Party Animals No. 56: Thanksgiving 2017

Just a quick pop-in to run over the all-vegan MSV Thanksgiving for the year.

Which was pretty much exactly the same as last year. The family has decided this menu is not broken and should therefore not be fixed. There was a little freedom to play with the welcome cocktail and dessert, though, so here we go.

Raspberry lambic and creme de cassis topped with brut cava and garnished with a rosemary sprig-skewered branded raspberry made for a fruity and lively drink to toast the day.

Dessert was a dead simple apple crisp (based on this recipe), served warm with (Coconut Bliss brand) vanilla ice cream and topped with those brandied cranberries.

Hope everyone who got a long weekend enjoyed it. As ever, thanks so much for being here.

Party Animals No. 39: Thanksgiving 2015

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MSV's real, live, all-vegan table for 2015:

• Sangria
• Tofu-Pecan Loaf
• Biscuits
• Mashed Potatoes
• Wild Mushroom-Chickpea Gravy
• Cranberry Relish
• Spiced Walnut-Fig Cornbread Dressing
• Mixed Citrus Green Salad
• Apple Cake

The tofu loaf is a slight variation on these tofu-pecan meatballs. The cranberries never get tweaked. You've seen those biscuits and dressing before (printable recipes here and here). The sangria is a bottle of Spanish grenache poured over a sliced orange, a couple handfuls of pineapple chunks, and a small chopped pear. Chill for several hours and drink it down in a fraction of that time.

The salad is 5 oz spring mix tossed in a dressing of equal parts black cherry concentrate, apricot jam, and olive oil with a dose of finely chopped mint. That all gets topped with two oranges, two grapefruit, and a handful of toasted pistachio (serves 4-6). The apple cake is from The Joy of Vegan Baking, and is always pretty. Even when you don't line up your apple slices just so.

The new kid on the table this year actually made its first appearance last year. (In fact, last year's table was such a winner, this year ended up mirroring it almost exactly.) But it's getting shared this year. It's pretty lovable: earthy, thick, and with two kinds of pepper, it's a great addition to any spud (or tofu-pecan loaf). You'll want to whip it up all winter long, holiday or no.

Wild Mushroom-Chickpea Gravy

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yield will vary based on desired consistency

1/2 oz dried wild mushrooms

2 whole black peppercorns

1/4 cup chickpea flour

2 TBSP olive oil

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Use a coffee grinder to grind the mushrooms and black peppercorns into a fine powder. Heat a medium pot over medium heat. Add mushroom powder and chickpea flour. Toast, tossing very frequently, until fragrant, a couple of minutes.

Whisk together oil, broth, and all herbs and spices. Add half the liquid to the pot in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in other half of liquid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook, whisking frequently, until thickened to the desired consistency. Adjust salt, if needed.

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Hope anyone who gets a long weekend enjoys it. See you back here next week.

Party Animals No. 23: Thanksgiving 2013

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For you new readers, the MSV kitchen hosts a real, live Thanksgiving every year. Now that that's out of the way, this is the post that needs no introduction.

But we will add two notes. Recipes below call for both nondairy milk and nondairy butter. This year, for the first time, we used Miyoko Schinner's homemade butter recipe (from the October 2013 VegNews). Our doughs this year were both the fussiest raw and the loveliest finished products we've ever had. Because our kitchen is a home kitchen and not a controlled test kitchen, we can't guarantee either of those were due to the change in butter, but it's the only thing we altered from previous years. But we think it's the combination of that with the cold weather. So you know. As ever, our nondairy milk of choice is our homemade almond-oat.

The recipes for biscuits, cranberry relish, and roasted apples with balsamic drizzle are unchanged from last year.

For our main dish this year, we made a shepherd's pie filled with earthy, meaty Puy lentils, tender eggplant, and rich toasted pecans further flavored by a pile of garlic and given a touch of sweetness and a bit of color from grated carrots.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

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serves 8

For the potatoes:

1 1/2 lb white or gold potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

2 TBSP olive oil

freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

1/2-1 cup nondairy milk, warmed

For the lentils:

8 oz eggplant (half of a medium), peeled and cut into 1/4-1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup unsalted pecan halves

1 cup dried Puy lentils

2 1/2 cups water

2 TBSP olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots (about 2 oz total weight), minced

6 oz carrot (2 large or 3 medium), peeled and grated

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried marjoram

2 TBSP low-sodium tamari

1 tsp liquid smoke

1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth, divided

1 TBSP chickpea flour

To prepare the potatoes, boil them in enough water to cover by a couple of inches until very tender, about 30 minutes. Drain well and quickly transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the beater to mash the potatoes thoroughly on low speed, a minute or two. Add the salt, oil, pepper, and nutritional yeast, and beat another half-minute to incorporate, adding nondairy milk to reach your desired consistency. Switch to the whisk attachment and whip for five minutes, until fluffy. (Alternately, use any method you like to mash to the potatoes.)

