1,000 vegan recipes (for me to screw up)

For last night's belated Christmas dinner with Jason, I was inspired by the main course that was served at our wedding, a beautiful pastry and vegetable concoction shown at right, and this recipe for pastry-wrapped portobellos from vegan cookbook goddess Robin Robertson's new book, 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

I've been following (and obsessing over) the "Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes" blog for a while now, and I finally got the cookbook from my dad and stepmom for Christmas while I was home. It's a hefty, 612-page hardcover tome; I'm surprised it didn't send my suitcase into the "overweight" category. Once I get into cooking the goodies in it, I imagine my backside will go even further in that direction.

My recipe concepts don't always turn out as intended. I didn't have portobellos, so I used a package of sliced mushrooms. I sautéed them with garlic, onion, artichoke hearts, and a shake of Victoria Taylor's Sicilian seasoning (also a Christmas gift). I was running behind in my timing from the very beginning because I forgot to defrost my puff pastry dough ahead of time, so the pastries were still in the oven when everything else was ready. As a result, the dough didn't cook all the way through. Jason was hungry, so I served him an underdone one and he liked it, but I was frustrated. I made six of them, so I let the rest of them sit in the hot oven while we ate, and by the time Jason was ready for seconds they looked a lot better--more fluffy and golden.

I cut a few corners and made a packet of roasted garlic instant mashed potatoes to save time. I've never gone the instant potatoes route, but Jason had bought a box while I was gone, so I figured I'd use that up (also, I've been way tired since I got back from Michigan and didn't want to peel and slice a pot full of potatoes). I made the same cornbread stuffing that we had at Thanksgiving, and a slice of Field Roast rounded out the plate.


I love the nubby look of the Field Roast; the final plate wasn't so bad either--the pastry just needed more time to develop some color.
I'll definitely try the pastry-wrapped portobello recipe again--but next time I'll follow the directions properly.