Vegan Hollandaise (It's LIKE Gravy, Right?)

In keeping with my "30 DAYS OF VEGAN GRAVY" quest for Vegan Month of Food Blogging, I'm re-posting one of my most-requested recipes: Vegan Hollandaise!!

Hollandaise is food of the gods, I'm sure, and it's almost "gravy"-like, I figure, right?

I have been on a quest for the perfect vegan Hollandaise for several years now and I think this is close to perfect, but now, I have to admit I don't remember what "real" Hollandaise tastes like.

I can assure you it is buttery-lemony-eggy delicious though, (OK, tooting my own horn, sorry) but if you're missing Hollandaise, give this a try.

First of all, though, ya gotta make my "Cashew Alfredo Cream Sauce" which is SORT-OF a "gravy" too, right? (Yes, I tend to hate multi-step recipes that require several different sub-recipes before you get to the main point, but you wanted vegan Hollandaise, that's no easy task!!)

This is a great way to use up leftovers of the "Alfredo" sauce. What, you never have leftovers? Well, neither do I, but I was trying to make you feel better about having to make TWO entire recipes. OK, so quit whining and make the Alfredo Sauce already (with maybe less garlic if you want though, it doesn't matter, really).

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

3/4 cup Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup soymilk (optional)
3 T. Earth Balance or Soy Garden Natural Buttery Spread, melted and kept very warm
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp India Black Salt (kala namak or sanchal)*
1/2 tsp. yellow mustard (like French's or any generic stuff)
pinch of white pepper or a dash of hot pepper sauce
tiny pinch of turmeric (less than a 1/16th of a tsp—more makes a phony-looking color)

Heat the Alfredo sauce until simmering (add some soymilk if it's horribly thick) —pour into the blender container along with the Black Salt, pepper or hot sauce, and add the lemon juice and mustard.

Blend well, adding the melted Earth Balance slowly through the hole in the lid while the machine is running. Blend until the mixture is completely mixed.

Taste and adjust seasonings (usually more lemon or mustard, though if it's too strong, add some more soymilk). Pour into saucepan on stove and stir with wire whisk until heated thru.

*This salt has a slightly sulphuric or "eggy" taste. It is an important ingredient for the traditional flavor in the sauce. Most Indian/Asian markets sell it, or you can get it online. It's a staple in our scrambled tofu as well! Good stuff!

If it DOESN'T THICKEN satisfactorily for you, add 2 teaspoons cornstarch to a little soymilk and mix in to sauce, stir with wire whisk over heat until it thickens.

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For the above, I lightly steamed some spinach, put it on toasted English Muffins with some of my favorite tofu scramble (any recipe you like). Cover with Hollandaise and serve.

Pasta and Vegetables With Cream Sauce

Totally uninspiring picture, but really good pasta!!!

I don't often post recipes or ideas from other sources, mainly 'cause I'm lazy and rarely get around to trying them. But this recipe caught my eye. It comes from fellow blogger, Matt over at "My Veggie Kitchen".

Check out his blog, mostly all vegan and DELICIOUS!!

I was in the mood for a creamy psta sort of thing anyway, and have my own cashew-based Cream Sauce that, admittedly, I'm pretty fond of, (mainly because I know it by heart). But after seeing his drool-worthy pictures (which mine are not) I decided I needed try Matt's Pasta Primavera recipe.

And let me tell you , it was definitely a hit in our house. I did change up the vegetables a bit according to those I had. And I left out the miso, since one of my kids dislikes it a great deal, regardless of how I think I'm disguising it. But I'd recommend trying it with the miso if you have it.

Creamy Pasta with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Seriously worthless pictures. *kicks camera*.


But I'm posting the recipe because it's totally awesome and I served this Farfalle in Garlic Cream Sauce with Mushrooms and Asparagus to a houseful of omnis this weekend, and it was a huge success.

My Mom kept saying "Would anyone like the VEGAN dish?" as if she really couldn't bring herself to call it Pasta with (rich, decadent) CREAM Sauce, but I'm happy to say, the 'vegan' title didn't scare anyone off.

This is easy, tasty, omni AND vegan-pleasing comfort food at it's best. I still wish the pictures did it's rich, creamy garlicness more justice.


