Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking (19 page)
Read Quick and Easy Vegan Slow Cooking Online
Authors: Carla Kelly
I
WAS GIVEN SOME
rice beans, which are an heirloom variety shaped like large grains of rice and tasting similar to navy beans. In playing around with them, I came up with this minestrone-like soup. It is less tomato-y than a true minestrone and more anise-flavored because of the lovely fennel and celery. If you like a more tomato-based soup, replace up to half a cup of the stock with tomato juice. Drizzle this soup with a little homemade or store-bought pesto for an extra touch of summer.
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes, divided
1½ cups dry small white beans, such as rice or navy, soaked overnight or up to 8 hours
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 small fennel bulb, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ red pepper, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ yellow pepper, cut into ½-inch pieces
4 Roma tomatoes, cut into ½-inch chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon black pepper
1½ cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
2 cups cooked small or soup pasta, optional
Salt and black pepper
Additional stock
*To ensure the dish is gluten free, if necessary, please check all packaged ingredients, as noted on
page 39
.
1.
Drain and rinse the soaked beans, combine with the water and bay leaves in the slow cooker, set heat to LOW, and cook for 8 hours, or until the beans are tender. Drain and rinse under running warm water. Remove the bay leaves.
2.
Return the beans to the slow cooker and add the onion through the black pepper.
3.
Mix the stock and tomato paste in a measuring cup or small bowl; add to the slow cooker. The vegetables will not be covered by the stock.
4.
Stir, cover, and set heat to LOW. Cook for 2 hours, or until the vegetables are tender.
5.
Stir in the fresh basil and pasta, if using. Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes prior to serving.
6.
Taste and season with the salt and pepper as required, adjusting the consistency with extra stock if desired.
VARIATION:
Use 3 cups of cooked white beans (either canned, drained and rinsed, or home-cooked) and add with the vegetables. Cook for 2 hours as directed.
Mock-a-Leekie (“Chicken” and Leek) Soup
L
ET ME SET
the scene for you. Imagine October in Glasgow, Scotland, with a cold wind that is more winter than fall blowing. My friend and I had been out all morning and were freezing cold. We popped into a little corner pub in the hope of getting something warm to eat (expecting only French fries!). My friend asked the waitress what they had that was vegetarian and was told, “The soup of the day is always vegetarian.” At this point I was getting excited—soup would be perfect. “What is it?” she asked. “Cock-a-Leekie,” the waitress replied, totally clueless that a chicken-based soup might not qualify as vegetarian! That day I had French fries, but the incident became a running gag, and I swore one day I would make a Cock-a-Leekie soup
without
the chicken. Well, here it is!
Serves 6 to 8
Preparation time: 20 minutes, not including making the seitan
½ pound (2 cups) seitan, preferably light, either store-bought or homemade (
page 47
, ½ recipe), randomly cut into very small pieces
4 medium leeks, rinsed, trimmed, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced
2 cups seitan cooking broth, or vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
4 cups vegetable stock
1
/
3
cup pearl barley, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
1
/
3
cup finely chopped prunes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning mix, store-bought or homemade (
page 52
)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sliced prunes
Salt and black pepper
1.
Combine the seitan through the bay leaf in the slow cooker.
2.
Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 6 hours, or until the barley is tender and the leeks are very soft.
3.
Remove the bay leaf; garnish with the sliced prunes. Season to taste with the salt and black pepper.
NOTE
: You may need to increase the herbs at the end of the cooking time if not using the seitan recipe I reference. Reduce the salt if you are using a store-bought seitan; it tends to be on the salty side.
Sausage, Rice, and Salsa Soup
if using soy-free sausages
S
OUPS WITH MEATBALLS
(or sausages) pop up all over the world. This one is Mexican inspired, using up that half-jar of leftover salsa you have from nachos or from making Tomato Salsa Pasta Bake (
page 173
), but with chopped seitan sausages instead of meatballs. I like this dish served as is because it is quite a substantial soup, but a dollop of Classic Guacamole (
page 236
) on top is never amiss. You can make the soup in advance, but you will need to add more stock when you reheat because the rice and sausages will absorb liquid while it sits. For best results cook the rice just before adding it to the soup.
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 10 minutes
½ medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ medium red pepper, finely chopped
3½ cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (
page 43
)
One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup prepared chunky tomato salsa, your preferred heat
1 bay leaf
2 vegan sausages, store-bought or homemade (
page 49
, ½ recipe), chopped into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro, packed
1 cup hot cooked long-grain white rice
Salt and black pepper
Additional vegetable stock
Sliced red pepper strips and finely chopped cilantro
1.
Combine the onion through the cilantro in the slow cooker.
2.
Cover, set heat to LOW, and cook for 4 hours, or until the sausages are very tender and flavors are melded.
3.
Stir in the rice. Cook for 30 minutes to combine but not so long that the rice becomes mushy.
4.
Taste and season with the salt and pepper as required. Remove the bay leaf and add stock to reach the desired consistency.
5.
Garnish with the pepper slices and chopped cilantro.
Stews
French White Bean Asparagus Stew
Moroccan Spiced Vegetable Stew with Couscous
Tomato, Barley, and Lentil Stew
Mediterranean Vegetable and Bean Stew
Smoky Mushroom and Tofu Stroganoff
Peasant Vegetable and Sausage Stew
Beer Stew with Sweet Potato and Celery
I
N THIS CHAPTER
you will find a selection of mainly European-influenced stews, some in a meat-and-potatoes style, and some enlivened further with tasty vegetables and warming spices. A few hail from as far as North Africa and beyond, but most should be familiar to you. I use beans, seitan, tempeh, tofu, soy curls, and TVP in these stews, so you are bound to find one that suits your fancy.
Serve with what you feel suits the dish best, be it plain steamed rice, Garlic and Onion Mashed Potatoes (
page 215
), a vegetable side such as Savoy Cabbage with Raisins and Pecans (
page 226
), or even Herbed Caramelized Onion Mini Loaves (
page 247
). Recipes will have suggestions, but feel free to browse To Serve With (
page 211
) for ideas.
Some of these may be too thick for your taste, especially if they spend any time in the fridge. If so, please add stock just by the quarter cup until you reach your desired consistency. If the stew is too liquid-y, either scoop a little out and discard or make a slurry (see
page 33
) and stir this in over low heat until the liquid thickens, usually 5 minutes. I find that the thickness I desire in a stew is influenced by what I am planning to serve with it, so adjust according to your tastes.
If you have leftover stew, a good way to use it is to make it into the filling of a pot pie: Place in a casserole dish and cover with homemade or store-bought pastry. Bake at 400°F until the pastry is golden and the filling piping hot, about 25 minutes.
You can also use the stew as the base for a shepherd’s pie–style dish—place it in a casserole dish and cover with a layer of mashed (white or sweet) potato. Bake at 400°F until the potato is golden and the filling piping hot, about 30 minutes.
Thick and substantial stews are often great when reheated (you may need to add more liquid) and served on toast for breakfast! It may sound strange, but just try it!
Store any thoroughly cooled stew leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. The stews which contain soy creamer do not freeze well. Ensure any leftovers are thawed fully then completely reheated prior to serving.