Beer Braised Brussels Sprouts with Shiitake Bacon & Quinoa Pilaf

By bwyker

Onto the last entry for Vegan Mofo. It’s been a lot of fun and definitely a motivator for Kev and I to keep the blog updated. We’ll try not to let the momentum die off, keeping these updates coming often.

Recently a vegetarian friend of mine, who has been on a long quest for a good alternative to bacon, passed on a recipe for shiitake mushroom “bacon” that she had picked up from a graduate from the Natural Gourmet Institute. I was a bit skeptical when she told me it only involved salt, olive oil and shiitakes. No liquid smoke?? Well, after a quick search on the google I found this recipe and instructional video from a chef at the Natural Gourmet Institute. Perfect. I made the bacon, following the instructions on the site. I had to cook a bit longer (about an hour) and could have actually gone a bit longer, as the crispier pieces came out more bacon like. Here are the shiitakes before and after baconizing:

I wouldn’t say you are going to fool an omnivore with this recipe, but no doubt, the “bacon” has an awesome salty and savory flavor, with a greasy touch that makes for a good substitute. There’s even a bit of smokeyness in the pieces that got a little blackened. Extremely flavorful and relatively simple.

I had some Brussels sprouts leftover from the harvest that I had stored in the freezer, which seemed like a good match for the bacon. I also had a bottle of Leffe Blond in the fridge (purchased with a friend on a 4 am drunken stroll through Manhattan last weekend, after closing The Ginger Man), so I decided to braise the thawed sprouts in 1/2 cup of Leffe Blond for about 10 minutes (avoid overcooking), then sprinkled them with some smoked salt and smoked black pepper.

Most of the beer was absorbed by the sprouts, which gave them a caramelized sweetness. This sweetness complimented the salty “bacon” perfectly.

To round out the meal, I decided to make quinoa. I chose quinoa mostly because it acted as the protein for the dish, but also because I’ve been meaning to try to make it in my Zojirushi rice cooker. I’ve read that quinoa can be made in it exactly as you would make white rice. I set it to medium hard white rice and it was ready – evenly cooked and delicious – in about 20 minutes. To add a bit more flavor, I made a pilaf with the cooked quinoa.

To make the pilaf, toast 1/2 cup of sliced almonds (I used almonds that were coated with maple and cayenne) and set aside. Then, saute 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic in 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add 3 cups cooked quinoa. Stir for a few minutes, then add 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme and 1 tablespoon of cumin. Mix in the almonds and 1/4 cup of raisins or currants. Finally, mix in 1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid aminos.

This was relatively easy to make and was bursting with flavor. Sweet, salty, savory and even a touch of spice from the cayenne coating on the almonds. All this went well with the peppery flavors in the Leffe. I will definitely be making this one again soon!

Khyber Pass Pub

By kevin

When seeking vegan-friendly bars, I think I am pretty easy to please.  I basically require just a few simple things:

  1. Craft beer on tap
  2. Vegan items clearly labeled on the menu, so I don’t have to play a game of 20 Questions with the waitstaff
  3. More than 1 vegan choice, excluding hummus, “garden salads”, and portabello mushroom sandwiches. I’ve had enough of all three in my lifetime, thank you very much

One particular chain of bar/restaurants in Philly always fulfills all three of those requirements.  I’m talking about the Royal Tavern and both Cantina locations (Dos Segundas and Los Caballitos.)  The head chef at all three locations, Mark McKinney, does a splendid job of giving us vegans a plethora of delicious menu options.  The recently revamped Khyber Pass Pub is the 4th, and possibly the best of the bunch in my humble opinion!

I strolled up to Old City this past Monday for an evening of food and drink at the Khyber.  The Khyber used to be primarily a music venue with a decent bar.  The first time I went there was more than a half-decade ago – to see Andy Rourke, formerly of The Smiths, spin records.  It happened to be the first time I tried a Victory Hop Devil; I deemed it too hoppy for my tastes at the time (oh, how the times have changed.)

The new Khyber has replaced the music floor with dining tables.  They now boast 20 tap lines and 2 hand pumps for cask-conditioned beer – everything from local favorites like Yards Philly Pale Ale or Victory Storm King to West Coast IPAs like Ballast Point Big Eye or Port Brewing High Tide.  And the food menu – still in “preview” mode for now, is Southern-style, with a bunch of vegan options.

