Satanic Secret Ingredient

Picked up some Dutch "Choca Vlokken" vegan topping in Holland last week. Served on a pile of gay pancakes (Lou-inspired) with fruit salad and smoky maple beans. I'm going to miss Sunday brunches at Mathyld's place. 

Pancakes: Split a normal batter up into 5 bowls and add 5 drops of each colour (red and blue in the violet ones). 

Beans: We were pressed for time so no soaked beans from scratch! Grab a 1kg can of white beans, add 1/4c of maple syrup, 1/2c tomato sauce and 1 tsp of liquid smoke, simmer for 10 min. 

Yikes. Sorry for the long delay in updating. 

Here are two more holiday dessert recipes, one is gluten-free.

Maple Walnut cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Buckeyes

Maple Walnut Cookies (1hr yields 24 cookies)

(modified from Trans-planted)

These go over well in Paris since maple syrup is expensive and not particularly plentiful. 

1/2 cup canola oil margarine 3/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup cornstarch or arrow root powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350° F/175°C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, maple syrup and sugar. Separately in a large bowl sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the wet to the dry in the large bowl and once a dough is formed, add the corsely chopped walnuts. If you have cookie cutters, roll the dough out to a 2cm thickness onto a flat surface protected with parchment paper and cut out cookies, using a spatula to lift them gently without breaking them. Space them 3cm apart on the baking sheet. If not, scoop the dough with a tablespoon and roll into balls, place them on the baking sheets, about 3cm apart and press down slightly. 

Bake for about 10-15 minutes cookies are firm and slightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool at least 25 minutes before carefully moving them to wire racks to complete cooling. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Buckeyes (gluten-free, no baking but about 1.5hrs yields 24 buckeyes)

I first learned about this recipe from my friend Meghan in Detroit so the credit goes to her for the inspiration and I have modified the recipe from The Vegan Version. 

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup vegan margarine or coconut oil (I used St-Hubert Bio since that's what we have in France) 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp salt if the PB is unsalted

6 oz or half a bar of fair-trade vegan dark chocolate  In a large bowl mix place the peanut butter, margarine and vanilla into a paste. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl 1 cup at a time until a stiff dough is formed. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and and roll the peanut butter mixture into 24 1 tbsp balls. Set them on the paper lined tray and put into the refrigerator for a minimum 30min.

Hey new followers! There are a lot of you since I was re-posted by veganfoodshare on Instagram for my wings recipe. It's a long one, but a total crowd-pleaser! My boyfriend and I just made it again for a beach barbeque with friends in Norway and it was a hit! I got some new ideas for recipes from a new friend and fellow vegan blogger, Lena, over at Vegan Food Story. You should check out her blog- open it in Google Chrome and let the web browser translate it to English for you from Norwegian (unless you speak Norwegian..which I am jealous of if you do!!). 

Tip: if you do the seitan meat a few days early, you can refrigerate/freeze it and it will take less time when you go to make the wings. Letting the seitan chicken settle for a few hours/overnight is really important for the texture of the wings, so don't skip this step. Plus, if you don't use it all or your multiply the recipe, you'll have more for next time! :) 

Lastly, let me know if there are any recipes you'd be interesting in seeing on my blog. Thanks! 

This recipe is metric AND imperial because I love to confuse you. Just kidding. It's because the source seitan recipe is from a French friend and the French generally use the metric system for cooking. If you need a unit converter, here's one. Blayne and I converted/translated the recipe for y'all. The gluten in this recipe is one of the best I've had in terms of texture and works well for our wings. According to my partner Blayne, who is a connaisseur of fake meats "this recipe is second only to Foodswings itself in terms of deliciousness". He's not kidding. It's soooo tasty and will definitely give a stomach ache.

For about 600g of seitan "chicken" you will need:

130g (1/2 cup) of gluten flour

50g (1/4 cup) of ground almond

50g (1/4 cup) of rice flour

25g (1/4 cup) of nutritional yeast flakes (+ more for sprinking)

150ml (2/3 cup) of water + 50ml (1/4 cup) of almond milk

For the bouillon

1.5 litres of water (6 1/3 cups)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 large onion cut in 4

4 bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

3 tbsp of sunflower oil

Throw together the bouillon ingredients in a large pot and set it to boil on medium heat. In a separate large bowl or pot, add the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour in your water/almond milk and mix well to form a blobby mass of seitan. Let stand for 15 min. 

