Vegan Pasta Primavera

Tonight's dinner was delicious vegan pasta primavera. I've never tried it before and I just kind of made it up as I went along. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Noodles, 1 package of penne or linguine or whatever you like, prepared according to package

Vegetables (chopped up into bits):
1 1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms
1 onion
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 red pepper
1 cup of fresh peas, or frozen peas, thawed

Other stuff:
3 cloves of garlic, minced
tarragon and basil: I used fresh but I suppose dried would do as well
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil, several tablespoons
3 tbsp Earth Balance margarine
3 tbsp of flour
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
About 1 1/2 cups of almond or soy milk (or rice, or whatever milk you please)

Saute the onion and mushrooms in some of the olive oil in a very large pan. This is the pan you'll be combining everything in at the end, so make sure it is capacious. As the onions become translucent, add in the rest of the vegetables and allow to cook thoroughly. Add the cooked pasta along with the tarragon and basil. Stir around so the herbs and the olive oil coat all the veggies and pasta.

In a small saucepan, heat the Earth Balance and three tablespoons of olive oil with the garlic. Whisk in the flour and create a paste. Slowly add the almond or soy milk alternately with the nutritional yeast, whisking all the while. It should thicken as it warms up. Be sure to keep whisking it so it doesn't get lumpy and sticky. You may need to add more "milk" or more flour to achieve the consistency you want. A good consistency to aim for is a thick, pourable, creamy one! Add salt and pepper to taste, then pour all of it into the vegetable and pasta mixture.

Top it off with "vegan parma", which is just a little nutritional yeast with finely chopped walnuts and parsley and salt (I think you can buy this at most hippie food stores), or maybe toasted pine nuts, or just enjoy it the way it is. The sauce is lighter and more delicate than the dairy version, but it's lovely in its own way!

Emerson

“You have dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the distance of miles, there is complicity.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

No Comeuppance!

My omnivorous but vegan-inclined sweetheart had an interesting experience today: another omnivorous person told him that eventually there would be studies showing that veganism was unhealthy, especially when it comes to levels of calcium and protein. The tone wasn't one of concern, so much as one of vindication and triumph, "Those self-righteous vegans think they're so great, but one day they'll pay the price for their compassion and careful meal-planning, and that'll teach them to try to treat their fellow Earthlings with kindness and respect! Ha!" I don't think this person actually said that, but that's the gist of it.

He was bothered both by the tone and the closed-mindedness of the remarks. Our home is awash with nutrition information and countless volumes reporting the many long-term studies that have already been done. Here's a brief rundown of some of their findings:

A study of 1600 women found that vegetarian women experienced only half as much bone loss as meat- and dairy-eating women by the time they reached the age of eighty. This is because the protein in meat and dairy products actually contributes to a calcium deficit. Which is why the two biggest dairy-consuming countries in the world, the U.S. and Sweden, have the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world. Check out the science yourself! Even a study funded by the Dairy Council had the same findings! Although, for some reason, they don't report it.

Meat and dairy products have been positively linked to every "disease of affluence" that affects people living on the standard American diet. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gallstones, cancer...all of these are tied to a diet centered on meat and dairy.

Every time I see someone offer a study that opposes this information, it turns out to be a lobbyist for the Cattlemen's Association or the Dairy Council. I know everyone thinks that vegans are terrorists with some sort of hardcore communist ideology. But all the vegans I know are really nice people who are really, truly concerned about issues of health and compassion. Yes, we want everyone to be vegan. I'm not going to lie: I want to spread veganism like a virus. But how do I benefit?

I don't own a tofu factory. I'm an archaeologist! I don't have a vested interest in anyone becoming vegan, except that I really, honestly think it's a step toward eradicating insupportable cruelty and unnecessary disease that destroys our ability to enjoy healthy, happy lives.

And the science indicates that there will be no comeuppance for my outrageous, dangerous ideas based on my need to tell you how to live your life.

I really don't want to tell other people how to live. There's a term, "vegangelizing" for that sort of activity. I don't like being evangelized. But I have a lot in common with door-to-door religious evangelists: I really, really think if I can just effectively communicate this information to you, you will benefit.

I guess the difference is that I'm talking about actual, observable phenomena that you can go and see for yourselves. I have been to a factory farm. It was a pig farm in North Carolina. It was the worst place I've ever seen, and even with no especially affectionate feelings about pigs (at the time - I have since known many excellent pigs), I knew that that place and everything that happened there was wrong, wrong, wrong. I didn't want to be part of it. I don't think anyone would.

I've had my cholesterol tested while eating meat (over 300, which is bad). My most recent test, last month, showed a total cholesterol level of 160, with good cholesterol representing 90 of the total measure. Which is absurdly, insanely good. My experience is not unusual. It occurs in measurable, statistically significant ways in every study ever done about a vegan diet.

