Daiya Cheese

On vacation, perusing the blogs, I've learned of a new vegan cheese that almost sounds too good to be true. Here's a pic from Vegansaurus' product review.



Daiya apparently has great melty, stretchy texture and cheesy flavor. I don't usually go for fake cheeses, but the fact that this product seems to have very natural ingredients (like cassava) and is not soy-based, makes it pretty attractive. It's produced in Canada, and until recently was only found in Vancouver restaurants such as the Naam. We're headed back to Vancouver in a couple weeks -- even though we've already reviewed the Naam's reuben, might be worth dropping in try it again, as previously the Naam didn't offer vegan cheese (only real cheese, and a non-vegan fake cheese).

Tamarind Reubens with Zukay Relish and Avocado Spread

The school year is winding down. I have much more free time, but I'm also anticipating being gone from North Carolina for three full months. So this means packing up all my belongings yet again, and the requisite cleaning out of the fridge and freezer. Ever since I got my Blendtec, I've loved making a quick, easy tamarind sauce from water and wet tamarind for Indian and Mexican-influenced cooking. My wet tamarind lives in the fridge though, along with my ever-ripening tub of miso, so I'm using them both up as quickly as I can. Tamarind is tangy and flavorful, and seems like it could go great with tempeh. Hence, the inspiration for this marinade.

Tamarind Reuben Marinade

2 cups water
3 tablespoons wet tamarind
2 tablespoons miso paste
6 stems of fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon maple syrup
4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon of paprika
several grinds black pepper

I blended all ingredients, except the spices, in my Blendtec until smooth. I ended up adding more water (hence the 2 cups, originally it was only 1/2 cup) because I thought the marinade was too thick. If you don't have a high-powered blender or access to wet tamarind, you can purchase tamarind concentrate or tamarind juice in a well-stocked Asian market. Also, if you lack a strong enough blender, press the garlic and finely chop the cilantro. Stir the spices in last. Cut tempeh in half and carefully slice length-wise as well, to make smaller slabs. Place in a flat pan or Pyrex dish and pour the marinade over the dish. This marinade more than covered all the of the tempeh. Let sit in the fridge at least 24 hours.

I also had some avocado pureed with lime juice in the freezer. Though it's a popular cheese substitute when eating out, I don't often use avocado on reubens at home. However, when I had an overabundance of cheap avocados recently, this seemed like a no-brainer. Though I usually whip up some type of Russian or Thousand Island dressing, being pressed for time, and not wishing to purchase new ingredients, I settled for a stoneground mustard instead.

Next, we have two varieties of Zukay relish to test on our reubens. Zukay graciously sent me both their cucumber relishes as well as a mild and a hot salsa. The first cucumber relish is garlic dill relish, and consists basically just of cucumber, apple cider vinegar, the requisite seasonings and live cultures. There is also a horseradish dill relish. This relish is unique from kraut in that it is "live" and raw. As a fan of raw and cultured vegan foods (such as kombucha and kimchi) I'm excited at the chance to pair these condiments with my favorite sandwich.

In a unique turn of events, this is the first reuben review where B. and I are joined by someone...other than B. and I. We had two pals, one vegan, one not, join us for this meal. Though I didn't plan it this way in advance (I wouldn't normally test a reuben recipe out on folks other than myself and B.) I thought this was fortunate, a chance to inject some new insight into this blog, and especially, to get a survey on a product we were sampling for the first time.

In terms of the Zukay relishes, we were evenly split between favoring the horseradish variety or the garlic. The best thing about both relishes was the fresh, cucumber flavor. Though I loved the taste, I realized I may have been a little misguided in thinking they were great for reubens, because the relish is fairly liquidy, as relishes tend to be. Post-sandwiches, we enjoyed small amounts of the relish alone on bread. I liked the horseradish best, because although the horseradish flavor itself is not noticeable, this relish has a sort of deep, earthy flavor. One other member of our party also liked the horseradish better, but said it was because he likes the cucumber flavor, and it comes through more in the horseradish version. B. and our other friend ranked the garlic higher than horseradish, I think mostly due to the complaint that you couldn't really taste horseradish in that relish.