Once the seitan has settled, 'flour' a surface with nutritional yeast and roll a thick sausage sized portion in the yeast, then cut it up with some clean scissors, keeping in mind that these pieces will double in size and try to cut them a little triangular so they look like wings. Keep the pieces mingling with the yeast, this will keep them from sticking back together and add flavour. Dump these pieces into the bouillon and boil them on medium for a low boil about 35 min. Turn off the heat and the seitan cool down, either in the bouillon or draining separately in a colander. 

Leave it for a few hours or overnight in the fridge before you move to the wings step! You can prepare your sauces and coating in the meantime. 

Wings Time!

5 carrots, chopped into sticks

10 celery stalks, chopped into sticks

Wing hot sauce (half for drizzling on cooked wings, half for dipping)

1/2 cup vegan butter

1/4 cup Encona original hot pepper sauce

1 tbsp any BBQ sauce

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

salt and black pepper (white pepper tastes like dust)

1 tsp chili or cayenne powder

2 tbsp agave (this is only if you like sweet wing sauce, otherwise, don't add it!)

Put all this into a small saucepan for around 5 min and then turn off heat. 

Wing coatings 

2 cups of sunflower oil for frying in a medium pot

Wet (put half in a bowl for coating and the other half in a serving bowl for dipping the carrots and celery, this doubles as your 'blue cheese' dressing even though actual blue cheese is DISGUSTING)

2 cloves garlics minced

2 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 c vegan cream

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp corn starch

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp dill (or parsley if you don't have dill)

2 tbsp water

2 tsp agar agar (optional)

Dry mixture

1/2 cup of cornflakes, crushed

1 cup of breadcrumbs- homemade or otherwise (careful, storebought ones often contain cheese)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chili or cayenne

1 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup flour

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tsp onion flakes

1 tsp bouillon powder

1 tbsp of nutritional yeast

Prepare a wet and a dry coating bowl for an assembly line of wings. Get out a large plate with paper towel spread on it to soak up your extra wing oil after frying. Heat your oil to between medium and high (hot enough to fry, not to scorch). Wait 5 min for the oil to get hot. Dip your seitan in the wet coating, then dredge in the dry coating and slowly slide them into the hot oil. You should be able to do 5 or 6 wings at a time. Brown them about 1-2 min each and remove from oil, placing them on the paper towel to absorb excess oil. 

After cooling the wings for about 5 mins, arrange them in a on a lettuce leaf, then drizzle them in some of the wing hot sauce, putting the rest aside in a serving bowl.  Serve with carrot and celery sticks and the blue cheese dip. So good you'll rip your shirt off.

Maltese Stuffed Artichokes

This is a recipe from my Maltese grandmother Antonia. She has always enjoyed making soup, pizza, pasta, pastizzi (a Maltese pasty somewhat like a stuffed croissant), homemade ravioli, gnocchi, riceballs, drinking tea, sewing, knitting, crocheting and gardening. Now that she is living in a retirement home and cooking a lot less, it's my mom and my sister's job to preserve her recipes. She and my mom taught me a lot about cooking. I wish I'd learned as much Maltese! My sister and I always begged Nana to cook us artichokes. Now we get to make them for her! <3

Mostly I just remember Kif inti? How are you? from listening to her speak Maltese on the phone with family, and Qaqoċċ Artichokes.

Here's my version of her recipe for Maltese stuffed artichokes.

Maltese stuffed artichokes

3-4 large round artichokes (1 per person)

2-3 cups water

1/2 bunch fresh curly parsley

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1-2 cups bread crumbs

2 tsp salt

2 tsp black pepper 

1/8 cup of vinegar (I use apple cider, white or other is fine)

Large artichokes are best since they are easier to stuff. Rinse your artichokes under running water. Turn them upside down and literally bash the tops of them against a counter or cutting board several times while the stem is still on. This serves 2 purposes: making sure there is no dirt inside them and opening up the leaves. Believe me, they can take it. They come from the thistle family- thorny and tough. They even sound like Maltese people. Anyway, rinse in between the leaves. 

Now chop off the stems very close to the bottom of the artichokes, leave a few millimetres of stem. Cut them straight as they will sit on their stems to steam. 

In a large pot, place your artichokes leaves facing upward and pour in the water until it just meets the bottom of them. You don't want the water to boil the artichokes.  You will need to refill it after about 20 mins of steaming. Add the vinegar. 

