The final weeks of 2011 were good ones for the meal delivery. I aimed to show my enthusiasm and gratitude for my loyal clientele by putting together some prettier-than-usual food. Serenbe Farms made this easier by providing a complimentary share of produce for the first delivery.
Note: authors’ names are included because I value giving credit. I didn’t go to culinary school; everything I know about cooking I learned from others (mostly their cookbooks). As a creative and competent cook I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, but the hard work of the individuals listed form the foundation of & inspiration for “my” variations.
Tuesday 6 December – primarily local, almost totally organic, & completely vegan
Mains
- pumpkin cream farfalle with double “peas” (chickpeas and petits pois), a variation on EA’s recipe
- red beans and seitan bourguignonne (Robin Robertson, variation)
- Serenbe sweet potato stew
- crimson cabbage borscht (Myra Kornfeld)
- sweet chili lime tofu over lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa (VeganYumYum)
Sides
- shaved local fennel, organic satsuma, and pomegranate salad (Myra Kornfeld)
- maple-braised carrots with sea salt and maple sugar
- string beans and pickled onions in agave-lemon-dijon vinaigrette (Peter Berley)
- creamy kenyan curried cabbage with peas
- Hungarian cabbage with noodles (Robin Robertson)
Other
Serenbe sweet potato stew
seitan and red beans bourguignonne
sweet chili lime tofu with lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa
fennel, satsuma, pomegranate salad dressed with five-year-aged balsamic
string beans with pickled onions
crimson cabbage borscht featuring local beets & their greens
cowboy cookies
Tuesday 13 December – locally-sourced vegetables, 85%+ organic ingredients, totally vegan
Mains
- seitan pot roast with local vegetables (Robin Robertson, variation)
- red thai tofu with bok choy
- shepherd’s pie with tofu
- ye’miser w’et – red lentils in a spicy gravy (Kittee Berns)
- tempeh & locally, hardwood-grown shiitake stew (Bryant Terry)
Sides
- roasted delicata squash
- nepalese green beans with coconut and mustard seeds (Bryanna Clark Grogan, World Vegan Feast)
- Christmas couscous: with dried cranberries and pepitas
- ethiopian cabbage, featuring handmade berbere and nitter kibbeh
- local beets with their greens in a five-year-aged balsamic reduction (Peter Berley)
Other
- chick’n noodle soup
- balsamic dressing
- chocolate chip cookies
locally log-grown shiitakes from organic Love is Love Farm; organic shallots, organic leeks
tempeh shiitake stew, a modification of Bryant Terry's recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen
another view of this sumptuous stew.
ye-miser w'et: Kittee Berns' ethiopian lentils in a spicy red gravy. made with homemade nitter kibbeh (seasoned "butter") and berbere (wet spice mix)
red thai tofu with local bok choi
parting with these four bowls was slightly difficult, as the recipe was one of the best I've made all year.
prep for the beets: red onions, beets, beet greens; tarragon.
vegan pot roast, or, one of the most delicious things ever.
four sides: nepalese green beans, aged balsamic beets, nitter kibbeh cabbage, christmas couscous with pepitas "presents".
I’m looking forward to resuming cooking-for-my-friends again soon. Crack the Plates is a deeply fulfilling exercise, one that gives me purpose and the ability to work with some of the finest ingredients in Atlanta, in the service of truly delightful people. The last four months of 2011 were an experiment: a gamble on something new and wild and exciting. Pushing through made me a stronger, more creative cook and a more organized person. With this teaspoon of experience I welcome the challenges and joys of 2012.
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All month long I’m blogging about Atlanta’s vegan-friendliness in the hope of dispelling the national misconception that it’s a crummy place to be vegan. As you’ve seen in earlier posts, that’s so not true! But as I ramble on about all the great things we DO have, I’m acutely aware of something we don’t.
Yep, it’s a sad fact that Atlanta lacks upscale vegan restaurants. Locals like Cafe Sunflower as a treat, but I think both locations are pretty casual (decor &, especially – sometimes excessively – the service). The menu almost never changes; the food can be pretty, but it doesn’t delight, excite, or teach me. It’s just nice.
