Veggie Conquest

Happy New Year!
We hope that everyone had a great holiday season!

Thanks to all of you for making 2009 a great year for Veggie Conquest. You made Veggie Conquest more than we ever dreamed. The chefs really brought their A-game to the competitions! The volunteers worked so hard to make each event run smoothly. The sponsors gave really awesome prizes, and the tasters snatched up their tickets faster than we ever imagined!

We are getting back to work here at the VC headquarters (a.k.a. Jessica and Dj Lil Ray’s apartment) and have some exciting things planned for 2010. We are talking with talented future judges, and we’re looking at some exciting variations on our current Veggie Conquest competitions! And our friends at Fallen Arrows have made some very cool Veggie Conquest merchandise! Stay tuned for info about all of these things.


We Need Your Help

Unfortunately, Not Fade Away Gallery (our amazing venue for VC3) is temporally closed while the owners find a new permanent residence for the gallery. Veggie Conquest needs your helping finding a new venue for the competition. We know that all of you out there know people and places — so let’s see what you’ve got!

Here’s what Veggie Conquest MUST have in a venue:
A sink
Enough room to seat at least 70 people at tables
A central location near transit, preferably in Manhattan or Brooklyn
Bathrooms
Available on a Saturday night or Sunday evening
We must be able to bring in outside food

Here what Veggie Conquest WISHES for in a venue:
Tables and chairs (this is a BIG BIG plus)
A sound system
More than one sink
A kitchen

We do have a small budget to work with (a bigger budget if the venue has tables and chairs).

Please email Jessica at info@veggieconquest.com if you have a connection at a potental venue or know of a place that would be good for us!


When is the Next Veggie Conquest, you ask?

Well, that depends on when we find a venue. We would love to have the next Veggie Conquest in February if all goes well.

Thanks — and we hope everyone has a great first week of 2010!

At VC3 we had the pleasure of tasting Mike Lieberman’s CranBanApple Parfait. He took home Second Prize! He was kind enough to share the recipe and also give an instructional video on his blog . This completely raw dessert is quite easy to make. I hope you will give it a try! It’s yummy!

Approximate serving size

• 2-3 servings

Machine use
• Vita-Mix or food processor

Ingredients


• 2-3 sweet apples (fuji or honey crisp)
• 1 1/2 cups of cranberries
• 1/2 cup of soaked raisins
• Dash of cinnamon
• 2 really ripe bananas
• 1 pear
• 1 1/2 heaping teaspoons of lucuma powder
• Teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 4-6 soaked dates and soak water
• Sprinkle of cacao nibs

Directions
• If you make this in advance, let each layer sit in its own bowl to settle for an hour or so. This will enhance the flavors and consistency of the dish. If you assemble right away, it will be a bit more runny.
• Cut up apples and add to Vita-Mix or food processor with handful of raisins, 1 cup of cranberries and cinnamon.
• Pulse down into a puree.
• If it’s too liquid, strain off some of the juice and enjoy it on the side.
• Add this layer to your serving dish and press down to pack it in.
• Rinse out Vita-Mix or Food Processor before moving onto the next step.
• Put bananas, pears, vanilla and lucuma powder in Vita-Mix or food processor and blend down until smooth. Add warm water as needed.
• Pour this layer on top and swirl dish to settle the banana mixture.
• Rinse out Vita-Mix or food processor before moving onto the next step.
• Add coconut oil, rest of cranberries, dates and 1/4 cup of the date soak water to the Vita-Mix or Food Processor. Blend down until smooth.
• Place this layer on top and swirl the dish to settle the layer
• Sprinkle cacao nibs on top.

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)

First Place and Taster’s Choice:

Yuko Tonohira’s Rice Crepe with Cran-Ginger Sauce

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!

Source: Gone Pie

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.

Cranberries!!

Source

All chefs will make a dessert featuring cranberries!

Cranberries are festive, versatile and yummy! Good luck, chefs!

If you are attending the event, check your inbox for details!

See you on Saturday the 14th!!

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

I am so happy to introduce Fran Costigan, “the Diva of Dairy-Free Desserts,” as a judge for Veggie Conquest #3!

Fran is a nationally recognized pastry chef and instructor, cookbook author and consultant.

Her second cookbook, “More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts”, has  recipes from cookies to cakes to pies to sauces to confections, plus conversion charts and tips on getting started and organizing your kitchen.

Photo by Ryan James

DJ Lil Ray is a fresh transplant from Atlanta. She is a master on the turntables and a music goddess. She is also a bike mechanic, an activist and, oh yeah, a vegan! Her first gig in NYC will be Veggie Conquest #3. We are so excited to welcome her to NYC and thrilled she will be providing VC3 with tunes! Check out her website!

Mattie Hagedorn is the man we have to thank for Veganbaking.net, where you can upload and share your own baking recipes, compare notes, get ideas for good eats and share knowledge!

Mattie became vegan 11 years ago. He began his baking obsession a year later, after an uncontrollable craving of something, anything, involving chocolate and coconut. Mattie started a bakery, Enchanted Oven Baking Co., which sold organic vegan cookies to stores in the San Francisco Bay Area until 2005. Then Mattie moved to Brooklyn and started Veganbaking.net!

Mattie is also an IT consultant. He enjoys cycling, home brewing and traveling.