Veganizing: Zuppa Toscana and Sweet Poppy Seed Slaw

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Zuppa Toscana and Sweet Poppy Seed Slaw

I have always loved the Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden - it is a beautiful pairing of sausage, kale, potatoes and onions. I haven't eaten at Olive Garden in ages and would no longer feast on that meatful soup but still love the blend of flavors and several years ago I made up my own homemade version of the soup. I decided it was high time to try my hand at a vegan version of it. I added Tofurky to the soup to replace the Italian Sausage - my first time at using Tofurky. Unfortunately, I wasn't real impressed with the sausage in the soup. Not sure if it got too soft in the broth or what but the consistency was like bologna (yuck!!!!) and it had a funny taste. The soup itself was quite good. Next time I would probably add homemade seitan sausage or leave it out altogether. On another note, my mom recently made a similar potato kale soup and I got to sample it. It was incredible! I will be getting that recipe and posting it for sure! For now, here is my veganized version of Zuppa Toscana.

Zuppa Toscana

2 onions, sliced

8 potatoes, sliced

7 cups faux chicken broth

1 T crushed red pepper

1 cup vegan sausage, lightly browned

2 cups kale, cut from stems and torn into bite-sized pieces

In a crockpot, combine all ingredients except sausage and kale. Cook on high 3-5 hours or until potatoes and onions are tender. Add kale to pot and cook additional 10 min. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle sausage over soup (so sausage doesn't get soggy).

I also made a delicious slaw to go with the soup. Forgot to take a picture though (I made it again, this time with red cabbage and took a picture!).

Sweet Poppy Seed Slaw

4 cups sliced cabbage

1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds

1/2 cup poppy seed dressing (see below)

Toss all ingredients. Let sit 30 min to meld flavors.

Poppy Seed Dressing (adapted from Favorite Recipes)

1/3 liquid sorghum (I used honey actually because honey is one of the non-vegan things I still use!)

1 t salt

2 T vinegar

1 T mustard

2/3 cup canola oil

1 T minced dried onion

3 t poppy seeds

Combine all ingredients. Stir thoroughly.

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"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.

Pumpkin Bread

The vegan version!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soured soymilk (add 1 T vinegar to your half cup measure and fill the rest with soymilk
egg replacement for 1 egg
2 T vegan margarine

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and stir into dry until incorporated. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 45-1 hr or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Batter Bread

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey (or agave)
6 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 t salt
4 T non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

Dissolve yeast in water. Add honey, half of flour, salt and shortening. Beat 2 min o med speed of mixer, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Blend in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl. Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 30 min. Stir down by beting 25 strokes. Shape nad place in 2 greased 9in loaf pans. Smooth tops with floured hand. Let rise again for about 40 min. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 min or until browned and cooked through.