sauce in skillet. Stir in parsley and serve in bowls with a fork and spoon.
Vegan Tempeh with Red Grapes, Grape Tomatoes and Nuts in White Wine Sauce
Yield: 2 servings
Here’s another of those high protein, not-too-terribly-caloric dinners that are part of my new nutritional plan. I almost have something to wear for this big (at least, to me) event that is responsible for the dietary modification, so more on it soon.
1-8 ounce package of tempeh
coarse sea or kosher salt to taste
a sprinkling of nutritional yeast + 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine (I used Reisling)
1 tablespoon vegan pesto
1/4 cup plain soy creamer
pinch garlic salt
freshly ground black pepper
16 grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
12 red seedless grapes (if large, use six and halve them–mine were very small; green would also be good)
1/4-1/3 cup nuts (I used cashews because my pesto was made from basil, mint, cilantro and cashews)
1 tablespoon dried or 3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
Preheat broiler. Liberally salt and sprinkle both sides of tempeh slab with nutritional yeast. Broil 3 minutes on each side. When tempeh has cooked, remove from oven and cut into 4 equal pieces. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil to shimmering. Add the teaspoon of nutritional yeast and toast lightly. Add broth and wine and simmer until it reduces just a little and thickens slightly. Stir in vegan pesto and soy creamer and simmer until, again, sauce thickens slightly. Season with garlic powder and pepper. Add tomatoes and grapes and just heat through. Stir in nuts and parsley. To serve, spoon sauce over tempeh.
Vegan Sesame-Crusted Tofu with Crispy Kale
Serves: 44 tablespoons vegetable stock
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (unsalted/unseasoned)
squirt of fresh lemon juice
1-16 ounce box, extra firm tofu, pressed, drained, and sliced crosswise into 4 equal pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:
The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes
Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011
Vegan Enchiladas with Vegan Fat-Free Spinach-Three Bean Filling and Vegan Queso con Carne Sauce
Yield: Variable
Following the Super Bowl, if you have any leftovers of my Vegan Fat-Free Spinach-Three Bean Dip and my Vegan Queso con Carne Dip, here’s a really tasty and satisfying meal you can whip together in a flash. Note that while they look more like burritos, since they are “sauced,” I’m calling them enchiladas but I hope you’ll call them “dinner”:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil a baking dish. Spoon abut 1/4-1/3 cup of the Spinach-Bean Dip into an elongated mound in the center of a tortilla (I used spinach wraps), fold one side over, fold in the ends and roll up, placing seam side down in the baking dish. Continue until you’ve used up the dip or made the amount of enchiladas you need. Then smother them with the Queso con Carne Dip, making sure to cover the enchiladas completely. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and slightly “set.” Serve with vegan sour cream and, if desired, fresh cilantro.
Vegan Chicken and Green Beans in Coconut Milk over Vegan Curried Couscous
Yield: 2 servings (easily doubles)
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, halved and slivered
4 ounces of Meal Starters chicken strips, thawed (you may substitute 4 ounces chicken-flavored seitan or tempeh, the latter recommended by a reader who felt the sweet coconut milk and natural bitterness of the tempeh were tasty complements to each other)
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
3/4 cup coconut milk (I use lite)
juice of 1/2 of a lime
1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar
coarse sea or kosher salt
Vegan Curried Couscous:
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup couscous
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon olive oil
coarse sea or kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
Vegan Chicken, Mushrooms, Yellow Peppers and Broccoli in Creamy Tarragon-Scented Sauce with Lazy (Wo)man’s Vegan Palmiers
Yield: 4 servings with a side salad (includes two palmiers per serving)
This recipe was my answer to the desire for a warm, comforting meal that tasted decadent, but was actually quite healthy, and that would go together quickly on a frigid Sunday night. Though delicious on its own, the dish seemed to need something else. However, since it was ready to eat when I realized that I wanted something to take it “over the top,” and since I was hungry to boot, the “something else” couldn’t take very long to prepare.
I remembered that I had vegan puff pastry in the freezer and thought about some kind of “bread” sticks, but the dough takes 40 minutes to thaw. So, I wondered what would happen if I thawed it in the microwave. What happens is it sticks together. So, then, out of necessity, I simply left the sheet of dough double folded (like a business letter) as it comes out of the package, sliced it into inch-wide sections and baked them. To my delight, my method resulted in the cutest and world’s easiest palmiers that were ready in little more than 15 minutes! A sprinkling of paprika before baking made them extra-special. And they are the perfect accompaniment to the dish…and to my husband’s steak (ugh).
For this recipe and some 170+ more,
I invite you to purchase my first cookbook:
The Blooming Platter:
A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes
Vegan Heritage Press
Spring 2011