In terms of the reuben itself, I liked the flavors, especially the creaminess of the avocado spread and the garlicky dill flavor of the relish, but by the time I was done wandering about the house trying to get a good picture despite a paucity of natural light, my bread was soaked through. (For this experiment, we used up the ends of two loaves--both of which I've blogged about in the past. The remnants had lived in my freezer until this opportunity). I couldn't really judge the marinade very well; I felt its flavor was obscured by the generous amount of relish I had applied. B. liked the tamarind flavor ("sort of citrusy") and credited that to the fact he used less relish than I did.

The general consensus that though it was a tasty sandwich, it strayed a little far from a reuben. It lacked both the crispy, chewy texture of the cabbage and the creaminess of the Russian or Thousand Island dressing (the latter of which, I can only blame on my lack of preparedness). B. in particular has been vocal in the past that it is not really a reuben unless it has a creamy dressing; my friend was in agreement, but also in the case of the use of dill relish instead of kraut. He believes kraut, its texture and saltiness, are crucial to a reuben; of course, he was the first to admit that since he doesn't eat vegan reubens regularly, he may be less appreciative of iterations that stray from the traditional. B. did concede that the moistness of tempeh was good, which was probably due to the large amount of marinade that kept the tempeh completely submerged during baking. We wondered if maybe in the future we should try baking the tempeh in a covered pan.



This was the best picture we could get. Sorry. Tamarind tempeh, Zukay relish, avocado spread and stoneground mustard on light deli rye. On the side, a version of this salad from Fat Free Vegan (I used lime juice instead of orange and omitted the nuts and orange segments -- quite tasty, still!).

It wasn't until later that I had the notion that Zukay relish would have been an ideal ingredient in a Thousand Islands dressing. If I'd had ketchup or another tomato base on hand, we could have mixed relish and a few other ingredients with it and had a wonderful dressing. Since B. and I are leaving town shortly, the remainder of the relish got packed up and sent on with one of my friends who was having a vegetarian/vegan grill out the next day. (It received high praise there as well).

Since so many of the foods utilized in this post were stored in the freezer until the opportunity arose to put them to good use, I feel compelled to link to this Bittman article you probably have already seen. I'd also like to let you know about Veggie Thing, which seems like a great new online resource for vegans nationwide.

I'll post again soon, with some dispatches from Portland!

April Round-Up

"...indisputable evidence..."?



...that vegan leprechauns do exist?



Wedding season is coming up, and here's a resource for vegan wedding hors d'oeuvres-- I have to admit, the "Mini Open-Faced Vegan Reubens" sound pretty good, and apparently can be frozen for later.

You, too, can finally enjoy vegan reubens, while camping!

I feel tempeh reubens are a bit over-represented on this blog, so here's another tofu one for you, at My Veggie Kitchen.

Lastly, I was happy to see this inventive and tasty new recipe pop up. Thanks, Rhymes with Vegan!

Yay Zukay!

Sometimes it really doesn't hurt to just ask.

When I notified Scott of Zukay Foods of my love and infatuation with fermented foods (and okay, envy of other vegan blogs who got to review his stuff), he graciously agreed to send me some samples, to pair with one or two new vegan reuben recipes rattling around in the back of my brain.

Today four jars arrived, and I am hyped. However, B. is due for a visit in the not too distant future, so I am going to restrain myself and wait to break out the bubbly, live salsas and (best yet) dill relishes until he gets here and we can start the tempeh marinating in our usual tradition.



Could something like this be in my future? (A Melomeals post from January).

Meanwhile, check out Scott's blog, Get Your Ferment On, and scroll down for some recipes. In the next week or so I'll try to keep my tradition of Monthly Reuben Round-Ups going, but otherwise, see you in May!

Pacific Northwest still rules, yo

In case you were afraid this blog was beginning to focus a bit too much on vegan reubens in OTHER places, like, say Maryland, or cyberspace, fear not. Portland is still tops for vegan reuben options, though we'll give a shout out to Seattle as well.

