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 551/524 (from Julie's count)...but really 616

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

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

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

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

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

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)