VEGAN PETITS POIS FRAIS À LA FRANÇAISE

[Peas Braised with Lettuce and Onions - for medium sized, tender, fresh peas]


...This is the very last of the fresh pea recipes...and the very last of my fresh peas...so that worked out well...the only other two pea recipes are for frozen peas and canned peas...and they'll be fine for trying in the winter...

...You're supposed to use Boston Lettuces which you cut in quarters...but I can't get those up here...so I used the Heirloom Lettuce...and stacked several leaves for each bundle...

...and tied those up with string...

...ooops...I was supposed to tie the ends of the parsley together...not chop it...must read instructions more carefully....that's OK though...I'll just put them in my trusty tea ball...

...then put on my water, salt, pepper, sugar, and my tea ball with my chopped parsley in it...

...brought that to a boil...and you can see that I had to buy frozen pearl onions as the fresh variety are not available here either...

...I blanched those and put them and the peas into the boiling water...

...layer the lettuce bundles on top...

...instead of putting on a lid - Julia says to put a soup plate over the boiling pot and fill it with ice so that the water will condense and fall back down onto the cooking vegetables...

...again the cooking time is 20-30 minutes - and you toss the peas and vegetables several times during that period...

...discard the parsley (bundle or tea ball)...and untie the lettuce...

...arrange the lettuce on the side and toss the peas with some more Earth Balance and serve at once...

...my boys thought this dish was very good...but they also thought that it was odd that it should be served as a separate course and eaten with a spoon...we're so uncouth as to eat our peas as a side dish you know...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 465-466

Vegan Pois Frais en Braisage

[Buttered Peas III - for large, rather tough, fresh green peas]



...Julia says that this recipe is for large, mature, end-of-season peas...exactly what we have here...

...Julia says to squeeze the peas with your hands rather roughly to bruise them slightly...that seems really odd to me...but of course I did what she said...

...you're supposed to have Boston Lettuce...but they never have that at the grocery store here...and I was very lucky to find this heirloom variety...so I picked out the Boston lettuce bits...

...and shredded those...

...added them to the pot with the onions...a little sugar...salt and Earth Balance...

...bring to a boil - cover and cook for an astonishing 20-30 minutes...

...checking after the first 20 minutes for tender peas...mine of course were tender by then...probably before then...

...then over moderately high heat boil off all the liquid...

...Julia often has you do this to vegetables...they are rarely cooked and drained and I must say that the concentrated flavors of the boiled away cooking water add a lot of depth to the dish...

...place in a heated vegetable dish and serve at once...

...another delicious pea dish...I'm also getting used to cooked lettuce...which I had never had before starting this project...

...one more pea recipe tomorrow...and then I'm all out of fresh peas for this year...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 464-465

Vegan Petits Pois aux Oignons

[Buttered Peas with Onions]



This is really just the Petits Pois Étuvés au Beurre with the addition of some onions...I'm surprised that it has its own recipe...

...little white pearl onions would probably have been prettier but I didn't have any...Julia says you can use shallots or some minced green onions...

...this was pretty, easy and very tasty...

...Julia says that end of season peas (and these definitely are end of season)...'remain green...though they will look a bit wrinkled...'

...I'll be posting some more interesting things soon...I just need to use up all my fresh garden produce first...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 464

VEGAN HARICOTS VERTS GRATINÉS, À LA MORNAY

[Green Beans Gratinéed with Cheese Sauce]

...well...it's time once again for...

...my first few posts will be me trying to use up the rest of our garden produce...we've had a lovely mild fall so far...no snow yet anyway...I think this will be the last of the green beans from this year's garden though...I've got a few more peas to use up too before I move on to more interesting things...not that these green beans weren't interesting and delicious...because they definitely were...they were easy to make and drew heavily on other recipes already accomplished...

...First you do HARICOTS VERTS BLANCHIS...
...then you make a Vegan Sauce Mornay...

...next...you spread a layer of Sauce Mornay in dish...arrange your blanched green beans over that...and pour the rest of the Sauce Mornay on top...sprinkle with cheese and dot with Earth Balance...

...a half hour before serving...bake until green beans are well heated and the sauce is lightly browned...

...Julia says that this is a good make ahead recipe...

...as with the other creamed green bean recipes this one is very good...perhaps a smidgen better because of the addition of the cheese...or Sheese...as the case may be...

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

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 446

Vegan Haricots Verts, Sauce Crème

[Creamed Green Beans II]

...I'm still trying to use up all the garden produce that we harvested just before the frost...so another green bean recipe was needed...

...Julia says that this is less rich than the pure cream treatment in Haricots Verts à la Crème...

...first you make a VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL...

...and you delicately fold that into your blanched green beans...I did not include the shallots in this recipe...Scout prefers his green beans without onion-y flavor...but that would be nice I'm sure...

...cover and simmer until beans are tender...

...correct seasonings...turn onto a hot vegetable dish and serve at once...

...these were delicious...this sauce was a little bit thicker and clung to the green beans better than the plain cream sauce...we liked it better this way...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter
and the substitutions from the VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL recipe

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 445-446

Vegan Petits Pois Étuvés au Beurre

[Buttered Peas II - for large but tender fresh green peas]

I've been picking fresh peas from the garden again...

...and hoping that they meet Julia's criteria for this recipe...large and tender...

...I love her somewhat condescending comment that they are 'the kind you usually find at your market'...

...they don't appear to be too large...

...sort of medium sized really...

...but we dropped them into boiling salted water...

...and boiled uncovered for about 5 minutes...

...then we drained them and put them back into the pan with some salt...

...pepper...

...and a little bit of sugar again...about 1/2 Tbs this time...

...add a bunch of Earth Balance - Julia says 6 Tbs...

...cover and cook about 10 minutes (seems too long to me)...tossing occasionally...

...Julia suggests adding mint as an 'optional English touch', but I did not...

...they were very good...as fresh peas always are...especially coated with Earth Balance...a little over done for my taste...but still very good and we ate them all up...

...a really simple recipe...

Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 463-464

Vegan Haricots Verts à la Crème

[Creamed Green Beans]


...I've been back to the garden and picked some lovely fresh green beans...now they're all washed and stemmed and ready to go...

...blanch them first...

...in some salted water for 3-4 minutes...

...then drain them and put them back into the pan to evaporate their moisture...

...toss with salt and pepper...

...and some Earth Balance...

...and pour in the cream...I used homemade soymilk thickened with some powdered soymilk...but you can certainly use a vegan cream if it's available and not too sweet...

...Julia says to cover and boil for 5 minutes or so...until the beans are tender and the cream is reduced by half...but after 5 minutes my beans were probably tender...but I couldn't tell that the cream had reduced at all...so I boiled mine about 5 more minutes with the lid off...

...turn into a hot vegetable dish, sprinkle with parsley and serve...

...still not sure my 'cream' reduced enough...but these were very good...as most things covered in cream are...and it was a very simple recipe...

Substitutions:
Earth Balance for Butter
Soymilk mixed with soymilk powder for the cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 445