Happy birthday to my Dad!

Earlier this month my dad celebrated his 65th birthday. Every time there is a birthday or other special day, the person at the centre of it gets to pick their own menu. Here is what my dad chose for his dinner. All these recipes except for the dessert came from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.


For his starter he chose Indian-Spiced Lentil Soup, which an absolutely delicious soup! I had some of the leftovers for dinner last night and it freezes and keeps really well. Five stars!


He challenged me a bit with his choice of main - Crispy Triple Soy Roast with Double Mushroom Sauce. Firstly, for some unknown reason my first batch of seitan I made was a total fail. I have no idea what happened because I make seitan quite a lot, but the whole batch went in the bin. My second attempt was much fine, however after marinating it when I came to roll it out it became apparent that it would not make nearly enough for all the stuffing. It calls for a 1-pound piece of raw seitan, but I would probably double that. Even though it is tricky to roll flat, there was no way I would have been able to get this thin enough to be big enough for all the filling. Also, my bean curd or yuba sheets were a bit annoying. I found I had to soak them for ages to be soft enough, then press out the water with some paper towels. But they were all folded on each other it turned out and I couldn't separate them. I haven't used them before, so I need some more practice.


Because I had so much excess stuffing, I just baked it in a dish of its own. Apparently Americans like baked stuffing, according to my cookbooks! This is mushrooms, tofu, soy, bread, miso and parsley.


Here is the Double Mushroom Sauce, which was actually triple mushroom sauce because I made some mushroom stock for it as well. It was delicious!


The roast, stuffing and sauce all together. Not the most attractive thing to photograph! The stuffing and the sauce were both good, and the yuba indeed did go crispy! The texture of the seitan itself was a bit funny... kind of smooshy and spongy. I made a stuffed seitan roll for Christmas last year using a Vegan Dad recipe and that one steamed and then baked the seitan roll. This recipe just baked it, so I wonder if steaming it first would improve the texture.


And here it is with the side, Sautéed Green Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic . I have made this before and it is just a really simple, quick and fresh tasting vegetable dish that I highly recommend.


And dessert, which was Apple Berry Grunt from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. This was fun because it was made on the stove top, which was a bit different! It was pretty tasty!