Speaking of epic eating experiences, Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites (which has been renamed Home-Cooked Vegan Comfort Food) is full of rich, tasty, impressive food!
Chocolate Stout Chili and Skillet Cornbread: I don't drink anymore, but even when I did I never drank beer because it is gross. However I have since enjoyed it in cooking, though mostly pale ale style. There is a lot of stout in this recipe, and for me it was too overpowering. I would have liked it better if I had used less stout and made up the volume with stock. The skillet cornbread was a nice accompaniment. I don't have a cast-iron skillet, so I just cooked it in a baking dish. The cornbread is also the basis for a Savoury Cheesecake recipe in the book that I reviewed here.
Rating: Chili :|, Cornbread :)
Sloppy Jo-nis and corn with Mexican-Style Dipping Sauce for Corn: These TVP-based sandwiches are pretty sloppy indeed, but are pretty yummy. The mixture is quite sweet, so next time I would probably skip the brown sugar. It says that this serves four, but we greedily fit it onto three buns. The sauce for the corn is based on mayo and cream cheese with lime and chili, and goes great with fresh corn on the cob.
Rating: Sloppy Jo-nis :), Sauce :)
Barbecue Ribs with Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Hello comfort food. I made a half recipe of the ribs, which was enough to serve four (the book says a full recipe serves six). The mix is very thick and ended up quite doughy, so you need to push it down pretty hard to spread it out. I didn't bother with the 'bones', chopsticks to push through the mixture. After baking I basted the ribs with extra BBQ sauce and pan fried to brown up. The ribs use a homemade Whiskey Barbecue Sauce, which is fairly sweet. The potatoes are amazing! The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1/4 cup of butter, but I decreased these a little bit and the taste was still amazing. Nooch gives cheesiness.
Rating: Ribs :), BBQ Sauce :), Potatoes :D
Orange Seitan Stew: This stew takes a long, slow simmer on the stove to get where it is going. Fresh OJ and red wine give a lovely flavour, and it is filled with carrots, garlic, potatoes and seitan. I just left out the capsicum. I needed to add an extra cup of broth in the last 20 minutes as it was getting a bit thick. I also added about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce towards the end as it was a bit sweet for my tastes. This makes big servings.
Rating: :)
Stew-Tatouille: I always have to change up ratatouille recipes to swap out the capsicum for something else, in this case I used some cremini mushrooms. This satisfying stew is served with a squirt of Dijon mustard to top each serving, which is fantastic with it. I served this with some delicious olive ad thyme sourdough.
Rating: :)
Seitan Burgers for Stews and Chilis: These are kind of strange on their own. The dough is very wet at first, and takes a while to come together. There is the option of beer or broth to use as the liquid, and I used some pale ale here. These are baked covered with some baking paper and an upside down tray, presumable to keep the sheet, but after the first 20 minute bake when it was time to take the top layer off it stuck on a bit. They are oddly bready when cut, and you certainly wouldn't just saute them to eat, but in stews and chilis they soak up the flavours well.
Rating: :)
Sesame Udon Stir-Fry: This colourful dinner comes together quickly, making it great for a weeknight. I used 270g of dried udon (rather than 454g) and carrots instead of capsicum. I also added some cubed sauteed tofu for extra bulk. I also decreased the amount of sesame oil for coating the noodles to just a splash rather than a quarter or a cup.
Rating: :)
BBQ Slaw Tacos: This recipe includes a mini-recipe for a quick and easy 'chi-fu', which can be used in place of store-bought chicken style strips. It is then doused in some of the Whisky Barbecue Sauce. The slaw combines peanut butter, pickle relish and capers for an unusual dressing. It was a little bit too vinegary for my tummy, but my mouth thought it was great.
Rating: :)
Better Love Your Beans Bake: Macaroni, beans, salsa and guac baked into a casserole and topped with a puree of chickpeas, sour cream and seasoning. I totally forgot to mash the black beans, but it worked out fine. And I just left out the capsicum.
Rating: :)
Cheesy Chili Bake: This uses leftovers of the chocolate stout chili, though you can use any chili. I only made a half quantity of this and it made enough to feed three people happily. The nut-based topping was very thick, I struggled to get it completely smooth, but this didn't really detract from it at all.
Rating: :)
Creamy All-In-One Bowl: This is a fun mix of jasmine rice, tofu, broccoli, pineapple, fresh coriander and nuts all topped with a creamy peanut butter based sauce. I would decrease the rice from two and a half cups down to two for a better rice to other stuff ratio.
Rating: :)
Patatas Bravas Frittata with Homefries: I had trouble getting this to firm up as much as I thought it was supposed to, so it was a bit smooshy, but it was still good. It is based on blended chickpeas, and it says to leave them a little chunkier for a firmer texture, so I may have pureed them a little bit too much. I used one roasted capsicum instead of an entire can. The home fries are based on a recipe from later on in the book, however with different seasonings. Potatoes are always good.
Rating: Frittata :), Home Fries :)
Cute Kitty Photo of the Post
I mentioned previously that Sahara loves sleeping on top of things. This time it is a folded up blanket on top of a bed.
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oooh I'm so glad to see this because I have a bunch of recipes from the book noted but haven't really made anything yet. Thanks for mentioning reducing the stout in the stew, I'll keep that in mind as I'm not a fan of that 'taste'. Have you tried the Linda McCartney ale pies? Nice, but the ale taste is a bit too strong.
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