bbq

Happy Fourth of July! Vegan BBQ - no it is not an oxymoron! We had a fabulous cook-out making Chicago Dogs, Corn on the cob and Incrediburgers from American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyen. It holds together incredibly well on the grill and is incredibly tasty! All the kids love it, to boot. I also made my American potato salad, inspired by Julia Child who was inspired by a lady named Rosie. Now it is vegan and delicious. The secret to making tasty potato salad is marinating the still warm potato slices in the cider vinegar and vegetable broth before adding the veganaise.

No cost breakdown because we made a lot of food :0

crab(less)cakes with fried corn salad

Tamasin Noyen, author of American Vegan Kitchen, over at Vegan Appetite, holds these really neat convert-a-Food-Network-recipe-to-vegan affairs. It is a lot of fun and anyone who is game is invited by her to join in. All you have to do is convert the assigned recipe to vegan - with your own spin, if you wish. This time around yours truly was asked to choose the destined recipe - not as easy as it sounds - and my pick was Paula Deen's Crabcakes. I chose this because it is open for interpretation (as Tami said) and there has not been a recipe of Paula's picked, yet. 

I made Tami's 'Fried Corn Salad' (out of her cookbook) to accompany the cakes; very appropriate since they are both American. I also made a Horseradish-Tartar sauce to go with my cakes. I didn't want to do an old-stand-by-tartar and I knew that cocktail sauce would be too overpowering for the delicate flavor of my cakes, so I mixed the two ideas.

The 'crab' I made using extra firm tofu, shredded, that I simmered with Old Bay, seaweed (to invite the sea and a whole bunch of nutrients to the festivities) and onions. I let it cool in the fridge overnight with some sauteed green peppers, red peppers and garlic. I used fresh cashew cream infused with garlic and rosemary to bind the cakes, as well as ground panko, and dredged them in crushed saltines. I only used a few teaspoons of olive oil to pan-fry my cakes - not the tons of oil that most recipes call for.

The cakes emerged from the whole experience tender and flaky, slightly sweet and salty with a crispy crust and a mild sea-flavor infused by the use of seaweed. 

Verdict: I did not have enough for the kids and David. It was so delicious and really quite easy to make - if you subtract the experimental phase!

Cost Breakdown:

tofu: $1.50

vegetables: $1

crackers and panko: $.50

cashews: $.75

seasonings and oil: $.50

corn salad: $2 

horseradish-tartar sauce: $.50

Total to make appetizers for 12:

$6.75

 

Crab(less)cakes with Horseradish-Tartar Sauce Recipe