Veggie Conquest

Basil Eggplant Balls

(Photo by Lauren Krohn)

1 large or 2 small eggplant sliced lengthwise and roasted on a grill or in the oven at 400 degrees

2TBS olive oil
1 handful of washed basil leaves (no stems)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup water or broth

1 cup vital wheat gluten
1 cup bread crumbs (I like whole wheat panko)

Oil for frying

Blend roasted eggplant with olive oil, basil, salt, dried basil, Italian seasoning, and water. You can leave it chunky and it will be “eggplantier” or really smooth and it is “meatballier”. Those are real words.

Transfer the blended mixture into a medium mixing bowl and taste for seasonings. Add wheat gluten flour and bread crumbs. Mix it with your hands until it comes together then knead for a minute or so in the bowl. It may be really squishy at first, but you’ll start to feel the gluten strands coming together as you knead.

In a cast iron skillet heat up a 1/2 inch of canola oil. Scoop out about a teaspoon for mini balls or tablespoon for bigger balls. Roll into a ball and pan fry on all sides until golden brown. Transfer to the oven to keep them warm.

Roasted Red Pepper Basil sauce

4 red peppers
1 big handful fresh basil leaves
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic smashed

Roast red peppers carefully over the flame of a gas burner, in the oven, or on a grill. When the skin is charred, wrap in a paper towel and place in a plastic bag for about 15 minutes. The skin will peel right off. Cut off the top and pull out the seeds.

Blend roasted peppers with basil, salt, and garlic. Taste for seasonings.

Creamy walnut pesto

1 big handful fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup silken tofu
2 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Blend everything together until smooth. Serve meatballs in the red pepper sauce and top with pesto sauce.

First Place and Taster’s Choice recipe by Kathy Cho

BASIL MEZZ: Stuffed Basil Leaves and Basil-Infused Falafel, Tabouleh and Tahini

(Photo by Lauren Krohn)

BASIL MEZZE RECIPE
This dish is a “basil” take on a Mediterranean mezze.

Serves 10.
(5 falafel, 3 stuffed leaves, and 4-5 oz tabbouleh per person).

Ingredients/directions:

Basil Falafel (makes about 50)
Ingredients:
48 oz cooked chickpeas, drained
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, minced and drained
1-2 bunches of fresh basil, minced
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tbsp lemon juice
2+ tbsp Flour
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mash ingredients together, except for the oil. Season with additional basil, lemon juice, salt and/or pepper to taste. Add flour as needed, until you have a thick paste. Roll mixture into individual balls, smaller than a ping pong ball. Pour 1” to 2” of oil into a large sauce pan and heat it to 350 degrees. Fry until slightly golden. Then bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on a dry, room temperature surface.

Basil Stuffed Leaves (makes 30)
Ingredients:
30 fresh big basil leaves (large enough to create 3/4” wide rolls)
1 large zucchini, julienned
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
Toothpicks

Directions:
Saute garlic in the olive oil until fragrant. Add zucchini and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat. Once the mixture is cool, drain liquid. Roll zucchini mixture into each basil leaf to make a 3/4” roll. Secure with a toothpick.

Basil Tabbouleh
Ingredients:
1 boxed package of couscous (discard the seasoning packet)
3 large tomatoes, chopped, deseeded and strained
2 bunches fresh basil, minced
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, minced
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Cook couscous with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Fluff the couscous with a fork once it’s cool and then combine with remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For tahini
Ingredients:
3-4 oz tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
5-6 basil leaves
Water
1 tsp Vegetable oil

Directions:
Puree the tahini with about a 1/4 cup of water, to your desired consistency. Add oil sparingly. For the finishing touch, puree the tahini with basil and lemon juice until the ingredients are combined. Serve either on the side or directly on the falafel.

BASIL

All chefs will make an entree featuring basil!

Basil is a delicious herb that can be used in so many ways… Good luck, chefs!

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

See you on Sunday the 22nd!!

Wendy Roberts is a manager of the wonderful Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in the West Village. For the past six years she has catered and led group cooking classes and private lessons — she knows her food! Wendy is from the Caribbean island of Antigua, and specializes in Caribbean and South American cuisines. We are so excited to have Wendy as a judge for VC5!

Barbara Sitomer is the owner and baker extraordinaire at Gone Pie Vegan Bakery and has been baking for “as long as I can remember.”  Gone Pie specializes in making healthier vegan goodies with lots of gluten-free options that taste fantastic! Barbara is working with Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, on an updated version of “Dining with Friends” with gluten-free recipes.

Barbara graciously donated her famous gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for everyone to try at VC1. We were all blown away!

We’re excited to welcome Barbara to the judging table for VC5!

