VEGAN DIPLOMATE...or...POUDING DE CABINET

[Vegan Custard with Glaceed Fruits - Unmolded - a warm or cold dessert]

...Julia calls this a delicious and most classical French dessert..

...you'll need to start out with some VEGAN BISCUITS À LA CUILLER [Ladyfingers]...or if you can find vegan Ladyfingers you can use those...

...so I baked those...

...and lined the bottom of my mold...

...I'm using the candied fruits you can get at the grocery store around Christmas-time...

...I poured some rum over my glaceed fruits...

...then I poured some more rum onto a small dish...

...and dipped the Ladyfingers into it...

...then I made a custard using Vegan Egg for the eggs and egg yolks, and Silk Cashew/Almond for the milk...and I added about 1/2 teaspoon Agar-Agar to make sure that it would 'gel' properly...

...passed some apricot jam through a sieve...

...and we were ready for assembly...

...first over the ladyfingers in the bottom of the mold...I ladled some of the custard...and then I sprinkled the glaceed fruits...

...and spooned over some of the apricot sauce...

...then I lined the sides of the mold with parchment...I tried to do this beforehand...but I absolutely could not get the paper or the ladyfingers to stand up...so with a little bit of custard in the bottom it's easier to make everything stay put...

...and so you just continue layering...ladyfingers...custard...sauce...glaceed fruits...

...until you reach the top of the mold...now Julia says to trim the tops of the ladyfingers...and again...I'm going to wait until after the custard sets to do this step...because they are too 'disturbable' right now...

...set the mold in a pan of boiling water...

...and put it into the oven for about an hour...I'm sure with a vegan custard that this is totally unnecessary...

...but it does come out of the oven nice and firm...and it looks really pretty...

...so now...I trimmed the tops of the ladyfingers...

...let it cool (you can serve it warm or cold)...then run a knife around the mold and turn it upside down...

...remove the wrappings...

...and all of the paper...to reveal a nice firm custard...

...surround the custard with the Vegan Sauce aux Fraises...

...and at the table I poured some more sauce over the custard...

...it sliced and served beautifully...

...you can see the pretty coloured bits of fruit throughout the custard...

...and then I poured even more sauce over mine...

...and although it was very pretty and Christmas-y...I found it rather odd...

...the fruitcake flavor and the strawberry flavor were not very complimentary...so that was a little bit disappointing...and I probably won't be making this exact version again...

Substitutions

Vegan Egg and Agar-Agar for the egg
Silk Cashew/Almond for the milk
...and all of the subs for the VEGAN BISCUITS À LA CUILLER [Ladyfingers]

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 612-613

Vegan Sauce aux Fraises

[Vegan Fresh Strawberry Sauce]

...actually if you use a vegan sugar this recipe is already vegan...Julia says these fresh fruit sauces can be used with ice creams, custards and various puddings...which is exactly what we'll be using it for...

...she allows for frozen fruits which is nice in late December...she only says to thaw them first...

...so...the first thing you do is to pass them through a sieve...not as easy it looks...maybe I chose too fine of a sieve...

...then you blend them up with some sugar...Julia suggests 'instant' sugar...not sure what that is...I've never seen instant sugar...but a quick search of the interwebs tells me "Instant Sugar is a pure sucrose which, through a special agglomeration process has been made free-flowing and very quick dissolving. Instant Sugar is compressible, binds with other ingredients both in a cold or hot, and it also reduces the risk of separation in dry mixes."...

in fact there are a lot of types of sugar I've never encountered at my local grocery store..."Superfine = Ultra-fine = Extra-fine = Fine Granulated = Instant Dissolving = Bar = Berry or Fruit Sugar = Castor or Caster (England)."...we normally have two choices...granulated and powdered - which usually includes corn starch...

...anywhoo...I just used regular vegan granulated sugar...nad it worked just fine...

...then Julia says to add kirsch (which is almost always too strong of a flavor for me)...cognac or lemon juice...so I used cognac...

...and here's the finished sauce...

...it's perfectly smooth and almost creamy in consistency...and it's very VERY sweet...

...we served it over our Diplomate...for Christmas dinner...and we actually all thought we would have prefered the pudding without it...it's a really delicious sauce...it just doesn't seem to go very well with this particular custard dessert...I think it would be perfect over pancakes though...

