Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
SIMPLE Swap ENTRÉES
These recipes include variations on the vegetarian recipes so that you can make the more traditional versions with meat, if that's what you prefer. There are also several plant-based options for those people in your life who don't eat any animal products. Most of the supporting ingredients are the same, the only difference being the protein source. Many of these recipes are simple and use store-bought veggie proteins, making this chapter a perfect place to begin if you are new to vegetarian cooking.
*
"HOT BROWN" CASSEROLE 17 BENEDICTINE & TEMPEH BACON SANDWICHES 18 BUTTERMILK BISCUITS & TEMPEH GRAVY 22 CHICKPEA & BUCKWHEAT DUMPLING STEW 25 CHICKEN-FRIED TEMPEH STEAK 26 DAD'S HEARTY CHILI 29 CREAMY CURRY POTATO & "BACON" SOUP 30 GRAMMY'S SHEPHERD'S PIE 32 KENTUCKY RED BEANS & RICE 34 MOCKTUNANOODLECASSEROLE 36 PANEER & PUMPKIN GRITS 38 SCALLOPED POTATOES & HAM-ISH 40 CHIK-N & VEGGIE POT PIEWITH CORNMEAL CRUST 43 SOUTHERN-ISHSLOPPYJOES 47 SOYSAGE & GOAT CHEESE STUFFED SQUASH 48 SPICY PINTO BEAN & MISO STEW 50
*
"Hot Brown" CASSEROLE
SERVES 6
A hot brown is a turkey casserole invented at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Growing up, we had them the day after Thanksgiving as a way to use up leftover bits of turkey too small to make into a sandwich. As far as making it into a vegetarian recipe, this one is very easy because you are using store-bought substitute turkey. If you want you can make turkey cutlets from the Fried Seitan "Chicken" (page 90), but I say why bother? Concentrate your efforts on the real star of this dish, the Mornay sauce. Creamy, smoky, and just a tad bit spicy, this sauce takes leftovers to a whole new place.
20 grape tomatoes, halved
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Coat the tomatoes with 2 teaspoons of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the tomatoes cut sides up on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake until they start to dehydrate and wrinkle, about 45 minutes.
While the tomatoes are cooking, put the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a sauté pan and heat over medium heat until hot. Add the turkey substitute and sear until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Set aside.
To make the Mornay sauce, put the butter in a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the flour and stir continuously so the roux doesn't scorch, about 2 minutes. Whisk the milk into the roux, stirring continuously so lumps don't form. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the Gouda and the banana peppers and stir until the cheese is melted. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. When the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400°F (205°C).
You are now ready to assemble the dish. Distribute the bread cubes evenly in the bottom of an 8-inch (20-cm) square casserole dish. Layer in the substitute turkey pieces. Pour the Mornay sauce over the top and then top with the tomato halves. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and tempeh bacon slices. Bake on the top rack of the oven until golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it set up for 10 minutes before serving.
CARNIVORE
Version
Replace the turkey substitute with 1 pound (455 g) diced turkey breast. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté with 2 teaspoons oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 7 minutes. Replace the tempeh bacon with 8 crispy bacon slices. All the other steps and cooking times remain the same.
BENEDICTINE & TEMPEH
BACON SANDWICHES
SERVES 4
When I was eight, my mom asked me to attend an annual ladies' luncheon as her guest. I was in heaven. Coming from a large family, one-on-one time was rare and precious. I wore a long white dress and ate benedictine and bacon sandwiches with my gloves still on.
"Oh Mom, this is so fancy," I said when I had my first bite of the creamy cucumber delight.
The following year my little sister, Morgan, attended the same luncheon with Mom. She came home with the same wonder over benedictine and bacon. To this day, it is still Morgan's favorite. But she is one tough critic. She loves benedictine and wants her traditional bacon perfectly cooked: crispy, salty, and fatty without tasting "porky" or burnt, so I knew if she loved my tempeh bacon, then I had succeeded. It took a while, and there were plenty of shoulder shrugs, but it was frying the tempeh in butter that made her a convert. Butter, because it is derived from animals, adds a trueness to the flavor that can fool almost anyone.
FOR THE TEMPEH BACON:
8 ounces (225 g) organic tempeh
FOR THE SPREAD
1 for the spread:
MAKE THE TEMPEH BACON: Slice the tempeh lengthwise into twenty pieces and lay them in a 9 by 13-inch (23 by 33-cm) baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, liquid smoke, and hot sauce, then pour over the tempeh. Marinate for 15 to 30 minutes. Much of the liquid will be absorbed.
Carefully and working in batches if necessary, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the tempeh bacon until very dark and crispy, 4 to 5 minutes per side. (I flip them using two forks so they don't break.) Add butter to the pan as needed. Remove from the skillet and place on a wire rack to cool.
WHILE THE "BACON" IS COOKING, MAKE THE SPREAD: Grate the cucumber on the large holes of a box grater. Wrap the grated cucumber in cheesecloth and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible.
Combine the cream cheese and mayonnaise in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the cucumber and onion and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To assemble the sandwiches, divide the cream cheese mixture evenly among 4 slices of bread. Break the strips of "bacon" in half and top each sandwich with six halves. Top with arugula, then cover with the remaining slices of bread and press down firmly. Slice the sandwiches diagonally and serve.