Normally I’d go with seitan po boys or the veggie sausage sandwich – two mainstays on the still-new menu.  On this evening, however, I chose to start with one of the daily specials: Vegan Sausage & Mustard Greens Soup.

The soup was very hearty and tasty.  The sausage reminded me of the vegan chorizo you can purchase at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.  The greens and tomato broth complimented it well.

For my entree, I chose to go with the Vegan Pulled Pork Sandwich with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy.

The mashed potatoes had a really raw (in a good way), un-processed feel to them.  As you can see by the crappy iPhone photo I took, it doesn’t look like the perfectly blended commercial junk you get in the supermarket.  This was a real mashup of potatoes and soy milk.  I think the gravy could be a tad thicker, but overall the taste was spot on (not overly salty, like some veg-gravies can be.)

The pulled pork sandwich itself was a soft bun surrounding a mound of slightly sweet but also tangy seitan covered in some sort of cole slaw.  I’m not a big cole slaw fan – in fact, I don’t like most white, veganaise-y things, but even I found this to be delicious.

I was too stuffed between the beer and food that I had no room for dessert.  They do offer cakes from Vegan Treats in the event that I ever leave room in my stomach during a future visit.

Previously, my go-to, never-dissapoints, vegan-friendly Philly pubs were Local 44 and Memphis Taproom, but I now have to make room for a third.  (It also helps that the Khyber Pass Pub is merely 2.5 miles away from my house, making for a pretty pleasant walk through Philadelphia.) I highly recommend it to any vegans looking for hearty pub food and a few tasty pints.

Pumpkin Bread with Porter Maple Glaze

By bwyker

After mentioning my plans to brew a pumpkin barleywine to some friends, they generously gave me a pair of pumpkins from their garden. Unfortunately, I never got around to brewing the barleywine. Instead, the pumpkins were used as decorations for Halloween. A few days after Halloween, I noticed that one of the pumpkins was starting to rot. Rather than see them both go to waste, I decided I needed to do something with the remaining pumpkin. I haven’t had the time to brew lately, so I decided to use the pumpkin in a bread recipe.

Last fall, I brewed a pumpkin porter and added roasted pecans to the secondary. The beer turned out great, I think. The roasty, chocolate flavors of the porter went nicely with the nutty flavors of the pecans and the velvet texture of the pumpkin. With that beer in mind, I came up with the following pumpkin bread recipe, which uses a homebrewed porter (similar to this one, but without the smoked malt) as an ingredient in the bread and in a sweet, maple glaze.

Pumpkin Bread Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/2 c water
16 ounces pumpkin (canned or fresh)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2/3 cup porter

Porter-maple glaze

2 teaspoons Earth Balance
3/4 c porter
1/4 c maple syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
pecan pieces, toasted (optional)

If you are using fresh pumpkin, begin by cutting off the top of the pumpkin, remove the “guts,” then cut the flesh of the pumpkin into 1″ cubes, removing the skin as you do this. Place the chunks into a steamer basket and steam for about 25 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

Preheat the oven to 350. When the pumpkin is ready, puree with a hand blender or food processor and set aside. Mix the oil and sugar together in a bowl. Add the egg replacer to the water and mix well, then mix this into the sugar mixture along with the pumpkin puree.  In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Blend the porter and sugar mixture into the dry ingredients, making sure to get all of the lumps out (obviously, a mixer would help with this.)

Divide the mixture in half and place into two, well greased and floured 9 x 5 bread pans. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. When the bread is done, let cool while you get started on the glaze.

To make the glaze, heat the Earth Balance in a sauce pan.  Add the beer, sugar and maple syrup to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and allow most of the liquid to boil off, stirring often. The idea here is to get the malted barley sweetness from the beer, as well as some caramelization of the sugar. The glaze should be thick, but runny enough to coat the bread.

Do not allow this to cool. With a pastry brush, coat the loaves of bread immediately. Let the glaze cool and harden on the bread.

I think topping this with crushed, toasted paeans would be the perfect final touch. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any on hand and Jaime is not into baked goods that have nuts in them, so I didn’t bother running to the store to get some. Anyway, this came out really well. The bread is very moist and fluffy, not overly sweet and has some nice caramelized sugar flavors from the glaze. The spices are delicious –  pumpkin pie spice without being too aggressive. A great way to use up some Halloween pumpkins!

Veganized Vlaamse Stoofkarbonaden (Belgian “Beef” Stew)

By bwyker

On to day 4 of Vegan Mofo….Belgian “beef” stew.