If you want fancy fine dining, you have to go to a non-vegetarian restaurant with good vegan choices or special menus. Thankfully, Atlanta’s restaurateurs excel in this regard. You might already know about the entirely vegan menu I enjoyed at Abattoir. Vegans are also enthusiastically accommodated by “Top Chef” Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill, Asha Gomez at Cardamom Hill (forthcoming Nov 2011), and the teams at Empire State South and Restaurant Eugene, among others. (NOTE: since we’re southern, and everything’s a bit more laid-back in the south, by fine dining I’m thinking well-informed and polite servers, a beautiful, unique setting, tasting/prix fixe menu availability, silverware that gets changed with courses, and expertly-prepared food made with locally-sourced (often organic) ingredients. Or at least most of these. :))
Two tips for a successful vegan experience at higher-end restaurants: 1) make a reservation a few days in advance (you’d do this anyway) and 2) carefully explain your dietary needs to the person taking the order (usually the host/ess answers the phone, NOT a server or cook). Don’t just assume that they’ll know what vegan means – be clear by saying something like, no birds, no beef, pork, fish, eggs, dairy products, or honey. I also often ask the person taking my reservation to mark “no gelatin” since a lot of fancy folk use it in foams, sauces, and gels. (There are vegan alternatives, of course, and creative cooks know ‘em.) The clearer you can be with the person taking the reservation, the better luck you’ll have when the message gets to the person in charge of your food.
Happily, there’s (at least) one place where you don’t have to call ahead for a special menu, because the chef-owner writes her seasonal menus with vegans in mind. I’m talking about Ria Pell of Sauced & Ria’s Bluebird, of course! I recently had the pleasure of trying the new fall menu just a day after it was printed – and I’m excited to share my thoughts here.
Reason 9: Ria Pell’s vegan-friendly fine-dining at Sauced Restaurant & Lounge
Logo photo by Robin Henson, source: restaurant Flickr photostream.
Step inside... (photo by Robin Henson, source: restaurant Flickr stream)
Photo by Robin Henson, source: Sauced's Flickr photostream
Above, Sauced logo and views of the dining areas & bar.
This isn’t what I had for dinner, but it IS a great picture of a vegan menu Ria made over the summer. I tried the branded tofu steak at MondoHomo’s lunch in the park. Pictured here: tofu t-bone, succotash and black-eyed pea fritters.
As you can see, there are a number of vegan or can-be-made-vegan choices on the starters menu. The first offering, wild mushroom napoleon, is vegan.
Nate awaiting our first course in a dimly-lit corner. Sauced is a sexy restaurant with a sexy vibe – just-enough-light-to-see-your-food-and-swoon-over-your-sweetie kinda place.
And here it is! A crispy, rich, gooey yummy little slice of heaven. I couldn’t get enough of the cashew goat cheese on top!
We helped ourselves to house-made seitan skewers with two of the sauces du jour: tofu-orange and homemade relish. We’d planned on only ordering one skewer, but it was so good we had to order a second… and a third!
Earlier that day I saw Ria at Sevananda buying unsweetened rice milk by the case for the rosemary bechamel, so I was really excited about this one. It did not disappoint. Tender parsnips, carrots, and fingerling potatoes suspended in a creamy sauce, nestled underneath luscious mashed potatoes: a comforting final course, as the new vegan dessert had not been added to the menu yet. (I should check in and make a reservation soon – wanna come with?) Nate noted with appreciation the fact that the shepherd’s pie wasn’t marginalized or simply set-apart from the other choices with a “vegan” notation. It’s simply another choice that happens to be vegan. I like that, too. Do you?
I like the house rules page. It's not overly long or pushy and acknowledging your farmers always looks good. I wish more places stated a preference for cash. Let's take our country back, y'all - three percent at a time. :)
I hope more Atlanta-area vegans will support Ria at Sauced & Bluebird. It’s great that other restaurants react positively to our ethics, but Ria deserves our thanks for her proactiveness. She is well-known for her inclusiveness. At the MondoHomo meal, most of the choices were vegan – two vegan entrees, one non-vegan; several vegan sides, only a couple non-vegan. (Revisit those glorious photos here.)
