What is our vegetarian equivalent of a feast’s centerpiece?  What is our veggie Rib Roast?  Our equivalent of Duck a l’Orange?  Our trussed-up golden bird wearing those frilly mini chef-hat thingies on its legs?  For as much as being vegetarian has going for it, our feast tables are missing a coup de grace, a piece de resistance, a chef-d’oeuvre, and other long winded French phrases.

So this vanesscipe is here to fill that void in the middle of your Special Occasion table, to take center stage on your crocheted potholder, to replace the big hulking suckling pig with an apple under its schnoz.  When I was growing up, a Special Occasion often meant some Frenchy dish with a rich sauce to ladle in the crater of a mountain of creamy and cream-laden mash potatoes.  It meant the triumvirate of French food additives: butter, cream, and wine.  And heck, if one doesn’t do it, use ‘em all.

This vanesscipe is a vegetization of a recipe my mom used to make on medium-special occasions.  Not a Thanksgiving, not a birthday, but maybe for a softball match won or a closet well-cleaned.  It’s no Tofurky centerpiece, and that’s a good thing.  It’s a rich and elegant main course that yields a scrumptious sauce to ladle over the lightest, fluffiest mash potatoes.  It gets its luster partially from the butter and cream, but also from tarragon, a subtle but fragrant and elegant herb that really classes up this dish.  Hopefully it will so impress you and your carnivorous friends that they won’t even notice that your Special Occasion table is missing a huge suckling pig.

Serves: 6 as a main dish
Time: 35 minutes

1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
butter or olive oil
3 8oz boxes of chicken-style seitan with the liquid, cut into bite sized chunks
3-4 carrots, cut into ½ inch chunks
2 potatoes or parsnips, cut into ½ inch chunks
1 Tbsp flour
1 bunch fresh tarragon (or 2 Tbsp dried)
1 veggie bullion cube dissolved in 1 cup hot water
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper

Sauté the onion and garlic in a little butter or olive oil until wilted.

Add the seitan, carrots, potatoes or parsnips, and ½ of the fresh tarragon. Sprinkle the flour over and stir to coat.

Add the veggie broth and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes.  When the parsnips/potatoes and carrots are almost cooked, take out the seitan and veggies and reserve in a bowl.

Boil the remaining liquid down until very thick then stir in the cream and heat until almost boiling.
 
Return the seitan and veggies to the pan and heat through.   Stir in the remaining ½ of the tarragon, reserving a little bit to sprinkle on top of finished dish.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn out into a beautiful serving dish, dust with the reserved tarragon, and enjoy your veggie masterpiece.  Serve with mash potatoes to induce fainting.

 

Hey there, glorious readers. It often irks me when blogs get self-referential, but I’m having a hard time getting around it cause I want you all to know that I’m here: a real person, happily waiting for ya’ll to get to know me via these crazy modern ways we have. The best way I know how is to make a list of these ways. And then explain them. In third person:

You can now contact Vanessa at Myspace.
She’s at http://www.myspace.com/vanesscipes

She still isn’t clear what the Myspace hype is all about yet, but loves any way to get to know you and to exchange comments about about food, life, and how vegetarians are just generally better-looking. Make her your newest Myspace friend!

Vanessa has been ready and waiting at Flickr for a while now for you to share photos with her.
She’s at http://flickr.com/photos/vanesscipes

Here is where the third-person gets confusing, but bear with me, glorious readers:

You can now contact Vanessa as Vanessa Picnic in Second Life:

Vanessa Picnic, Vanessa’s Second Life avatar, has a hard time walking, flying, and sitting, has old-school (or so Vanessa hears) hair, and hasn’t put on her shoes yet. The avatar was (the world’s geekiest?) gift from Jerry, known in Second Life as SNOOPYbrown Zamboni. Vanessa Picnic is supposed to resemble real-life Vanessa, and sort of does, frighteningly enough. Please come help Vanessa Picnic brave this brave new world. She really needs to figure out how to get her shoes ons.

Vanessa is a member of the Veggin’Out forum (ladies only, please.)

