American Vegan Kitchen: A Cookbook Review

I was really pleased when Tamasin Noyes contacted me to review her cookbook, American Vegan Kitchen, because I had been eying it on Amazon. I dig comfort food, and this book is expressly dedicated to all things homey and comforting. From donut bites to potato skins to burgers and onion rings to apple crisp, this book has you covered from breakfast to dessert. The book begins with a brief intro to the basics (what is tempeh?) and a few recipes for seitan, veggie broth, spice blend, etc. What follows is almost 200 pages of breakfast food, starters, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides, and desserts. Most recipes get their own page (shorter recipes share a page with other shorter recipes) which makes them very cook-friendly (I hate having to flip back and forth between the ingredient list and method). The book is published by Vegan Heritage Press, which, from what I can tell, is a small company that only publishes vegan books. The front cover is great, but I wish the photos in the colour insert were of the same quality. The layout is a touch spartan, but easy to read and follow.

As to be expected with a cookbook of veganized American cooking, the entrees and sandwiches are heavy on the seitan and tempeh which stand in place of meat. That being said, the book is not simply a fake-meat fest. Flip through the table of contents on Amazon to see what I mean. Some recipes are there in their full deep fried glory (which you will either love or hate), while others have a baked option (the onion rings, for example). I will be honest, I don't really cook from cookbooks on a regular basis, but I can see turning to this book to supplement Sunday brunches and neighbourhood BBQs.

After leafing through the recipes, I decided on the Tuna-Free Noodle Casserole. It was a total hit with the whole family: a creamy cashew-based sauce with roasted chickpeas and a crumb topping. The ingredient list is one of the longest in the whole book, but the kids loved it so it was worth the work. As you can see, I can't get egg-free ribbon noodles here, so I used bowties.

Vegan KD 1.0

Ah, KD. The food of my youth. Back in my teen years when grew about a foot every night, I would come home from school, eat an entire box of KD, then eat dinner a few hours later. And I never gained a pound. Man, those were the days. This is my first attempt (hence version 1.0) to recreate that peculiar KD look and taste. Part of this is because of a weird hankering I got for KD the other day, the other part is because I want to create some very kid-friendly meals for my nephew who has recently embraced veg*nism. I got the colour right, but the sauce was still too thick. No matter, the kids bolted it down with gusto with Son #1 eating a record 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 large red pepper roasted, peeled, and seeded
- 3 cups macaroni
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup margarine
- soy milk

METHOD
1. While red pepper is roasting, cook pasta according to directions. Start processing cashews and water in a blender until very smooth (3 to 5 mins).
2. Chop roasted pepper (after peeling and seeding, of course) and add to cashew mixture. Once smooth, pass mixture though a fine sieve (optional--my blender really isn't that great). Return to blender and add yeast, mustard, spices, salt, and flour. Blend until smooth.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain. Add margarine to the now empty hot pot and return to the stove over medium heat. When melted, slowly whisk in cashew mixture, then add pasta and mix well. Add enough soy milk until desired consistency is reached.

Kaiser Rolls: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Oh, man. Where have these kaiser rolls been all my life? I am kicking myself for not making these when I first bought The Bread Baker's Apprentice over a year ago. To be honest, I was intimidated by the knotting process needed to get that characteristic look, so I never made them. As it turns out, it is super easy to make these and they taste absolutely amazing.

GENERAL NOTES
1. The pate fermentee will keep in the fridge for three days, by which time it develops an amazing flavour that makes for a great kaiser roll. I make a double batch, use half right away, then keep the other half to make more buns a few days later (or French Bread).
2. I also made small 2 oz buns for the kids' lunches. They loved them, and the buns baked up in about 15 mins.
3. I find 20 mins is enough time to bake the large 4 oz buns.
4. When making a double batch, I place two sheets of buns in the oven on the second lowest and second highest shelves, then rotate halfway through.

VEGAN NOTES
1. I subbed an equal amount of soy yogurt for the egg. I have also made them with no egg substitute. Both ways are fine, though the yogurt does enrich the dough and make it slightly more tender.
2. I brush the rolls with soy milk (instead of water) before sprinkling with seeds just to get a darker crust.

Irish Stew 2.0

Here is the stew I made for St. Patrick's Day. I have made Irish Stew before but this time I found a secret ingredient that made it even more awesome: Montreal Steak Spice. The pepper adds some kick while the coriander and paprika make for an earthy and hearty tasting stew. I did not have any seitan on hand, so I made "beef" by adapting the vegan sausage recipe and was thus able to whip up a tasty stew fairly quickly. As while most stews, feel free to improvise as you see fit. Here is what I did.

INGREDIENTS
Seitan
- this recipe, made with 1 1/2 cups of wheat gluten, no fennel, and 1 tbsp Montreal steak spice. I also added 1/2 tsp of gravy browner to get the dark brown colour. I then shaped it into a square, wrapped it in foil, and steamed it for 45 mins. I used half of the seitan (and froze the rest), cut it into small cubes and simmered it in the stew for about 30 mins. The end result was pretty good. Not too tough or bouncy.

Stew
- basically this recipe, but I did not use the vinegar or red wine. Instead I used veggie broth and added 2 tbsp Montreal steak spice. A reader commented that this was WAY too much steak spice, so maybe mine is old and less potent. Just add to taste.

HiKool Update

Sorry I have not posted any new recipes lately, but all the content from my blog for the past seven months had been illegally posted on a site called HiKool. Every time I posted something new, it would soon be posted on that site. And it was not even my blog. I recognized pics and recipes from other vegan blogs as well. So, I filed a DMCA letter with HostGator, the site's hosting service, listing the 48 blog posts stolen from my website. Remember, bloggers, you maintain the copyright to the material on your blog. That means you have exclusive control over where that material appears. No one can re-post your recipe or pictures, even if they provide a link back to your blog, without your permission. This is not about plagiarism, necessarily, it is about copyright. It is your property, and you get to distribute it at your discretion.

I am happy to report that HostGator has now disabled access to the aforementioned site. Huzzah! Now that that is all sorted out, I will get back to posting recipes.