Our favorite Ria, hangin' in the garden, checkin' out some habaneros. We love you!! Photo by Robin Henson.
Sauced also holds the honor of hosting THE VERY FIRST Atlanta Vegan Drinks Meet-up (details, menu, pictures here). Just over a month ago the restaurant offered a four-course prix fixe benefit dinner for the Plaza Theatre, Atlanta’s longest continually-running independent theatre (which just happens to be owned & operated by two amazing vegans).
So clearly, the Sauced & Bluebird families are all about making us feel loved, appreciated, and well-fed. Next time you’re seeking a special night out, I hope you’ll choose one of Ria’s cozy spots.
SAUCED: 753 Edgewood Ave NE, Atlanta GA 30307; (404) 688-6554; Facebook, Twitter; 5:30pm – 1am Weds-Sun.
RIA’S BLUEBIRD: (legendary brunch) 421 Memorial Drive, Atlanta GA 30312; (404) 521-3737; Facebook, Twitter; Open every day from 8am-3pm.
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Only a reworking of the first two frames of Dinosaur Comics can adequately express my frustration with myself right now:
T-Rex images owned by Ryan North/Dinosaur Comics/Qwantz.
So there you have it. It’s pretty freaking hard for me stay on top of my blog as of late! It’s probably harder to admit it, which is why I’m saying it with a post, in hopes that this will jar me from my inaction!
It’s mostly frustrating because some interesting things have happened that I want to tell you about. I mean, I only did one day of mid-June’s San Francisco trip, when I ate at so many awesome vegan restaurants! (Donuts with in-house-ground organic flour, for goodness’ sake!!) There was also a drag show a few weeks ago, and a couple recent trips to see my gorgeous BF Jina beena. I want to tell you the exciting bits!
But alas, the non-exciting parts have been dragging me down. As I anticipate yet another move, I once more find myself in that tight “in-between” place. Waiting, waiting, for things to happen, in the meanwhile, hesitant to put down any roots. I’m also languishing in this heat/humidity, but then again, who isn’t? Except for what’s been mentioned previously, not much punctuates these days of languid reading, drinking iced oolong, eating chilled watermelon, and generally assuming a couchant position as much as possible. And when the temperature in your house climbs towards the mid-90s, who in the hell wants to use a laptop as intended?
In the interest of getting you caught up (turning a new leaf? or is that too ambitious at this point? sigh), let’s have a bit of a camera dump from the past couple weeks, with commentary. Deal? Deal.
I made a vegan shepherd’s pie, which was phenomenal. I spread the mashed potatoes over the filling just before putting it in the oven to bake:
There is no recipe, but here’s roughly what I did: re-hydrated large chunk TVP, cooked in tamari, nutritional yeast, and pepper; cooled & roughly chopped the TVP; added it to home-made no-fat gravy; added an assortment of fresh chopped and steamed vegetables; poured it all into a casserole dish, covered with home-made mashed potatoes, baked. Sounds easy, right? It took a couple of hours in one of hell’s hottest rooms: my tiny, poorly ventilated, very dilapidated kitchen (with two working eyes on the stove).
Here’s the finished product:
Oh, cute story about the framing of this photograph. While I was in San Francisco, we dined at Millennium, SF’s chicest (read: simply most expensive) vegan restaurant. I called the waitress (seemingly pretty laid back) over to make a joke about the fact that my apricot-glazed portabella stack looked somewhat cheaply made. I pointed at the familiar threesome of just-so cut carrots, peas, and corn and teased, “This trio comes from a can, and it says VEG-ALL on the side!” Apparently she took herself more seriously than I did, because she didn’t get the joke, insisting the ingredients were harvested at the peak of freshness from local, organic ingredients. But she went one further, claiming that the chef meant the dish to be an “homage” to Southern cooking.
