Vegan Oignons à la Grecque

[Onions à la Grecque...already vegan]

...Julia says to get small pearl onions and boil them for a minute and make a cross in the bottom...but I can't find fresh pearl onions...so I'm using frozen ones...and I'm not doing the parboil/cross...

...but other than that...it's just like any of the "à la Grecque" vegetables...

...we just served it as a side dish...

...with a 'regular' vegan meal...rice, broccoli and baked tofu...

...and these are good...a nice cool salad-y pickle-y thing...not a typical warm veg side dish...

Substitutions

NONE...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 539)

Vegan Mousseline de Crustacés, Blanche Neige

[Vegan Shellfish Mousse]

...this is just a variation of the * MOUSSELINE DE POISSON, BLANCHE NEIGE...just using shrimp (or another vegan shellfish) instead of the fish...

...I had some vegan shrimp in the freezer...

...into the food processor...Julia uses a blender...

...add some agar-agar...instead of the gelatin...

...fold in some whipped vegan cream...

...pack it into molds...and put in the fridge to set up...

...use the remaining fish stock to make the Sauce chaud-froid, blanche neige...

...unmold onto a bed of lettuce...

...and coat with the blanche neige...

...and decorate with the remaining vegan shrimp...or any other decoration you prefer...

...it really is quite a pretty dish...

...to be served for luncheon...or a cold buffet...

...and again...we just don't have things like this any more...

...it's good...a nice cold lunch...

Substitutions

Nori Sheets for the fish in the stock... Vegan shrimp for the shellfish
Vegan Cream for the cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 562-563

VEGAN POULET EN GELÉE A L’ESTRAGON

[Vegan Chicken Tarragon in Aspic]

...Julia says Vegan 'Chicken in tarragon jelly is one of the simplest and best of the cold poultry dishes.'

...place your browned tofu/chicken in the broth...I browned mine in the air fryer...but Julia of course uses butter...and add some tarragon...

...remove it to a platter and chill...

...then add some agar-agar to the stock to make a jellied stock...add some Madeira or port...I used white wine as that's all I had...

...then pour that onto an oval platter...I strained mine first...and put it into the fridge to chill...

...Julia says to drop the tarragon leaves into boiling water...she's using fresh of course...but that's not readily available here...so I'm using dried leaves...

...place your carved tofu/chicken on top of the now solid gel...and spoon over some semi-gelled stock...and put it back in the fridge to set up again...

...decorate with your tarragon leaves...and spoon over another layer of semi-gelled stock...and put it back into the fridge...

...pour the remaining jellied stock onto another plate and let it set up in the fridge and then slice it into little cubes...

...and use that to decorate around the platter...

...we just served it with some toasted french bread and tea for a light luncheon...

...it is a pretty dish...but again...we just don't serve many jellied cold vegan meat dishes anymore...haha...

...it tasted pretty good though...

Substitutions:

tofu for the chicken...
vegan broth...we used vegan chicken flavored bouillon


Mastering the Art of French Cooking (pp. 549-550)

* VEGAN MOUSSELINE DE POISSON, BLANCHE NEIGE

[Vegan Fish Mousse— with shellfish and chaud-froid sauce]

...first you'll need the Vegan Fumet de Poisson au Vin Blanc...so I made that stock...just subbing nori for the fish...and simmered the tofu in that...

...removed the tofu to the food processor...Julia used a blender...

...but I thought just a little bit of texture would be nice...

...added some agar-agar...instead of gelatin...

...and cooked that to activate the agar...

...folded in the whipping cream...and packed that into an oiled mold...

...then I strained the remaining stock...added vegan whipping cream...tarragon...and some more agar-agar...

...unmolded the mousse...

...it turned out nice and jiggly...and held it's shape better than I'd expected...

...poured over the blanche neige sauce...

...and decorated it with a little flower...

...and served it on a bed of lettuce...

...Julia says this makes a nice first course...and I'm pretty ambivalent about most of these jelled dishes...it wasn't horrible...in fact it was a little bit better than I expected...Julia warns that you must season the broth really well...

Substitutions

Nori Sheets for the fish in the stock... Tofu for the fish
Vegan Cream for the cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 562-563

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