Tag: polenta

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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 29: A Recent Brunch

I make a “special” breakfast most Saturdays. Sometimes it’s waffles or pancakes, which only I like, but sometimes it’s savory, which K will usually eat too. There’s often toast, or roasted potatoes, but recently I made brunch with polenta.

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Or, okay, maybe it counts as grits? This is not my culture; I don’t know. Anyway, it’s polenta cooked with some fresh corn kernels for extra yum (also, using stuff up). Over that we’ve got tempeh cooked with spices, soy sauce, and liquid smoke, then smashed and browned a little with olive oil; collard greens, onion, garlic, and bell pepper got cooked down in the same pan. On the side, sliced tomato. Keeping it simple.

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Food Blog Vegan MoFo

#VeganMoFo Day 28: For Brunch, I’d Rather Be In Mendocino

I’m having a hard time right now, in life. I frequently daydream about things I’d like to be doing with time and money I don’t have. A common imaginary trip? Mendocino, California–particularly the Stanford Inn. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting it a few times now, and it is my happy place. Cozy rooms. Beautiful scenery. Charming town. Relaxing amenities. And, oh, the food. Vegan everything, especially the breakfasts.

While I can’t make it up to Mendocino right now, I can try to recreate one of their signature breakfasts: Grilled polenta, braised greens, and cashew sauce. Plus a side of tempeh.

For the tempeh and greens, I made a quick marinade with lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, and a splash of liquid smoke, diluted a bit with water. I used half in a pan with shredded cabbage and baby spinach (what I had on hand) and the other half in a skillet with sliced tempeh and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Cashew sauce was based on the “savory” recipe from The Kitchn. And the polenta I cooked ahead of time, then poured into a square baking pan to cool and solidify into something I could slice and pan-fry. (It was not perfect, though. Damn slices didn’t brown well and broke up when I flipped ‘em. Oh well. Next time, I’ll leave it to the professionals.)

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Food Blog

Tofu parmigiana with braised kale and polenta

Dudes, this was very good, and very easy. Polenta, pssh. Braised kale with minced garlic–cake. The sauce was simple marinara: green garlic, yellow onion, red pepper flakes, thyme, oregano, fresh basil, and tomato puree. The tofu was baked, dredged with olive oil and a breadcrumb mixture with salt and oregano. After it baked on both sides, I added a layer of sauce below and on top and added a topping–more breadcrumbs, plus hemp seeds and nutritional yeast–and baked a while longer. So simple, and so tasty.