On Sunday my most excellent residency hosts, Krista and Zak (at the Philadelphia Art Hotel) hosted the other resident, Jessica, and I for brunch.  It was super thoughtful of them to make a batch of Swedish pancakes just for me (the only vegan).  I provided applesauce as an egg replacer (1 tbsp as = 1 egg).  Because they are cooked in a griddle, the applesauce didn’t bind quite the way their batch did with the egg, but it did work, and they tasted amazing, as you can see from the photo.  I promise there are pancakes under all of that goodness.

Here’s the recipe Krista followed for about five pancakes:

Vegan Swedish Pancakes

• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 2.5 cups soymilk
• 1 cup flour
• Earth Balance (TM) for cookin’ and slatherin’

Whisk applesauce, soymilk and flour together until a bit runnier than “normal” pancake batter.  Pour a bit into a hot pan freshly dolloped with Earth Balance (TM) and swirl the batter in the bottom of the pan to make a thin, even coat.  Allow to cook until a bit less shiny on top and flip with a spatula.  Once finished, use the spatula to fold the pancake into quarters and pop onto a plate in a warm oven.  Repeat until you have a stack of yummy pancakes.

We served ours with more EB, powdered sugar, blackberry sauce, and fresh strawberries, blueberries and chopped white peaches.

Let us know if you have a go-to Swedish Pancake recipe, or have other ideas on how to veganize this one.  Maybe next time we’ll try ground flax + water.

Hot on the tail of Mark’s “Cooking For One” post, I wanted to chime in with the perspective of cooking for one in my very particular situation: at an artist residency, in a shared kitchen, in a foreign country, as a vegan.  I been fortunate to have the time and space to reflect and observe my habits a lot in the last couple of weeks. I noticed that when we arrived, and I was somewhat stressed with jet lag and a new situation, my eating habits tended toward satisfying cravings, comfort food, and quick fixes–such as fast pastas and a lot of bread and carbs in general.  As I grew more comfortable in my situation, my attention turned toward my health and I realized I needed to put more care (and fresh fruits and veggies) back into my diet.

Here are a lovely breakfast fruit salad and luncheon sammich chock-full of veggies, herbs and slathered in Dijon mustard with soda water and juice.

We’ve also continued eating meals together in a group.  Often, people happily eat vegan food we prepare together, such as this tom yum soup made from scratch by Julie. She kindly made it with veggie stock and had fish sauce available for the non-vegs and tamari for the veg-heads.  It was delicious and I was fortunate to get to eat it again as leftovers.

It helps that there is another vegetarian in the group.  If the main meal involves meat, then we whip up some sort of veggie something and a veggie salad, which everyone can eat.  Last night Julie made lamb (very prevalent in Iceland) and polenta and sauteed mushrooms.  She saved out some polenta for me (and added cheese to it for everyone else) and made the mushrooms vegan so I could partake.  I made these yummy sauteed veggies (a lot of zucchini, garlic, onion and tomato) with fresh thyme and A LOT of paprika, which I have been putting on everything since returning from Hungary in March.  A splash of red wine in with the olive oil made it really flavorful.

Communal eating with new friends in a foreign country is a wonderful opportunity to get to know some new recipes and share food with fascinating people.  I have found that if I am as considerate as possible concerning my dietary preferences and values, people are generally very respectful and accommodating.  Skál!  (Cheers!)

I’m sure you’ll hear more from Mark in the next few days on how he’s fairing without me (poor guy… *wink*).  Next up from me: more eating out adventures around Iceland- in and outside of Reykjavík.

We have attended many a brunch in the last couple of years- vegan and otherwise.  At almost every brunch, our friends Abigail and Steven descend with their heavenly looking (and smelling) waffles, but alas, they contain milk, eggs and butter.  They kindly gave us the recipe and this last Sunday they debuted in the IV kitchen in all of their veganized glory.  Behold:

So, the MAJOR trick to getting these waffles right is to really get to know your waffle iron, and to pre-plan, since they need to be started the night before.  Mark spent a lot of time testing time and heat settings to get the perfect level of finish (ratio of crispness to doneness).  I was not at all sad to be the taste tester for this process as I whipped up the quiche.   Truth be told, the waffles in the photo are the teensiest bit underdone, but were wonderful with Earth Balance ™ and real maple syrup none-the-less.  So, we suggest practicing these with your waffle iron on some long morning where you can experiment, before you unveil them at a brunch.  I think his best efforts occurred somewhere in the middle of the testing.  Since the only other folks present for this brunch were my mom and brother, we bought their patience with bites of hot waffle goodness.  Here goes nothin’:

Abigail and Steven Waffles: Veganized!

