VEGAN VOLAILLES EN ESCABÈCHE

[Vegan Cold Fowl in Lemon Jelly]

...this is another of those "Cold Buffet" jellied dishes that must have been way more popular in the 60s than they are today...

...you start by cooking some onion, carrot and celery in olive oil for a few minutes without browning...

...then you add...all at once...white wine, wine vinegar, lemon, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf peppercorn, parsley and broth, and either green or red bell pepper...we had both but I thought the red would be prettier...

...bring that to a boil...

...and let it simmer for a few minutes...

...Julia says that as this dish cools it will turn into a very light jelly...ours of course will not...so I'm adding about 1/4 teaspoon of agar-agar...

...and the instructions say that you cook that with the chicken for about 2 1/2 hours...of course we don't need anywhere near that amount of time...

...then you arrange the vegetables and lemon pieces around the vegan chicken...

...and pour the broth over...

...let cool to room temperature and then cover and cool in the refrigerator...and ours is indeed a very light jelly...

...we served it for brunch over lettuce...

...although currently a little bit out of style...it made a very nice light and refreshing lunch...nice and cool for these very hot summer days...

Substitutions:
Tofu for the chicken
Orrington Farms Vegan Chicken Broth for the chicken broth

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 554-556

Vegan Suprêmes de Volaille en Chaud-froid à l’Ecossaise

[Breast of Chicken in Chaud-jroid with Diced Vegetables]

...this is a variation of the master recipe...VEGAN SUPRÊMES DE VOLAILLE EN CHAUD-FROID, BLANCHE NEIGE...

...so I started by making my vegan Suprêmes ...just by carving them out of a block of tofu...

...and I air-fried those for a bit...I'll just prefer the little bit firmer texture of the tofu cutlets this way...but you can poach them or use seitan or a store-bought vegan chicken if you want...

...then you sauté some carrots, celery and onions in some vegan butter...Julia has you cook the mushrooms separately...but I did not...I just cooked all of the veg together...

...then you add the veg to the cream sauce as it reduces...

...and that's it...Julia says it will need no other decoration...

...spoon that over the vegan chicken...

...we served it as a luncheon dish...quite simply with a salad made of fresh garden lettuce...I was going to make some chard from the garden...but I remember reading somewhere that you don't serve warm sides with a chaud-froid...

...and of course it was pretty delicious...

Substitutions:
Vegan cream for the cream...I just used almond milk...
Tofu for the chicken
Earth Balance for the butter
Vegeta for the chicken broth

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 552

Vegan Crème Plombières à l’Ananas

[Vegan Plombieres with Pineapple]

Julia says to 'follow the ingredients and method in the master recipe, but substitute pineapple for the pralin. And instead of soaking the cake in rum, use kirsch or cognac diluted with water'

...master recipe here...VEGAN CRÈME PLOMBIÈRES PRALINÉES

...I bought this little can of pineapple just for this recipe...the recipe actually calls for crushed pineapple...but FL didn't have small cans of that...and I figured I could just 'crush' this myself...

...and two forks made simple work of that job...

...I put a square of vegan sponge cake into a ramekin...I'd dried it out a bit in the oven first...so it looks a little bit toasted...make your custard and add some vegan whipped cream...I used whipped aqua faba...of course...

...then Julia says to boil down the syrup from the can of pineapple...

...mix a couple of spoonfuls with your custard...

...and then add the crushed pineapple to the syrup...

...stir most of the syrup-y crushed pineapple into the custard...and reserve the rest for a topping...

...spoon the custard over the sponge...

...and top with the reserved pineapple...

...it is a pretty dessert...and Julia says 'For the few minutes it takes to assemble, creme plombibes makes a surprisingly attractive dessert.'...haha...the assembly really does only take a few minutes...everything else takes quite a bit longer...haha...

...it was pretty delicious...a little bit of carmelization...sort of like pineapple upside down cake...

Substitutions:

aqua faba for both the egg yolks and the egg whites...
Earth Balance for the butter...

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 596)

* VEGAN TERRINE DE PORC, VEAU, ET JAMBON

[Vegan Pork and Vegan Veal Pate with Vegan Ham]

...Julia says "A pork and veal pate with decorative strips of veal and ham buried in its slices is the most classic of all pate mixtures"...

...and there are two variations for this...
Pâté de Veau et Porc avec Gibier - if you wanted to make this version...you could use the Mock Duck like I did in the Vegan Caneton aux Cerises...or you could make the yuba version like I did in the Vegan Caneton à l'Orange

Pâté de Veau et Porc avec Foie - and if you wanted to make this version...you could use the VEGAN FOIE DE VEAU recipe...

...and the procedure would be exactly the same...

...you start by slicing your vegan veal into 1/4 inch slices...and marinating it in some cognac, thyme, allspice and shallots...I used baked tofu for the vegan veal...and red onion for the shallots...

...then you'll need the VEGAN FARCE POUR PÂTÉS, TERRINES, ET GALANTINES...and I used TVP and mushrooms this time and omitted the vegan sausage as I didn't think that would go with this flavor profile...

...cut your vegan veal and vegan ham into strips...

...add your marinating liquid to the seitan/stuffing mixture...

...then start assembling by pressing 1/3 of the seitan/stuffing mixture on top of the vegan bacon...and then adding the strips of vegan ham and vegan veal...

...continue layering and end with the stuffing...

...top with more vegan bacon...

...set a weight on top...I'm using another ramekin filled with water...and set it in a pan of water...and bake for about 1/2 hour...if you make a larger one you'll have to bake it longer...of course...so that the seitan/stuffing gets done in the center...

...what it looked like out of the oven...almost all of the water in the pan had evaporated...

...but it was nicely pressed and firm...

...after chilling it in the fridge we served it with some slabs of homemade bread...

...it's quite firm...not very paté like...

...and it was delicious...and I say that with a surprised voice as I did not really expect to like this very much...

Substitutions:
Baked Tofu for the veal
Vegan bacon - smart life
Tofurkey vegan ham

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 566-568

VEGAN BLANQUETTE DE VEAU À L’ANCIENNE/Vegan Blanquette d’Agneau

[Vegan Veal Stew with Onions and Mushrooms/Vegan Spring Lamb Stew with Onions and Mushrooms]

...Julia says that this Blanquette de veau is "a much-loved stew in France"...and that the lamb version "is cooked exactly like the blanquette de veau on page 362 in the Veal section"...

...you add a whole onion studded with one clove to some vegan chicken broth...along with carrot and celery...and a medium herb bouquetwith parsley stems (not the leaves), bay leaf, and thyme...

...then she gives explicit instructions for cooking and 'skimming' the veal...I tore a block of tofu into chunks and boiled it in the broth for about 15 minutes...

...and then cooked it in the air fryer...and it has the perfect texture...and should hold up to the stew...

...then I added the peeled pearl onions...

...and then the vegan veal chunks...

...and again my mushrooms weren't really 'button' sized...so I quartered those...

...and added them to the stew...

...then I made the VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL/SAUCE VELOUTÉ...and added that to the stew...

...then for the cream and egg yolk enrichment...I used the Trader Joe's vegan cream and the Just Egg Copycat recipe that I've used before...it's made with mung beans...

...you stir that in a spoonful at a time...

...not letting it come to a simmer...

...and we served it over linguine noodles as Julia suggested...it was really really good...and her word 'delicate' definitely describes the sauce...

Substitutions:
Tofu cooked in Vegan Chicken bouillon for the veal
Vegan butter
Vegan Cream
Vegan egg substitute

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 362.364