What can I say? Life has been hectic. I've been doing a lot of vegan cooking, but it's been the "holy crap, it's 8 o clock! Throw a veggie burger in the microwave and I'll saute those baby carrots you were going to take for a snack tomorrow" kind.
However, my mom tapped me this year to make as many vegan dishes for Thanksgiving as we could, because we had a good number of veggie friends dropping by. So, here's my "I'm Sorry" in the tune of a long Thanksgiving post. =)
The vegan menu was vast, and I wish I had pictures of it all, but, in the end, we'll just all use our imaginations and get on with our lives.
The menu:
- Roasted acorn squash with curried apple and cornbread stuffing
- Lebanese green beans (green beans sauteed with onions and cumin)
- Celery Root and Apple puree, which was amazing--adapted from this recipe from my muse, Ina Garten (Ina! Isa! Who's next? Ida?). Just use Earth Balance instead of butter and soy milk/creamer instead of cream.
- Mashed potatoes, of course
- Layered salad, with PPK's easy mock egg salad on top instead of mayo dressing, and tempeh bacon instead of piggy
- Quick Mushroomy Thanksgiving Gravy, which I made up on the spot
I'm not sure if the pies they made had butter in the crust, but all the non-vegans went and used agave instead of sugar this year, so you can't fault people for trying, can you? And we're talking about, like, 8 fruit pies.
Since I can still remember what I put in the gravy, I'll post the recipe right now before I forget. I'm sure it's like any other mushroom gravy, but I had fun making it on the spot and it tasted very Thanksgivingy.
Quick Mushroomy Thanksgiving Gravy
by Keith S.
2 cups rich vegetable broth (if you make your own, include carrots)
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 of a large red onion, or 1 small red onion, chopped finely
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 tsp poultry seasoning (Penzeys is vegan and salt/msg free)
1 tsp thyme
A pinch of sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup white wine
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
In a separate bowl or cup, whisk the flour and vegetable broth together. Set aside.
Melt the vegan margarine in a saute pan over medium heat.
Add onions and cook for about 3 minutes, until they start to become soft.
Add mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms start to give up their moisture and reduce in size. If the mushrooms soak up all the margarine before giving up their moisture and you think they'll start to stick to the pan in a bad way, feel free to add another pat of margarine. No one is watching you, and non-vegan gravy is full of turkey fat, so you got a ways to go to ever hit that level of fattiness.
Add poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, and minced garlic and cook together for another minute or so. Pour in the wine. The mixture should bubble and the wine should start to evaporate and reduce. If it doesn't, turn the heat up a bit, but don't burn your mixture.
When the wine has reduced by about half, give the flour/broth mixture a good last whisk and pour into the pan. Raise heat to medium-high and stir constantly until the mixture thickens. (Pull off the heat immediately if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.)
Once the flour is cooked through and the mixture has thickened, pour into your favorite fancy gravy boat! If you want to be ironic, make sure it's in the shape of a turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
2 comments:
It was so good to see you and Lance, and I really enjoyed meeting Parker and Seven. I wish I taken a photo of Seven, I love his style.
Thanks for updating your blog:)
Wow. The menu sounds delicious.
Post a Comment