Now chop your garlic and parsley very finely and place them in a medium sized bowl. Add all your other ingredients and mix thoroughly. It will smell delicious. Don't eat it! Now use this mixture to stuff between the leaves of the artichoke. Use a spoon and your fingers to help you open the leaves and try to be thorough, stuff them as much or as little as you like, but know that you cannot stuff each leaf, and be careful, they are sharp vegetables.

Cover the artichokes and steam them for 40-50mins (refilling water after 20min)- they should turn dark green and pull off easily. Serve hot- unlike French or other styles of cooking artichokes, these don't need a dipping sauce as they are already flavoured. Be careful of the thorny leaves. 

Viva Granola in Montréal are making salty versions of these filled with pizza toppings and Daiya. I might try that vegan challenge soon. In the meantime, here's the "traditional version". I actually don’t have egg replacer here and didn’t heat the soymilk up, so if you don’t either, your buns will be fine.

Here is the repost of the cinnamon bun recipe:

Cinnamon buns/Brioches à la canelle

Cinnamon buns take a bit more planning than other baked goods because they are leavened with yeast, but the payoff of deliciousness is worth the effort. Plus, people are always impressed that you managed to make *gasp* VEGAN cinnamon buns! They’re no more difficult and not much different than regular ones.

The recipe is adapted from The Joy of Vegan baking- Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I usually forgo the icing, since these are amazing without it and it’s not really necessary.

Dough

4.5 t egg replacer

1/2 c + 6T warm water

5 c unbleached all purpose flour 1 packet of active dry yeast

1 c almond milk

1/3 c vegan margarine

1/3 c sugar

1 t salt

Filling

3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

1.5 T cinnamon

1/2 c vegan margarine

3/4 c chopped dates or raisins (dates pre-soaked in boiling water for 10 min if dried) (optional)

1/2 c chopped walnuts

Icing (OPTIONAL but delicious) 1 c icing sugar

2 T vegan margarine

1 t vanilla

2 T almond milk 

2 T agar agar powder

First of all, fill a glass cup or jar with the 1/2 c of warm water and add the packet of yeast. Stir for about 1 min, then let stand 5 min- until a foam forms on top which indicates the yeast is ALIVE. Water that is too hot kills the yeast, too cold doesn’t activate it. A trick is to but 1 t of sugar in the warm water to feed the yeast.

In a large bowl, dump 4 of the 5 cups of flour. Make a pit in the centre of the flour. Save 1 cup for adjusting the wetness of the dough and set aside.

In a med bowl, whip the egg replacer with 6 T of warm water for about 1 min and set aside. In a small pot, melt the sugar and margarine with the almond milk and salt. Don’t overcook- it should take less than 5 min on medium heat. One melted, just add the sugar mixture to the flour, along with the egg replacer and yeast mixture. Integrate the wet and dry ingredients by scooping the flour up into the wet mix slowly. You want to form a wet dough with no lumps of flour. Once it’s all mixed, turn the dough out onto a flat floured surface for kneading, ready with the 1 c of dry flour set aside to add intermittently to dry out the dough as needed. Use discretion- if the dough is too dry, add water/almond milk. After about 3-5 min of kneading, you are ready to set the dough aside in a large greased bowl. Cover it with a wet dish towel and place somewhere warm to rise for 1-2 hrs. Punch it down after about half the time, recover with towel and let it continue to rise. Punch it down again just before using it.

Meanwhile prepare the filling and icing by mixing all the ingredients and set them in the fridge.

To roll out the dough, cut off half the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface in arectangle shape to make more/shorter buns, or a square shape for less/taller buns. Spread some filling evenly along one edge of the dough and roll up the dough into a log shape, pinch the ends. Slice it into 8-12 even size spirals and arrange them on a cookie sheet or lasagna pan- A cookie sheet yields crunchier buns, a lasagna pan yields chewier buns. Repeat until dough is used up and make sure to crowd the buns together, don’t space them out. Cover with a towel and let rise another 10-20 mins. Preheat the over to 375. Brush with a little more almond milk and bake for 20-25 min, until the buns are browned. Let cool for 10 min, then drizzle on the icing and serve.

*edit* My computer and Tumblr are both annoying me so I will put the other recipes up later!

Done baking for today. Blayne might still make brownies, but these cinnamon buns and cupcakes should sell well. I was happy with how the icing turned out- I tweaked it today with more agar agar powder and it set pretty stiff which is helpful when you are transporting 30 cupcakes. I actually don't have egg replacer here and didn't heat the soymilk up, so if you don't either, your buns will be fine.

