food The Spicy Meatless Thread... (ya I went there)
- Thread starter Rawkstah
- Start date
If you know how to work with it? Is it lacking flavor-wise, texture wise, or both?BigB said:
I haven't really found much store bought fake meat that really does it for me, sans Trader Joe's Soyrizo. They all seem bland, taste like cardboard, are full of GM soy, or the texture is way off. Two different meatless restaurants have opened up within walking distance from mi casa, and about a year ago I tried a gyro from one of them and was shocked. It inspired me to figure out how to do it, and I started making homemade seitan and experimenting with seitan/bean sausages. I've had meat eating friends not know they weren't eating meat and vegetarian friends curse at me when they thought I was tricking them into eating meat, so I think my experiments are going well. If you're actually interested in making your own I highly recommend getting nutritional yeast flakes, smoked powders, and so far Bob's Red Mill have yielded me better results over some of the other brands for ingredients.
I usually use some grass fed organic cold pressed whey powder, I explained why in a previous post, but as that supply is dwindling I was thinking about perhaps trying http://www.sunwarrior.com/, a buddy of mine told me about this stuff that he was using as he's trying to get in better shape. I'm still unsure though if I want to ditch the benefits of the whey powder for that.
Rawkstah said:
It's good to get some sort of sear on it otherwise the texture can be weird. In terms of flavoring, you definitely need to have something to coat it with otherwise it tastes pretty bland. They sell it at whole foods and I've had the already prepared fake chicken and it has been good before, but not always. Pretty good chicken caesar salad substitute, fry it up with a little blackening seasoning on it
Danielle used to work for some 7th Day Adventists (?sp) or something like that, point being they didn't eat meat, I have no idea what else is entailed in their beliefs ... anyways, she always tells me the best meatball she's ever eaten was a veggie one made using a combination of nut flours and seasoning. I can never find anything when I look around, but if anyone knows how to make rockin' veggie meatballs, I'd be interested in seeing them!
Haven't tried making meat balls yet, but I accept your challenge and will look into it in the next couple weeks 
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I've made falafel from scratch before, and if its a nut/chick pea flour, I imagine it would be something similar to that. I suspect with beans or mushrooms mixed in for the texture.
.I've made falafel from scratch before, and if its a nut/chick pea flour, I imagine it would be something similar to that. I suspect with beans or mushrooms mixed in for the texture.
cool! i'll give it a try in follow-up, maybe for D's birthday as a surprise ...
I guess because my gf is vegetarian and i'm currently obsessed with chile peppers, you're going to see a lot of vegetarian posts here lol I made home made chipotle masa tortillas, home made guac from local avocados, the usual mexican red sauce (melted cheese in it) and ground up morning star black bean burger patties. It's pretty damn good, I like the philosophy fresher is better and the freshest only comes from what we can get locally and make your own products.
people's TD entries really drew me in this evening, but they also distracted me enough that it took me too long to get finished in time to still cook.
then, the frozen-cooked shrimp in the freezer were date-less, old, and moderately freezer burnt.
so, we made this, one of those Just The Right Amount job-y's where the pasta uses up the water just so ...
#veggie
ps - i ended up not needing the feta, it was tasty w/ just the hard parm!
cheers!
you put the noodles in before the water was boiling? Your sauce looks nape though, looks good!
BTW, you were speaking of shrimp and pasta and feta? I've got a real easy recipe I think you'd might like. Saute some garlic and shrimp up with some fresh rosemary, add in cooked pasta then some feta and bam! Sorry for the non-veg recipe in the veg section
BTW, you were speaking of shrimp and pasta and feta? I've got a real easy recipe I think you'd might like. Saute some garlic and shrimp up with some fresh rosemary, add in cooked pasta then some feta and bam! Sorry for the non-veg recipe in the veg section
Yeah, in this recipe they just take up all the water, and it ends up pasta. It has a little bit of a different consistency, a little bit more starchy or glutenous or whatever word you would use ... it's good, though, still ...
That's so funny ... I had the package of pre-cooked, black-label Hormel out, too, last night ... but we decided to keep it veg and plop it in here ...
Posted the mushroom ravioli from last night in the DC thread since my sous chef was a can of beer (I had to replace that sous chef a couple times!)
But... Tonight is the night for the meat-less-balls. I'll try to remember to take some shots along the way but the kitchen gets messy cause I make the red sauce from fresh tomatoes and have to julienne zucchini for noodles! But I promise to at least take a final shot of the balls, cause I know y'all wanna see my ballz.
But... Tonight is the night for the meat-less-balls. I'll try to remember to take some shots along the way but the kitchen gets messy cause I make the red sauce from fresh tomatoes and have to julienne zucchini for noodles! But I promise to at least take a final shot of the balls, cause I know y'all wanna see my ballz.
Sweet!
Well the mixture is in the fridge. I am loosely following this recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chef-johns-meatless-meatballs/
I added some smoked powder, basil, and nutritional yeast flakes to mine. Extra garlic too.
Here's the mixture before it hit the fridge
smells great so far. On to making the red sauce.
I added some smoked powder, basil, and nutritional yeast flakes to mine. Extra garlic too.
Here's the mixture before it hit the fridge
smells great so far. On to making the red sauce.
Rawkstah said:
Soyrizo.
Just don't do it.
I've been catching hell and damnation for more than a couple years for posting that sheeit.
And thats just what it tasted like.
Looking forward to see how your balls turn out Rawk.
Oh yeah, so ... not bad? ...
Here's the final pics from last night
the uncooked balls:
after baking (flipped once)
And an inside look:
Conclusion: I'd definitely switch some stuff up next time. The texture was great, seemed like a meatball, but I think i'd switch out the oats for walnuts or chickpeas, the oats I used have been sitting in the cabinet for a while and I could taste the "old" in it a bit. I'd also add more parmesan, and instead of baking them before cooking them off in the sauce, I think I'd cook them up in a skillet to get more "sear" on the outsides. The length of time it took to make these though was a downside. They have to sit for about 4 hours it says. I let my mix sit for 2.5, maybe if they sat longer I wouldn't have tasted the oats as much. My dude ate them up though, and I'm my biggest critic, so I'll probably use the leftovers into a meatball sammy with some melted provolone later.
the uncooked balls:
after baking (flipped once)
And an inside look:
Conclusion: I'd definitely switch some stuff up next time. The texture was great, seemed like a meatball, but I think i'd switch out the oats for walnuts or chickpeas, the oats I used have been sitting in the cabinet for a while and I could taste the "old" in it a bit. I'd also add more parmesan, and instead of baking them before cooking them off in the sauce, I think I'd cook them up in a skillet to get more "sear" on the outsides. The length of time it took to make these though was a downside. They have to sit for about 4 hours it says. I let my mix sit for 2.5, maybe if they sat longer I wouldn't have tasted the oats as much. My dude ate them up though, and I'm my biggest critic, so I'll probably use the leftovers into a meatball sammy with some melted provolone later.