Happy Sunday my lovelies! I hope you’re having an excellent weekend so far. I just came off a 12 day no caffeine or alcohol challenge, so I am feeling absolutely excellent. It wasn’t as hard as one might think! I would recommend trying it someday.
That photo sums up how I felt after, but it’s not me. I included it because I have fallen in love with this girl’s yoga videos on YouTube, she has classes for every occasion! Plus, she’s super positive and fun to watch. Check her videos out here. ❤
This week on the blog, I made two Julia recipes, and one Isa Chandra recipe, which turned out to be the most fun, and set up the flavor for the entire Julia dish. Let’s get right to it this week!
THE MENU:
- Poulet au Porto (Roast chicken steeped with wine, cream, and mushrooms)
- Pommes de Terre à L’Huile (French potato salad – sliced potatoes in oil and vinegar dressing)
- Homemade seitan (wheat meat)
All credit and props go to Isa Chandra for the seitan recipe. You can view the original recipe here. I cooked the seitan to use in place of the chicken and it was amaaaaziiiiinnngg. There is something really exciting about making homemade versions of things you’ve only ever bought in the store – you’re like… why do I waste money on this again?
Aaaaalrighty, onto the recipes!
Pommes de Terre à L’Huile VEGAN!
This was another magical already vegan Julia Child recipe – magic! Well, it does call for “stock” and I’m SURE she meant meat stock, but I chose to ignore that of course. It’s light and quite delicious. A perfect addition to a picnic, or summer meal.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- 2 lbs russet potatoes
- Stock pot
- Medium mixing bowl
- 4 TBSP dry white wine
- 2 TBSP vegetable stock
- 2 TBSP white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Small bowl
- Whisk
- 6 TBSP olive oil (or any other salad oil)
- Pepper
- 1 sliced green onion
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Drop potatoes in and boil until potatoes are just tender when pierced. Drain and cool.
3. When they’re cool enough to handle (but still warm), peel potatoes and cut them into circle slices, about 1/4 inch thick. Place slices in mixing bowl.
4. Pour wine and stock over the warm potatoes. Set aside for a few moments so that the potatoes can absorb the liquid.
4. While this is happening, beat the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and salt in small bowl until salt is dissolved.
5. Whisk oil into vinegar mixture steadily. Season to taste.
6. Stir in green onions.
7. Pour the dressing over the potatoes and toss. Serve warm, or chilled.
Voilà! So easy, so yummy. Nice one, Julia.
Homemade Seitan VEGAN! (wheat meat)
If you’re not familiar with seitan, you may actually be and not know it. You have most likely had or seen it in an Asian restaurant as “mock duck”. It’s really delicious when cooked right, and can be as versatile as tofu. You can get it packaged in most stores, but making your own is a #gamechanger. I’m so happy I decided to try. It’s actually really easy! I’ll walk you through Isa’s recipe here.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/2 cup cold vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 4 cups water
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- Stock pot
- Large mixing bowl
- Small mixing bowl
1. Fill a stock pot with water, 4 cups broth and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Cover, and bring to a boil.
2. Mix gluten and nutritional yeast in mixing bowl.
3. In small mixing bowl, mix 1/2 cup broth, 1/4 cup soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic.
4. Pour the wet into the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until the moisture has been absorbed, and a clump has formed. It will be springy already!
5. Use your hands and knead until it’s an elastic dough, about 3 minutes.
6. Divide into 3 equal pieces, and knead a bit longer.
7. When the water has come to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer.
8. Add gluten balls into the water and partially cover the post so that steam can escape. Let simmer for 45 minutes, turning occasionally.
9. Turn the heat off, take the lid off, and let sit in broth for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from broth, place in a strainer until it’s cool enough to handle. Slice into strips to use in other recipes! (Such as this next one…)
Poulet au Porto VEGAN! (“Chicken” steeped with wine, cream, and mushrooms)
If it wasn’t apparent, you’re meant to use your homemade seitan in place of the chicken in this recipe! I also wanted to keep this recipe vegan, so in place of the whipping cream I used coconut milk! BOOM! There is this whole process at the end that I skipped to save you (and I) the trouble, but it sounded pretty cool. Something about lighting the congac on fire…
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- 1 batch prepared seitan (made from recipe above)
- 1 lb fresh mushrooms, quartered
- Large saucepan
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 TBSP Earth Balance Vegan Butter
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 TBSP arrowroot powder (or cornstarch) with 1 TBSP coconut milk
- Salt and pepper
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/3 c red wine
- The mushroom cooking liquid
- Drops of lemon juice
- 1 TBSP Earth Balance Vegan Butter
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cognac
1. Bring the 1/4 cup water to a boil in the saucepan with the 1/2 TBSP Earth Balance, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, and 1/4 tsp salt.
2. Toss in the quartered mushrooms, cover, and boil slowly for 8 minutes.
3. Pour out cooking liquid and set aside.
4. Pour the cream and arrowroot/cornstarch mixture into mushrooms. Simmer for 2 minutes and correct seasoning. Set aside.
5. Lightly brown the seitan slices in Earth Balance in a medium sauce pan. Remove and set aside.
6. Add shallots and cook for 1 minute in leftover cooking liquid.
7. Add the wine and mushroom juice and boil down rapidly, until the liquid has reduced to 1/4 cup.
8. Add the mushrooms and cream, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Correct seasoning and add lemon juice to taste.
9. Add in seitan slices and simmer for 10 minutes until the flavors meld together.
10. Add salt & pepper to taste.
And there you go! Julia says of pairing this dish, “Nothing should interfere with these special flavors. It would be best to serve only potatoes sauteed in butter, or a perfectly seasoned risotto.” I think the potato salad would do just fine 🙂
Let me hear your thoughts, I hope you’ll try some of these recipes out! Thank you so much for reading ❤
BONUS PHOTO:
This life changing garlic mincer from Sur La Table. If you hate mincing garlic like me, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 6 bucks, yo.
Steve and puppy 🙂
Umm… congac?
Hahaha. Bon appetit!
Julia Child Goes Veg 