Here is the repost of the cinnamon bun recipe:

Cinnamon buns/Brioches à la canelle

Cinnamon buns take a bit more planning than other baked goods because they are leavened with yeast, but the payoff of deliciousness is worth the effort. Plus, people are always impressed that you managed to make *gasp* VEGAN cinnamon buns! They’re no more difficult and not much different than regular ones.

The recipe is adapted from The Joy of Vegan baking- Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I usually forgo the icing, since these are amazing without it and it’s not really necessary.

Dough4.5 t egg replacer1/2 c + 6T warm water5 c unbleached all purpose flour 1 packet of active dry yeast1 c almond milk1/3 c vegan margarine1/3 c sugar1 t saltFilling3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar1.5 T cinnamon1/2 c vegan margarine3/4 c chopped dates or raisins (dates pre-soaked in boiling water for 10 min if dried) (optional)1/2 c chopped walnutsIcing (OPTIONAL) 1 c icing sugar2 T vegan margarine1 t vanilla2 T almond milk 2 T agar agar powder

First of all, fill a glass cup or jar with the 1/2 c of warm water and add the packet of yeast. Stir for about 1 min, then let stand 5 min- until a foam forms on top which indicates the yeast is ALIVE. Water that is too hot kills the yeast, too cold doesn’t activate it. A trick is to but 1 t of sugar in the warm water to feed the yeast.

In a large bowl, dump 4 of the 5 cups of flour. Make a pit in the centre of the flour. Save 1 cup for adjusting the wetness of the dough and set aside.

In a med bowl, whip the egg replacer with 6 T of warm water for about 1 min and set aside. In a small pot, melt the sugar and margarine with the almond milk and salt. Don’t overcook- it should take less than 5 min on medium heat. One melted, just add the sugar mixture to the flour, along with the egg replacer and yeast mixture. Integrate the wet and dry ingredients by scooping the flour up into the wet mix slowly. You want to form a wet dough with no lumps of flour. Once it’s all mixed, turn the dough out onto a flat floured surface for kneading, ready with the 1 c of dry flour set aside to add intermittently to dry out the dough as needed. Use discretion- if the dough is too dry, add water/almond milk. After about 3-5 min of kneading, you are ready to set the dough aside in a large greased bowl. Cover it with a wet dish towel and place somewhere warm to rise for 1-2 hrs. Punch it down after about half the time, recover with towel and let it continue to rise. Punch it down again just before using it.

Meanwhile prepare the filling and icing by mixing all the ingredients and set them in the fridge.

I veganized this cupcake recipe from the Bake it in a cake tumblr to sell cupcakes at the Black Fag show in Paris last night with my friend Jamie.  At least 5 people asked me for the recipe yesterday, so voilà! 

To make 12 rainbow-filled cupcakes (1.5hrs)

For the marzipan rainbows you’ll need:

1/2 package (250g) of uncoloured marzipan (Leader Price or Carrefour have cheap ones) food coloring (Vahiné is all vegan, I checked the colourants online) 

Cut the marzipan into 6 2inch pieces then add 2-3 drops of food colouring to each. Roll the food colouring into the marzipan.

In case you have no colour palate education:

Red: 2-3 drops red

Orange: 1 drop red, 2 drops yellow

Yellow: 2 drops yellow

Green: 2 drops yellow, 1 drop blue

Blue: 2-3 drops blue

Purple: 2 drops red, 1 drop blue

Roll each colour into a cylinder, then flatten it out. Do the same with each colour and make a kind of rainbow sandwich. Cut into 12 equal pieces (Nevermind the hearts! They were for a cake I made.)

Cupcakes:

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup soymilk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Directions: Heat oven to 350°F (175°C) Prepare cupcake tray: Line with paper liners or coat with oil/margarine and dust with flour. Pour vinegar into soymilk and set aside for a few minutes while it curdles. Whisk together oil, vanilla and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Add both wet mixes to the dry and whisk until smooth. Fill cupcake lines 1/4 full and drop your marzipan rainbows into the centre. Cover the rainbows to 3/4 full cupcake liners with more batter. Bake around 15-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center pulls out clean. Let cool completely before you ice them, otherwise your icing will melt off, resulting in sad faces and tragedy.