Truth is, I'm a little jealous that Stumptown Vegans got to review the Someday Lounge/Backspace reuben before I got a chance. I've been drooling over this sandwich from afar for much too long (I had hoped to go in December but weather and the resultant travel delays made that impossible). Seriously, I think I've downloaded the PDF of Backspace's menu multiple times over the past several months just to longingly read it over. Word of mouth says it is great, and now you can see some pics and an official review.

Part of what makes Backspace so intriguing (as an establishment in general---their reuben is tempeh) is its frequent use of Field Roast. Now, as I've said before, I'm not typically a fan of fake meats. Occasionally I'll eat a Tofurkey brat at a BBQ and then remember, oh right, these are gross. Field Roast is definitely an exception--anyone will tell you it's the best fake meat out there. And this is essentially because it's a gourmet, "artisan" meat analog. Which brings me to the second reason I want to try some of Backspace's Field Roast offerings. I don't have empirical evidence to back this up, but there are certain vegan ingredients that are pretty pricey were you to buy them in the stores. For example, Teese seems to have the same market rate per ounce as uranium, as far as I'm concerned. Field Roast is up there in price as well, though you can find it at most grocery stores these days.

I'll outright say it---if you are vegan and enjoy food and like to cook, most of the time you can make better food at home than you would find eating out. This is not as true in Portland as in, say, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I'll give you that. But most stuff, be it cheeseless pizza or Chinese food, I can make at home better and cheaper and healthier than most vegan options dining out.

Which brings me to my drawn out point. Because stuff like Field Roast and some (especially imported) vegan cheeses are so expensive in the stores (or online, for folks who can't find it locally), a sandwich made with these components at a cafe like Backspace may actually be about the same price as if you bought all the components yourself and made it at home. Also, it's an opportunity to try said "substitute foods" without the large initial investment. Everyone says Teese is great; I have yet to try it. I'd like it if my first time was melted on a delicious, fresh Pearl Bakery roll with delicately-spiced lentil-based sausage served up with some fresh salad greens and a strong cup of coffee.

Is my Northwest envy showing? Is it possible to envy the place you consider home?

In case you were wondering, there is actually a Field Roast reuben out there. Which brings me to another notable establishment up North, this review courtesy of The Stranger (or, as we like to call it, Seattle's version of The Portland Mercury). The review sounds so delicious I almost want to quote it here, but I'll let you read it for yourself. Or just go check out Georgetown Liquor Company as soon as humanly possible.

Expect a part two to this post in a month or so when I hope to find myself back in the dear rainy climes, sinking my teeth into these very sandwiches.

March Reuben Round-Up

I have a confession to make. I have Google Alerts e-mail me (supposedly) every time "vegan reubens" pops up on the internets. I personally think it's laying down on the job though, because lately, I seem to stumble across vegan reuben love more frequently than Google "alerts" me to them. And that's saying a lot. I don't have nearly as much time to wander the vegan blogs as I used to, these days.

The first happy stumble was over at Kamutflake Girl -- the one of the few food bloggers I really can't resist despite the fact she rarely posts recipes. This is certainly a recipe I would hit her up for, a lentil patty made with gluten flour. Like insta-tempeh?



The next stumble? Fellow reuben-addict Melody over at Melomeals (she's made it onto a round-up before) innovates with reuben pizza.



Maybe it's because St. Patty's Day got everyone thinking about corned beef and cabbage, but there's a lot of reuben-themed creativity in the air this month. Renae at i eat food serves up a reuben casserole-- the perfect thing if you are craving a reuben---and pasta?



I'll give a few sandwiches their due as well, as Google Alerts did deliver a number worth mentioning, namely this extremely pretty one from Cupcake Punk, another iteration of the Vegan Dad recipe.



And we have our requisite restaurant alerts. The Traverse City Record recommends half a tempeh reuben from Oryana Natural Foods Market as part of a "Lunch on a Lincoln" cheap eats feature. According to the blog Super Caloric Chalk Dust NYC restaurant 'Snice offers a good one, as well. Last but not least, wrapping it up with one more coincidental peruse, Tahinitoo gives you a reason to trek up to Seattle and visit the Wayward Cafe.

Reuben experiments and a vegan wine review!

