[Vegan Braised Calf's Brains]
...ok...that subtitle is painful to even type...and I was definitely out of my comfort zone even thinking about this recipe...
...that said...I thought about what would make a good vegan brain...
...and decided on tofu...of course...having absolutely no idea at all what brains actually look...feel...or taste like...
...but using my haunted house skilz...I carved the block of tofu into a brainy shape...
...and then because I didn't want it to fall apart during the braising...I roasted it plain for a bit to firm it up...
...while I sautéed some carrots, celery and onion...and added my tea ball with the herbs and bay leaf...
...and added some of the vegan ham TVP from the SDA store...
...then I arranged it all in a skillet and basted the tofu (brains) with the vegetables and ham...
...this was pretty much just dirtying up a pan for no real reason as far as I can see...you only do this for 5 minutes on each side...
...and then you butter a casserole...I used Earth Balance...
...and transfer everything to it...adding a cup of stock...Julia says you can use
White Stock or
Brown...
...and some dry white wine...I used a Chardonnay...
...and then you cook it for a long time...45 minutes...
...Julia suggests serving this with rice and buttered peas...but we had rice and mixed veg...
...this was surprisingly good...the veg/ham mixture gives a lot of flavor to the braised tofu...
Substitutions:
Tofu for the Cervelles
Vegan Butter for butter...we used Earth Balance...
Recipe here:
Scribd and then search for Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 415)
I like how you tackled making vegan brains and how you went so far as to carve them to make them more real! I'm glad it paid off with a tasty dish.
ReplyDeletehaha, that is too weird!! good job, though.
ReplyDeletelove, k