VEGAN SALADE DE MOULES

[Mussels Marinated in Oil and Herbs]

...this is a lovely cool dish...perfect as a salad or as an hors d'oeuvre...

...you'll need the Mussels from the VEGAN MOULES À LA MARINIÈRE - I

...then you just make a marinade of olive oil, vermouth, lemon juice, and shallots or green onions...but I used chives, 'cause that's what I had on hand...and some parsley and pepper...

...then you marinate your vegan mussels for half and hour...

...we served ours on a bed of lettuce and they were delicious...

...then we used Julia's suggestion of adding mayonnaise...we used Vegenaise...

...just stir a half cup of Vegenaise into the drained vegan mussels...

...and we served ours on Vegan Canapés - Croutons...

...and they were quite delicious this way as well...

Substitutions: Vegan Mussels for the mussels - recipe here - VEGAN MOULES À LA MARINIÈRE - I
Vegenaise for the mayonnaise
and the substitutions for the Vegan Canapés - Croutons

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 229

VEGAN TARTE AUX ABRICOTS

...I've made the peach version of this recipe already...TARTE AUX PÊCHES

...and I did have 6 abricots...someone...(the Man) ate one before I got started...

...so this tarte begins the normal way...with a Vegan Pâte Brisée Sucrée...

...place the crust in a pretty pie plate and trim...I actually used my quiche dish with it's pretty fluted edge for this tarte...

...pre-baked...I used my springform pan on the bottom of the pie shell to make it lay flat with no bubbles...

...meanwhile prepare the apricots...dip them in boiling water for a couple of minutes...

...peel them...

...aren't they pretty...and juicy looking...

...halve them...and remove the pits...

...I think I'll have just enough to cover the crust...6 would have been better though...HA!...

...sprinkle a couple of spoonfuls of sugar (I used beet sugar) on the bottom of the pre-baked crust...

...then arrange the fruit...

...see...six would have been perfect...but 5 is adequate...

...dot with Earth Balance...

...and bake until golden...

...make an apricot glaze...the Vegan Gelée d'Abricot

...and spoon it over the tarte...

...slice and serve...

...this was delicious...just perfect...defintely marking for a repeat performance...

...as often happens with Julia's recipes...you'll need a couple of other recipes to go along with this one...

Vegan Pâte Brisée Sucrée
Vegan Gelée d'Abricot

Substitutions: Earth Balance for the butter...this is a pretty vegan-friendly recipe...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 639 - 640

Vegan Aubergines à la Grecque

[Eggplant à la Grecque]

...the weather has turned steamy again...it's been a very mild summer...but now we're back to typical August weather...so this is a nice cool dish...

...and I thought it was funny that the English title is in French...

...just start with some eggplant...peel and cut into serving pieces and let stand for 20 minutes with some salt and lemon juice...

...drain, and add to the Court Bouillon...

...simmer for about 10 minutes...

...when it's done...remove the eggplant to a serving dish...and remove the herbs...

...then boil down the Court Bouillon...

...and pour it over the eggplant...

...so that was a really simple summertime recipe...

...the flavors work well together...very light and cool...

Substitutions: None...another of the rare Vegan recipes...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 539

LÉGUMES À LA GRECOUE...Vegan Court Bouillon

[Vegetables Cooked in Aromatic Broth]

...Julia says that vegetables à la Grecque are a 'refreshing idea for any time of the year'...

...I put my herbs in a tea ball instead of cheesecloth...there's parsley, fennel, thyme, peppercorns, and coriander seeds in there...

...then add some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, shallots and celery stalk with leaves...

...then you just place all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes...easy...peasy...

...after the vegetables have simmered in this bouillon...you boil it down to make a sauce...

Substitutions: None...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 536-537

...VEGAN PACKAGED PRECOOKED RICE...

...once again...like with the Sucre Glace...I thought it was funny that this recipe was included...

...following the directions...

...just mix with salt and boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes...

...that's all there was to that...

...then, according to Julia...it can be made more 'interesting' with the addition of some onions or shallots sautéed with some butter (Earth Balance)...

...the precooked rice is certainly fluffy and separate...but even with the addition of the onions it had a bit of a processed (cardboard) taste...I think making perfect steamed rice [RIZ À L'INDIENNE - RIZ À LA VAPEUR] is quite simple enough...and I'm wondering how I'm going to use the rest of the box...

Substitutions:

Earth Balance for Butter - for sautéing the onions...none for the actual rice...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 530

...some MtAoFC housekeeping...

...since I started this blog I've been using the total of recipes from Julie's count for the book Julie and Julia...524 recipes in 365 days...which is (of course) an amazing feat...however...

...I finally made a spreadsheet of the recipes in MtAoFC...and...

...you guessed it...there are a lot more than 524...

...672 by my count...

...of which...I've 'veganized' 182 and counting...

...glad that's all cleared up...

~Have a lovely day!

Vegan Sucre Glace

[Powdered Sugar] ...this is so simple that I can hardly believe that Julia included a recipe for it...

...first I made the VEGAN BISCUIT AU BEURRE or butter spongecake...I've made it before... ...and this was pretty much exactly the same as last time...melted Earth Balance for the butter... ...my favorite egg replacer mixture...EnerG and flax seed goo...and a little VersaWhip... ...whipped...for the egg whites... ...greased and floured pans... ...then I mixed everything up... ...folded in the 'egg' whites... ...a little at a time... ...poured it into the prepared pans... ...and baked until done... ...so that's really where this 'recipe' starts...you just shake powdered sugar over the cake... ...it was of course delicious...and we get to cross off another recipe...

Substitutions:

Earth Balance for Butter
Flax Seed Goo for the egg yolks
3 tsp EnerG egg replacer and 1/2 tsp VersaWhip for the egg whites
additional flour - 1/3 cup

Recipe for the cake here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

pp. 679-680 and the powdered sugar icing in the same place...just page up to page 670...