Vegan Lamb shanks - Jarrets de devant

[Vegan Lamb Shanks]

...this is one of the 'variation' receipes...and Julia says that "Braised lamb shanks means that the meat is browned, then simmered in a liquid, and is just another name for stew or fricassee

...so there's really not a lot to this one...you just make some Vegan lamb...like the VEGAN GIGOT EN CHEVREUIL...

...and brown it and then simmer it in vegan stock...I just used Washington's Brown...

...and we served it with mashed potatoes and green beans...it was pretty delicious...

Substitutions: Vegan Lamb Seitan for the lamb
Vegan Broth

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 348

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

VEGAN MOUSSELINE DE VOLAILLE

[Vegan Mousse of Chicken, Turkey, Duck, or Game]

...Julia says "This is an excellent way to use up cold fowl, and you may mix several kinds together if you wish..."

...and I was looking for another vegan pâté to take up to Mom's for a vegan Thanksgiving appetizer...

...so for the cold fowl...I marinated and baked some tofu...

...and this is actually the master recipe for the ham mousse that I made last week...so it starts the same way...with onions, celery and carrots...

...vegan broth...

...and then for the vegan liver...I'm using the same combination of lentils, walnuts, and marmite that I've used before...

...just blend that all up...

...and fold in some aqua faba...

...I packed it into a square corning ware dish that has a lid...

...and covered it with waxed paper for the trip...

...so...I'll have to let you know Thursday how it turned out...hopefully I can unmold it...and I'll serve it with the copycat wheat thins we made over the weekend...

Substitutions

tofu for the poultry
vegan butter for the butter
lentils/walnuts/marmite for the liver
whipped aqua faba for the whipped cream...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 560-561

Vegan Mousse de Jambon

[Vegan Ham Mousse]

...I wanted to try some dip/appetizer thingies to take to Mom's for Thanksgiving and thought this one sounded interesting...

...and I already had some vegan ham in the freezer...

...and of course you start by sautéing some green onion (or shallots) and I only had this one sad little green onion in the fridge...so I got a regular yellow onion too...

...sauté the onion...

...add some celery and carrot...

...add broth...I used Washington's brown...

...and agar agar for the gelatin...

...and I couldn't find my tea ball to use for an herb bouquet so I used this tea-spoon instead...it worked fine...

...then you put everything into the blender and blend at top speed...

...it looked pretty gross at this point...put it into a bowl....

...and add some cognac...

...and whip some cream...I used aqua faba...of course...

...fold that into the weird pink mixture...

...I'm just using a nice round bowl for the mold...

...and I thought that instead of toasted french bread or crackers the perfect thing to serve this ham mousse with would be thinly sliced toasted southern biscuits...so I made a couple of those...

...when the mousse is well chilled it will slip out of the mold...

...it still looks odd to me...I just don't associate ham with mousse at all...

...surrounded with some thinly sliced toasted biscuits...

...we gave it a try...and it was ok...but odd...sort of like eating cold gravy and biscuits...I don't think I'll be taking this appetizer to Mom's for Thanksgiving...haha...

Substitutions

Vegan ham for the ham
vegan butter for the butter
whipped aqua faba for the whipped cream...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking p.561