• 2 1/4 cups milk of your choice (warmed)- we went with unsweetened soy milk.  I bet vanilla soy would be good!
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 8 tbsp buttery spread (melted)- we use Earth Balance ™
• 1/4 cup water (warm)
• two egg substitutes- we used Energ Egg Replacer ™ (follow the directions on the box), but next time we may try apple sauce, one tbsp per egg
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

The night before:

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large-ish mixing bowl (it should be able to fit into your fridge).  Add milk, flour and melted butter.  Mix.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

*Tip from Abigail: Set the bowl onto a cookie sheet or tray in case the yeast causes the batter to overflow in your fridge (it did in our case and we were happy for the tip!).

The morning of:

Beat egg replacer and baking soda into batter.  Follow the directions on your waffle iron at first, and if those don’t cut it, experiment as mentioned above until you have golden brown waffles of glory!

Thanks Abigail and Steven!

We served the waffles with this wonderful quiche, but this time I substituted a huge handful of chopped baby spinach (in season!) for the rainbow chard, since we had the one and not the other.  My very non-vegan mom and brother ate everything up and loved it!  Victory!

We had a pasta craving, but since tomatoes aren’t in season and we’re a little cream-sauced out, we thought this absorption pasta (made similarly to risotto but with less stirring) was just the thing. I don’t know how I feel about the name of this newfangled method of tasty pasta making (so akin to infusions and turduckens and other food with schmancy lingo)… but I wanted to give it a go after being inspired by THIS yummy-looking (albeit non-vegan) recipe on Design Sponge. So, the only thing we borrowed from the original recipe is the method of cooking the pasta and the use of lemon zest, but this came out really great in the end.  Without further ado, we give you

Zesty Absorption Pasta!

You’ll need:

• about two cups of some kind of smallish, firm pasta (pasta rigate) such as serpentini (what we used), penne, radiatore, etc.  I think this dish merits a squiggly pasta, but that’s just me. (Seliacs…you know what to do).
• four cups of vegetable broth (we used an extra cube of Rapunzel ™ brand, salt-free bouillon to make a 3 cube/4 cup water ratio)
• one large yellow or white onion, diced
• about half a head of garlic, diced (more or less depending on your preferences and whether you’re inviting any vampires to dinner)
• the zest of one lemon (in retrospect, I would use less- maybe the zest of half a lemon)
• a big drizzle of olive oil
• a splash of dry-ish red wine (I think we used Paul Dolan ™ Red Zin)
• two small heads of broccoli, cut into florets and the stalks peeled and cut into chunks
• a big handful of baby spinach
• about ten crimini mushrooms (or whatever mush you have on hand) vertically cut into quarters
• a small handful (about 1/4 cup) of slivered almonds- you could also try pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, hemp or flax seed, but wait until the very end to add the last two
• salt to taste (I’d start with a teaspoon and go from there)
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• a dash of red pepper flakes
• any or all of the following in moderate amounts: fresh or dried thyme, oregano, rosemary or herbs de provence
• we also used a little bit of rosemary salt (allowing some fresh rosemary to heat up with the oil in the bottom of your pan before throwing anything in would  have a similar effect)

Dice and slice your veggies ahead of time and put them into individual pretty bowls, cooking-show style. You’ll be glad you did. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a large wok-type skillet or soup pot. Throw in onions, garlic, and some salt.  Let those cook down for a minute, then add your DRY pasta and stir to coat with oil and heat the pasta through. Now add the splash of wine and stir in.  Once the onions are translucent, add most of your stock- I’d say about 3 cups-worth. It should completely cover the noodles. Allow the broth to cook into the noodles for a bit- maybe about eight minutes or so.

Add broccoli pieces and mushrooms. You’ll notice that the liquid is being absorbed into the pasta and also evaporating, so you may need to cover your pan for about two minutes to steam the broccoli. Stir baby, stir. Test the broccoli and remove the lid when it’s al dente. Test the pasta too, as it’s best served al dente. You may wish to reserve out the rest of the broth for pouring into the finished dish if you want it soupier, or you may want to add the rest now to infuse it (that’s right) with flavor.