CARNIVORE
Version
Replace all of the ingredients to make the tempeh bacon with 12 strips thick-sliced pork bacon. Working in batches if necessary, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels. All other steps and cooking methods remain the same.
PLANT-BASED
Version
Fry the tempeh bacon in 4 tablespoons (55 g) margarine or vegan butter. Replace the cream cheese with 8 ounces (225 g) vegan cream cheeseand the mayonnaise with vegan mayonnaise. All other steps and cooking methods remain the same.
This recipe yields eight leftover tempeh bacon strips. Before the cooking step, you can store them in the refrigerator for up to seven days and fry them when you have a craving. Or if you are like me, go ahead and fry those babies. I cant help but snack as I cook and usually have only one extra piece by the end.
Buttermilk BISCUITS & Tempeh Gravy
SERVES 6
In our family, Sunday brunch was a big deal. It was the one breakfast of the week where we all sat down together. My parents usually took turns in the kitchen but not on Sunday; Sunday was when they cooked together. Watching my parents create our traditional brunch was like watching them dance. They moved together, then separately, each highlighting their strength, but occasionally stumbling. I want this memory for the children that Darrick and I may have someday, and because of that, this recipe was very important for me to re-create. It is all about the seasoning and the amount of oil needed to cook up the tempeh so that it seems sausage-like. The biscuits and gravy sauce were already vegetarian, but I took it one step further and created a 100 percent plant-based option, for those vegans out there.
FOR THE BISCUITS:
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour,
FOR THE GRAVY:
5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted
MAKE THE BISCUITS: Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl using a whisk. Work the cold butter into the mixture using a bowl scraper or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal; using your fingers will create a more cake-like texture. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Stir until the ingredients are just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead five or six times. Roll the dough out to a 1-inch-thick (2.5-cm-thick) disk and cut out biscuits using a 2-inch (5-cm) biscuit cutter. Make sure you don't twist the cutter; otherwise you'll squish the sides and the biscuits won't rise. Knead the scraps together, re-roll, and cut out biscuits until all the dough has been used.
place the biscuits bottom side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with the melted butter and bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.
WHILE THE BISCUITS BAKE, MAKE THE GRAVY: Put the butter in a cast-iron skillet and melt over medium heat. When the butter is hot, add the tempeh and sear for 2 to 3 minutes, until the first side is crisp. Stir and sear again until the tempeh is golden brown all over. Add the anise, the Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and the flour. Stir to combine, then cook for 1 to 2 more minutes to remove the raw flour taste. Whisk in the warm milk and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the gravy thickens to the desired consistency — for me that is about 5 minutes. If you like thinner gravy, cook for a bit less time. For thicker gravy, cook for an extra couple minutes. Taste and season with salt and a lot of pepper.
CARNIVORE
Version
The biscuit recipe remains unchanged. Omit the butter from the gravy recipe and replace the tempeh with 8 ounces (225 g) ground pork. In a bowl, combine the pork with the spices, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and gently mix to distribute all those wonderful flavors. Put the sausage in a warm cast-iron skillet and cook over medium heat, breaking it up, until cooked through and the outside is golden brown, 7 to 9 minutes. All other steps and cooking times remain the same.
PLANT-BASED
Version
Replace any butter with margarine or butter substitute, in the biscuits and in the gravy recipe. The buttermilk can be replaced with 1 1/3 cups (315 ml) unflavored unsweetened macadamia or almond milk and 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice. All other steps and cooking times remain the same.
CHICKPEA & DUMPLING STEW
SERVES 6
I tried and tried to create a chicken substitute that didn't get really weird when boiled in soup and the truth is, I just didn't succeed. All of my attempts came out rubbery and I almost gave up on this comforting classic recipe, and removed it from the cookbook. And then one day I realized, in traditional chicken and dumplings, no one cares about the chicken anyway, it's the dumplings that win people over. So I stopped stressing and started thinking; that's when I decided to replace the chicken with chickpeas. Not only is the name a winner, but it is also a simple way to add protein without taking away for the delight of the dumpling.
FOR THE STEW
3 tablespoons olive oil
FOR THE DUMPLINGS
2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
MAKE THE STEW: To a 6-quart (5.7-L) Dutch oven, add the olive oil and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the onion and sauté until it starts to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, rosemary, sage, and thyme and sauté 3 to 4 more minutes to develop a little color on the vegetables. Add the stock and wine, bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes to let the flavor deepen.
MEANWHILE, MAKE THE DUMPLINGS: To a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, chives, and parmesan, if using, and whisk to combine. To another bowl add the milk and oil and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Stir until a slightly sticky but smooth batter is formed. It will look like very thick pancake batter and will drop from a teaspoon.
Drop the batter, one tablespoon at a time, into the simmering stew. You will make roughly 20 dumplings. Gently stir and let the dumplings cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the corn and chickpeas, cover with a lid, and allow the stew to cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the dumplings are doubled in size and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy.
CARNIVORE
Version
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Replace the chickpeas with 1 pound (455 g) diced boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Drizzle the chicken with 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper, and bake on a baking sheet until just cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes. Follow the remaining steps and cooking times and add the chicken to the stew with the corn. The vegetable stock can also be replaced with chicken stock for an even deeper chicken flavor.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian Boy"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Damaris Phillips.
Excerpted by permission of Abrams Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
