Ceremonies: November 2006 Archives
Aiiight nerds, we have our first self-produced kitchen video up. It's footage of our own Thanksgiving '06 adventures where we took on seitan and sage turkey breasts, golden oyster gravy, apple and shallot stuffing, and homemade sourdough bread. Keep reading for the gravy recipe and click on the hot pan above to watch the video.
Golden Oyster Gravy
Don't freak, we're talking oyster mushrooms not mollusks. A bag of these twisted little beauties runs about $5 a pound, so it's no pricier than shitakes but packs a more interesting punch. We used a pretty standard vegan gravy recipe and punched some holes in it, added some things and were left with sticky salvation. We doused everything with it, a seitan turkey (recipe forthcoming), homemade sourdough, stuffing and brussell sprouts.
1 1/2 cups mushroom or veggie stock
1 Tbs. extra virgin oilive oil
1 basket crimini mushrooms
1 lbs. oyster mushrooms
2 white onions, chopped
1 head garlic, peeled and minced
1/3 cup cream sherry
4 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/2 soy sauce or tamari
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
1 Tbs. sage
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1. In a large saucepan, bring your stock to a rolling boil and let it reduce by about an inch. Meanwhile, cut your crimini and oyster mushrooms into thin slivers. Instead of discarding the stems, toss 'em into the boiling stock for added flavez. Then sautee the mushies in a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil, on high heat. Let mushrooms wilt before adding the onion and garlic. Then let go for another 10 minutes. Finally add the sherry and let cook on medium.
2. Strain the stock, to remove any chunks, into a large bowl. Then slowly whisk in the flour and set aside.
3. Once the sherry has cooked off, start adding the soy milk and soy sauce. Stir and add spices as well. Once you get the mixture back up a rolling boil on ghigh heat, add your wheat-mixed stock and whisk. This will act like a thickener and after cooking for another ten minutes should be thoroughly goopy.
There's a gut reaction in some vegans and vegetarians to forgo the Thanksgiving Holiday, it being a little bit too, well, American? There've been years we've done it too (one of us even going so far as to handcuff himself with dollar bills and walk to an indoor mall covered in blood begging passers-by to "cut him loose") but the last couple years we've settled on our own little ritual for Thanksgiving.
If for no other reason than to counter the glut of nasty food being served, we think spending a day in the kitchen tweaking old recipes and experimenting with sage and fennel and 10 heads of garlic is a perfectly peaceful way to spend a holiday.
For the next week leading up to T-Day, we'll be posting some recipe ideas that if added together could make for a pretty succulent, sustainable sit-down with friends or family.
