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Fathers Day Brunch: Vegan Hollandaise & Sunflower Pâté

6/13/2014

It is completely meaningless to put effort into activities that have no essence - Atisha

Sunday breakfast meals bring out the "made-from-scratch" in me and I think with Mother's Day just around the corner we should all make an effort to cook a nice meal for our mums, good friends or just for ourselves! Vegans and Non Vegans alike will enjoy these great recipes I always use! Below I share two recipes: My vegan Hollandaise and a super tasty Polenta-like pâté made from ground sunflower seeds, cornmeal & potatoes. And, of course, how can you make Eggs Benedict for your friends without HOMEMADE English Muffins. I made these foods from scratch from tried and true recipes that I love! BUT, of course, I alway give any recipe a bit of my own twist. You should, too! Have fun! and celebrate mothers past, present and future on May 11th - they make our wold a better place!

Vegan and Non-Vegan: On the left my Vegan Sunflower pâté topped with vegan Hollandaise along side Eggs Benedict.

Mmmmmmmm - Nooks and Crannies! Home made English Muffins. I use Mark Bittman's recipe for sandwich bread in his book How to Cook Everything. This is a wonderful recipe. It is not vegan as it contains milk- but vegans can substitute with almond milk or other milk alternative. The recipe is so easy and the ingredients so basic but the end result is so impressive So, have at it and make these!

Another terrific appetizer, snack or protein main dish on Brunch Day is this wonderfully delicious Sunflower pâté. So flavorful and satisfying! You will not believe it's vegan. Nutritional Yeast is what gives this pâté a rich, cheesy, nutty flavor. I LOVE this dish for picnics, lunches or parties. See this and my Mock Arugula Hollandaise recipe below.

Sunflower pâté

This recipe is from one of my favorite vegan cookbooks that I picked up at the bottom of a pile in a thrift sale. It's called Vegan Delights by Jeanne Marie Martin and was published in 1993. Wonderful recipes in this book.

Serves 6-8 people

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Sunflowers seeds, finely ground
1/2 cup corn meal
1//2 cup yellow nutritional yeast - click here for more information on nutritional yeast
3 tsp. dried parsley flakes (I didn't have any but if you do, great!)
1.5 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
3/4-1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp dried sage leaves (I didn't have sage on hand and it still tasted great!)
1/4 tsp sea kelp powder

1 Cup finely grated potato (I just used grater on food processor)
1 and 1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sunflower oil or other natural oil (you can reduce this amount if you wish)
2 TBS soy sauce or Tamari

Optional: 3-4 tsp prepared horseradish. I didn't have this on hand either so did not include this. Other things you could add include some finely chopped onions or minced garlic. Keep the wet veggies to a minimum.

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Grate the potato and rinse it thoroughly to remove excess starch. Squeeze and drain it after rinsing. Add the remaining ingredients in the order given above, stirring in the potato last. Mix well.

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Generously oil a 9" glass pie plate and scoop in the pâté mixture. Put it in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350 degrees. Bake 35-45 minutes until well browned.

Let the pâté cool 1-2 hours and then chill it thoroughly before serving to set it completely. It may be reheated later if desired. It is tastiest when served at room temperature. Keeps up to 7 days refrigerated or may be frozen in pie wedges (with reduced oil and no onions or garlic)

Vegan Arugula Hollandaise Sauce

Makes about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS

3 TBS Earth Balance or Butter Alternative. Or - use Ghee or Butter - whatever suits you!
2 TBS Flour (I use gluten free flour)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Turmeric (this creates the hollandaise color)
1 Cup Milk Alternative (Soy, Almond, etc) - I use homemade almond (none of the flavored stuff from the store:(
2 TBS Nutritional Yeast
Pinch cayenne
1/2 or 1 TBS Veganaise (Vegan Mayo - I use Wildwood Vegan Aioli)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Small handful of baby arugula.

DIRECTIONS

Sizzle "butter" in heavy skillet on stove over med high heat
Add flour & turmeric to butter and mix thoroughly to create a paste - (do not burn paste)
Whisk in almond milk and keep whisking until smooth
Remove from heat and add the nutritional yeast and pinch of cayenne
At this point your "hollandaise" should be smooth, colorful and flavorful. Next step is to the food processor
In a small bowl of your food processor add your hollandaise, handful of arugula and 1/2 TBS or 1 TBS of Veganaise. Blend thoroughly and add water by the TableSpoons to reach the correct consistency you desire. I thinned mine a bit with water. It will thicken each time your reheat it - you can add water likewise each time you reheat.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Reheat when ready to serve. Taste to your liking and add things you prefer!

