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, October 10, 2011

VEGAN CHOU-FLEUR EN VERDURE

[Purée of Cauliflower and Water Cress with Cream]


...a pretty and colourful Cauliflower Casserole...

...perfect for a chilly fall supper...

...the Man went grocery shopping with Scout...and they came home with a nice organic cauliflower...this is just slightly unusual here...I've seen organic cauliflower in the grocery before...but it's really not that often...and as I wouldn't dream of using the frozen stuff for one of Julia's recipes...(unless it's called for - and she does condescend to give us some tips on using frozen or canned food occasionally)...it was a nice thing to have...

...separate the florets...

...then chop up the stalk...

...cook the cauliflower for a few minutes in boiling salted water...

...then add your watercress and cook a few minutes more...

...meanwhile...make a thick VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL...

...purée the cauliflower and watercress through a food mill...

...this is quite a bit of work...but Julia says on more than one occasion how much better the texture of food-milled versus food-processed or blended...

...make some fresh bread crumbs...I do use the food processor for that...

...fold in the Béchamel Sauce...

...then add some cream...being careful not to thin the purée too much...

...Julia says it should hold it's shape when a bit is lifted on a spoon...

...y'all know what a difficult time I have getting vegan food here...and the only cheese I had on hand was some tofutti slices...so I put those in the freezer for a few minutes...and then chopped them up...(the recipe calls for swiss cheese - so this will be milder)...

...fold in the grated cheese...

...fold the purée into a buttered (with Earth Balance) baking dish...

...top with bread crumbs...

...more cheese...

...and melted butter...

...bake to heat through and brown the cheese and breadcrumbs...about 30 minutes...

...serve as soon as possible...

...this was a nice mild yummy cauliflower casserole...


Substitutions:
Soymilk mixed with powdered soymilk to make a thick 'cream'
VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL...and it's substitutions
Vegan cheese for the swiss cheese - I used slightly frozen Tofutti slices chopped
Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 460-461

4 comments:

  1. Oooh that looks super duper! I heart cauliflower.
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks great! I love cauliflower and love trying it in new ways. This seems like a great holiday recipe and could easily be made GF! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love that you are veganising French food, it's such a great cuisine to play with.

    This looks lovely

    ReplyDelete
  4. Delicious! I especially like your tip from Julia about "milled" food have a better texture than processed or blended. I'm afraid my food mill doesn't get much action, so I'll have to change that ^_^

    ReplyDelete