Yes, if you are vegan you need to plan your diet carefully, but you have to plan your diet carefully ANYWAY. And since a vegan diet has been shown to reverse diabetes, stop the development of cancer, prevent heart disease and osteoporosis, and be totally nutritionally sound, I think a little planning would be a very, very small price to pay.

I feel bad for OmniMan, because he just had his first tall frosty glass of anti-vegan Haterade. And he's not even vegan (yet, mwa-ha-ha!). To counteract the poisonous experience, we enjoyed a delicious stir-fry of tofu and roasted veggies with sesame-ginger glaze. It was steamily delicious.

Soul Food Seitan

So, last night I recreated a favorite from years and years and years ago. Before I was vegetarian, I loved a "salad" with fried chicken on it. Especially if said salad was enjoyed at the Steak'N Shake, a restaurant where I would no longer eat ANYTHING. Seriously, I think there's meat or dairy in everything they serve. It's disgusting. But it has a cute name. "Tofu'n Shake" doesn't sound that good.

But, since I am a human living on the planet earth, I still like fried things. And warm fried things on crispy salad with creamy dressing is a nice combination. So, I decided to make fried chicken-style seitan (from scratch) on mixed greens with a creamy vegan dressing. The special part was making seitan from scratch! Here's the recipe, which I found at VeganYumYum:

Chicken-Style Seitan
Makes four cutlets

1 1/2 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
3/4 Cup Cold Water
1 Tbs Tamari or Soy Sauce (low sodium)
3 Tbs Soymilk
1 Tbs Olive Oil

Braising Broth
2 Cups Water
1 Vegetable Bullion Cube

Mix the dry ingredients together. Combine the wet ingredients and stir well. Add wet to dry and knead until a dough is formed. Add more liquid if needed. The gluten will develop very quickly. Knead a few times on your counter, forming a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, forming four triangular wedges. Squish/Pound/Pull the wedges into 1/2″ thick cutlets. Take your time shaping, letting them rest if needed.

Once they’re the right thickness, put a large, high-walled skillet on medium heat, adding the water and bullion cube to make a braising bath. Once it starts simmering, add cutlets and turn down the heat and cover. It’s important that you DO NOT boil the cutlets. Check several times to make sure the broth is just barely simmering. Boiling isn’t a disaster, but it will change the texture of the cutlets, making them spongier and rubbery.

Simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. You can now refrigerate the cutlets in their broth for later, or fry immediately. I think cutlets that have been refrigerated over night before frying have a better texture, but you can use them right away.

Fried Seitan
For four cutlets

4 Seitan Cutlets (recipe above)
32 Oz. High Heat Oil (for frying: canola, peanut, etc)

Seasoned Dry Mix
3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 1/2 Cup All Purpose flour
4 tsp Baking Powder

Wet Mix
1/3 Cup Seasoned Dry Mix
3 Tbs Mustard (dijon or stoneground)
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Soymilk (or more water)

Heat the oil to 350º F in a 10″ skillet, cast-iron is best. Mix together all the dry ingredients except the baking powder. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add baking powder to the remining dry ingredients and mix well.

When oil is heated, dip a seitan cutlet in the wet mix coating well. The dredge the cutlet in the dry mix and gently slip it into the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Drain well on a paper towel and slice if desired.

OK, this recipe worked PERFECTLY. If you've never made seitan before, you might be (as I was) astonished at how quickly the vital wheat gluten turns into a firm, rubbery blob when you add the wet ingredients. I didn't know how long to knead it, but I decided "not very long" would be fine, since my kneading of the blob didn't seem to be affecting it meaningfully. Seriously, I pushed at it like, three or four times and then gave up.

Second, I didn't really know what a cutlet was supposed to look like, so I just cut the blob into four pieces and it was fine.

My only other modification was to ramp up the Old Bay. I live in Maryland and Old Bay would be the official state spice blend, if such a thing existed. Also, I really, really like it. So, I added extra and it ruled.

It turned out SO DANG WELL. Omnivore sweetheart thought it looked and tasted like a cutlet, and enjoyed his salad very much. He says. Of course, he's far too sweet to tell me if it was vile, but I also liked it. I realize this is pretty subjective, but I've eaten a lot of seitan. The best I've had is at Jesse Wong's Asean Bistro, where they use a wheat gluten mock-meat in several dishes; the worst isn't bad, but it's mediocre: the overpriced packaged kind from the Natural Market. This was FANTASTIC - the texture was tender, the flavor was lovely.

I might have to add chloral hydrate to the recipe to get a truly honest opinion out of my Intrepid Companion. Pending a dose of truth serum, I declare this recipe an unqualified success.