5 Comments

Fudge it Fudge Balls.

6/25/2013

1 Comment

You've got guests coming for dinner. You want to have a dessert but don't have the time. What to do? Here's my answer and it's healthy and pretty to look at, to boot! Wow!

Where we live (there are no traffic lights here, if you can imagine). So we don't have many choices for stores or shops - many times it is necessary to rely on our own devices to "cook" something up in a jiffy. This is what I did to solve my dessert dilemma. And the best part is that our guests wanted to take some home with them. That's always a nice thing to hear.

What is it, exactly? Basically, it's a chocolate fudge ball made from ground nuts, leftover granola, remains of some cocoa powder, a melted cube of bittersweet chocolate, some tahini, spices & a spoonfull of orange marmalade for moistness - ALL balled up and rolled in sesame seeds. YUM! See how below!

So HERE's HOW TO WING IT!

THIS "RECIPE" made 12 small Fudge Balls (about 1" in size)
I used several different kinds of nuts that I had on hand. About 1/2 cup each of 3 types (or use what you have) but it should total about 1.5 cups of nuts. In my case I used:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup almonds (all seeds can be raw or toasted - but try not to use salted seeds, if possible)
1/2 cup sun flower seeds
1/2 cup homemade granola I had leftover
1 or 2 1oz cubes of Bittersweet chocolate melted in microwave until soft and stirred with forth until smooth. *Note: if you don't have this on hand - use something that is chocolatey. I had a piece of leftover torte in the fridge, I could have use this. OR - you could use Cocoa Powder (pure powder).
1-2 TBSP of cocoa powder (this amount depends on consistency when all ingredients are pureed)
1/4 cup Tahini (don't have tahini - try using almond butter - it will change the flavor but go for it, try it!)
2 TBSP or so of Agave (if you don't have it - double up on Marmalade or a berry jam)
1 medium spoonful of Orange Marmalade
1/4 tsp of nutmeg
1/4 tsp hot chile powder
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp kosher salt (or more to taste ... not tooooo much, though)*Note: I didn't have cinnamon on hand - but I definitely would use this as well - goes great with chile powder!
1 tsp Water (at a time) if mixture is too dry at the end of the process to mold into balls - add one and mix, then check ... DO NOT ADD WATER unless you need it.
Sesame Seeds to coat fudge balls (see how in picture below)

INSTRUCTONS

Puree the seeds/nuts/granola until it becomes a fine meal
With the blades spinning, slowly pour in the tahini and agave
Add melted chocolate, cocoa and remaining ingredients except the water - see how the mixture looks (I wait until the end, taste the mixture and if it needs more chocolate, salt or spice that is when a I add more - REMEMBER - this is YOUR DISH when you serve it to people - taste it and make it to your standards)
Check consistency - if it is too mealy or dry then add a bit of water (or a bit more marmalade) and mix with your hands until it can form a ball - it DOESN'T TAKE MUCH for it to form so do not over water - if you do, add more cocoa and slow down:)
Let mixture sit at room temp for 15 minutes then form into 1" balls with your hands
To coat: Pour sesame seeds into small bowl, place your fudge ball inside the bowl and swoosh the bowl in small circles so that the ball inside rolls around and coasts itself in the seeds:) SO EASY

<---------- that's how you swoosh:)

When your fudge balls are all done and coated plate them and store in refridge. They will harden - so, I remove them about 1 hour before dessert to let them soften a bit. If they are too big cut the fudge balls in half with a sharp knife - you don't want to loose their shape - so don't squish - and plate stylishly atop one another.

These Fudge Balls pack a tasty punch - so it is good to serve them with an after dinner drink that will balance their richness. I serve them with coffee spiced with ground cardamom or with cinnamon (I love cardamom - but it is not for everyone). HMMMMM GOOD!

1 Comment

Food 4OREthought:)

Fathers Day Brunch: Vegan Hollandaise & Sunflower Pâté

Sunflower pâté

Vegan Arugula Hollandaise Sauce

Fudge it Fudge Balls.

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