We're back!

© Jessica Sample

Forgive the years-long lapse, but we are back with more great vegan content serendipitously appearing in the mainstream media, not to "be vegan" but just because everybody intuitively knows food doesn't have to contain animals to be delicious. This fantastic Moroccan tagine comes from Food & Wine--just use coconut yogurt, or omit the yogurt garnish. Recipe here.

Saveur November 2010: Collard Love

Photo by Todd Coleman

The cover's covered with dead birds but inside there are a few jewels, including Ginger Cordial on page 19, as part of an interesting article on the Temperance Movement in Lancashire.  It's a non-alcoholic potent concoction of sugar, ginger, and lemon juice.  (It's not online.)

Next, a nice article about collard greens, with a group of recipes, which are surprisingly mostly vegan if you know that butter=Earth Balance, chicken broth= veg broth, and in one case, you just leave off the hard boiled egg halves (maybe substitute tofu cubes).  Try Ye'abesha Gomen (Ethiopian Collard Greens), Collard Greens Salad with Peanut Vinaigrette, Haak (Kashmiri Collard Greens), and the not-online Lonnee's Collards and Gulai Sayur (Indonesian-Style Collard Greens Curry).  I might be able to use up all those CSA collard greens after all...

I think Tom Colicchio's rolls would go great with the collards, for soaking up all those juices.  Would Tom mind if some interpret "milk" to be of the soy or almond variety, and isn't olive oil just as good if not better than clarified butter for greasing and brushing?  Try Colicchio & Sons' Parker House Rolls to find out.  You'll probably want to skip the "Spirit of the Bistro" article, as you know how those Parisians can be.  Don't even look.  In fact, you can skip the rest.  Go back and look at all those beautiful collard greens again. 

Rustic Spinach and Cornmeal Soup, Bon Appetit October 2010

Recipe by Lidia Bastianich

Photograph by Marcus Nilsson

Make it

Photo by Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

The March 23rd issue of the New York Times has an interesting article by Martha Rose Shulman about the benefits of making whole grains the "center of the plate." Amen to that, sister! The article includes an amazing recipe for Wild Rice and Brown Rice Salad with Walnuts and Asparagus, and unlike many other such potentially delicious recipes, this one isn't compelled to add a sprinkle of cheese at the end. Because who needs that?

Blue Potatoes in The Seattle Times

Photo by Steve Ringman
The March 15th issue of The Seattle Times features a great article by Greg Atkinson about blue potatoes, complete with a mashed potato recipe. This is a perfect example of vegan serendipity--a recipe that would typically contain dairy doesn't contain dairy just because it would "only mask the brilliant color and delicate flavor of these spuds." How cool is that?

Golden Potatoes with Caper Brown Butter Crumbs from Gourmet.com

Photo by Roland Bello.


Gourmet's website this month features ten April favorite foods chosen by their editors. As you might expect, most aren't vegan, but the first one is, assuming you already know that butter = Earth Balance. Golden Potatoes with Caper Brown Butter Crumbs is easy and incredibly delicious--a great way to add life and liveliness to your 'taters. Try it with grilled tofu and a big salad. The recipe is by Maggie Ruggiero, a food editor at Gourmet.

Millenium Restaurant in San Francisco

I just found a link to this article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about fine dining, vegan style, at Millennium restaurant in San Francisco. It doesn't contain any recipes, but it's an interesting commentary on how the "gourmet vegan" concept is becoming more mainstream and economically viable as a hook for restaurants. The photo shows a vegan chocolate caramelized banana torte from Millennium restaurant.