Uhhh…. are you laughing yet? I wish I had a picture of it to share with you, but suffice to say it looked nothing like the above. This desiccated morsel with hardly any of the advertised apricot glaze, sitting dumbly atop stiff, flavorless mashed potatoes and the inspid trio of carrots, peas and corn, was the furthest thing from “Southern cooking”. Just to confirm that she did mean Southern US (rather than Southern CA?) I shared that I was from the South, the deep south, northwest Georgia, in fact. Undeterred, she claimed “the South” as well–Bloomington, Indiana.
Hm.
Sorry, Millennium chefs. That dish was the furthest thing from the cooking I grew up with and loved, and you’d do your otherwise highly competent wait staff a favor by not trying to pass this disaster off as anything but. You know what, just scrap the damn dish. Everything else–appetizers, spirits, main courses, desserts–was superb!
Wow, side-tracked.
On the subject of a proper apricot barbeque glaze, though, here’s the first I made using Isa’s recipe from Veganomicon–and about ten fresh apricots! Thick, hearty, oozy, shiny:
Plated:
Would you believe I’m not a huge broccoli fan? Alas, it’s true. I had to cover mine in extra apricot sauce.
Earlier this month I went to see one of my favorite queens from season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race with Nate & Michael at the famous Union Cafe in Columbus Ohio. We had dinner at Indian Kitchen before the show. Complimentary papadums:
The view from our table.
Greasy snacks.
Michael’s lovely plate.
What is that you say, dear server? Complimentary aloo parathas, as well? Don’t mind if I do!
Sadly, we were the only ones in the place. Highly recommended! Try it next time you’re in Columbus, instead of the Taj Mahal (which is basically across the street).
Fireworks in the sky:
Fireworks on stage.
Gorgeous Columbus gal Nina West chides an extremely drunk Polish man.
Jujubee prepares!
Look at that body!
I am also in possession of an extremely embarrassing shot of Juju, but I’m choosing not to post it out of RESPECT! (E-mail me if desired.)
I made some orange cranberry scones on about three hours of sleep for church brunch. They were great. The best part was when an elderly member of the congregation asked for the recipe and where, exactly, to get soymilk.
I made a couple of dark-chocolate-bottomed peanut butter silk pies (with a couple teaspoons of agar-agar; recipes modded from Vegan with a Vengeance). Here’s one:
Sing with me now, isn’t she lovely?
Sorry if three pictures is overkill. I rarely bake.
Did I mention I have another cat, now? Her name is Perl, but Nate & I have been calling her Perlba recently (Perl+[goom]ba). She’s not much like a cat, actually. She was abandoned as a kitten & very likely orphaned, so she wasn’t socialized by/with other cats til adulthood. She didn’t learn how to drink water properly til a few months after she moved in, & she’s not yet totally clear on cleaning herself or using her claws, either. It’s sad. The upside is that she kind of acts like a dog, lolling on her back, showing her belly, never getting upset like a normal cat. She likes to sit on computers and in her raspberry box. She’s mostly looks up to her “big sister” Unix, but she eats waaaay too much.
I made the quintessential vegan summer food, The Grit’s vegan chicken salad. A hellish recipe, consisting of separately cooked tofu, gravy, home-made vinaigrette, and vegan mayo, apart from the ingredients in the actual chicken salad recipe. In short, the reason I make it once a year. This time I tripled the recipe so it’d last a week & we’d have enough to share.
And finally, a couple trips to see my lovely Jina Beena in Ann Arbor. I spent a fair amount of my mornings getting caffeinated at Zingerman’s:
A view of the cafe.
The best part was our picnic at Pickerel Lake. Jina is the queen of picnics!! We raided the People’s Co-op for our favorites: baba ghanoush, watermelon, peaches, and a new wonder, coconut milk ice cream!
Sorry the photo is a bit blurry. It’s hard to hold still when you’re witnessing such beauty.
A close-up of our Zingerman’s bread and assorted treats.
Okay, that’s enough for now! There’s a blue-tongued skink upstairs that needs a piece of watermelon! (No, really, I’m helping skink-sit.)
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