Chef Kevin Archer is in charge of the Compassionate Cuisine program at Catskills Animal Sanctuary. Kevin learned how to run a kitchen in Boulder, Colo., at the School of Natural Cookery. He has worked at some amazing restaurants, including his own small cafe in Denver. He came to CAS from Santa Fe, N.M., where he was the chef at Tree House, the city’s most awesome vegetarian cafe. His love of plant-based eating also reaches to the soil, as he leads the garden project at CAS, applying organic, biointensive methods to the Sanctuary’s first-ever onsite gardens. We think that is really cool!

We’re excited to have him on our panel of judges for VC5!

One Year Old!

Veggie Conquest is ONE year old! So proud. VC5 is at 5 p.m. Sunday, August 22… VC1 was on the same exact day. We have come a long way since our first competition in a small photo studio in Chelsea. Thanks to all of you for making Veggie Conquest so crazy-great. Some of you have been there since the beginning and some of you are just discovering us (hello!). We love you all.

Tickets

Tickets for VC5 go on sale at 10 a.m. EST this Friday, July 23. Taster tickets are $30. As most of you know, these tickets go fast. VC4 sold out in record time (about 30 minutes)… so please don’t wait to buy your tickets, because they will be gone! You can buy your tickets here. We will send you another quick email when the sale begins on Friday.

We have moved to a new venue (yes, again): DCTV in Chinatown. We’ll be on the ground floor of an old converted firehouse, where the fire trucks used to be — our roomiest space to date. We are excited to fill it up with tunes (provided by DJ Lil Ray) and yummy vegan food for the evening!

Video

The amazingly talented Jasmin Singer from Our Hen House made a fabulous video from VC4! If you haven’t been to a competition, you should watch the video and see what we are all about, then tell all your friends! Even if you know what we are all about, you should still watch because Jasmin is a hoot: Click here to watch.

Exciting things

Once again, we are privileged to have the wonderful 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.

Everyone will get to try MATCH during the second course, and MATCH is known to be very generous to ALL of the attendees… We’re just sayin’.

We have some fantastic judges too! Keep an eye on the blog for the reveal.

With MATCH’s sponsorship once again, we are able to continue with some exciting things we started in VC4. We now give all competing chefs $25 when they show up at VC with their competing dish. This encourages 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.

VC5 is honored to again have The Raw IceCream Company come and share its amazing raw, vegan and totally scrumptious ice cream with us. We just love it … If you haven’t tried it yet, you are missing out!

The talented and dashing Joshua Katcher (www.thediscerningbrute.com) will be back at VC5 as our emcee for the night, and DJ Lil Ray will spin the tunes!

Find out more about VC5

You can subscribe to our blog and follow us on Twitter or Facebook to learn more news about VC5, including our exciting judges (to be revealed very soon).

Can’t wait to chow down with all of you!

Have you been looking for an excuse to dust your bike off and take it out for a spin? Well, here is your reason! No more excuses… If vegan biscuits, quiche, grits and sausage casserole and danishes don’t get you on that bike, I am not sure anything will… and I mean that in a totally nice and encouraging way. 

Noon Sunday, May 30, a group of awesome people (including me) will be meeting up in Greenpoint and riding to Prospect Park for a vegan picnic! All of this benefits youth activism through the New Look Foundation and it’s Powered By Service Initiative.

Bikes, a vegan picnic… AND for a cool cause…. I’m totally in. And if you are not as much into the bike riding part as you are into the eating part, you can always  join everyone at the end for the picnic and good times!

Here’s all the details including a menu!

A radical bike tour and vegan brunch picnic extravaganza to benefit youth activism within the five boroughs. $5-20 Sliding scale donation.

Stop at interesting radical, environmental, art and community landmarks while enjoying the Brooklyn landscape from between your handlebars. All will culminate in a vegan picnic brunch with a menu sure to cure your weekend hangover. Live music and a raffle too.

So what’s on the menu?
~Minted Fruit Salad (soy free, gluten free, nut free)
~Beet & Avocado Arugula Salad (gluten free, soy free)
~Roasted Rosemary Home Fries (gluten free, soy free, nut free)
~Southern ‘Buttermilk’ Biscuits (nut free)
~Hush Puppies
~Pesto Quiche with Broccoli and Tomatoes (+optional pie crust for the gluten-free)
~Creole Quiche (nut free)
~Grits and Sage ‘Sausage’ Casserole (gluten free, soy free, nut free)
~Three Berry Danishes
~Spiced Maple French Toast Casserole (soy free)
~Mocha Muffins with Toasted Hazelnuts (soy free, gluten free option)
~Eggplant Bacon (soy free, gluten free, nut free)

AND picnic-goers will get a free mini-zine with these recipes in it, from the author of Cookin’ With My Crawdaddy 1 & 2 (Vegan Cajun cookzines).

