VARIATION...Cold Braised Celery

...the only difference between this and the VEGAN CÉLERIS BRAISÉS is that you don't thicken the sauce...

...so I divided the braising liquid...

...and then just reduced it down...

...there's no need to 'degrease' vegan broth...and you don't add any butter for the cold version either...

...so we served this the next day...with the cold braised celery on a bed of cold noodles...and topped with a few slices of baked tofu...

...it was also very good...reminiscent of a mild Asian noodle dish...minus the soy sauce flavor...

Substitutions:
Veggie bacon - I used Smart Bacon
Vegan Beef Bouillon for the beef stock

Recipe here: Scribd and then search for Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 492

VEGAN CÉLERIS BRAISÉS

[Braised Celery]

...Julia says that celery is braised much the same way as lettuce...which I've already done...so you can check out VEGAN LAITUES BRAISÉES...

...and I went ahead and did the separate sauce for cold braised celery...as that was the only difference in the recipes...and we had that the next day...

...you start by trimming the tops and bottoms of the bunch of celery...

...wash well and trim off the stringy parts...

...then tie the bunch of celery together with white kitchen string...

...just put it into the boiling water...

...and cook it for a really long time...15 minutes...

...take it out and drain it...

...cook some onions and carrots in a casserole...

...arrange the celery in the casserole...

...blanch some veggie bacon in some water...

...and arrange that over the top...

...I flipped it over to make it prettier...

...add some dry white wine...

...and some veggie beef stock...

...and your herb bouquet...I put mine in a teaball...

...cover and cook for a REALLY long time...1 1/2 hours...

...and your celery should be really...really well done...

...drain the braising liquid...

...I separated mine...because I wanted to go ahead and make the reduced unthickened sauce for the Cold Braised Celery...

...so...mix some cornstarch with some stock...and add that in...off heat...

...then pour the thickened sauce back over the celery...and serve...

...we had ours with baked tofu and rice...

...and it was really pretty good...and I was pretty skeptical about it before...

...but I enjoyed it...and would make it again...always the gauge of a good recipe...right?...

Substitutions:
Veggie bacon - I used Smart Bacon
Vegan Beef Bouillon for the beef stock
Earth Balance for the butter

Recipe here: Scribd and then search for Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 491-492

VEGAN SALADE NIÇOISE

[Vegan Mediterranean Combination Salad]

...Julia says you can arrange this appetizing combination of tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans and lettuce any way you want...

...I tried to arrange this vegan version just as she did on her show The French Chef...you can watch the video here...

...I gathered my ingredients...

...and first of all you have to do the preceding recipe for VEGAN POMMES DE TERRE Á L'HUILE...French Potato Salad...

...it's not difficult at all...

...and then you'll need to go ahead and make some VEGAN SAUCE VINAIGRETTE [French Dressing]...

...and then you'll need to make some Vegan Hard Boiled Eggs...start with some soymilk and agar powder...

...cook and mash up a small potato...

...add some turmeric...just to make it pretty and yellow...

...form into little yolk sized balls...

...and then I found these little egg shaped cups at the dollar store...and thought they'd work better than the Easter Eggs I've used before...but they didn't really...and I preferred the Easter Egg ones...these were difficult to work with and they left funny little lines on the finished eggs...

...I set the tops in some wine glasses...

...and I made a few 'poached eggs' too...just using some large spoons...

...and then I filled the bottoms of the little screw together egg thingies...and popped in a vegan yolk ball...and spooned over some more of the vegan egg white agar mixture...

...and then I screwed the egg thingies together...there's really no way to do this without making a little bit of a mess...with either type of egg mold that you use...

...and then I finished up the vegan poached eggs...

...just spooned some more vegan egg white over the vegan yolks...

...they turned out perfectly...and they're just for us to have Vegan Eggs Benedict for brekkie one day...they're not for this recipe at all...

...and now it's time to start assembling the 'composed' salad...you're supposed to toss your lettuce leaves in the vinaigrette...but my Boston Bibb lettuce leaves were rather large...so I'll just pour over the dressing...

...potato salad in the center...

...green beans and tomatoes arranged around that...

...then I opened the tin of canned vegan tuna that I'd gotten at the SDA store...and spooned that around...

...added some black olives...

...and for the vegan anchovies...I took some TVP strips...and cooked/rehydrated them with some nori and salty water...then I sliced them into thin stips...and arranged them on top of the potato salad...

...then I opened one of my vegan eggs...and sliced it...

...and arranged it on top of the salad...

...this composed salad really is a meal in and of itself...

...it turned out so pretty...

...and the combination of flavors and the dressing is really good...

...I'd have this salad once a week...if it weren't so much trouble to make that is...

Substitutions:
Vegan Hard Boiled Eggs...recipe over at Affectioknit
Vegan Canned Tuna
Nori sheet and water to rehydrate the TVP for the anchovies
Recipe here: Scribd and then search for Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 542....