Your Vegan Mom

Hot Dog Reuben

I call myself your mom, and yet I give you nothing but junk food.  I keep meaning to do better, but I'll be honest, I've looked at the roster for the rest of the year, and it's not looking good.  Perhaps it will be a New Year's Resolution?  I assure you my own children don't eat near as much junk as I feed you.  

BLT

The BLT is a sandwich I feel strongly about.  There is a right way to do it.  And while many would insist that way involves bacon, according to Paul, the B stands for beer, which is absolutely what you should serve this sandwich with.

Apart from beer, you need good crusty bread.  A soft crusted sandwich loaf will absolutely not work here.  There is a deli near my house that sells prepackaged vegetarian BLTs on whole wheat sandwich bread with yellow mustard and cheddar cheese.  Despite its proximity to my house and even its other reputable vegan offerings, I cannot patronize this establishment.  

Just before serving, you slather two slices of that good bread (lightly toasted if not super fresh) with your favorite vegan mayonnaise (which is vegenaise, of course).  The act of slathering is important here.  Your finished BLT should ooze and drip.  This is not a polite sandwich.

On top of one slice of slathered bread you place several slices of beautiful ripe tomato.  This is a summer sandwich.  Make it now while tomatoes are juicy and sweet.  You should be eating a BLT at least once a week until the tomatoes run out.

On top of the tomato you will arrange your slices of smoky braised tempeh.  The order matters.  The mingling of tomato juice, mayonnaise, and then the sweet, smoky, saltiness of the tempeh forms a sort of essential dressing within the sandwich.

Now on the other half of bread mash a quarter of a soft, ripe, oily avocado.  You can, of course, make a BLT without avocado, but it's always better with.  Take one big billowy leaf of lettuce - the sort with a nice little crisp rib near one edge - and fold it in half.  (I know an even more reputable sandwich shop that once used a handful of soft, peppery mixed baby greens for the L.  I don't eat there anymore either.  The pliable crunch and mild fresh flavor of leaf lettuce is a supporting, though essential, element of the BLT.) Gently press the lettuce into the avocado. 

Place the lettuce and avocado half on top of the tempeh and tomato half and devour.  Often.   

[A quick note on the kid-friendliness of this sandwich - the five year old will not touch it, but the two year old is a sandwich-stealing super fan.]  

Kimchi Grilled Cheese

two slices of sourdough lightly spread with vegan butter + cheddar-ish cheese (I used Julie Hasson's Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze from Vegan Diner.) + kimchi (I used Dave's.) = perhaps my new favorite comfort food

Grilled Tempeh Sandwich

On Saturday we bought beds.  (Thank you for your help!)  Momentarily, I wondered what I would do with all that mental space freed up from bunk bed obsession.  Then the mail arrived, and with it, Saveur's sandwich issue.

So, now I'm thinking about banh mi and pimiento cheese and Lebanese flat bread and tortas and finger sandwiches.  Let me tell you, it's a mental improvement.

My current favorite sandwich is this grilled tempeh number.  It's how I want to eat this summer - barely cooked, colorful and fresh, and easily packed off to the park.  We have the best park in our neighborhood.  Last night, Desmond and Felix and I sauntered over there after dinner and there were two men playing acordians as the light turned pink and kids played.  There's often a man blowing giant bubbles and one of the musicians from last night sometimes puts on old timey puppet shows set to music.  This sandwich does not look portable - it's very at home on a plate, but I wrapped up the other half and ate it two hours later sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and a pile of cookbooks.

So, so enjoying all this mental space. 

Grilled Tempeh Sandwich

Makes: 2 big sandwiches
Takes: 20 minutes 

• 1 8-ounce block tempeh
• 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• 1/4 cup minced onion, soaked in cold water
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup basil mayonaise (recipe below)
• a couple handfuls of wild arugula
• 4 slices of really good bread

Slice the block of tempeh into thirds and then cut each third into half so that you have 6 rectangles of tempeh.  In a cast iron skillet, or even better on an outdoor grill (in that case rub the tempeh with oil and salt), brown the tempeh in a couple tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

While the tempeh is browning, halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes,and toss them with the corn, onion (drained and rinsed), lemon juice, and salt to taste.  

Slather each slice of bread with basil mayo and arrange grilled tempeh slices on one half of bread.  Pile the tomato salad on top.  Scoop a handful of arugula onto the other half. Put that sandwich together and enjoy.  

Basil Mayonnaise
Makes: about 3/4 cup 

• 1/2 cup vegenaise
• a handful of fresh basil leaves (More precise?  I used 18 large leaves.  I counted.  For you.)
• 1 clove garlic
• pinch of salt

Throw all that in the food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Or, if, like me, you decide that you don't feel like dirtying any appliance, then finely chop the basil and mince the garlic, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and mash it into a paste with the flat side of your big knife.  Mix the basil and garlic paste into the mayo.  Or, if you happen to have some pesto in the fridge, just mix a heaping tablespoon into the mayonnaise.  

Vegan Charcuterie and the Sandwich Project

I love Michael Ruhlman.  (Have you read Ratio?)  So much so that when he published an exhaustive and well-recieved big fat tome on Charcuterie, I wanted it.  Even though, you know, we don't eat meat, be it salted, smoked, cured, or otherwise.  So I resisted, and bought my father-in-law a copy of that other book instead.  

But then last week when Marly emailed to ask if I would  be interested in veganizing a sandwich for a series she was calling America's Top Ten New Sandwiches...Veganized!, I saw my chance.  

She had been simultaneously intrigued and grossed out by this piece in the Huffington Post featuring new-fangled sandwiches from all over the country.  With fillings as outlandish as deep-fried lasagna and as obvious as bacon, these sandwiches were ripe for the veganizing.  Now all she needed was a ragtag team of writer-cooks and enthusiastic eaters to make it happen.  

I was quickly assigned The Spuckie from a sandwich shop in Boston called Cutty's.  The original version is packed with hot capicola, salami, mortadella, hand-pulled mozzarella, and carrot-olive salad.  We could do the salad part, but clearly some deli meat research was in order.  The baby and I headed to the library.

Back at the dining room table with my big fat book of meat (It also features recipes for homemade sauerkraut and preserved lemons.  Am I rationalizing, or do I totally need to own this book after all?) I read through visceral instructions on cramming various body parts into something or other's lining and finally skimmed to find seasonings for mortadella.

Six...no...eight (?) logs of seitan later, we were all super-happy with the meat-free results.  You can find the recipe for the complete sandwich involving three different kinds of seitan (I know!  It's an admitedly labor intensive recipe.  But you can make it way simpler by just going to buy some flippin' vegan deli meats.) at NamelyMarly.  

She will feature ten crazy new vegan sandwiches over the next couple months all developed by different bloggers and inspired by the sandwiches in the original article.  One is filled with barbecue and macaroni and cheese.  And there's another that layers sausage inside maple-currant bread pudding.  Eep.  I'm so excited.   

Meat-free Mortadella

• 1 12-ounce package firm silken tofu 
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground mace
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup green olives

Add all but the vital wheat gluten and olives to a food processor.  Pulse until combined while leaving small bits of tofu (those will visually, at least, mimic the little cubes of fat in the traditional sausage).  

In a large bowl, stir the tofu mixture into the vital wheat gluten until you have a soft seitan dough.

Form the dough into a fat oblong ball.  Push the olive into the seitan.  Wrap tightly with aluminum foil.  Place in the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours.  

The seitan will feel soft when you take it out of the oven - it will firm up considerably as it cools.  Let cool completely before slicing thinly for sandwiches.  

Makes about 2 pounds of seitan