Proceeds go to benefit youth activism and youth empowerment through The New Look Foundation and its Powered By Service Initiative. New Look and Powered By Service train and offer resources for youth to create social change and lead their own projects addressing pressing social issues (for example, environmental justice workshops, community gardening, LGBT youth homelessness, and creative techniques to raise awareness about student Metrocard cuts).

Here is a link to their Facebook page so you can RSVP or ask questions.

We felt Veggie Pride Parade weekend wouldn’t be complete without a prom… so that’s what we did! On Friday, May 14, we got dressed up, invited all of our friends to littlefield in Brooklyn, and danced and ate vegan desserts all night long! Everyone could get their picture taken by the wonderful Ben Strothmann at our photobooth! Then we all went to V-spot for the afterparty and met new friends and ate empanadas!

People came decked out in their most beautiful and creative attire. Two prom-goers dressed as vegan cupcakes! Thanks to everyone who came — and for those of you who didn’t, you must join us next year. It was a party we will not soon forget. I have already started to look for my dress for next year! A big thanks to exercisecompassion.com for taking all of these photos.

Table of all-vegan desserts made by volunteers and donations by Terri, Rescue Chocolate and Raw IceCream Company.

We had an amazing raffle to benefit Mercy For Animals!

DJ lil Ray and Dj iLan rocked it!

No prom is complete without a Prom Court! Our nominees were nominated for their hard work and good example set in the vegan community. From left: Lindsay Wolf, Marisa Wolfson, Abby Mallis, Michael Croland, David Benzaquen, our emcee Michael Parrish DuDell, and Michael Venzor! Congrats to all!

Everyone getting down on the dance floor!

Michael Parish DuDell, Jessica Mahady, Prom Queen Marisa Wolfson, Prom King David Benzaquen!

A special thanks to this pretty lady, Robyn Lazara, for helping make Veggie Prom 2010 happen!

To see a full list of sponsors for Veggie Prom 2010, click here. To see all the photos from Veggie Prom 2010, click here!

Veggie Pride Parade NYC 2010 • Photo by Alan Rice

Our prom king and queen leading the parade, with parade organizer Pamela Rice!

Second Place and Taster’s Choice

Plum Sauce
3 plums
3 tbsp applesauce
3 tbsp Sugar in the Raw
2 tbsp Bragg’s Aminos
1 tbsp chili flakes
Dry white wine

Mushrooms
3 large portobello mushroom caps
Vegetable oil
½ Cup toasted sesame oil
½ Cup Bragg’s Aminos
2 tbsp brown rice syrup
1 tbsp minced garlic

Sweet Potato Puree
6 sweet potatoes
1 cup milk substitute
3 tbsp butter substitute
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Garlic salt
Nutmeg
Cinnamon

1 package Phyllo dough
2 tbsp butter substitute
Pastry brush
Icing bag with standard piping nozzle
Greased cookie sheets

Phyllo dough should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight.  Prepare according to package directions.

In a large saucepan, generously coat the bottom of the pan with vegetable oil. Add ½ cup of toasted sesame oil, ½ cup Bragg’s, 2 tbsp brown rice syrup and 2 tbsp minced garlic; mix and bring to heat. Remove stems from portobello caps if necessary and place gills down into the mixture. Cover and let simmer until underside is soft, then flip and allow tops to simmer in the mixture. I typically allow my caps to simmer until caramelization of the sauce starts.

While caps are simmering, peel and dice sweet potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce heat to maintain the boil. Cook until potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork.

Remove the potatoes from the heat and drain. Add to a large bowl and mash briefly with a fork.  Add the butter substitute and ½ the cup of milk substitute and puree until smooth; if needed, add remainder of the milk substitute slowly until the desired consistency is reached.

Mix in 1 tsp each salt, pepper and garlic salt to the puree. Sprinkle in 2 tsp of cumin, mix; 2 tsp cinnamon, mix; dash of nutmeg, mix. Set puree aside.

Remove caps from pan and place on a paper towel until all excess oil has been absorbed. Cut caps into thin strips.  Melt remaining 2 tbsp of butter and put near the phyllo. Spoon potato puree into the icing bag.

Preheat oven to 350.

Take 1 sheet of phyllo and fold it in half lengthwise, use pastry brush to apply a thin layer of butter substitute.  Leaving about an inch on each side, place strips of mushroom in a line down the center of the sheet and then pipe a generous layer of sweet potato on top.  Fold over the bottom of the sheet, tuck in the sides and then roll up into a cigar shape.

Cut roll into desired length pieces, place on cookie sheet and brush tops lightly with butter substitute. Continue filling, rolling and cutting until all filling is used.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned and phyllo is crispy.

Peel and cut plums into cubes.  Add to blender with applesauce, sugar, aminos, and a splash of white wine. Blend to smooth consistency then transfer to a saucepan and stir in the chili flakes and heat at medium low temp until sauce bubbles and thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Sauce can be served warm or made the night before and chilled.