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

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Vegan Quartiers de Fonds d'Artichauts au Beurre

[Vegan Buttered Artichokes, Quartered]

...Julia says that this is the same as the VEGAN FONDS D'ARTICHAUTS AU BEURRE...
...with the addition of some green onions...
...since the artichokes are already cooked...you only bake for about 20 minutes covered with buttered wax paper...
...they were buttery and good...

Substitions

Earth Balance for the butter

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (pp. 431 - 432)

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

VEGAN SOUPE AU PISTOU

[Vegan Provençal Vegetable Soup with Garlic, Basil and Herbs]

I was in the mood for a nice warm bowl of soup...even though Julia says that this soup is traditionally made at the beginning of summer...

...and this is the only soup recipe left...
...start by dicing up some carrots, potatoes and onions...
...and cook that for 40 minutes...I know...Julia's cook times always seem a bit long...
...while it's cooking get out some stale bread and tear it up...break up some vermicelli and get some frozen (or fresh) green beans...
...and some garlic for the Pistou...
...then make the Pistou...I read the recipe and saw blend...so I blended the tomato with my stick blender...then later I saw that you were actually supposed to blend this up in the bottom of the tureen with a wooden spoon...so my Pistou is probably smoother than it should be...
...add some basil...a lot...and fresh would be better I'm sure...but Julia gives amounts for dried fragrant basil as well...
...and some vegan parmesan...
...and olive oil beat in by drops...
...add your bread and spaghetti to the soup...along with the green beans...
...add some saffron...
...just a pinch...
...then add the white beans...these are just great northerns cooked in the Instant Pot...
...then make the croutons...toast a few slices of bread...we used whole wheat for this garniture...and rub with a garlic...
...and brush with Olive Oil...
...Julia specifies rounds of bread...so I used a tin can to cut circles...
...since I hadn't blended my Pistou in the bottom of the serving bowl...I poured it into the bottom...
...and then you add a cup of the finished soup...
...and stir that in...
...and then add the rest of the soup...
...ladle into a bowl...
...and top with a crouton...
...it was really pretty...and smelled wonderfully...
...it was a perfect winter soup even so...hearty warm and filling...I would definitely make it again...

Substitutions:

Vegan Parmesan...this recipe was almost vegan already...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 45)

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Vegan Sauce Diable

[Vegan Peppery Brown Sauce]

...Julia says that this sauce is a composed sauce...made with previous brown sauces...she says this spicy one is for broiled chicken, roast or braised port, pork chops, or hot meat leftovers...which is exactly what we used it for...leftovers...
...you start with some shallots...but I used a couple of tablespoons of yellow onion as I didn't have any shallots...
...and you cook those for a couple of minutes without browning them...
...then add some white wine
...and quickly boil that down to just a few tablespoons...
...and then add your brown sauce...I used the VEGAN JUS LIÉ...

...Julia doesn't give ammounts for the Black Pepper and Cayenne...but says to season with enough pepper to give it a spicy taste...
...finish with vegan butter just before serving...
...and parsley...
...we had our sauce with leftover seitan...
...and mashed potatoes...
...it was good...and a good accompaniment to the leftovers...transforming them into something completely different...

...however...it was too spicy for me...and I have no one but myself to blame...I simply put in too much pepper...so be careful if you don't like it very spicy...

Substitutions:

Vegan Butter for the Butter
Vegan subs from the VEGAN JUS LIÉ...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (pp. 71-72)

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Vegan Sauce aux Anchois

[Vegan Anchovy Sauce]

...this is just the VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL/SAUCE VELOUTÉ with the addition of anchovy paste...
...I used capers for the paste...and then nori for the taste of the sea...
...ground a couple of spoonfuls of capers into a paste in my mortar and pestle...
...and added that with some nori to the bechamel...

...Julia did not say to strain the sauce...I thought about it...but just left it as it was with the little bits of nori and capers still visible...
...and we served it over plain baked tofu as Julia says it's the accompaniment to boiled fish...or boiled potatoes...which both sounded kinda bland...

...it was very good...and really perked up the plain tofu...

Substitutions:

Vegan Butter for the Butter
Soymilk (homemade) for the milk
Nori and Capres for the Anchovies

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 65)

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Vegan Sauce Duxelles

[Vegan Brown Mushroom Sauce]

Julia only says that this sauce is "for broiled or sautéed chicken, veal, rabbit, or for egg dishes, hot meat leftovers, or pastas"

...and I think this would be a really good sauce to mix with some vegan cream to make a sort of vegan stroganoff...
...finely chop some mushrooms...and saute them with some onions
...then make a VEGAN SAUCE BRUN
...add a little bit of wine...and tomato sauce...and the mushrooms...

Substitutions:

Vegan Butter for the Butter
Better than Boullion for the stock...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 74)

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

VEGAN POMMES À LA SÉVILLANE

[Vegan Apples Braised in Butter, Orange Sauce—a hot or cold dessert]

...with our oven working again...I wanted to make this baked apple dish for dessert...

...just a few simple ingredients...
...and the funny thing is...when I went shopping...I thought I was making an orange sauce...and I'd need lots of oranges...haha...NOT...you only need ONE orange...or a couple if you're making 6 apples per the recipe...
...and since I was only making 3...not 6 apples...I thought I'd bake them in the little individual ramekins...but in the end I needn't have bothered...because you serve them on a canape
...butter the little dishes with Earth Balance...
...sprinkle with sugar...
...pop your peeled and cored apple in and top with more sugar...if you're making six of these...you put them close together all in one dish...
...add some white wine...
...and some cognac...
...Julia says to cover with some buttered waxed paper...but I used buttered aluminum foil instead...
...wrapped up each ramekin...
...while the apples are baking peel your orange...
...Julia specifies strips 2 inches long and ⅛ inch wide...
...make some Vegan Canapés...I cut them into cute little flowers...using these old Tupperware cookie cutters Mom gave me when I was first married...
...simmer your orange strips...
...then rinse in cold water...
...and dry...
...when the apples are done...
...pour the apple cooking liquid into a saucepan...and drain the apples...
...add some red currant jelly and some cognac...
...and boil down quickly over high heat until thick enough to coat a spoon lightly...
...place a drained apple on each canapé...
...and spoon over the sauce...
...it makes a pretty dessert...
...and the whole house smelled lovely...
...of apples and oranges...
...Julia suggests serving with heavy cream...
...not sure what's up with the colour on this photo...it would have been a pretty picture with the cream pouring out like that...haha...
...such simple ingredients...it really is quite elegant and delicious...Julia says to serve them hot, warm, or cold, and pass the cream or sauce separately...we had ours warm...

Substitutions:

Vegan Butter for the Butter
Vegan cream for the cream...or Julia says you could make VEGAN CRÈME ANGLAISE

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 661)