To prepare the lentil mixture, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the eggplant in a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast 20 minutes, until browned on the edges, tossing halfway through. After tossing, add the pecans to the oven and toast them for the remaining 10 minutes, checking occasionally to avoid burning. Let cool, then process into crumbs in a food processor.

Reduce oven to 350.

Meanwhile, place the lentils in a medium pot with 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, 20-25 minutes. Set aside in a mesh sieve to allow to drain thoroughly.

Heat 2 TBSP olive oil in a large skillet. Cook the onion, garlic, and grated carrot until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the basil, parsley, marjoram, tamari, and liquid smoke. Stir thoroughly and cook for another couple of minutes.

Whisk together 1/4 cup vegetable stock and chickpea flour to make a slurry. Add the lentils to the skillet, stir to combine, and add the slurry. Stir well and cook until warmed through. The mixture should be very moist, but not saucy. Add more stock, if needed, or continue cooking to let excess moisture cook off, if needed.

Remove skillet from heat, stir in eggplant and pecans, and adjust seasoning. Transfer the lentil mixture to a deep 9-inch-round pan. Scoop the mashed potatoes on top in large dollops all over the surface and gently smooth out to cover. Bake 20 minutes, until potatoes are lightly browned.

This is pretty much the same old beloved dressing we've made each year, but we streamlined the process and went with a chunkier, looser assembly. If you prefer a tighter, more sliceable dressing, simply skip the oven-drying of the cornbread, crumble it rather than cube it, and press the final mixture tightly into the dish before baking.

And finally, we left it out of the recipe this year, but you can add 1/2 tsp of fennel seed along with the walnuts, if desired.

Spiced Walnut-Fig Cornbread Dressing

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serves 8-10

1 loaf (generous 1 lb) cornbread, cut into 1-inch cubes

2/3 cup dried mission figs, quartered

2 TBSP oil

1 large yellow onion, very finely chopped

2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

8 oz walnut halves, finely chopped / crumbled in a food processor

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried rubbed sage

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 TBSP low-sodium tamari

fine sea or kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

1/2 cup nondairy milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2-1 cup vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to 400. Spread the cornbread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet and cook until dry and barely toasted, 10-12 minutes. Set aside to let cool, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Reduce oven heat to 350.

Meanwhile, place the figs in a heatproof bowl and pour in hot water to cover. Let stand 20 minutes, drain, and add them to the cornbread.

Heat 2 TBSP oil in a large skillet. Saute the onion and rosemary until the onion turns translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the walnut crumbles and all spices, including tamari. Stir and cook until warm, fragrant, and no liquid remains in the bottom of the skillet, about 3 minutes.

Add the contents of the skillet to the mixing bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate, breaking up any large cornbread pieces, but being careful not to reduce it to crumbs.

Whisk together the milk, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/2 cup of the vegetable stock. Pour over the mixture and stir well. The mixture should be very moist, but not wet. Add more stock, if needed, and transfer to a lightly oiled baking dish. Bake 45-60 minutes, until golden on top.

So, those are biscuits, because we failed to get a shot of the spaghetti squash. But it tastes way better than it looks, anyway, so don't skip this one (and do feel free to reduce the oil to make it friendly for any weeknight meal). In fact, go ahead and double the Savory Nut Crumble recipe when you go to make it for this dish, because you're going to want to have some on hand to sprinkle on other meals throughout the week. In fact, even if you never make this squash, take five minutes to make a batch of the Savory Nut Crumble. It's a green salad's best friend.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with a Savory Nut Crumble

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serves 6-8, adapted from The Cheesy Vegan

1 small-medium spaghetti squash (about 2 1/2 lbs total weight)

1/4 cup olive oil, plus additional 2 tsp, for roasting

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Savory Nut Crumble, recipe follows, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400. Split the spaghetti squash lengthwise, discard the seeds, rub the cut sides with 2 tsp oil, and roast, cut-side down, until tender, 45-60 minutes. Let cool.

