We had a yummy vegetarian Thanksgiving today. Of course, I spent 5 hours cooking and it was devoured in 30 minutes. But that's OK. We have leftovers! Take a look at that pie. Our son looks forward to this pie every year. He says it's the best pie in the world. Try it and you may agree. It is a sweet potato pie made with light coconut milk and two eggs (you can make it completely vegan by substituting 3-4 ounces of firm tofu for the eggs, which was how I made it last year).
The main course was Maple Glazed Tofu, with wild rice and chestnut stuffing. Sides included instant corn Paniyaram, sauteed swiss chard, spiced baked apples, and cranberry sauce.
The pie was heavenly and I also made some Pecan Bourbon Truffles. Actually I didn't spend 5 hours cooking. It only felt like it. The meal actually comes together really quickly. The pie and the cranberry sauce are the only thing that needs to be made a bit ahead so that they can cool, but everything else is quick.
Sweet Potato Pie
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 oz Earth Balance Margarine (or butter if you like)
3-4 T ice cold water
Filling
1 large garnet yam or orange sweet potato
10 oz light or reduced fat coconut milk (I used Trader Joe's)
2 eggs or 3-4 oz firm tofu
1/2 cup brown sugar or to taste
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t ground ginger
Hint: use a bit more spice if you use the tofu
To make the crust, place the flour and salt in a food processor. Cut up 1/2 of the margarine into small pieces and add to the flour. Pulse until the fat is incorporated and the mix looks like corn meal. Add the rest of the margarine and pulse until the lumps are the size of lentils. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing until the mixture forms a loose ball. Roll out the dough between sheets of wax paper and lay it into a pie plate. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes at 350F.
To make the filling, peel the potato and cut it into large chunks. Boil the chunks for about 10 minutes or until they are tender. Drain and cool. Put the cooled potato into a blender or processor and add the coconut milk, eggs or tofu and sugar. Blend until creamy and light. Add the spices and blend briefly until they are mixed in. Pour into the blind baked shell (you can use the extra dough to make leaf or other shapes to decorate the top) Bake at 350F for one hour.
Maple Glazed Tofu
As usual with this kind of recipe, I don't really measure, so portions and proportions are up to you.
Firm or Extra Firm Tofu (or super firm if you like it)
1-2 T canola or vegetable oil
1-2-T Maple Syrup
1-2 T tamari or soy sauce
1-2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1t grated fresh ginger
Slice the tofu into cutlet sized slices. Or cut into circles or other fun shapes. Heat a non stick skillet and add about 1T oil. (Depending on how much you are making, you will have to do this in batches, unless you have two or more skillets). Add the tofu and brown the first side. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients. When the first side of the tofu is browned, flip it over and brown the other side. When the second side is browned, add 1-2 Tablespoons of the syrup to the pan and turn the tofu a couple times until the syrup mixture thickens and coats the tofu.
Wild Rice Chestnut Stuffing
once again the proportions are to your taste and approximate
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 package of Trader Joe's steamed chestnuts (or about 10 oz of cooked chestnuts)
2 slices of Ezikiel Bread (or your choice of whole grain or sourdough bread) diced
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped fine
1-2 shallots, chopped fine
1 cup of your choice of broth (I used 1/2 cube of Not-Chick'n buillion cubes purchased at Whole Foods dissolved in one cup of water)
1/2 t rubbed sage or 1T fresh sage
1T vegetable oil
Heat a skillet and add the oil. Saute the celery and shallot until they are soft but not browned. Mix all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and add the sauteed vegetables. Pour into a casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes at 350F.
Instant Corn Paniyaram
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup barley flour
1/4 cup corn meal
1 red chili chopped fine
1t grated ginger
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or defrosted)
1/2-1 cup of kefir, buttermilk, soymilk, or thinned yoghurt.
Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the liquid slowly until the batter is like a muffin batter (kind of thick, but not too stiff). Cook in a paniyaram pan (or you could cook them like muffins).
Cranberry Sauce
1 package of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar or to taste
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cinnamon
Add all of the ingredients to a heavy bottomed saucepan. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have burst and the mixture is thick. About 10-20 minutes.
We debated the making of a butter turkey until earlier this morning and came to the conclusion we simply don't care too much for the taste of turkey and didn't need to explore ways to disguise the flavour. Turkey made its presence at our table this year thanks to the arts and crafts handiwork of our lovely children. Without getting to ferklempft (going with the phonetics approach to spelling on a Mike Myers favourite) let me say we have a lot to be thankful for this year.
