This recipe came from Rainbow Plant Life. I cheated a bit with the spices, opting for some pre-ground things instead of toasting them all from scratch. The meal still took a couple hours altogether to prepare, but it was well worth it.
I think I’ll try a double batch of the full fledged version one of these weekends.
We served this over spaghetti for Sunday Dinner last weekend. Onions, zucchini, and various bell peppers, seasoned with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and some Italian herbs – nothing could be simpler or more delicious.
Apparently I am in my cake era.
I saw this recipe in the March 23rd issue of the Wall Street Journal and it looked cool. Figured it might be nice for Easter Sunday.
Just a few changes from the original recipe, and I was able to make it without eggs or dairy, just for fun. As luck had it, it turned out really delicious.
The original recipe was from Vallery Lomas. Here are her ingredients.
I used non-stick spray oil on the pan instead of butter, substituted 6 T of aquafaba for the two eggs, and made the buttermilk with a quarter cup of oat milk and a teaspoon of white vinegar.
The aquafaba, oil, curdled oat milk, vanilla extract, sugar and salt all go into a bowl for whisking until they are thoroughly combined and a bit thickened.
Next come the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, and more whisking until it’s all incorporated into a batter consistency.
Finally, I added the carrots, coconut shreds and pecans and incorporated them.
I baked it for 40 minutes at 350 °F, but should have left it a bit longer. It was delicious, but still a bit too moist, and I had difficulty getting it out of the pan in one piece.
For the frosting, instead of using Lomas’ recipe for cream cheese icing, I found this one from the Roasted Root. I used honey instead of maple syrup, oat milk instead of almond, and added an extra tablespoon of lemon juice for extra tang. I also screwed up and only used 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, but I think that actually made it taste a little more like actual cream cheese icing.
This all went into the Vitamix and blended for about a minute until it was the right consistency.
Like in Lomas’ original, I sprinkled some toasted coconut shreds on the top after icing, and added some half pecans for decoration.
This is definitely one that I would make again. Other than having to get the cashews soaking the night before, it went together pretty quickly and since there’s only one bowl involved, and no need for a mixer, cleanup was quick too. The non-vegans liked it, and said that the frosting was indistinguishable from a full cream cheese version.
For Sunday Dinner this week, Claudia made a recipe she found on a Vegan Recipes Group on the Book of Faces. It was incredibly delicious and hearty.
She made a double batch, and it fed four of us nicely (we each had seconds). This was a huge hit with everyone at the table, and it was better than any Stroganoff I’ve ever eaten (including the decidedly beefy variety that we used to make).
We served this over wide noodles, and garnished with paprika and parsley.
Ingredients (for the double batch):
2 pounds of mushrooms, sliced (she used button and cremini)
2 onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil for sautéing
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T tomato paste
2 t paprika
2 cups of cashew crème fraîche (see recipe below)
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Sauté onions and garlic.
Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until they release their moisture and start to brown.
Whisk together vegetable broth, cashew crème fraîche, soy sauce, tomato paste, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Cashew Crème Fraîche
1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked overnight then drained
1/2 cup water
3 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 T nutritional yeast
1/2 t salt
1/2 t dried thyme
Blend for about a minute in Vitamix or other high speed blender.
The crème fraîche on it’s own would make a fantastic Alfredo style sauce for pasta.
I’ve been listening to the Spirit of the Camino podcast lately on my morning runs. In the first season, there’s a lot of discussion about the culture of Portugal, where Nick and Wendy live. They mentioned Cataplana at some point, and I was intrigued.
I researched recipes online and ran across a couple that were either Vegan or nearly so, and adapted them.
It seems like the three essential ingredients are tomatoes, bell peppers and onions, so those feature prominently in my version. I’d love to try the “authentic” dish one of these days, to learn whether or not my spice and herb mix was close. I can’t vouch that this recipe would pass as a genuine Cataplana in Portugal, but it sure was tasty.
I didn’t have an actual Cataplana dish to cook in, so I used a 6 quart stock pot.
Sauté:
Season With:
If you wanted, you could probably use Tarragon instead of the Oregano. It might be a little more typical of Portuguese seasoning.
Once all of that mess is combined and fragrant, I added some garden fresh green beans that we had on hand, and stirred them around in the mixture.
Deglaze:
Add:
Cover and cook until the veggies are tender. I added some frozen peas toward the end, so they could warm through, but not get mushy.
You could also add or substitute whatever other vegetables you would like. Zucchini and Eggplant would be good choices. Perhaps Snow Peas or Chick Peas as well. If you wanted to add some spicy peppers, they should work fine too.
We served this with some “take and bake” Italian bread from Aldi. The soup was savory, tangy and nicely sweet. It must’ve been beginner’s luck, but this goes right onto my list of favorite soups.
If you’re not Vegan, you could add some shrimp, clams or whitefish.
Here are links to some of the recipes I reviewed.
https://vegancooking.livejournal.com/3345350.html
https://www.veganbearchef.com/vegan-cataplana.html
https://food52.com/recipes/41744-portuguese-cataplana
http://yumblog.co.uk/archives/9727
https://www.luisa-paixao.us/blogs/life-in-portugal/cataplana-the-5-best-recipes