Pasta in Garlic Cream Sauce with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Sauce:
1/2 cup raw cashews (not roasted)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I don't measure, just a good squeeze)
1 cup boiling water
2 cloves garlic (or more to taste)
2 Tbsp. extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Tofutti Cream Cheeze
1 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar (or rice wine vinegar will be OK)
2 Tb. nutritional yeast (optional)
salt to taste


Soymilk


Pulverize raw cashews in the food processor until very fine powder. Add 1 cup boiling water. (*The BEST way to do this, is to make the sauce while the pasta cooks - scoop out 1 cup of lightly salted pasta-cooking water and use it - the starch from the pasta-cooking water thickens the sauce PERFECTLY!) Add water to cashews and process until smooth... this will take several minutes.


Add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. This will take a while. If it's too thick to process, add soymilk as needed. Taste and add salt or pepper as needed.


Cook enough pasta to go with the sauce. (Different people prefer "less" or "more" sauce depending on their tastes and how creamy they like their casseroles.) Mix sauce with pasta.


While pasta cooks:
Rinse 1 bunch of asparagus, cut the tender parts (not the tough stem ends) into 1 inch pieces.

Cut 10 large button mushrooms in half. Stir fry asparagus and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until tender but asparagus is still a bit crisp.


Mix vegetables into pasta and sauce. Put pasta and veggies in a baking dish. You can refrigerate at this point until ready to bake.


When you're ready to bake the pasta:

Mix 2 Tbsp. cornstarch with 2 cups soymilk. Mix well with a wire whisk.

Pour over pasta until liquid comes 3/4 up side of dish.
Top with 1/2 cup buttered breadcrumbs.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 min. at 350. Remove foil. If it looks like it's drying out, add more soy milk.

Bake another 15 minutes. If breadcrumbs are not crispy-browned after 15 min. , broil for a few seconds, but watch carefully!


Enjoy, and happy Monday!!

Kale "flowers" and Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce

Searching for something green tonight among the meager supply of veggies in the 'fridge, I was most uninspired.
I looked wistfully out at my weed-choked, rain-soaked, moss covered garden space and wished for warm summer weather and fresh grown veggies.

But wait, what do I see? My Lacinato (or Dinosaur) kale is still around, but tall and straggly - what's left has started to flower and gone to seed. Sad. I went out and looked at it closely though - the 'flowers' looked a LOT like little broccoli heads. All sorta the same family, right? I tasted it, expecting that strong, over-grown bitterness you get with the old, tough leaves... Amazingly, these little kale "heads" were tender and SO SWEET!
I picked several large handfuls and steam-sauteed them with a few drops lemon juice and olive oil. Wow. They cooked super-quickly and wilted down quite a bit... but still... Insanely deLISH! I've discovered a new favorite green!

I paired the kale flowers with some caramelized onions and red-peppers, and whole wheat rigatoni with our family's absolute favorite pasta sauce - Cashew Garlic Alfredo (which I somehow got MUCH too thick tonight).

I threw some kalamata olives in the pasta sauce, maybe a bit too salty but they went well with the kale and peppers.

Cashew Garlic Alfredo Sauce:

1/2 cup raw cashews (not roasted)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I don't measure, just a good squeeze)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 clove garlic (or more to taste)
1 Tbsp. extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tb. nutritional yeast (optional)

Pulverize raw cashews in the food processor until very fine. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water. (*The BEST way to do this, is to make the sauce while the pasta cooks - scoop out 1 1/2 cups of lightly salted pasta-cooking water and use it - the starch from the pasta-cooking water thickens the sauce PERFECTLY!) Add water to cashews and process until smooth... this will take several minutes.
Add nutritional yeast (optional - my kids prefer it without), garlic clove, olive oil and squeeze of lemon juice. Process again until smooth, another couple minutes, it'll start to thicken a bit too! Makes a decadently creamy sauce. Serve over cooked pasta.

This stuff is wonderfully simple and tastes SO very good. I often add sauteed mushrooms, chives, chopped olives or sundried tomatoes, depending on my mood.

NOTE: Recipe has been edited, I forgot to add the olive oil!

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Thanks for all the kind thoughts while my Sprout is off traveling the world (or Ecuador). She e-mailed this AM and they all arrived safely and everyone was fine. So far, so good. Yay.