Vanessa admits she hasn’t had the time to frequent it lately, though she thinks it’s pretty cool and has a veggie girl crush on sunny Harmonia, MC of the forum.

Vanessa spent an embarassingly long time designing a very small favicon (or, in Vanessa’s case, a forkicon) which now garnishes the area left of her URL. It’s the little things, people, the little things. If you look closely, you just might see it.

Thanks for listening, and, as always, I’m available at vanesscipes@gmail.com if you want to berate me for speaking about myself in the third person. And, like every blogger, I love, cherish, and think constantly about any and all comments! Thanks for listening.

Love,
Vanessa

Frit-ter
-verb (used with object)
1. To squander away piecemeal; waste little by little

-noun (consumed with passion and a side of dipping sauce)
2. The perfect way to take something good, and make it even better
For example:

Pakoras
Fry Balls
Crisps
Falafel
Hush Puppies
Croquettes
Bhajis

These Green Chili and Corn Fritters are what would happen if an Indian Onion Bhaji eloped to Thailand with a Southern Corn Cake Belle and spawned a spicy, sweet, and savory fritter lovechild.
 
I know 50 minutes seems like a long time to spend on these, but if you get two batches frying up at once you can cut time down the cooking time quite a bit.  However, if you’re not that dexterous, I’m sure there are worse ways to fritter away an evening.

Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 4 -5

Green Chili and Corn Fritters

1 medium onion, cut into thin rings
4 green onions, sliced
3 green chilies, minced
1 box frozen sweet corn kernels
1 1/3 cup chickpea flour
1/2 inch ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
peanut oil

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Sometimes, when deleting a chain email, dontcha just feel a little bit bad? Like, maybe you just deleted the email that really will get five million Russian rubles wired to your checking account?

It happened to me. Really.

Except it wasn’t a chain email. It was a recipe exchange. And it wasn’t five million Russian rubles. It was a Russian Bride named Katya. Ok, not so much Russian as Thai. And not a bride, but a soup recipe. That’s right. I received a very excellent, very free, very Thai, soup recipe right to my inbox. This internet stuff is great!

Check it out for yourself. Straight from whoknowswhere to my sister’s (no, not The Sistaster nor the Li’l Sis, but the older sis that is probably best described as The Ultracompetitive Sis) best friend Teha to me to you.

Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 5 – 6

Thai Pumpkin Soup

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 15 oz can coconut milk
2 cups mango nectar
3 cups water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter; your preference
2 veggie bullion cubes
1/2 an inch fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 green chilies, minced
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
3-4 green onions, chopped

(more…)

I’m not cooking my own Thanksgiving dinner this year, but if I did, the menu might look something like this:

Snacking Tray:

• Mixed olives and cornichons
• Crudités plate
• Cheeses and grapes

Salad:

• Crisp green romaine lettuce salad with arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, homemade croutons and a simple mustard vinaigrette

Soup:

• South African Butternut Squash Soup. Stephanie made this wonderful soup for our Foodbloggers Potluck and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s slightly untraditional for a Thanksgiving meal, but the squash makes it very autumnal.

Grain/Starch:

• Wheat Berry and Apple Salad
• Wild Rice Salad with Orange Slices and Walnuts
• Garlic or Traditional Mashed Potatoes. This apple gravy from A Veggie Venture looks pretty awesome.
• Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes. I agree with Lisa - yes to sweet potatoes, no to marshmallows!

Vegetable Sides:

• Fresh cranberry sauce with orange zest
• Stuffing, dressing, whatever it’s called
• Iowan Broccoli Casserole (Yes. It has Velveeta cheese. But whoever said Thanksgiving had to be gourmet? Couldn’t be easier. Or worse for you.)
• Veggie Pot Pie
• I also liked these fresh, zingy ideas from last week’s New York Times: Brussel Spouts with Lemon Zest
• Braised Red Radishes

Main (“Meat”):

• Balsamic-roasted Seitan with Cipollini Onions from Peter Berley’s Fresh Foods Fast

Or

Chicken-style Seitan with a Tarragon Cream Sauce with Parsnips and Carrots

Rolls and French Bread

Dessert:

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Crumble