At this point, add the spinach, almonds, ground pepper, red pepper flakes, herbs and lemon zest. Stir thoroughly and allow the spinach to wilt. Keep an eye on the broccoli and pasta lest they get limp. Add more salt to taste if necessary.

Dole out into bowl-plates and spoon a little of the soupy mix over the top of the pasta. Serve with a small salad or bread.

Delicioso!

Every time we visit Amy’s folks–and every time they visit us–Amy’s mom makes us these phenomenal oatmeal cookies. She veganized her original recipe by subbing Ener-g Egg Replacer ™ for the egg–that simple!

Originally, she made two batches for most visits (one for us, the other for them and Amy’s brother), but for the last year or two, she’s just made the one batch for everyone. No one seems to to notice or care that they don’t have eggs, because they’re amazing–chewy and sweet with a hint of saltiness.

And they have oatmeal in them, so they’re good for you, right? They’re practically healthy.

Marty’s Famous Oatmeal Cookies

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Ener-g Egg Replacer ™ substitute for 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups oats, uncooked
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together shortening, sugars, water, and vanilla, until creamy. Add egg replacer and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Mix just until moistened. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes.

Welcome to installment #3 of our Olive Garden Reproduction series: Pasta e Fagioli! By now you are probably–should probably–be asking yourself, “What’s Irreverent Vegan’s deal with the Olive Garden? It’s not even that good!  And haven’t they freaking been to Italy?! Don’t they know better?!”

Man. You ask a lot of questions. But we have answers. Because that’s how we roll.

Sadly, a lot of vegan cuisine is a matter of nostalgia; we attempt to capture some pleasant moment or time from our omnivorous past. For us, most of these moments revolve more around friends or family than the actual foods themselves. And the Olive Garden was one of those universal places that everyone in the family–no matter how mundane or adventurous their tastes–could get behind. Multiple families could come together there.

So these meals invoke a sense of love and belonging, if you’ll forgive my brief foray into hippie territory. It’s scarcely different when you crave mac and cheese. Think about it. It’s not even that good. The idea is plain bad: cheese on noodles. It’s no delicacy. But something draws you to it, over and over. Like pizza, it’s one of the last vestiges to emigrate from your palate.

That being said, we took a slightly different approach this time. Instead of going for a straight reproduction of the Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli, we sought out some authentic recipes, cherry-picking and veganizing at will. We started with out friend Abigail’s recipe. She should know what’s awesome, since (a) she’s an amazing cook, and (b) her hubbie’s fambly is from (or lives/lived in Italy).

Her recipe centers heavily on the flavor of the white beans and the water they were cooked in (sorry! canned beans won’t do for this recipe!). I’m guessing the parmesan cheese and tortellini made this sufficiently awesome for them. Ours seemed a little bland with just beans, bean juice, sage, S & P, and a few tablespoons of tomato paste. So. We added a large can of tomatoes (~4 cups), as well as some thyme and rosemary. After cooking down, this soup was pretty awesome. I’ve never had the OG version, nor an authentic Italian one. With some OG-style bread sticks, though, this soup is worth checking.

In case you were wondering, here’s how:

Pasta e Fagioli

• 1.5 cups uncooked white beans (ideally canellini, but any white bean will work)
• 7 cups water
• 4 cups (1 large can) tomatoes, with juice
• 3 tsp ground sage
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 – 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 cup uncooked medium-sized shells
• salt & pepper, to taste

Obviously, the first order of business is to cook the beans. We use a pressure cooker, but it’s totally legit to soak the beans overnight, then cook them for about an hour. Unlike with our usual Choose-You-Own-Adventure-style recipes, you cannot opt for canned beans. You need to cook them. The bean water is your stock. This is how folks kicked it old-school, and how you’ll need to kick it now.

In a large pot, saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Add in half of the beans and all of the liquid. Blend with an immersion blender, or in a standard blender if you haven’t gotten with the immersion blender program yet. Add the spices and tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, start your noodles. Once the soup has come to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer. Once the noodles are done, drain, rinse briefly with cold water, and add to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it!

90% of the time we’re adapting an omni dish to a vegan one, I cannot be trusted. Remember this.

Before going vegan I was World’s Pickiest Eater aka Mr. Blandypants. Seriously. My pre-vegetarian self, at the ripe adult age of 20, subsisted largely on children’s cereal, cheese pizza, Wal-Mart hamburgers, fried eggs, and generic Hamburger Helper. It pains me deeply to reflect on this. It astounds me deeply what the college stomach will accept as food.