Buttercream topping:

1 tsp of agar agar (optional if you don't have it..1 tbsp of corn starch is good too)

1/8 c of soymilk

3/4 c. vegan margarine, room temperature (St Hubert Bio is delicious) 2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Microwave the soymilk for 10-20 sec until it is hot but not bubbling. Add the agar agar powder and whip in a medium sized bowl. Once it thickens set it aside to cool. Whip the powdered sugar into the margarine 1/2 c at a time. Once it is dense and thick, add the agar and vanilla. If it is too wet, add more sugar or some corn starch. You want it to keep peaks at room temperature.

Coconut Topping: 1 1/2 c. Shredded coconut divided into six food coloring (same amounts as for marzipan)

Take 1/4 c of coconut and place it into a small container with a lid, such as an empty margarine container. Add 2-3 drops of red food colouring to make red coconut, shake it up and set aside. Repeat with the other five colours.

Ice all the cupcakes when they are completely cool, then gently sprinkle each colour coconut on top of the cupcakes in a line. If you are feeling lazy, just mix the coconut colours and dip the cupcakes in upside down.

My boyfriend enjoys his role as principal taste tester:

  Babes enjoying the cupcakes!

I don't know why but tumblr keeps fucking up my spacing and text-bolding, so sorry that it looks like shit!

Joyeux St-Valentin! Happy Valentine’s Day!

I love vintage Valentine cards so here’s a cute one for you if you and your partner (or your ideal partner if you don’t have one) like cycling!

I made some Minestrone soup last week for dinner and then again for our Food Not Bombs meeting. At home is was delicious…at the meeting I made it too salty and it burned while I was at the meeting away from the kitchen..yuck…but my friend Marc still asked for the recipe anyway (because he’s nice like that), so here it is! English version follows French.

Zuppa Minestrone (25min préparation, 30 min cuisine, environ 1h total)

1 cuillère à soupe d’huile d’olive

4 gosses d’ail hachés très fine 2 onions moyennes basilic 1 cuillère à soupe persil 1 cuillère à soupe origan 1 cuillère à thé

poivre 1 cuillère à soupe

sel 3/4 cuillère à soupe (selon votre goût)

2 carottes coupés en rondelles

1 ou 2 patates coupés en cubes 1 boite haricots rouges bien rincés (j’ai utilisé 150g haricots secs, et les laissé trompés dans un bol d’eau le soir avant. Après je les ai fait cuire pour une heure avant de les utiliser. C’est mieux selon le goût et pour la santé mais voilà, c’est plus long).

1 courgette coupés en rondelles

1 boite des tomates écrasés/ou concentré des tomates

100g des pâtes macaroni ou autres qui sont petits 200g des épinards (frais ou congelé)

1/2 un tête de chou broccoli coupés en petit morceaux

Dans un casserole, faire frire l’huile avec l’oignon et l’ail au feu moyen. Après 2-3 min, ajouter les carottes et patates et les faire cuire pendant 5-7 min, mélangent occaisionnelment. Maintenant, ajouter les tomates (ou le concentré), le courgette, les herbes/épices et les haricots pour 15 min toujours au feu moyen ou un peu plus bas. Quand c’est bien chaud, ajouter les macaroni et les faire cuire pour 15 min jusqu’au temps qu’ils sonts mou. Fermez le feu et laisser refroidir pour 5-10min avant d’ajouter les épinards et le broccoli sinon ils vonts trops cuire. Servir avec du fromage vegan et quelque tranches d’avocat si vous en avez. Les pâtes vont absorber plus d’eau le lendemain alors ajouter d’autre eau si vous voulez.

Zuppa Minestrone (25min prep 30 min cooking, around 1h total)

olive oil 1 TBSP

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 onions medium, finely chopped

basil 1 TBSP parsley 1 TBSP oregano 1 TSP

pepper 1 TBSP

salt 3/4 TBSP (to your tastes)

2 carrots cut into rounds

1-2 potatoes, cut into cubes 1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I used 1.5cups of dry red kidney beans and soaked them overnight, then cooked them for an hour before adding them to the soup. It takes longer but it’s healthier, cheaper and tastier). 1 zucchini cut into rounds

1 can crushed tomatoes or 1 can tomato paste 1 cup of macaroni elbows or other small pasta 1.5 cups of spinach, fresh or 1 cup frozen

1/2 head of broccoli chopped into medium pieces fresh or 1 cup frozen