Vegetarian kitchen: Plant-based meals needn't be bland; let fresh ingredients shine

Published August 24, 2011 in the Commercial Appeal

Former President Bill Clinton spent many years living high on the hog, but last week revealed that he's been following a vegan diet for about a year. It was a health choice for him, arrived at after a diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

Professional photographer, local blogger and amateur chef Justin Fox Burks became a vegetarian when he was just 12 years old. At 35, he says choosing a vegetarian diet is a commitment to eating not only more humanely, but also more healthfully.

"I'm not an activist. I don't care what anybody else does," he quickly points out.

The difference in the two diets is simple: Vegetarians eat no meat. Vegans take it a step further and also consume no meat products, such as cheese, eggs or milk.

When cooking, Burks never makes the same thing twice, and he often changes his mind midstream. "I only have to please myself and (wife) Amy. She'll tell me if something is good or not," he says, adding that she makes him a better cook.

In general, Burks believes that food tastes better when the flavors in a dish are balanced. He uses a combination of ingredients from his pantry in almost every dish to achieve this goal: lemon zest for brightness, champagne vinegar for acid, cane sugar for sweetness, Maldon sea salt to bring up the flavors, and telicherry pepper for spice. He also usually adds some sort of fresh herb from his garden, such as thyme, dill or oregano.

"The most important ingredient in the vegetarian kitchen is fresh vegetables," Burks says. "Some vegetarians forget that. Every other ingredient in the kitchen should play a supporting role."

Burks is obsessed with smoke right now, and says that he loves to add that flavor element by using smoked sun-dried tomatoes, smoked mushrooms or smoked sea salt. He substitutes smoked sun-dried tomatoes for bacon and pancetta, sometimes frying them for extra crispiness. "I don't spend my life trying to make things taste like meat," he says, "but it has a very similar effect."

The one ingredient that Burks probably couldn't live without is mushrooms. "I put them in everything," he says. (At one time he was known as the "Mushroom Bandit" by Whole Foods employees because he bought so many.) He keeps homemade smoked shiitake bacon in the pantry and uses baby bellas and creminis in spaghetti sauce, ravioli filling and veggie burgers. He also likes to mimic a Philly cheesesteak using portobellos. He even makes a portobello carpaccio.

Burks eschewed cans two years ago, saying he felt like he could always taste the can, so his pantry is stocked with lots of dried beans (lentils, garbanzos, soybeans) bought in bulk and stored in mason jars. He also has a number of different flours, but garbanzo bean flour is his favorite because of its high protein content. You will also find grits and oatmeal in there. "Starches are a good stage for fresh vegetables," he says.

When trying to please a lot of people, he makes pizza. "Pizza is the great equalizer," he says. "No one cares if there is meat on pizza."

Justin and his wife, Amy, started the Chubby Vegetarian blog (chubbyvegetarian.com) in 2008 to help people realize that they can have tasty meatless meals. "It's been a great forum for developing recipes," he says. Today, there are more than 600 entries, and the blog has garnered Burks quite a bit of attention. For fundraisers, he has done a collaborative brunch with Kelly English at Restaurant Iris and created a special tomato-centric meal at the Trolley Stop Market.

When Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race" was in town, he was asked to be a judge for the vegetarian challenge. (His episode will air Sept. 11.)

Carrie Mitchum, who is co-owner of Fuel Café, entered Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in 2005 with the intent of learning classical French cuisine so that she could apply it to vegetarian and, more specifically, vegan cuisine.

"I think that, in the history of the Le Cordon Bleu program, no one has completed it as a vegan!" Mitchum exclaims. At Fuel, she says the trick to good vegetarian food is to make it taste good. "Fresh veggies taste so good when they aren't overcooked or all greased up," Mitchum says. She loves meat, just not the way animals are treated, so she uses a lot of earthy and meaty-tasting ingredients, such as miso, tamari and mushrooms.

Whether cooking at home or at work, there are certain must-haves for Mitchum. These include fresh onions and garlic, organic tamari sauce, olive oil, brown rice, beans, lentils, quinoa, whole grain pasta, rice, organic tinned tomato product (crushed, paste, etc.) and raw nuts. "I always have miso in the fridge, almond milk, and various products I pick up that seem interesting," she says. Of course, all of this is supplemented with lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Mitchum recommends stocking up on sea salt, fresh pepper and good dried herbs.

"A random organic potato is always good in a pinch. It helps thicken any gluten-free sauce," she says. When cooking vegetarian or vegan, Mitchum finds that it is best to keep the recipe as similar as possible to its animal-product counterpart.

