We are so happy to have the very talented Michael Parrish DuDell to emcee Veggie Conquest on Sunday!
Michael is the senior editor for Ecorazzi.com, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of VegDaily.com and a contributor for the Huffington Post and Crazy Sexy Life.
Michael is filling in for our regular emcee, Joshua Katcher, who has important business this weekend. Thanks, Michael! See you all on Sunday!
All chefs will make an appetizer featuring potatoes!
So many kinds of potatoes are available… from sweet potatoes to fingerling potatoes… and thousands of different ways to prepare them. Potatoes are versatile and delicious! Good luck, chefs!
If you are attending the event, check your inbox for details!
See you on Sunday the 25th!!
We are so happy to have the ultimate foodie on our panel of judges for VC4. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Patrick Kwan!
Patrick writes about food and restaurants for SuperVegan, New York City’s premier vegan blog and restaurant guide. He is an accomplished vegan cook and well-regarded expert on NYC’s vegetarian restaurants. His March ‘06 article in Satya magazine profiling some of the city’s best veggie bets is still widely referenced and proudly displayed by restaurants in their windows. Over the years, he has served as a taste-tester and recipe-tester for dozens of vegan restaurants and companies.
You might have seen her on Oprah, or the award-winning documentary Super Size Me. Or maybe you have read one of her books, Living Vegan for Dummies (Wiley, 2009) and The Great American Detox Diet (Rodale, 2005).
She is a professionally trained healthy gourmet chef and a certified health and nutrition counselor. We are so happy to have Alexandera Jamieson as one of our expert judges at Veggie Conquest 4!
I am so happy to announce the next Veggie Conquest! VC4 will be at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 25.
Tickets will be on sale at 10 a.m. EST this Tuesday, March 23. As most of you know, these tickets go fast! VC3 sold out in record time… so please don’t wait to buy your tickets, because they will be gone! You can buy your tickets here.
We have found a wonderful venue that is eco-minded and cute too! The venue is Green Spaces in Chinatown. It is easy to get to from any train.
New and exciting things
VC4 is going to be one to remember! We are very fortunate to have MATCH vegan meats as a sponsor. MATCH is a gourmet-quality vegan protein, beloved by restaurants nationwide, that is now available in New York City stores to buy for your own kitchen. MATCH comes in five flavors: Breakfast “Sausage”, Ground “Pork”, Ground “Beef”, “Crab” and Italian “Sausage”. Each provides the taste, texture and nutrition of meat without the saturated fats, cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics or cruelty! MATCH can be used in all your family recipes and can even please the adamant meat lover in your life. It can be purchased at all D’Agostino grocery stores in NYC.
You will get to taste MATCH for yourself at VC4 during the second course, prepared by volunteers!
MATCH also has a very exciting surprise for the attendees. Trust me, you will NOT want to miss this!!
With MATCH’s sponsorship, we are able to do new and exciting things! Now we will give all competing chefs $25 when they show up at VC with their competing dish. This will encourage chefs to take risks and splurge even more on fantastic ingredients! All chefs may also bring a guest for free to help cheer them along (and help carry food too!). Chefs, after you sign up, we’ll email you to ask who your guest will be. If you are interested in competing, check out the “How it Works” page on our website.
More exciting news
The kind people at Crazy Camel Dessert Hummus are sending all of their flavors (all 6!) for everyone to try. I am so excited to try these!
Once again, the talented and gorgeous Joshua Katcher (www.thediscerningbrute.com) will be our emcee for the night and DJ Lil Ray will be providing us with the tunes! YAY!
Find out more about VC4
You can subscribe to our blog and follow us on Twitter or Facebook to learn more news about VC4, including our really really exciting judges (to be revealed very soon)!
Can’t wait to see you all there!
Approximate serving size
If you were lucky enough to attend VC3, then you know how amazing Yuko Tonohira’s Rice Crêpes with Ginger-Cranberry Sauce were. She took home First Place and Taster’s Choice!
If you weren’t there, you can check out the recipe below and make them yourself!
Thanks Yuko for sharing this wonderful recipe!!
Ingredients:
Sauce:
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/4 cup grade B dark maple syrup
2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced 1/4” thick
Crêpe batter:
1 cup rice flour (I used ‘Joshinko’ rice flour, can be found at Japanese groceries)
1 tsp potato starch
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp canola oil
1 cup water
Filling:
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
1/4 tsp dried whole red chili pepper, crushed (do not use seeds!)
