Tag Archives: vegan sausage

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Red Lentil, Couscous, & Vegetable Stoup. Oil-free.

lentil soup in bowl(Yes, I did use a dreaded Rachel Ray word in the recipe title.  I apologize for that, but it fits for this recipe.  It starts out as a soup but turns into a stew the next day, as you can see from the photos.)

WELCOME TO THE FOURTH VIRTUAL VEGAN POTLUCK!  I’ve got some appreciation to take care of: First of all, thank you to every one who signed on to this craziness.  The directions are complicated, the reminder emails get annoying, and most of all, I know the amount of effort it takes to get a blog post to the Publish stage.  I truly appreciate your time and energy.  I’m always awed and inspired by what you create in the kitchen.

I made a few changes in implementation for this Potluck and it’s made all of the difference.  Having Mentors helping me communicate and coordinate with participants took a big weight off of my shoulders, so thank you thank you to my international crew: Rachael of Rubber Cowgirl, Keely of Gormandize, Barb of That Was Vegan?, Kamila of Sensual Appeal, Liezl of Spinach Revolution, and Angela of Canned Time.  Angela wore multiple hats and did a great job with the VVP Pinterest board.  And thanks to Lidia over at Vegan Bloggers Unite! for once again playing hostess to the Potluck.

Lastly, I want to share what I discovered shortly before I started work on this Potluck.  I realized that when I backed off of worrying about sponsorship and promotion, I enjoyed the process again: welcoming bloggers to their first Potluck; seeing old friends sign up for their fourth event; helping people choose a course or dish.  After all, my original inspiration was to carve out some space and time to share plant-based food with the blogging community – many of whom have become friends.  It’s about letting our creativity shine.  It’s about appreciating the unique perspective we all have.  And this November it was all about making everything from bread to desserts using beets…

Red Lentil, Couscous, & Vegetable Stoup
Serves 6-8

1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
Bragg Liquid Aminos – just a splash
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried onion flakes
pinch coriander
pinch black pepper
1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 no-salt vegetable bouillon cube
1 15 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained
1 Italian vegan sausage link, homemade or use Field Roast brand, sliced
4 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous

In a large pot, sauté the onions, carrot, and celery in some vegetable broth and/or water.  Add a splash of Liquid Aminos, cover and cook the vegetables until soft.  After about 10 minutes, stir in the garlic, thyme, coriander, dried onion, and black pepper.  Stir for about a minute.

Pour in the tomatoes, zucchini, lentils, broth, water, veggie bouillon, and artichoke hearts.  Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer; cover, and cook for about 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

Stir in the sausage, spinach, and couscous and cook for about 20 more minutes.  Serve piping hot with vegan Parmesan-style cheese.

red lentil soup

Here’s what I shared in previous Potlucks:
May 2012: Sage & Rosemary Dinner Rolls with Roasted Garlic Coconut Butter
November 2012: Maple Creme & Mocha Spice Cake Trifle with Fresh Blueberries
May 2013: Sweet Potato Fries with Parsley, Garlic, & Lemon Zest

ONWARD!  There is a LOT more eating to do!

To go back to Juicy Dishes, click here or on the image below.

Go Back Button VVP

To move forward to Soulicious Life, click here or on the image below.

Go Forward VVP

To start at the very beginning, click here.

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Smoky Chickpea Stew with Spinach, Sausage & Cashew Cream

Smoky Chickpea StewCongratulations to Dena B. for snagging a fabulous Vegan Cuts Snack Box!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Virtual Vegan Potluck blog to enter.  It was our most popular giveaway yet!

Here’s an über simple, spicy bean stew that is perfect for a quick lunch or weeknight meal.  I served mine over a thick slice of toast and topped it with cilantro and a garlicky cashew cream.

One Year Ago Today: Chunky Monkey Muffins
One year and one day ago: When the Cupboards Are (Almost) Bare

Smoky Chickpea Stew with Spinach, Sausage & Cashew Cream
Serves 4

Cashew Cream
1 cup cashews, soaked for a few hours
1/2 cup water
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos

Stew
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4+ cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 15 oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 link spicy vegan sausage (such as Field Roast’s Mexican Chipotle sausage), chopped
5 oz. fresh spinach
1 tsp. dry sherry, optional
generous squirt of fresh lemon juice
4 slices thick, crusty bread – preferably garlic bread – toasted
cilantro, for garnish

Make the cream:
Rinse and drain the cashews and put into a blender along with the other ingredients. Process until very smooth – give it a minute or two. Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Make the stew:
In a medium-sized pot, saute the garlic and onion in a little bit of the vegetable broth until tender. Stir in the paprika and cook for about 1 minute. Add the 1/4 broth, white wine and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and add the garbanzo beans. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until thickened slightly.

A few minutes before the stew is finished, toast the bread.

Stir in the chorizo and spinach, cover and cook for a few minutes to allow the spinach to wilt. Remove from the heat and stir in the sherry and lemon juice.

