Creamy Leek Polenta Recipe

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:41:14 +0000

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge

Creamy Leek Polenta Recipe

The Buttery texture of the leeks and soft extra of the polenta culminate in creamy perfection.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons nondairy butter (such as Earth Balance), divided
3 large Leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced and diced
2 cups (or more) water
2-1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup coarse cornmeal (polenta)
1/2 to 3/4 cup nondairy milk (almond, soy, rice, hemp, oat, hazelnut)
1 teaspoon salt, added gradually (and you may not use all; depends on your taste)
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

Melt 1 tablespoon of the nondairy butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat.

Add the leeks, and stir to coat. Cover and cook until leeks soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add the water and broth, cover, and bring to a boil. Slowly pour in the polenta, whilte whisking simultaneously. Whisking is essential, or the cornmeal will clump up.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the mixture is thick and creamy. At this point, you’ll want to switch to a wooden spoon, stirring often. As it beings to thicken, add some of the milk, stir and continue cooking. Add about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Continue stirring, cooking, and adding more milk and salt, until you’ve got a creamy mixture.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of nondairy butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and divide the polenta among plates.

Serves 4 to 6

Serving Suggestions

I love the combination of mushrooms and polenta, and the chewy extra is a nice foil to the creamy polenta. Slice up some brown cremini, shitake, or porcini mushrooms, saute them in a little olive oil with some tamari, and add to the top of each surveying of polenta.

Leftover Suggestions

One of the brilliant things about polenta is that it sets up once it starts to cool, so whatever creamy polenta you don’t finish can be poured into a serving dish and stored in the fridge overnight (or for a couple days) to set up. Then, you can cut it into squares and fry, bake, or grill it (or just heat up using your favorite method).

Gluten-free, wheat-free, soy-free (if using soy-free Earth Balance and milk), tree-nut-free, peanut-free

*NOTE: If you want to make it oil-free, you can eliminate the Earth Balance completely (saute the leeks in a tablespoon of water instead.) The Earth Balance definitely adds more creaminess and salt, so adjust accordingly.

Recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s 30-Day Vegan Challenge. For more information on the 30-Day Vegan Challenge and recipes, visit: The30dayveganchallenge.com

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s 30-Day Vegan Challenge.

www.The30dayveganchallenge.com

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Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:02:49 +0000

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Sweet enough for dessert, flexible enough to be sweetened less and served for breakfast, this is a favorite muffin of mine that is also the perfect accompaniment to a tea party or coffee klatsch.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed (equivalent of 3 flax eggs)

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water

3 cups all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour

1-1/4 cups organic granulated sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons lemon zest (from the 3 lemons you use for the juice below)

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1 15-ounce can coconut milk

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 lemons)

3/4 cup canola oil or melted nondairy butter, such as Earth Balance

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil one or two muffin tins.

In a blender or food processor or in a bowl using an electric hand mixer, whip the flaxseed and water together, until you have a thick and creamy consistency. The result should be rather gooey. This can all be done by hand, but a food processor/hand mixer does a better job in about 1 minute.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, poppy seeds, and salt.

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then add the flax eggs, coconut milk, lemon juice, oil, and vanilla extract, and stir mix until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour batter evenly into the prepared muffin tins.

Spoon about two tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup. You will have enough batter for 12 to 16 muffins, so either bake in two batches or use a second lightly oiled muffin tin. (Tip: if you’ve already oiled all of the cups of the muffin tin but don’t fill all of the cups with batter, add a small amount of water to each cup that doesn’t contain batter. Baking an empty, greased cup makes for hard cleanup!)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Yield: 12 to 16 muffins (depending on the size)

Serving Suggestions and Variations

*Instead of coconut milk, you may use almond, soy, rice, hazelnut, hemp, or oat.

*You may also make as a bread. Pour batter into lightly oiled loaf tin (or mini loaf tins) and increase the cooking time to 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Soy-free if using oil or soy-free Earth Balance, tree-nut-free, peanut-free