When I went vegetarian before my senior year of college, I swapped out Morning Star Farms Grillers ™ for the burgers and veggie crumbles for the grade F meat I was using in the Hamburger Helper. Business as usual.

Around the time I went vegan a year and a half later, my excellent friends Nick and Kathy took me to eat at an Indian restaurant, miles–nay, leagues–outside of my gustatory comfort zone. I ate my Chana Masala in a sort of confused delight; with each bite I struggled to determine whether what I was eating was good.

Indian food turned out to be a gateway drug to all sorts of international delights–and I don’t mean those creamers you put in your coffee (Jean Luc!): Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Korean, Japanese…even untold varieties of American cuisine. Over the years, with Herculean efforts on Amy’s part, I have been transformed from the monstrous Mr. Blandypants into the infinitely more agreeable Dr. Savorypants.

With all of this in mind, you have probably reached this conclusion: The vast majority of foods I’ve eaten (in terms of variety) have been vegan. I’ve never had gumbo, an Egg McMuffin ™, Chicken Al Fredo, or quiche. As such, we can generally offer you a stamp of “tastes good” but not always “tastes like“. Please excuse kind sirs, madams, and others.

Your Friend,

Dr. Savorypants, Esquire

After making an Olive Garden-style minestrone, it seemed only natural to make the zuppa toscana as well. Since we had leftover breadsticks, it was another awesome replica. This soup is very much like the Spicy Potato & Kale Soup, but less spicy and much richer. I used a modified version of our tempeh soyrizo, and the leftover fakin crumblins from Tofu MarkMuffins. You’re always stuck with those crumblins, too thrifty to throw them out, but at a loss as to what to do with them. This soup is the answer!

Zuppa Toscana

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 package (1/2 lb) tempeh
• 4 tbsp fakin bits
• 3 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 large stalks (half a bunch) of curly kale
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (or gluten-free tamari)
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 4 cups water
• 1.5 cups soy creamer
• salt & pepper, to taste

Soysage

Tear the tempeh into pieces, leaving some larger chunks. In a small-medium-sized bowl, mix the soy sauce, oregano, cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, and crushed red pepper. Put the tempeh into a large bowl, then stir in the mixture, coating all of the tempeh evenly. Let this sit for for 15 minutes or more before using–it lets everything soak in.

In a large pot, saute fakin bits in oil, over medium heat. When they’ve browned and are starting to get crips, add in the onion, tempeh, and garlic. When the onions are soft, add in the potatoes, veggie stock, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. When the potatoes are soft, add in the soy creamer and kale, salting and peppering to taste.

Serve with breadsticks!

If you’re like us, you often feel nostalgic for things that maybe aren’t that awesome. But there’s a context, a larger experience that imbues them with something better, gives them a prominent place in our happy memories. The Olive Garden is one of those for us. For both of our families, it was one of the “going out to eat someplace ‘fancy’” defaults. When we (independently of each other) became vegetarian, it became an even better option, since there were still many things on the menu we could eat. Once we became vegan, though, things got a little dicier. Depending on who you ask, the minestrone, breadsticks, capellini pomodoro, and salad are or aren’t vegan. The pasta may or may not have eggs. The marinara may or may not have meat broth. The salad dressing definitely has cheese in it–there are no vegan dressings.

Since (a) we’ve never been able to get a straight answer and (b) we now live in an area with other family-suitable options (namely, Chinese), we don’t eat at the Olive Garden any more. But every once in a while, we get the hankering for the enveloping warmth of minestrone and hot fresh breadsticks–and a big ol’ vegan salad. So last night, we created some real “hospitaliano”–vegan style.

The minestrone was only slightly modified from this excellent recipe.

