Vegan Pommes de Terre Parisiennes/Pommes de Terre Sautées en Dés

[Vegan Potato Balls Sautéed in Butter/Diced Potatoes Sautéed in Butter]

...this is a variation of the [Potatoes Sautéed in Butter]...VEGAN POMMES DE TERRE SAUTÉES/POMMES DE TERRE POUR GARNITURE/POMMES DE TERRE CHÀTEAU...that we did years and years ago...I kindof thought it was funny that that recipe had 3 names and this one has 2...

...Julia says..."Use exactly the same system as that in the preceding recipe, but form the raw potatoes into balls with a potato-ball cutter, or cut them into 1/4 -inch dice"...

...of course I don't have a potato ball cutter...but I do have Grandma's Veg-O-Matic...which has discs for a 1/4 inch dice...so of course I used that...

...you need pretty specifically 1/16 inch of butter in the pan...(.158 cm)...

...then you just shake the pan every 2 minutes or so...the goal is to have the vegan butter very hot but not hot enough to discolour...

...cover...

...and continue to cook...

...until everything is nice and evenly golden...

...and we had it with tofu steak, Brussels sprouts and a salad...it was a nice side dish for that meal...

Substitutions

only vegan butter...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p. 528)

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 Bavarois aux Fruits

[Vegan Strawberry or Raspberry Bavarian Cream — and other fruits]

This recipe calls for raspberries or strawberries...but Julia says you can use other fruits as well...peaches sound delicious for this creamy and airy dessert...

...I've made a couple of versions of Bavarois before...the master recipe VEGAN BAVAROIS À L’ORANGE was pretty delicious and this strawberry version is too...

...first you'll need a vegan custard...I'm using Bird's for the base...and adding the agar-agar for the gelatin...

...just cooking the custard using the Bird's directions...

...purée the fresh strawberries...Julia says to pass it through a seive...but I did not...I like strawberry seeds...

...whip some cream...you could use aqua faba here...but this Trader Joes vegan whipping cream is pretty awesome...and whips up in about 30 seconds...aqua faba usually takes a few minutes of whipping...

...perfectly whipped vegan cream...

...fold the strawberry purée and the whipped vegan cream into the vegan custard...

...and pour into a mold...I'd seen several image online of this dessert in a round mold with a defined edge...but I don't have one...so I'm just using a pyrex bowl for sort of the same effect...

...after a couple of hours in the fridge...it set up nicely...

...and unmolded with no issues...

...added some decorative strawberries around the base...like the images I'd seen on the interwebs...

...topped with the leftover sauce as Julia recommends...

...it would of course be prettier with a nice square edged mold...but this is pretty too...

...and finally more whipped vegan cream...

...it really is a pretty dessert...company-worthy...

...and it held its shape pretty well when sliced...

...and it is oh-my-goodness delicious...so creamy and fruity and light and airy...

Substitutions

Bird's Custard
Vegan Trader Joe's whipped cream...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 599-600

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)