"For example, our chili is identical up to the point we add bison to half the base and quinoa to the other half to make our bison and vegan chilis," she says. Her popular vegetarian cheese and walnut loaf is basically her mother's meatloaf recipe with walnuts instead of beef.

"Being a vegetarian or a vegan doesn't mean you have to eat yucky-tasting food," says Mitchum.

Bastet Ankh Re, who has been a vegan for 16 years and recently adopted a raw food approach, agrees. She wants to show people that plant-based food can be delicious and not bland. Most important, she wants people to know that a plant-based diet makes you feel great.

Along with her husband, Re runs Organic & Conventional Vegan Foods, which distributes specialty vegan foods to a number of area markets, including Whole Foods, Miss Cordelia's and Sean's Café, as well as a few local farmers markets.

She has four sons -- ages 9, 6, 4 and 2 -- who have all been raised vegan from birth. A typical breakfast for the kids is a smoothie, which Re says can be a powerhouse of nutrients if you use nut milk, banana, strawberries, dates, blueberries, bee pollen and soy lecithin. She also replaces a typical oatmeal breakfast with quinoa. "I boil it just like grits or oatmeal, add maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon and almond milk," she says.

Re doesn't believe that breakfast needs to be sweet. She often serves plantains and spinach at breakfast, too. At home, she advocates healthful vegan, which means she uses no white flour or sugar. Rather than boil vegetables, which kills nutrients, she lightly steams them. She likes to spice up vegetables with olive oil, cumin, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, sea salt and garlic powder.

Re likes to dehydrate her own fruit and keep it in the pantry; that way, she knows it doesn't have any additives or extra sugar. For protein, she relies on legumes, nuts, seeds, beans, seitan, tofu, soy products and quinoa. "Quinoa is the mother of all grains," she says. "It has a lot of protein."

Re is an activist and is planning a Plant-Based Food Festival for June 2012 to showcase healthful eating in an urban community. She also organizes regular vegan food tastings. The next one -- A Vegan Tapas Tasting & Wine Mingle "Jamaica Style" -- takes place from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at 300 S. Main. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Visit ocveganfooddistributors.com for more info.

Know someone you'd like to tell us about or have an interest in learning about a specific cuisine? Email Jennifer Biggs at Biggs@commercialappeal.com.

Vegan/vegetarian pantry essentials

Onion, garlic, olive oil, truffle oil, sesame oil, champagne vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, cane sugar, agave nectar, Tellicherry peppercorns, chipotle peppers, good dried herbs (from the garden, farmers market or Penzey's), nutritional yeast, agar (vegetarian gelatin substitute), organic tinned tomato products (crushed, sauce, etc.), smoked sundried tomatoes, mirin (to add a bit of sweetness to Asian-inspired dishes), organic tamari sauce, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, soy sauce, soy chunks (dry; add hot water to fluff up), dry soy powder (mix with water for milk), mushrooms, dehydrated fruits (dehydrate yourself), raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pecans, pine, etc.), seeds (flax, sunflower, etc.), brown rice, quinoa, whole-grain pasta, organic potatoes, grits, oatmeal, dried beans (lentils, soybeans, garbanzo beans, black beans, etc.), flour (bread flour, white flour, whole wheat pastry flour, garbanzo bean flour) .

Portobello Mushroom Deli Slices

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. honey

2 tbsp. mustard (spicy brown or stout)

1 tsp. (vegetarian) Worchestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic (microplaned)

Pinch of salt

Plenty of black pepper

4-6 large portobello mushrooms (very thinly sliced)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the first 8 ingredients together until incorporated. Stack mushroom slices in an oven-safe dish and drizzle a little of the dressing between every other layer. Pour remaining dressing over the top of the stacks. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Allow mushrooms to cool thoroughly before placing them into a covered container and refrigerating.

Makes 5 servings.

Source: Justin Fox Burks

Apple, Walnut, Kale Ravioli

Pasta dough:

1 cup semolina flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

Filling:

1/2 white onion

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

1 Pink Lady apple, peeled and sliced

1 bunch kale (veins and stems removed -- blanched in very salty water, squeezed dry)

1 clove garlic

Sea salt and cracked pepper

6 whole walnuts (or pecans)

1 spoonful of ricotta

1/2 slice of white bread

1 egg

Lemon zest

Sauce:

4 medium Green Zebra tomatoes

1/2 onion

2 ribs of celery

1/2 green pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

Splash of white balsamic vinegar

Small knob of butter

Pasta dough: Make a well with the mixed flours. Crack the eggs in the middle and mix with your fingers until dough forms. Knead it for 5 minutes. Wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Filling: Start with onions sliced into half-moons in a medium-low pan with olive oil. You want them to caramelize. Once the onions begin to brown, add the white wine and then the apple slices. Place the onion-apple mixture, kale, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, nuts, ricotta, bread and lemon zest in food processor and pulse until it's well incorporated but still a little chunky. Set aside in the fridge.