Substitutions

Just the vegan sugar...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 592)

VEGAN FONDS DE CUISINE SIMPLE

[Simple Vegan Meat Stock]

...if you speak French...you probably know that the word fond means foundation...because a stock is the most basic element (or foundation) of a lot of recipes...

...and the word 'simple' is the same in both languages...haha...

...Julia has a two page introduction to the making of stock...and says that this one is a 'general formula'

...I started with some G. Washington broth...and I thought this was an interesting article about that...

...and I didn't add any salt...because the broth packet is salty enough...and I put my garlic, bay leaf, parsley and thyme in my tea ball instead of cheesecloth...

...and then just add everything to the pot...and Julia instructs NOT to let it boil...

...so just simmered 'until your taste convinces you that you have simmered the most out of your ingredients'

...strain into a jar and store in fridge or freeze...

Substitutions

Just the G. Washington broth substitute for all the bones and meat...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (pp. 107 - 109)

Vegan Beurre pour Escargots

[Vegan Snail Butter]

...Julia says you can use this butter for snails, broiled meat and fish, for basting baked or broiled fish or mushrooms, for broiled mussels, clams, or oysters...

...it's a really simple recipe...the vegan escargot...not so much...well...easy...but pretty time consuming...

...so let's get started with the vegan butter...as Julia give no recipe for the actual cooking of snails...

...start with some shallots or green onions...and mince finely...and like we've done before...use a scrupulously clean kitchen towel...

...and twist the shallots in a ball to extract their juice...

...chop up some parsley...

...and mince some garlic...Julia suggests one to three cloves depending on your taste...

...add all that to the creamed vegan butter...and then add pepper...

...and salt to taste...

...and this is what Vegan Snail Butter looks like...and you're done with the recipe...if you don't care about using it for vegan snails...

Substitutions

...Vegan butter for the butter...I used Country Crock Plant Based Almond...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 103)

...Now...on to the vegan snails...if you're interested...

...first of all I thought...what vegan thing in nature has a shell...we were just at the beach...and I thought about collecting empty shells...but then I thought...eeeuuuuwww...still not vegan...and not sure about whatever may still be lurking inside...so then I thought about those pecans we got at the beach...they have shells...

...so...

...the first thing I did was to throw the whole pecans in the pot...you know...to soften them up...and I have to say...don't bother...because they did not soften up...

...they did turn the water very brown...something to keep in mind for future craft dyeing...

...so like I said...not soft at all...I tried to cut an opening just using a serated knife...and while this would probably work...eventually...I'm not that patient...

...so...I got the Man's hack saw out...and had similar results...it is cutting the shell...but it's going to take a lot of work to get enough shells...

...thank goodness for power tools...right?...I got out the dremel tool and made short work of cutting the ends off of the shells...

...still full of nut innards though...

...then I just used a nut pick to clean out the insides...

...and I had a cute little bunch of empty vegan snail shells...

...so then...I didn't want the tanins in the shell (that produces that brown colour too) to make the vegan snails taste bitter or funny...so I put the empty shells in water and boiled them for a bit...the water got very dark...

...so I rinsed it out and boiled it again...and it was a little bit lighter...good thing I have a blog to document these things haha...

...again...and the water was a little bit lighter...but if you taste the water it does taste a little bitter...

...so boiled again...lighter...

...and again...lighter still...

...finally...I thought that it would be good enough...

...so I got out my smallest...cutest little cast iron frying pan...and baked them until they were nice and dry...

...sliced some baked tofu into slivers small enough to fit into the shells...

...and stuffed each shell with a tofu 'snail'...

...already they are so cute...

...packed it full of vegan snail butter (Vegan Beurre pour Escargots)...

...and put them all into the cast iron skillet...

...and just baked at 350° F...for about 20 minutes or so...until they were all sizzly and aromatic...

...now...never having eaten any snails in my entire life (even when I was in France)...I don't have any of the implements...but I made a cute little escargot holder/pliers thingy...just out of some silver wire...and I did already have the little tiny fork and spoon...

...they are so cute...

...so...I grabbed one of the shells with my little snail pincers...

...and pierced the little vegan snail with my little fork...

...and pulled it right out of the shell...

...oh my goodness...these little tidbits are so delicious...(of course what wouldn't be with that much butter and garlic...right?)...those little crunchy-transparent-caramelized bits are the BEST!...

...this was so much FUN!...a real treat...