VEGAN CÔTES DE VEAU AUX HERBES

[Vegan Veal Chops Braised with Herbs]

...Julia calls this "an excellent basic recipe"...the vegan veal is a simple seitan...like the one for the VEGAN ESCALOPES DE VEAU À LA CRÈME...

...first you heat vegan butter and oil...

...and brown the chops...

...remove the chops...and sauté some green onion or shallots...

...add some white wine...basil, tarragon and thyme...

...scrape that mixture onto the chops...

...cover and set in the lower third of the oven...

...I boiled down some almond milk to make a thicker cream...just in the same pan...

...and poured that over the chops...

...Julia says you can use cream, bouillon or stock...

...served with Grandma's mashed...peas and carrots...it was pretty delicious...

Substitutions: Seitan for the veal
Vegan Butter
Vegan Cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 369-371

Vegan Tournedos Henri IV

[Vegan Filet Steaks with Artichoke Bottoms and Vegan Béarnaise Sauce]

...since you start this recipe with filet steaks...I made Tracy's recipe from A Veg*n for Dinner...just blended up the wet ingredients...

...and mixed them with the dry ingredients...

...formed them into filets...and wrapped them tightly in foil...

...and baked them in the oven...

...then you sauté them in some oil and vegan butter...

...make some Vegan Canapés - Croutons...

...place the vegan filet on top...

...then you'll need some Vegan Sauce Béarnaise...

...it's a type of Hollandaise sauce...

...top your filet with artichoke...it's supposed to be a 'bottom'...but those are not available here...and fresh ones are not an option right now either...but if you have access to those...there's a recipe for that as well...VEGAN FOND D'ARTICHAUTS À BLANC...

...finally pour over the béarnaise sauce...

Vegan Tournedos Henri IV ...and then Julia says to 'decorate' the plate with asaparagus and hot potatoes...

...and an absolutely delicious Christmas dinner was served...

Substitutions: Vegan filets for the filets
Vegan Béarnaise
Vegan butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 298-299

Vegan Fonds d’Artichauts à la Grecque

[Vegan Artichoke Hearts a la Grecque - actually they're already vegan]

...Julia gives directions for fresh artichokes and for frozen ones...and neither are available here...although I'm pretty sure I've seen the frozen ones at Trader Joes before...

...so I'm going with canned ones...for the frozen ones Julia says they have already been acidulated so only use 1 teaspoon of lemon juice in the court bouillon...and these canned ones from TJs also have an acidifier so I'm going with the smaller amount...

...and this time for the Vegan Court Bouillon I'm using celery seeds and all dried herbs as I don't have any fresh right now...

...so you just boil the artichokes in the court bouillon for about 10 minutes...

...and then you remove the artichokes and boil down the remaining bouillon until you have just a 1/4 cup or so...

...and pour that over the artichokes...I thought these were quite pretty with their little stems still attached...

...Julia says to garnish with fresh herbs so I went out to the winter garden and clipped some parsley...which is amazingly still flourishing here at the end of december...

...and just snipped that over the artichokes and then I put them into the fridge to have as a side with our dinner...

...but some friends from the neighborhood arrived bearing little neighborhood-type gifts...so I thought I'd set out a quick little vegan charcuterie board...

...it just took a couple of minutes to pull it together...I overturned a carton of Miyoko's cream cheese, and sliced some Violife aged cheddar into quarters...dumped some olives and pickles into a little dish...and added a couple of rows of crackers...and then I had the genius idea to set the dish of artichokes out as well...(and I was able to snap a photo while our guests oooohed and aaahed over the kitchen remodel...

...it was really a nice little visit and it looked either like I'd gone to a lot of trouble or I was expecting guests...and neither was the case...

Substitutions: None...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 538

Vegan Quenelles de Saumon

[Vegan Salmon Quenelles]

...I think this is the last of the quenelle recipes...I do like this little pillowing dumplings too...and you use exactly the same proportions and method as given in the master recipe for the VEGAN QUENELLES DE POISSON...

...and I needed some vegan salmon for this one...so I made some Vegan Lox...

...and just shredded that with two forks...

...and you'll need a Cream Puff Paste VEGAN PÂTE À CHOUX...

...form your quenelles...and drop them into a boiling broth...I think last time I just used water and nori...this time I also added some veggie broth to make them a little bit more flavorful...

...and then make your cream sauce...vegan cream, salt pepper, lemon juice and vegan cheese...I thickened it slightly with some cornstarch...

...pour that over the quenelles...

...and run it under the broiler...

...these were good...served with a salad, crusty bread, and spinach...

Substitutions:
Vegan Lox for the salmon Vegan Butter...we used Earth Balance...
Vegan eggs...we used Just Egg for the yolks and Aqua Faba for the whites
Vegan Cream...we used Silk cashew cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 189