B. came for another visit earlier this month, to coincide with my spring break. A couple months ago I purchased a BlendTec Total Blender (and I've actually created a second blog devoted entirely to it). One thing I love about the BlendTec is the ability to reduce whole fruits and vegetables to juice, without any peeling or left-over pulp. Since we'd had good luck with apple-based marinades, I was eager to experiment with the blender in creating a marinade for reubens. We added beet, for the color mostly, and because I'd seen at least one other reuben recipe that employed beet juice.

Beety Reuben Marinade:

1 large apple, quartered and cored
1 medium beet, trimmed and quartered
1 small knob of fresh ginger, peeled
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

We tossed all these ingredients into the BlendTec and ran it on the Whole Juice cycle. The result was a very red, soupy yet thick marinade. We had about half a block of left-over tofu, which I sliced thin and laid in a Pyrex dish, then covered in marinade. We put thinly sliced white mushrooms in a bowl and added the rest of the marinade. Both sat in the fridge over night.

The next day, we baked the tofu for about an hour at 425, flipping part way. For the mushrooms, we first sliced up most of a medium yellow onion, sauteed it until softened, then added the mushrooms and sauteed until the mushrooms had cooked down a little. The marinade was so thick, it stuck with the mushrooms and turned out to be more of a sauce as well. It wasn't bad, but I don't know if it was preferable.

Both sandwiches got the same reuben sauce from this post, and this local raw sauerkraut, from Farmer's Daughter in Carrboro.



Tasty! We ate the tofu on a light deli rye baked at the local co-op, and the mushrooms went on the same dark 100% rye from the earlier post. Both toasted of course.

We tried the mushroom first, paired with some vegan syrah from Frey Vineyards that I'll get more into later.



The beet flavor was pretty strong, but the onions and mushrooms still came through. I liked the tofu the best I think---tofu is a great medium for a strong marinade, and of course takes on color quite well. I did end up adding a little Siracha hot sauce to my tofu reuben. After tasting the mushroom one, I thought it would be complemented by a little more spiciness. B., who is officially a tempeh fiend I think, missed the meaty texture that nutty soy product provides. I really like the raw, local kraut---the woman who runs Farmer's Daughter is a pickling genius in my opinion---but it is a little milder than your average kraut, and was perhaps a bit overpowered by the beet, in the case of the mushroom version at least.



I wasn't disappointed by either of these sandwiches, but I wasn't blown away either. I think in future experiments, I will use a minimal amount of beet, maybe just a few slices, and probably add more water so that the marinade functions more like a marinade and less like a sauce.

Now for the wine! I'm excited about this inaugural product review. And after visiting the Frey Vineyards website, I'm genuinely excited that this environmentally-friendly, vegan wine is not only delicious, but affordable. B. and I both immensely enjoyed the Syrah and the Chardonnay. I'm the type of person who rarely spends more than $15 on a bottle of wine, so when I found I really, really liked Frey's offerings, I assumed that it was an expensive, high quality wine that would typically be out of my price range. Upon investigating the website though, I found that at least currently, they have some great deals.

So, did you know that alcohol isn't always vegan? It's something that annoys me, but I often utilize a "don't ask, don't tell" type of approach, mostly just because there are very few alcoholic beverages that will state on their label whether they contain animal products (or used animal products at some point in processing) or not. Luckily, I enjoy hoppier ales as opposed to stouts, which more frequently include dairy. Frey Vineyards, which by the way was voted Best Vegan Wine by VegNew Magazine in 2007, states this on their website, "No animal products are used in the making of Frey Wines, such as egg whites, gelatin, or dairy-derived substances."

Like I said, our impressions of the wine flavors were very good. I like red wine over white typically---the syrah was complex and sweet, but not overly sweet. B. and I decided it would go well with a spicy, rich meal--probably would go great with a tempeh reuben with a lot of heat and spice. The Chardonnay was light and pleasantly dry, probably the best white wine I've ever had.

So check out the Frey Wines website. Located in Mendocino, California, their Organic and Biodynamic products have gained acclaim from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, and numerous wine competitions. And they are almost local to Portland!