Add the thyme, basil, rosemary, and paprika to a skillet with 1/4 cup oil and warm gently. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape out the flesh into a serving dish. Remove the oil from heat, grate in 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and toss thoroughly with the squash. Top generously with the Savory Nut Crumble and serve.

Savory Nut Crumble

1/4 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup raw walnut halves

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

Process the almonds in a food processor until broken up into small pieces. Add all other ingredients and process into crumbs. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Oh, hi, pie. We never use anything but Gesine's pie dough. It just works. (Unless we're making a cookie crust, of course. Because those are just dead simple.)

Sorghum-Maple Pecan Pie. We used Isa's recipe, replacing half of the maple syrup with sorghum syrup. We also whipped up a batch of vanilla salt (made by stirring the contents of 1 vanilla bean into 1 TBSP fleur de sel) to sprinkle on individual slices, as desired. Ridiculously good with the vanilla salt. Expensive, but good.

Pear-Cranberry Pie. To our tongues, this pie tastes exactly like the season. To fill our pie, we stirred together the following:

2 pears, thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh cranberries

zest of 1/2 lemon

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

6 TBSP natural cane sugar (evaporated cane juice)

2 TBSP quick-cooking tapioca

To finish it off, we suggest milking the top and sprinkling with a cinnamon-sugar mix (we use 1 part cinnamon to 2 parts sugar). Then bake until golden and bubbly.

Party Animals No. 5: Post-Thanksgiving Party 2012

Thanksgiving for us has historically been packed with family. So every year, we throw a Post-Thanksgiving Party on the Friday evening following Thanksgiving wherein we blow off steam and swap leftovers with friends. To fill in the leftover gaps, we always make two soups, two loaves of crusty bread, and two other brunch-friendly pastry-type items designed to feed a crowd.

This year, we were so enamored with our Thanksgiving strudel--and admittedly, we had plenty of filling leftover (and leftovers is some of what this party's about, after all) after making the first--we decided to roll with that for the party, too. We made one spinach-sage, and the other mushroom-thyme.

Soups this year were both from Moosewood Daily Special: Spiced Mexican Squash Stew (pictured in the rear) and our personal new favorite comfort food, Egyptian Red Lentil Soup.

Party Animals No. 4: Thanksgiving 2012

Main Event: Creamy Spinach-Sage Studel. We wish we could share the recipe we used for this amazing cream sauce. It's brilliantly flavorful and doesn't weigh you down because it's thickened (and further flavored) with sauteed vegetables in addition to the nut base. As if all that weren't enough, it's heavy on whole foods, with only a tiny bit of added oil. It was a recipe we got from being a Compassionate Cook member, so we can't post it here. But if you already have a favorite cashew cream sauce, you're not far from throwing together this pretty main dish. Puree your cream sauce with a buncha sage, stir in about 12 oz sauteed spinach, and wrap it up in puff pastry.

This could easily be called Main Event, Part 2. When we first started hosting our (small) family's Thanksgiving a few years ago, we decided to go with a cornbread-fig recipe from Food Network chef Tyler Florence. It was a decisive hit, and instantly became one of the non-negotiable items on the Thanksgiving table, which means we eventually had to adapt it for our vegan holiday. (The tamari kinda makes the whole thing uglier than homemade sin, but since we're hungry vegans and not shooting a Saveur cover, we don't let it bother us.)

Cornbread-Spiced Walnut-Fig Dressing

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2 TBSP oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

8 oz walnuts, finely chopped/coarsely ground

1 tsp fennel seed (optional)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 TBSP low-sodium tamari (or soy sauce)

1 cornbread loaf (8-inch round), crumbled

2/3-3/4 cup rehydrated figs, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

1 TBSP ground flax + 3 TBSP water (flax egg)

2 TBSP hemp seeds + 4 TBSP water + 2 TBSP oil

1/2-1 cup vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to 350.

Heat the 2 TBSP of oil over medium heat. Saute the onion and rosemary for 5 minutes, then add the walnuts, spices, and tamari. Cook an additional 5-7 minutes, until the onion is cooked and the walnuts and spices are very fragrant.