1/4 salt
pinch black pepper
1/4 cup agave (dark)
Optional agave syrup for gluing crêpes
Crushed pistachio for garnish (very green Iranian pistachios recommended)
Directions:
Sauce:
1. Put cranberries, sliced ginger and maple syrup in small saucepan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you prefer to mash the berries, that’s fine too.
2. Let cool in room temperature.
3. Take out ginger prior to serving. (these ginger pieces themselves are yummy treats!)
Crêpe batter:
1. Mix rice flour, potato starch, salt, oil and water in a bowl.
2. Heat a non-stick skillet over low heat. Lightly oil the skillet and wipe with paper towel. Pour a small amount of the mixture, rotate the skillet to form a thin, nicely round crêpe (about 5 inches in diameter) and cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Carefully flip and cook the other side for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. Place the crêpe onto a plate, then place a piece of damp (not too wet) paper towel to avoid sticking and drying.
5. Repeat 2,3,4… NOTE: the rice flour tends to sink to the bottom of the bowl so you should stir the batter frequently.
Nuts:
1. Heat oven to 350F. Oil a baking sheet.
2. Chop walnuts and pistachio with a knife into smaller than 1/4” and mix with sesame seeds. Place nuts on the baking sheet.
3. Mix cardamom, chili, salt and black pepper and sprinkle onto the nut mixture. Stir well.
4. Put the tray into the oven, bake for 5 minutes, take it out, add coconut flakes and mix. Bake for another 5 minutes.
5. Take the tray out of the oven and immediately sprinkle with agave syrup. Mix well so that syrup sticks to the nuts. You will get a nice sticky & heavy texture.
Filling and Finish:
1. Place a small amount of nut mixture onto a crêpe and roll it up like you roll sushi. Use agave syrup as a glue to keep the rice rolled (and to add little more sweetness!) Careful not to break the crêpes – they’re very thin and fragile.
2. Top with a small amount of cranberry sauce and dash of crushed pistachio. Enjoy the color!
VC3 was the battle of the cranberry desserts!
All the chefs worked really hard and created amazing dishes. The scores were really close, in some cases only 1 point difference! Here are the competitors!
Honorable mention:
Jennifer Lynskey’s Cran Velvet Cake
Alicia Kachmar’s Double Cranberry Cinnamon Oatmeal Nut Bars
Michael Croland’s Swedish-Style Charoset
Christine Tyler’s Almond Crusted Chocolate Cranberry Mousse
Second Place:
Mike Lieberman’s Cranbanapple Parfait
(Mike’s video of his prep work)
Click here for the recipe!
First Place and Taster’s Choice:
Yuko Tonohira’s Rice Crepe with Cran-Ginger Sauce
Click here for the recipe!
VC3 was held at Not Fade Away Gallery. The images on display (and for sale) are amazing and it provided a beautiful atmosphere for our event!
The wonderfully talented and handsome Joshua Katcher was our MC for the night.
DJ Lil Ray provided tunes!
VC3 judges; Fran Costigan, Sharon Valencik, and Mattie Hagedorn. Founder and organizer Jessica Mahady, MC Joshua Katcher.
We had wonderful second course dishes made by talented volunteers using Match Vegan Meats and veggies!
We also had delicious raw ice cream provided by Raw Ice Cream Company.
Gone Pie Vegan Bakery brought some of its newest great product… crystallized ginger!
Thank you to all of the sponsors, volunteers, chefs, judges and tasters!!
Looking forward to VC4 in 2010!
One of our friends, Gone Pie Vegan Bakery, has a new product for this holiday season… vegan crystallized ginger! This can be a hard thing for vegans to find, because of the unknown source of the sugar used in commercial brands. Coupled with Gone Pie’s chocolate frosting, this could make a great gift!
If you are attending VC3, you will be able to taste the crystallized ginger for yourself… Gone Pie will provide samples!!!
Gone Pie makes ordering really easy and can ship anywhere near or far!
You can find out more about Gone Pie and the ginger here.
We’re excited to announce the final judge on our panel at Veggie Conquest #3: Sharon Valencik! Sharon recently authored Sweet Utopia, a vegan cookbook full of recipes for delicious desserts like Cashew Lemon Roll Cake, Poppy Seed Roll and Whiskey Creme Bread. Yum
