I'm always veganizing recipes that I love...so...I'm working my way
through all of the amazing recipes in Julia Child's
Mastering the Art of French Cooking...
...making a Vegan Version of each one...... sometimes successfully - sometimes not...Recipe Count 518/524 (from Julie's count)...but really 629

Monday, September 27, 2010

Vegan Beurre au Citron

[Lemon Butter Sauce]

...Julia states that this is a 'minor vatiation of beurre blanc, and very nice with ...vegetables...

....First, you boil down 1/4 cup of lemon juice to 1 Tablespoon...

....Remove from heat and beat in pieces of chilled Earth Balance...

...then you set it over low heat and beat in some more Earth Balance...

...then just before serving you beat in some hot liquid - vegetable stock or we used water so it would be just pure lemon butter - but if you were serving it with something more savory it might be nice to add the stock...

...we served ours with artichokes - the steps for preparing those are here...

...this tart buttery sauce goes really well with the artichoke - Julia also suggests it for cauliflower - interesting...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 98

Saturday, September 25, 2010

VEGAN COQUILLES ST. JACQUES À LA PARISIENNE


I made Coquilles St. Jacques à la Parisienne as a little appetizer before we took the Man out for his birthday - and in true Julia fashion they were delicious...

...first you boil some herbs and green onions in white wine...

...I realize you can't see that very well with it boiling and the steam and all - there's bay leaf, onions, salt and pepper in there with the dry white wine...

...this is a can of Veggi-Scallops that I brought all the way back from the SDA store in NC - and some cute little scallop dishes that I got from ebay - Scout wanted to use some actual shells that he had picked up on the beach - but I wasn't sure that was safe - I didn't want them to explode in the oven...

...hmmmn - I expected the scallops to be round - and oh - I forgot to take a picture of the mushrooms - they're in there already...

...and for the cream - I picked up this plain soy creamer the last time we were in Grand Forks - I usually just use soy milk thickened with some powdered soy milk - but we'll use this 'cream' today...

...then the sauce - first you make a roux with some flour and Earth Balance and cook that for a couple of minutes...

..then you're supposed to add the strained cooking liquid - but I got a little out of order and added the soy milk first...

...and then the 'cream'...

...salt and pepper and flax seed goo (substitute for the eggs)...and apparently I didn't get a picture of the flax seed goo - but there's a pretty good description of it here...

...and then the stock - I'm not sure it made any difference and the sauce looked pretty smooth...

...then you take the 'scallops' and mushrooms out of the strainer...

...and cut the 'scallops' cross-wise into 1/8 inch pieces...

...then you strain the sauce...

...ha! not as smooth as I had thought - and the pepper gets strained out as well...

...Ahhhh! Perfectly smooth sauce parisienne...

...add the mushrooms and 'scallops' back to the sauce...

...butter your shells with Earth Balance...

...then spoon 'scallops' mushrooms and sauce onto them...

...Sprinkle with cheese (I used Daiya) and dot with Earth Balance - I realize you can't tell any difference between the Daiya and the Earth Balance but there is Earth Balance on top...

...Run under a broiler for a few minutes...

...until they're all nicely browned...

...and hot and bubbly...

...then put them on a little plate - with one of those cute little forks that you hardly ever have the opportunity to use...

...and enjoy - these were superb - delicately flavored and just a perfect little amuse bouche before we headed to the restaurant for the birthday dinner...

Substitutions:

Cedar Lake Vegi Scallops for scallops
Soy Milk for milk
Soy creamer for cream
Earth Balance for Butter
Daiya mozzarella for the cheese
Flax Seed Goo for eggs

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 216-218

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Vegan Concombres à la Mornay

[Cucumbers with Cheese Sauce]

...I got another big bag of cucumbers from a nice lady at Church...and - as I had already made all the pickles we'll be likely to eat this winter - I looked for another one of Julia's cooked cucumber recipes...

...I know I said I'd be glad when all of the cooked cucumber recipes were done - but they do kinda grow on you...

...this is really just a combination of two other recipes - so first you have to make the Sauce Mornay - and pour that over your CONCOMBRES AU BEURRE ...

...run that under the broiler for a few minutes - until bubbly and slightly browned...

...and enjoy using up some more of summer's bounty...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 501

Vegan Sauce Mornay

[Cheese Sauce]
This is just the SAUCE BÉCHAMEL with the addition of some cheese...

I grated some Sheese Gouda...

...and added that to the prepared sauce...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter
Soymilk for the milk
Sheese for the Cheese

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 61

Thursday, September 9, 2010

VEGAN PÊCHES CARDINAL

[Compote of Fresh Peaches with Raspberry Purée - a cold dessert]

It really is all about peaches this time of year - everyone got their boxes of peaches at the grocery store and is busy canning and freezing them...

...but I found my first truly vegan recipe in Mastering the Art...(well except for the salad dressing)...

...don't the look sweet juicy and delicious just as they are...

...Julia makes a sugar syrup for cooking these in - I'm not really sure why - as in the end it seemed like a waste of a bunch of sugar - but Julia says that I can use it later to boil some more fruit...

...anyway - you get that boiling...

...and add your peaches...

...set your timer for 8 minutes...

...then peel your peaches...

...the skins will slip right off...

...easy...peasy...

...slice in half...

...and remove the pit...

...Julia (quite out of character) doesn't tell you exactly how to prepare the peaches now - should they be sliced-cubed-chopped? - I decided to just leave them in halves - they were so pretty - I popped them into a pretty dish and set them in the fridge to chill...

...now on to the raspberry sauce...

Julia says to press the berries through a fine sieve - as she tells us later to blend the mixture - so, I'm thinking she probably meant one like this antique colander which I have (of course) but I wanted a perfectly smooth sauce so I mashed my raspberries through a fine mesh strainer...

...Man! - there are a lot of seeds in raspberries...

...but my sauce is perfectly smooth...

...and a beautiful shiny jewel red...

...Now, Julia says to add some sugar and blend - my sauce was so smooth that I just stirred in the sugar - no need to blend...

...and spooned that over the chilled peaches...

...so pretty - like a brilliant sunset in a bowl...

...and they were delicious!...

...SO VERY GOOD!!!

Substitutions: None

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 630