Vegan MOFO #2- Jackfruit Barbecue (aka “vegan pulled pork”)

While visiting Missouri lately, David and I got to eat at two new vegan restaurants (FÜD in Kansas City and Zen Blenderz in Warrensburg). They both had dishes made with green jackfruit masquerading as pulled pork barbecue. Granted, green jackfruit doesn’t taste like pork, but it looks a lot like it when it’s shredded up in barbecue sauce. And if your barbecue sauce is tasty, that’s all that really matters.

Here’s a quick and dirty version that I made for lunch today. May I just say that I LOVE my slow cookers?

2 cans green jackfruit (in brine or water), drained
1 bottle your favorite barbecue sauce or 12-16 ounces of homemade sauce
6 or 7 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half OR several small-medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed

Spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray if you want to make cleanup at touch easier. Then dump in the jackfruit and barbecue sauce. Throw the potatoes (whichever version) on top. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 6-10 hours.

When the potatoes are fork-tender, pull them out with a slotted spoon. You can either mash them with a little Earth Balance and soy milk, or just serve them as is. They’ll have a slightly barbecued flavor, and if you used sweet potatoes, they’ll add a touch more sweetness to the barbecue as well.

Use your potato masher to smash up the jackfruit pieces in the sauce (which is much quicker than shredding it with your fingers into the pot like I did the first time I made this). It ends up looking like either pulled or minced pork, and is just as delicious as your sauce is.

You can serve the barbecue on the mashed potatoes (gluten-free) or on toasted buns. Slaw makes a nice traditional side dish, but we had a green salad with some homemade red sauerkraut on top.

Good Shepherd’s Pie (Tempeh & Mushroom)

Good Shepherd’s Pie (vegan), originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

Last night, it was a bit blustery here in Atlanta. It was also our last opportunity to celebrate Christmas for several months – January 7 this year was Eastern Orthodox Christmas. Ethiopian Coptic Christians also celebrate then, and all the women at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market were in their festive Christmas dresses yesterday (mostly white with gold trim). In honor of this last Christmas feasting for awhile, I made a vegan Shepherd’s Pie filled with mushrooms, tempeh, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), carrots, peas, and a bit of fresh thyme. (The Coptic Christians would consider this “fasting” because it’s vegan. It’s feasting to us!)

I served this with a simple salad (see below) and Triple Chocolate Brownies served with coconut milk ice cream (Purely Decadent Brand). A feast indeed.

Good Shepherd’s Pie
Serves 8 (one 9X13 or 1/2 hotel pan)
This is gluten-free is you use wheat-free tamari instead of standard soy sauce

Crust
about 6 or 7 medium russet potatoes
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup Earth Balance non-hydrogenated spread
salt and pepper to taste

Filling
2 packages (1 pound) tempeh, cubed (I like Light Life’s Garden Veggie variety)
1/2 cup olive oil (divided)
1 yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (your favorite variety)
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cups cooked garbanzo beans (or 2 15 oz cans)
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce (tamari)
1/4 cup dry white (or red) wine, optional
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in
2 cups cold water
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a 9 X 13 inch pan or something similar in size (or two 8 X 8 square pans). You can spray up near the top of the pan to make the potato crust easier to clean up, but no big deal either way.

Peel the potatoes and quarter them. Put the potatoes into a saucepan and cover with water. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to a low boil/high simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, or until tender enough to pierce easily with a fork.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the tempeh into small cubes (1/2 inch across or so). Fry up in some olive oil until browned all over. Pour the tempeh into the pan(s) and set aside. In the same pan (no need to wash it yet), add some more olive oil and saute the onion and garlic. When it starts to color a bit, add the mushrooms, carrots, and celery.

Cook until the mushrooms give up their liquid, and it begins to evaporate. The onions and garlic should be beautifully browned by now.

Add the soy sauce. Mix together the cornstarch and cold water and add the mixture. Cook until the gravy starts to thicken.

