VEGAN TRANCHES DE JAMBON MORVANDELLE

[Sautéed Ham Slices - Cream and Madeira Sauce]

I've posted about this ham seitan before...It's Tracy's recipe and it's at the bottom of her post...

You just mix your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients...

form it into a loaf, wrap it in parchment and bake it in an upright tin can...

...it comes out looking like this...

...slice off some pieces...

...and brown lightly on each side in hot vegan butter and oil - and set aside...

...add some finely minced shallots to the oil - and cook slowly without browning for 2-3 minutes...

...stir in some flour...

...heat your port to a simmer...

...and add to the flour mixture...

...do the same with some vegan bouillon...

...then add a couple of Tablespoons of cognac...

...bring sauce to a simmer...

and add some vegan cream...

...et voilà - the sauce is finished...

This is the first time that I haven't followed Julia's advice about the side dishes - but we had fresh asparagus and I wanted to try that with the Hollandaise sauce - and you have to have Nanny's sweet potatoes when you have (vegan) ham...

...It was a lovely meal and when we make it again (oh yes - we'll be making this delicious sauce again) I'll follow Julia's advice and make the creamed spinach with it...

Happy Easter...

Recipe here:

Substitutions:
Seitan for the ham
Soymilk mixed with 2 Tablespoons of powdered soymilk for the cream
Vegan Beef Bouillon for the Brown Stock

VEGAN SAUCE HOLLANDAISE

[Hollandaise Sauce]


Since I was not using any egg yolks - I whisked up some flax seed goo - I know I've talked about it before - but it is certainly egg-like - actually more like the white part of the egg than the yolk - but I figured I needed some rich sort of slimy-ness in this recipe...

Luckily, I have a measuring spoon for that vague PINCH of pepper - and I used white not black...

...then I melted two Tablespoons of the vegan butter into the lemon and flax goo...

- only just melted...

...then I had to depart from the recipe quite a bit - as I had nothing to thicken the sauce - so I added a Tablespoon of cornstarch to a half cup of soymilk - whisked that together and added it to the lemon/flax-goo/vegan butter mixture...

...I cooked that until it just started to thicken...

...then I whisked in the rest of the vegan butter (this is a very buttery sauce) by driblets...

...the finished sauce was glossy and smooth - rich and lemony and very very good!

Original Recipe here:

Substitutions:
Vegan Margarine for Butter
Flax Goo for Egg Yolks
also cornstarch and soymilk for Egg Yolk for its thickening properties.

VEGAN ASPERGES AU NATUREL

[Boiled Asparagus - Hot or Cold]

Asparagus is plentiful right now and fairly inexpensive - and we almost always have it for Easter Dinner...

Julia says not to use a vegetable peeler - because it won't go deep enough - I used mine and just made more than one pass...

...15 minutes or so later you'll have a peeled stack of asparagus...

...trim the tough ends off...

...divide the trimmed aspargus into bundles...

...and tie twice with twine...

...keep one stalk separate to test for doneness - Julia thinks of everything...

...lay the bundles in rapidly boiling salted water - and boil uncovered 12-15 minutes...

...lift out with 2 forks to a cloth covered plate...

We added Hollandaise sauce to ours - it's a really simple dish - and so good and fresh and tender...

VEGAN LA TARTE DES DEMOISELLES TATIN

[Upside-down Apple Tart - hot or cold]

We needed a special dessert to top off our Easter Feast...

...I used my favorite crazed white quiche dish - another wedding gift from many years ago...

...generously greased with vegan butter...

...sprinkled with organic beet sugar...

...organic Braeburn apples peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick (or thereabouts)...

...and tossed with some sugar and cinnamon...

...and arranged over the bottom of the quiche dish and dotted with more vegan butter...

...then spread your Pâte Brisée Sucrée over the top and trim the edges...

...then pop it into a 375 degree oven...

...tarte is done when you see a thick brown syrup bubbling up around the crust...

...invert immediately onto a heatproof dish - I just used a plate because I wasn't sure my fancy cake plate was heatproof - let it cool there...

...and then transferred it to my pretty cake plate for serving...

Vegan Pâte Brisée Sucrée

[Vegan Sweet Short Paste]


Place flour sugar and salt in a bowl...

...and blend in (LOTS of) vegan butter...

...There's a little bit of vegetable shortening in there too...

...then start the fraisage or final blending...

...this was so foreign to me - as a good Southern Girl - I was taught that the less you handle a pie crust (or biscuit dough) the flakier it would be...

...but I persevered with the fraisage and got a smooth dough...

...wrapped it in plastic and popped it into the freezer for an hour (you can also refrigerate it overnight if you wish - but we needed it this afternoon)...

...then roll it out...