Transfer the walnut mixture to a mixing bowl and add the cornbread and figs, then season generously with salt and pepper.

With an immersion blender, combine the flax egg, hemp seeds, water, and oil. (Feel free to replace the hemp seeds and water with 1/3 cup of any nondairy milk you have on hand. Though hemp does create a particularly creamy result--due in part to the fact that the seeds blend well enough that you don't need to strain it, which adds richness--it's not necessary to buy them just for this purpose). Blend until very creamy. Whisk in 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and add to the cornbread-walnut mixture.

Stir, add more stock if it seems dry (you should have something like a very moist dough). Transfer the mixture to a 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish and bake at 350 for 45 min-1 hr.

One of the few times in a year we break out the nondairy butter (margarine). Worth it.

Biscuits

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scant cup (15 TBSP) unsweetened nondairy milk (we used our homemade almond milk)

2 TBSP + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP nondairy butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp corn starch

3/4 tsp salt

Whisk together the milk and all of the apple cider vinegar. Set aside in the refrigerator or freezer.

Measure out your 1/4 cup of nondairy butter, chopping it into pieces as best you can and set it in the refrigerator.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt. Using your hands, quickly rub the cold butter into the flour until you have a mixture made up of mostly pea-sized globs of flour-covered butter. Make a well in the center and pour in the cold milk mixture. Stir until just combined (the dough will be very sticky).

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, dust the top with flour, and gently fold the dough over itself half a dozen times. Pat out into a 1-inch-thick round. Cut out biscuits (we use a glass with about a three-inch opening at the top--smaller than a pint glass, bigger than a Collins) and transfer to a baking sheet, placing them so that they just touch. Continue to work the scrap dough, though as little as possible to preserve tenderness, until it's all used.

Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes, until golden. (Optionally, crack some fresh black pepper over the tops of the biscuits just before placing them in the oven.) While the biscuits bake, melt the remaining 2 TBSP of nondairy butter. Spoon/brush the melted butter over the hot biscuits and serve.

Herb Scalloped Potatoes from Veganomicon. Another non-negotiable menu item for our Thanksgivings. We like to use tiny or fingerling potatoes to maximize the surface area on which the seasoning mix has to settle. It makes for a longer chopping session (and, admittedly, makes a kinda fussy recipe even fussier), but the final result is a total win.

Confession time: we never eat the Cranberry Relish, but we have family members that would have our heads if it ever disappeared. Plus, it's too easy to have any good reason not to make it. So we continue to make Wolfgang Puck's recipe, using lemon juice.

Roasted Apples with a Balsamic Reduction

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4 apples (we had Honeycrisps), cored and sliced

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP natural cane sugar

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425.

Toss the apples with the sugar and lemon juice and bake for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the vinegar to a boil in a small pot. Reduce head and simmer gently until thickened into a syrup, about 20 minutes.

Drizzle the syrup over the apples and serve. (If the reduction hardens, set over low heat and it will soften again.)

Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Pie: This comes from The Joy of Vegan Baking, but we added the swirl and made our crust with Mi-Del brand Ginger Snaps. To make the swirled version: Once your pie is prepped, melt 3 oz of chocolate (or less, if you want to have some bites without chocolate), pour over the top of the pumpkin in a spiral, and swirl the two together with a chopstick. Bake as directed.

For the chocolate, we used Equal Exchange Organic Very Dark Chocolate (71% Cacao) because it's really tasty, the co-op carries it, and it made the Food Empowerment Project's list.

Our other dessert this year was a family request (we love those!):

Banana Pudding

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2 cans coconut milk (we used Thai Kitchen brand)

1/3 cup natural cane sugar

1/3 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

1 TBSP vanilla extract

22 Mi-Del brand Vanilla Snaps

2 bananas

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together the milk, sugar, corn starch, and vanilla in a medium sauce pan. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent sticking on the bottom, until thickened and beginning to simmer, about 7-10 minutes.

Set aside 6 Vanilla Snaps and smash them into crumbs.

To assemble, place 8 cookies in the bottom of a loaf pan, slice one of the bananas on top of them, pour in half of the pudding, and repeat, ending with the other half of the pudding (note that you may have a bit of pudding that you can't fit in). Sprinkle the reserved cookie crumbs over the top and bake until warm and bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Serve warm, or, if you're like us, make your Thanksgiving desserts the night before and remove from the fridge a couple of hours before serving.