Add the garbanzo beans. Use the potato masher to smash them up a bit into the gravy. Add the peas, fresh thyme, and parsley (if using) and take the pan off the stove.

Pour this mixture into the pan with the tempeh. Stir the tempeh up into the mix.

By now, the potatoes have cooked. Drain them, and mash them with a potato masher, stirring in the soy milk and Earth Balance, salt, and pepper. They should be like delicious mashed potatoes – a bit rich and buttery. Add more soy milk if necessary to make them spreadable.

Spread the potatoes across the top of the casserole, adding a few swirls with the spatula. Pop the dish into the oven (you might want to put a cookie sheet beneath it to catch drips), and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the potatoes are beginning to turn golden on top of the swirled bits.

Serve hot, with a salad or something green.

Asian Pear Salad
mixed salad greens to cover four salad plates
one Asian pear (apple-pear or nashi), diced
1 cup of fresh blueberries or the seeds of a pomegranate
1 small or 1/2 long cucumber, diced

Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing:
1 tablespoon mustard (dijon, whole grain, etc.)
2 tablespoons wine vinegar (I used raspberry flavored)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

whisk together and drizzle over salads. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Apple Crisp (raw, easy, gluten-free, and delicious)

Hey, y’all! Sorry I’ve been away for so long. I’ve been busy with other things, and also doing some tweaking of my own eating habits. I’ve discovered, much to my dismay, that gluten and I aren’t really friends. I can eat small amounts of gluten, but consuming it regularly doesn’t really do my body any favors. So, it’s a really good thing that I quit baking professionally when I did and went to massage school!

While there, I shared this raw Apple Crisp with my fellow students, and our anatomy/physiology teacher who was a raw foods enthusiast. There were cheers all ’round. It is really wonderful! It’s easy, sweet, satisfying, and doesn’t taste “raw” at all. I highly recommend it as an antidote to all the buttery, gluten-laden “treats” being foisted on all and sundry during the holiday season. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sure this would be fantastic with some dried cranberries standing in for some of the raisins…

From the book Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People by Jennifer Cornbleet (Book Publishing Company, 2005).

Apple Crisp
Yield: one 8-inch crisp, 8 servings

2 apples, peeled* and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 apples, peeled* and chopped
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked 10-30 minutes in warm water
1/2 cup raisins, soaked 10-30 minutes in warm water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups Crumble Topping (see recipe below)

Toss the sliced apples with 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and set aside. Place the chopped apples, dates, raisins, cinnamon, and the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade and process until smooth. Remove from the food processor and mix with the sliced apples.

To assemble the crisp, press 1/2 cup of the Crumble Topping into an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Spread the apple filling on top using a rubber spatula. Chill at least 1 hour.

Using your hands, knead pieces of the remaining 1 1/2 cups of the Crumble Topping until they stick together. Lay these pieces of topping on the apple filling to form a cobbled appearance, allowing some of the filling to peek through. Serve at room temperature, or warm in a low oven or dehydrator (see note). Covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator, Apple Crisp will keep for 3 days.

Note: To warm, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Turn off the oven, insert the Apple Crisp, and warm for 15 minutes. Alternatively, heat the Apple Crisp for 30 minutes in a food dehydrator set at 105 degrees F.

*Lisa’s notes: I use organic Pink Lady apples (a sweet-tart variety with an attractive and sweet peel) and never bother to peel them. If you’re using non-organic produce, or if you’re using apples with a bitter peel, then of course, peel them by all means.

Crumble Topping
Yield: 2 cups, 8 servings

2 cups raw walnuts or pecans, unsoaked
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins, unsoaked
8 pitted medjool dates, unsoaked
1/4 cup whole cane sugar or maple sugar, optional (for a sweeter topping) [Lisa’s note: I thought this was plenty sweet enough with out the sugar]

Place the nuts, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade and process until coarsely ground. Add the raisins and dates and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs and starts to stick together. Don’t over-process. Add the optional whole cane sugar and process briefly. Stored in a sealed container, Crumble Topping will keep for one month in the refrigerator or three months in the freezer.