Vegan Clafouti à la Bourdaloue

[Vegan Cherry or Pear Flan with Almonds]

...I've made all of the other variations of Clafouti...and I didn't even realize that I'd missed this last one...I do love clafouti...and it's not something you ever hear of here in the States...

...Julia says you can also do this almond version with the Pear Clafouti...that one was definitely a favorite...so pretty...

...it's a really simple dessert...I buttered the dish with vegan butter...

...I blanched some almonds and peeled them...You can see how I do that here...

...and put those and the rest of the ingredients into the Vitamix...Julia says to use 1 tsp. of almond extract...but unless you really...really love almond I wouldn't...it's such a strong flavor...maybe Julia's wasn't as strong as mine...I only used about 1/4 teaspoon...

...arranged your cherries in your buttered dish...I'm using frozen ones that I've thawed...the grocery store had no fresh cherries at all...

...I thought I'd taken a photo of me pouring the batter over the cherries...but I guess I missed it...I sprinkled the baked clafouti with powdered sugar...

...and served it with tea...

...it was delicious...I really do love clafouti...

Substitutions:

Earth Balance for Butter
Almond Milk for milk
Flax Seed Goo for Eggs

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp.656-657

GIGOT À L'ANGLAISE

[Boiled Leg of Lamb with Onion, Caper, or Tomato Sauce]

...Julia says this is a delicious and very easy way to cook a vegan leg of lamb...

...basically you just boil it in salty water...and first you'll need to make the seitan of course...I used the same simple vegan 'lamb' recipe as before: dry:
1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup soy flour
1 Tbsp vegan beef flavored bouillon
1/4 tsp garlic powder

liquid
1 cup red wine
1 1/2 tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tsp tamari

...shaped it into a sort of a leg-gy shape...and wrapped in cheesecloth...like you usually do for boiled seitan...

...and then you just make some salty water...

...and then Julia says...Just simmer it in a kettle of salted water until it is done...1/2 tsp salt per quart of water...so it is really easy...like she said...

...when it's done...unwrap it and put it on a serving tray...

...and then she gives you three choices for sauces to serve with this simple dish...and we chose the Sauce Soubise...a pretty simple onion bechamel...

...Julia says to pass the sauce in a warmed sauceboat...we used our little cut glass cream pitcher though...

...and poured it over the lamb seitan...

...it was pretty delicious...I'd make it again...

Vegan Lamb Seitan - recipe above...
Sauce aux Cdpres (mock hollandaise with egg yolks, cream, capers, and butter), page 65
Sauce Soubise (bechamel with onion puree), page 64
Coulis de Tomates (fresh tomato sauce with herbs), page 78

recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 332-334...

VEGAN POMMES NORMANDE EN BELLE VUE

[Vegan Applesauce Caramel Mold — a warm or cold dessert]5

...Julia says...This is a much lighter dessert than the apple charlotte, and also much easier to prepare...

...I guess it is...as it doesn't have all of the lining and toasting bits...

...so you start with apples...and basically make some applesauce...

...add some lemon zest, sugar and cinnamon...

...cook the 'applesauce' for about 20 minutes...then take it off heat and add some rum...(or cognac or apple brandy)

...then add in vegan egg, vegan butter, and vegan egg white...

...Julia uses one big mold...but I'm using individual ramekins...

...and they need to be lined with caramel...so make some Vegan Caramel...

...and pour it into the ramekins...

...just enough in the bottom of each ramekin to cover...or all of it if you're using a big mold...

...turn the apple mixture into the caramel-lined mold...

...cover with lid or plate...

...and set in the saucepan with boiling water around the outside of the mold up to the level of the apple mixture...and put it in the oven...regulating the oven temperature to maintain water almost at the simmer...

...Julia recommends 1 to 1 1/2 hours for the large mold...but our small ramekins only took about half an hour...take them out and let them cool for 20 minutes or so...

...make some VEGAN CRÈME ANGLAISE...

...remove the ramekins...

...and then I thought it was interesting that Julia gives instructions for the remaining caramel in the ramekins...

...she says to simmer the rum or brandy in the mold to dissolve any remaining caramel...

...and pour that over...

...we had ours warm...but Julia says it can be served cold...I don't think I would like it as well cold though...

...pour over the VEGAN CRÈME ANGLAISE...

...this was a really good dessert...almost like an apple pie pudding...we really enjoyed it...

Substitutions

Vegan milk
Vegan Butter
Vegan egg
Vegan egg white
recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 624-625...

Vegan Gratin d'Endives

[Vegan Gratin of Endive with Ham]

...y'all saw this endive in the grocery shop for the weekend...and it was expensive at $5.99 per pound...Julia even says in her introductory paragrah that endive is very expensive...but you remove the outer leaves and cut off the stem...

...and then you braise it in vegan butter...VEGAN ENDIVES À LA FLAMANDE

...wrap it in vegan ham...

...and smother it in vegan bechamel...

...sprinkle on some vegan cheese...

...and bake...

...we served it with Bryanna's Breast of Tofu, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and a handful of little yellow tomatoes...

...well...it was good...creamy and savory...it made a nice accompaniment to the meal...

Substitutions

VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL/SAUCE VELOUTÉ
Vegan Ham

recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 156...

VEGAN SOUFFLÉ DE POISSON

[Vegan Fish Soufflé]

...Julia gives no introduction to this recipe at all...she just dives right in...

...y'all have seen me use these vegan fish filets before...

...I just peel the breading off...

...then I got out my Nori sheets...and a green onion...because the first thing you do is make the VEGAN FISH POACHED IN WHITE WINE...

...so I ground up my vegan fish filets and added them...the green onion and the nori sheets along with some white wine to an oven proof dish...

...and baked that...

...then I mixed the vegan butter and flour...

...and added the boiling almond milk...this part always looks horrible...

...but just keep stirring...and it will come together to make a nice white sauce...

...then add in your poached vegan fish...

...and stir well to combine...breaking everything up to make as smooth a sauce as possible...the Nori pretty much disentigrates...

...and y'all have seen me use whipped aqua faba here before to mimic the egg whites in the recipe...but this time I'm going to omit that and just use some baking powder for the poof...

...I put the mixture in a parchment lined ramekin...because I'm expecting it to rise over the rim...

...Ok...in the oven it really did rise up onto the parchement...but as soon as I set it out of the oven it began to deflate...and by the time I got my camera it had deflated to the top of the ramekin...

...and we served it with a vegan fish filet and some peas and carrots...

...it definitely had more of the texture of a pudding than a poofy souffle...but it was still a very delicious side dish...

Substitutions:

Vegan fish for the fish...we used Gardein
Vegan Butter
Vegan milk
Baking powder for the egg whites

recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 168-169...