Olive Garden-style Minestrone

• 1 medium-sized white onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 stalk of celery, diced finely
• 1/2 medium-sized zucchini, cut into small one-inch pieces or half-moons
• 1 small carrot (or half of a large carrot), grated
• a large handful of Italian/Spanish-style green beans (the flat ones–you can sub normal green beans in a pinch), cut into one-inch pieces
• 4 large stalks of kale (the curly kind), cut from the stalk and chopped coarsely
• 4 cups (2 cans) of cooked kidney beans
• 2 cups (1 can) cooked cannellini beans or white beans
• 4 cups (1 large can or 1 large jar) cooked tomatoes, with their juice
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 1.5 tsp dried oregano (1.5 tbsp fresh, minced)
• 1/2 tsp dried basil (1.5 tsp fresh, minced)
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme (1 tsp  fresh, minced)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup red wine (optional)

As you’d expect, saute the onion, garlic, and celery in a large pot over medium heat–in the oil of your choice (I recommend choosing safflower). When the onion has gotten soft, add in the broth, water, tomatoes, carrots, and herbs/spices. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. In a separate pot, cook the shells. When they’re done–but al dente–remove from heat, strain, and blanch with cold water. This will help prevent them from getting as bloated and mushy in the soup. A lazier person may decided to add the shells directly to the soup. But you wouldn’t do that. This is hospitaliano.

Once the 20 minutes is up, add in the remaining ingredients and cook until the zucchini and green beans are tender. It’s this crucial step that allows you to trump the Olive Garden–you can add veggies in at the end, ensuring their crispness, a paean to non-flaccid vegetables.

Now let’s trump their bread.

We used this recipe, unmodified, but reposted here for your convenience.

Breadsticks

• 1 1/3 cups of water
• 4 tsp melted Earth Balance ™
• 4 cups of flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast
• additional melted Earth Balance ™, for brushing on top
• additional salt, for sprinkling on top
• granulated garlic, for sprinkling on top

Combine all of the dry ingredients, minus 1 cup of flour, ideally in a mixer, using the bread hook attachment.

(We like to keep a giant thing of flour on hand so we can make bread any time we want.)

If you don’t have a mixer, you can theoretically mix by hand and then knead (we just got one for christmas and this was it’s maiden voyage–it was awesome). Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl/cup and then add slowly to the dry, while mixing. Now add in the remaining flour. Once the dough is mixed well (about 2 minutes in the mixer), roll out in to 16 long pieces. (We made about 12 and they were slightly fatter than the Olive Garden’s, but still awesome.)  Cover them and let them rise for at least 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Fahrenheit. Brush the bread with Earth Balance ™ and sprinkle salt on top.  Bake for 15 minutes. When you take them out, brush with Earth Balance ™ again and then sprinkle with granulated garlic.

And finally, the salad.

The salad, to be faithful to the OG original, should have lettuce (obviously), croutons, purple onion, roma tomatoes, black olives, peppers, and shredded carrots. We didn’t have any fresh tomatoes or black olives (which I don’t like) on hand, so we had to make due with some sliced zucchini instead. We made the croutons fresh, from a piece of bread cut into squares, lightly doused on olive oil, salt/pepper/garlic-ed, and toasted. The original salad should also have some sort of cheesy mayonnaise vinaigrette dressing, which we didn’t deign to copy. Instead, we made this vinaigrette, slightly modified.

Italian Vinaigrette Dressing

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a cruet and shake well.

When you’re vegan, you’re family!

Our neighbor sent us an omni version of this recipe (thanks Adrienne!) for a fall-time powerhouse of a soup. We veganized by subbing in soyrizo for chorizo and veggie stock for chicken stock. Just looking at the ingredients, I think Amy and I were expecting something more like a Zuppa Toscana–a brothy soup with potato chunks and a smidgen of kale. The resulting soup was…unexpected, but delicious–smooth and spicy, with a strange, subtle sweetness from the massive amount of kale. This soup would be a perfect balm for a winter cold or flu.

Spicy Potato & Kale Soup

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 lb (~ one bag) of kale
• 1/2 lb soyrizo, (it’s really easy to make your own)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional–this will cool the spiciness a bit and add a little tang)
• 9 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, sautee the onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to brown/become translucent. Add in the veggie stock, crushed red pepper, and 5 or 6 of the potatoes (you’re going to blend this later, so you want to save out as many potatoes as you’d like to chew with your teeth later), bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered. Let the taters cook down for about 30 minutes, then blend–either by pouring everything in the blender in batches (boring) or using your handy-dandy immersion blender (less boring). Add in the soyrizo, raise heat to medium, and cook for another 15 minutes. Lower the heat again, add in the kale and remaining potatoes, and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until the kale and potatoes are soft, but not drained of all life. Add in the parsley, cilantro (if you’re using it), and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty bread. I’m serious–the original recipe mandated that this must be eaten with crusty bread. I take these types of orders very seriously.

Just to be thorough, we served ours with crusty bread and croutons made out of crusty bread.