beXnlog

Vegetarian Thanksgiving and Misc Food Notes

1) Thanks to OB for the kind words (specifically related to my pomegranate picture on flickr)! I have to definitely check out Cones. According to OB:

now what is really really good - as the children say - is some chilled pomegranate seeds as the topping for your lilikoi, aka passion fruit, sorbet from cones

2) On the subject of pomegranates, did you know that November is National Pomegranate Month? We've been savoring a particularly delicious one with a POM label from Stop & Shop. It was the juiciest & sweetest one that either of us had ever tasted. Unfortunately, when we went back for more they looked terrible so we got 3 tasty ones from Chinatown instead. Many of the street vendors are selling pomegranates at 3 for $5 or $5.50. We've also recently seen small dragonfruits (magenta-skinned large egg-shaped fruit with white flesh and black seeds inside) which i'd first seen at various Hong Kong street markets.

3) Tabasco is releasing a new Sweet & Spicy hot sauce next month. No mention on their website yet, but their newest catalog devotes a full-page to describing it. For the record, i grew up on original Tabasco, i love their Habanero one (very hot but not as insane as El Yucateco's XXXtra Hot Mayan Style - try it if you enjoy the sensation of your esophagus burning the whole way down!), i like their Garlic and Chipotle flavors, but i dislike their Mild Green sauce. It's way too mild and pretty worthless in my opinion.

4) Last night i made a meal with Farmers' Market mini new potatoes and brussels sprouts. The potatoes were so tiny - on average they were the size of a marble! Neither of us cooked with potatoes so small, much less seen them for purchase! I ended up sautéing them with the skins on in some oil and garlic with rosemary = so delicious. The skins were so thin and crisp, the insides were so potatoey-perfect. We're definitely getting some tiny potatoes again this fall, but sadly the vendor told us they don't sell in winter since the cold freezes them. Get em while they last! As for the brussels sprouts, they came still attached to the stalk! I quickly boiled them in salted water and then stirred them around in butter, salt & pepper. I read on Cooking for Engineers that the childhood horrors of brussels sprouts can be attributed to over-cooking, which releases sulfur and other noxious smells. We both really enjoyed the brussels sprouts cooked in this way, simple and fresh. See link above for recipe.

5) Check out the free, downloadable Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce at randomWalks.

6) We tried two flavors from Echo Farm Pudding: Miracle's Chocolate and Royal's Rice. Verdicts: be thought the chocolate was "very good" while i thought it was "excellent;" be thought the rice pudding was also "very good and better than supermarket brand," while i thought it was "overcooked and mushy." Next up i plan to try the coffee, tapioca and pumpkin flavors.

7) I attended the CACF banquet at Jing Fong a few nights ago. During the 8 course meat & seafood meal, they brought out two special dishes for us vegetarians at the table: a thin noodle dish with mushrooms and a delicious braised eggplant dish. I'd never tasted eggplant so wonderfully textured and flavored. I think it was the ONLY dish that was completely finished at the table; everything else was divided up and taken home in boxes. be especially liked the 1st course of shrimp but he claims the eggplant dish was secretly his favorite. Sadly, the lo mein dish (course 7?) contained chicken but the noodles looked excellent, probably hand made.

8) Dude sent me an interesting link for vegetarian-friendly Thanksgiving meal tips. Here's another one from about.com. Definitely helpful stuff for cooks who've never prepared a meal with a vegetarian/vegan in mind. My 99 cents:

a) Tofurkey is quite terrible and most vegetarians/vegans don't need a fake turkey or turkey substitute anyways.

b) Read the labels of store-bought stuffing, prepared rice mixes and gravy carefully - "vegetable flavor" sometimes still contains chicken fat, beef flavoring, gelatin etc.

c) The majority of side dishes can easily be made vegetarian (the only thing you're substituting/leaving out are bits of meat, lard, gelatin, meat broth & stock, giblets, marrow) but for vegan guests, you'll need to also use animal-free butter, milk, cheese, egg replacers and sweeteners. All of these products can be found at a gourmet or natural food market.

d) When making a vegetarian/vegan dish, be sure the quantity is enough for everyone to try! It's terrible being the lone vegetarian at a dinner with only one friendly dish ... that's inevitably been demolished by all the meat-eaters! Keep in mind that carnivores/omnivores will also eat the vegetarian/vegan dishes.

e) Even if you can't or don't want to make new dishes from new recipes to accommodate vegetarians/vegans, it's SO EASY to make traditional Thanksgiving recipes vegetarian. It's so simple to reserve a portion of the mashed potatoes before you add the meat gravy or butter, or to leave the marshmallows off of a corner of the sweet potato casserole.

f) The most annoying thing at any meal (besides having only carrot sticks to eat) is being interrogated by other people about why i don't eat meat. Also, don't think you can simply talk someone out of being vegetarian/vegan, that small bits of bacon "don't really count," or that choosing not to eat animal products will equate to an early death. I'm still shocked in this day and age that people can't seem to respect other people's personal choices, irregardless of whether it's due to religious, ethical or health reasons.

posted by beXn @ 11:57 PM