Sauce: Finely dice the vegetables. Put them all in a saucepan -- along with olive oil -- on medium, and add white wine and vinegar once the vegetables start to get a little brown. Add butter at the end.

Assembly: Roll out this dough to a No. 6 on the pasta maker. Trim the raggedy edges with a pizza cutter. Add about 2 tsp. of the filling along the sheet of pasta, but leave an inch on each side of the filling (you are going to fold the top over). Use a pasta tool to seal the front edge and sides. Cook in salty boiling water; as soon as they float, keep them in for another minute. Remove with slotted spoon and put them straight into the sauce. Top it with parsley and parmesan cheese.

Source: Justin Fox Burks

Socca Stuffed With Creamed Arugula & Topped with Artichoke & Pine Nut Ragout

Socca:

1 cup garbanzo bean flour

11/4 cups water

2 cloves garlic (microplaned)

2 tbsp. olive oil, plus some for pan

Black pepper (generous amount)

Salt

Creamed arugula:

1 large bag of fresh arugula

1 tbsp. live oil

2 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)

1 egg (beaten)

2 oz. goat cheese

Water or milk

Salt and pepper

Artichoke and Pine Nut Ragout:

1 large shallot (diced)

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup wine

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. olive paste (optional)

9 baby artichoke hearts (halved)

1 red bell pepper (peeled, diced)

1/2 cup mixed olives (chopped)

1 large tomato (peeled, diced)

1/4 cup pine nuts

10 capers

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Socca: Mix all ingredients with a whisk so there are no lumps. Batter should be thinner than pancake batter. Set mixture aside for at least 10 minutes. Heat a cast-iron skillet on medium heat. Using a silicone pastry brush, coat the surface of the skillet with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet, and keep your eye on it. Once the surface appears dry (about 2 minutes), use a metal spatula to flip it. Allow it to cook for another 2 minutes. Repeat until all batter has been used.

Arugula: Blanch arugula in super-salty water for a few seconds. Rinse and squeeze out any excess water. In a medium skillet over medium heat, sauté garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil until toasted. Add the blanched arugula, egg, cheese and about 2 tablespoons of water or milk. Mix vigorously until the egg has cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Ragout: In a large skillet over medium high heat, sauté shallot in 3 tablespoons olive oil until translucent. Add the wine, sugar and salt. Reduce mixture until thick and syrupy. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until heated through. (For this ragout, you do not want the vegetables to break down as they would in a tomato sauce.)

To assemble, spread creamed arugula on one side of the socca. Fold socca into quarters and place onto the plate. Top with ragout and grated parmesan.

To make recipe vegan, leave egg and cheese out of arugula mixture.

Tacos with Spicy & Smoky Lentil Taco 'Meat' and Simple Salsa

Lentil taco meat:

1 onion (diced)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ancho chili powder

1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 cup dry lentils (both brown and green)

11/2 cups water (or so)

1 tbsp. white vinegar

1/4 cup smoked sun dried tomatoes (finely chopped)

Simple salsa:

2 medium tomatoes

1 jalapeño pepper

2 cloves of garlic

Lime zest

Sea salt, cracked pepper to taste

For serving:

12 small corn or flour tortillas or taco shells (warmed)

Lentil taco meat

1 cup shredded smoked cheddar

2 cups finely shredded cabbage

1/2 cup chopped green onion

2 avocados (peeled and sliced)

1/4 cup sour cream

Lime wedges

Simple salsa

Lentils: In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion in the olive oil. Once the onion is translucent, add cumin, salt and chili powders and allow to cook for about a minute more. Add the remaining ingredients and bring it all up to a boil. Reduce mixture to a simmer, cover, and allow to cook for 30-45 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed. (You want the lentils to be tender, but not falling apart.)

Salsa: In a cast-iron skillet over high heat, blacken the skin of the tomatoes and pepper on all sides while getting some caramel color on the outside of the garlic cloves. Throw all ingredients into a food processor and pulse 5-10 times or until ingredients are well incorporated, but not liquid.

This is best served family-style with all of the ingredients on the table. That way, everyone can build their tacos to their own specifications. Serves 4.

Source: Justin Fox Burks