Divide the toast among four bowls and ladle with the stew. Garnish with chopped cilantro and big dollops of the cashew cream.

Smoky Chickpea Stew

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Save-the-Piggies-in-a-Blanket

Baked Save-the-PiggiesThere was a time when I could not pass up the cocktail wiener, the Vienna sausage, the “pigs” snuggled into biscuity blankets.  It was as much their diminutive size as their flavor – I mean, Vienna sausage??  Yikes.  Scary stuff even during the height of my carnivorous days.  Post-meat, the allure of the dainty sausage remained and when I opened the current issue of KAF’s The Baking Sheet and saw a recipe for wee hot dogs in biscuit dough, I had to give it a vegan go.  What I miss about sausage isn’t the meat, it’s the flavor – for which the spices are mainly responsible.  Seitan sausage has flavor to beat the band, so adapting this recipe was easy-peasy.  I added a touch of mustard and sweet, soft caramelized onions.

Save-the-Piggies-in-a-Blanket
Makes 18

Filling:
your favorite vegan sausage, 18 small “links”
~1/2 cup caramelized onions
your favorite mustard

Dough:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup vegan “butter”
3/4 “buttermilk” (soy milk + apple cider vinegar or lemon juice)

About the sausage:
I cooked up a batch of my Smokey Apple-Sage Seitan Sausage and after it spent the night in the refrigerator, I cut the sausages down the middle, then I cut each half in quarters so that I had “links” about 3″ long.  Certainly a commercial vegan sausage could happily be employed for this recipe.  Oh – and I think a spicy seitan would be outstanding here… Anyway, once you cut the sausages, set them aside until you’re ready for the assembly line.

Make the biscuit dough:
Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking pan with parchment.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Cut the “butter” into the dough until it’s more or less incorporated – like coarse meal – and then pour in the “buttermilk.”  Mix until you have a firm dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it’s about 1/4″ thick.  And here I used a ruler: you’re going to cut the dough into 3 1/2″ pieces.  Cut strips of dough that are 2″ wide and 10 1/2″ long – then cut those strips into thirds (to get the 3 1/2″ pieces).  I trimmed the ragged edges of the dough before measuring.  Smear a little bit of mustard onto each piece, then place caramelized onion on top of the mustard.  With a wet brush, dampen one end of each piece.  Now get your seitan sausage “links” and roll one up in each piece of dough, pressing to seal the edges.  You can brush the tops with soy milk if you like.

Unbaked Save-the-PiggiesBake for 15-20 minutes and serve while warm.  The original recipe suggests serving these with chutney – which sounds pretty darn good – much better than catsup.  They also suggest they’d be good alongside scrambled eggs, which of course, in our case would mean scrambled tofu.

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Italian “Sausage” and Roasted Eggplant Sandwiches

Italian Sausage SandwichesThe inspiration for this sandwich came from leftovers from other recipes – roasted eggplant and roasted plum tomato sauce from the sandwich posted here earlier and “sausage” I’d made to veganize a Christmas family tradition: stuffed artichokes (that recipe is forthcoming).  There is a ton of flavors going on and the tomato sauce and Vegenaise add the right amount of moist creaminess.  Again, you could switch this up to accommodate the leftovers in your refrigerator.   Use slices of fresh tomato if you don’t have tomato sauce.  Baked tofu would be a good substitute for the eggplant.  Do try the sausage, though.  It’s easy to make and the flavor and taste are a revelation.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I found the original recipe – but my thanks nonetheless for the creative author.

One Italian Sausage SandwichItalian “Sausage” and Roasted Eggplant Sandwiches
Makes 2

4 slices roasted eggplant
4 tbsp. roasted plum tomato sauce
4 slices Italian “sausage”
2 thin slices red onion
handful baby spinach or mixed greens
1 tbsp. Vegenaise
4 slices good quality whole grain bread

Sausage Ingredients (makes more than you’ll need):
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp. salt
1 cup TVP
1 cup dry red wine
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 tsp. dried rosemary
4 whole cloves
2 tsp. tahini
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or use a microplaner
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs or panko

Make Sausage:
Combine red wine, cloves, garlic (the roughly chopped clove) and rosemary in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 6-10 minutes or until liquid is slightly thickened (I ended up with about a 1/2 cup of liquid).  Strain to remove solids and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the TVP and the one cup boiling water.  Stir and let stand for about 10 minutes.  Then add the tahini, fennel, poultry seasoning, black pepper, minced garlic, cornstarch and strained wine mixture.  Mix well.

Cover and put the mixture in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.  When ready to bake, heat the oven to 425F.  Line a baking pan with parchment and if desired, form the mixture into 6-8 patties.  I simply spread the mixture onto parchment – it was easier than forming patties and for the purposes of this recipe, patties weren’t necessary.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the mixture is crispy on top.

Make the Sandwiches:
If desired, lightly toast the four slices of bread.  Slather two slices of bread with Vegenaise and pile on the greens, onions, eggplant, sausage and top with the roasted tomato sauce.  Top with the remaining slices of bread.

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