- Wild Mushroom, Wild Rice, & Root Vegetable Roulades from The Millennium Cookbook
- Grilled mixed vegetables (p.13) with Mojo marinade (p.15) from The Millennium Cookbook
- Mashed potatoes with gravy (see below for recipe)
BRYANNA’S RICH BROWN (FAT-FREE!) YEAST GRAVY
Makes about 2 and 1/2 c.
2 and 1/2 c. water or vegetable broth
1/3 c. unbleached white flour
1/3 c. nutritional yeast flakes
2 T. Bragg's
1/2 tsp. salt (optional, or to taste)
a few shakes of gravy browner, such as Kitchen Bouquet.
In a heavy saucepan over high heat, whisk the yeast and flour together until it smells toasty. Off the heat, whisk in the water, soy sauce, salt and Kitchen Bouquet, if using. Stir constantly over high heat until it thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-5 minutes. This can be made ahead and reheated.
This recipe can be found here.
Probably the undisputed star of the show here were those incredible roasted veggies with mojo marinade. Next to them, the roulade's subtle, earthy flavors faded back (unfortunately, though as a leftover, it was great), overwhelmed by the rich dark sweetness of so much carmelized sweet hotness that I would gladly have eaten only the veggies and called my meal complete.
We made an absolute ton of veggies. We cut and chopped for nearly 2 hours straight - onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery root, parsnips, leeks, and something like 1 1/2 pounds of assorted mushrooms. Many were diced small, sauteed in our own homemade veg broth then assembled into the filo-wrapped roulade, but a whole lot were rough-chopped, large chunks of goodness, and marinated for hours (maybe about 4) in that incredible ambrosia from the Millennium Cookbook.
I don't mean to slight the roulade. I have enough veg left (!) to make a second, and that will really be enough to provide 8 servings, together with a salad. It might be interesting to play with the seasonings on this, but in fact the recipe is one of those where the earthy tastes of the mushrooms and root vegetables are the stars of the show. Maybe a bit more sage? And I chose not to make the suggested sauce, a mustard-ale-wine sauce, because I couldn't figure out how to do it without the alcohol. But I do think something piquant would really work here, and might go looking for a mustard sauce sans booze - I think there may be one in Veganomicon.
Small salads with spring greens, toasted walnut bits, and diced granny smith apple were tossed with seasoned rice vinegar, a perfect light accent to a heavy meal. I'll make that again, and often.
The mashed potatoes were mashed, but few were eaten - I've recycled these as small potato patties, mixing iny about 2 T of egg replacer and the same amount of soy milk (or a bit more), then rolling balls of the mixture in 1/2 and 1/2 nutritional yeast and panko crumbs before sauteeing in a bit of olive oil.
Bryanna's gravy rocks - it's simple as can be, and really delicious. This is a good base for a veg stew, and I can see playing just a bit with proportions (more veg broth, for a sort of 'au jus' consistency); herbs (fresh sage, dry-roasted, crumbled & added) and other ingredients (onions, garlic, chive, whole peppercorns) although really, it's a perfect simple thing, and I'm not sure that needs fixing at all.
The pumpkin cheesecake was not perfectly decadent. It could have been richer, with a heavier consistency - but it was not. Instead, it was luscious, light, and delightful - perfectly delicious, and perhaps the best cheesecake I have ever had (certainly the best I've ever made!) I'd serve this to anyone. I'd serve any of these dishes to anyone.
The Millennium Cookbook was something I'd wanted ever since Bob Cook used it to concoct their orgasmic chocolate dream pie, at the La Casa Co-op. I finally bought it, in a christmas-related moment of consumption madness, and I do not (she says defiantly) regret it. It passes my post-it test, having scads of markers for future exploration...
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