I'm always veganizing recipes that I love...so...I'm working my way
through all of the amazing recipes in Julia Child's
Mastering the Art of French Cooking...
...making a Vegan Version of each one...... sometimes successfully - sometimes not...Recipe Count 518/524 (from Julie's count)...but really 629

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Vegan Pièce de Boeuf à la Cuillère

[Vegan Minced Braised Beef Served in a Beef Shell]

...Julia calls this an unusual way to serve braised beef for a dinner party...and she says that this recipe is from la vielle cuisine française...so if it was already old in the 60s when she wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking...then maybe my classification of 60s food not served anymore...(haha) is wrong...

...there are a lot of steps to this one...so let's jump in...
...make or buy your favorite beef flavored seitan roast...braise it and place it under a weight...Julia says so that it firms up and holds it's shape as it cools to tepid...not sure this is necessary for seitan...but I went with it...
...then you make the 'shell'...
...by carving out a rectangular opening in the roast...
...then mince the removed seitan into 1/8 inch pieces...
...then you'll put the mince into a skillet with some onion...Julia says shallots...but I had some red onion I wanted to use up...and some vegan ham...I just used the TVP ham bits...
...add the mince and saute for 15 to 20 minutes...stirring occasionally...
...add some of the braising liquid...
...then you'll need two beaten egg yolks...I'm using aqua faba for that...
...and vegan parmesan and bread crumbs...
...stuff the mince back into the shell...
...then using a pastry brush...paint the entire shell with the aqua faba...
...and pat on a layer of chees and bred crumbs...
...put it on a wire rack and into the oven...
...Julia says to lightly brown the coating...
...and place it on a platter...
...and surround it with a vegetable garnish...Julia suggests onions, carrots and potatoes....OR...baked tomatoes, green beans...and oddly...OR braised lettuce...we went with potatos and onions...both from the Foreman grill...
...it really is a very pretty presentation...
...Julia says to serve the sauce from the braised beef in a gravy bowl separately...
...and we also had peas and carrots with ours...
...and it was just as I expected...totally delicious...when it's served you get this cute little cross-section...and it's a lot of fun to play with your food this much...

Substitutions

Vegan butter for sauteeing
Seitan for the roast
Vegan ham for the ham
Vegan parmesan for the parmesan...we used Violife

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 313-314

1 comment:

  1. Haha - I liked the "play with your food" comment. Interesting, I would have never thought to serve food this way....love, K

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