Last weekend, my wife and I harvested the first batch of Brussels sprouts from our community garden plot. In a very corny way, we felt somewhat proud carrying the stalk of sprouts back to our house. It was essentially the vegan version of bagging a buck. Seriously, look at this beauty!

When we got our prize back to the kitchen, we immediately got to work “dressing” it, removing all of the leaves (de-stemmed, chopped, and stored in the freezer to be used like collard greens) and pulling the little sprouts from the stalk.

Like most people, I grew up thinking Brussels sprouts were the most disgusting thing ever created. Later in life I gave them another chance, as a vegetable among others being roasted. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed them and, having learned a bit more about proper preparation, have come to like them in many forms.

Appropriately I wanted to make something Belgian with these sprouts of Brussels. In the past, I’ve made a few attempts at a veganized Flemish beef stew called Vlaamse Stoofkarbonaden. Wikipedia describes this as “a Flemish beef stew, similar to the French Beef Bourguignon, but made with beer instead of red wine.” I’ve tried to veganize a few recipes I’ve found online, subbing beef with seitan. They’ve come out OK, but the traditional recipes aren’t much more than broth and meat. I decided I’d make a new, modified version that had a healthy dose of hearty root vegetables and, of course, Brussels sprouts. To bring out the rich flavors of the vegetables, I roasted them before adding to the stew. Before preparing the vegetables, however, you’ll want to get started on the “beef.”

Beefy Seitan Roast:

Wet ingredients:

1 c water
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
1 T tomato paste
1 T Wan Ja Shan oyster mushroom sauce
1 T vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 T almond butter
1/2 t Organic Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base
1/4 t liquid smoke

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 c vital wheat gluten
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1 T smoked paprika

Cooking broth

1 large white onion, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
2 c vegetarian “beef” broth (I used about 2 T of dried broth in 2 cups of water)
2 T balsamic vinegar ( I think an acidic Flemish red like Monk’s would work nicely for this too)
2 T tomato paste
1 T Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 T dried thyme
1 T dried marjoram
1/2 t liquid smoke
1 bay leaf

Mix all of the wet ingredients for the seitan together and blend until smooth. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the wet to form a ball. It should be firm, but not too firm. A little mushy, but not sticking to your hands. Heat a little oil in a cast iron Dutch oven, then cook the seitan a few minutes on each side, just enough to lightly brown. Set aside.

To make the cooking broth, heat a little more oil in the Dutch oven, then saute the onion for about 15 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the remaining ingredients for the cooking broth and bring to a boil. Transfer the seitan back into the broth, reduce heat to the point where the broth is barely bubbling. Partially cover the Dutch oven. Cook for 1.5 hours, flipping the seitan every 30 minutes.

While the seitan is cooking, start roasting some vegetables. I used beets, rutabaga, turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and a head of garlic. Feel free to changes this, based on your preferences. Chop the roots into chunks, place everything into an oiled baking pan, toss with some more olive oil, lots of black pepper and a few dashes of smoked paprika. Place in the oven at 450 for about 45 minutes, or until the roots are soft. Be careful not to burn the sprouts!

Stew sauce:

2 c dark Belgian beer (I used Ommegang Abbey Ale)
2 t molasses
2 t apple cider vinegar
2 t dried mustard powder
1 t salt
1 t black pepper

Once the seitan is ready, remove from the Dutch oven and let it cool. Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients from the stew sauce, add to the remaining broth, onions and carrots in the Dutch oven and blend until liquefied. Bring the stew sauce to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. As it cooks, the alcohol will cook off and the aroma will become more pleasant. Cut the beef into large chunks (about 1″) and add to the stew sauce, along with about 2-3 cups of the roasted vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes, then serve with a nice Belgian strong dark ale.

I paired this dish with a 2.5 year-old bottle of Delirium Nocturnum from my cellar, which complimented the meal perfectly. A very rich and hearty stew, with a sweet dark fruit and burnt sugar flavor.  Lots of earthy, slightly bitter flavors came through with the roasted vegetables, that went nicely with the sweetness of the molasses and beer.

I should point out that the recipes you will find for this stew often say to add a slice of bread with mustard on it to the meat (odd I know). Anyway, with all of the starchy vegetables, I didn’t feel it needed the bread as a binder. I did add some mustard powder to the stew sauce to get those flavors, though.

I think the modified version came out great, with much more going on than the others I’ve made. Give I try – it’s worth the effort.