Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Vegan Niçoise



I think it's hilarious that the Facebook group invented to bring back Tuno has 23 members. I thought, "Wow. 23 people liked it?"

I spent a lot of time online today, scouring for vegan tuna substitutions that didn't involve tofu or chickpeas. Those two are fine if I want to make a tuna salad sandwich, but I needed something with the texture and flavor of tuna itself. The Shannons recommended some Vegieworld product called "Fish Ham" that I wasn't excited enough about to get suited up for a trek up Nicollet to Shuang Hur to look for. So, I did an experiment.

In a glass bowl, I wisked together about 1/2 cup of kosher dill pickle juice, with the little garlic bits in it, and about two teaspoons of Sea Seasonings' Triple Blend.



I then tore up a bunch of pieces of White Wave's plain old seitan in the blue box, and added it to the pickle juice/seaweed mixture. Added about a teaspoon of salt, and let it sit. I went out in the cold to get some groceries, came back, and I had tuna.

tuna 002

It had the texture, and it had the taste. I'm usually put off by things with seaweed flakes in it, but this worked out really well. Since this fish wasn't going to be swimming in Vegenaise or a casserole, it had to really work. I gave myself a high five, and put the rest of the salad together.

nicoise 005

Vegan Salad Niçoise
Serves 2

Dressing:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp capers
couple shakes of onion powder
salt to taste

Blend.

Salad:
1 cup vegan tuna
4 oz. haricots verts (French green beans; the skinny ones)--steamed until tender
3 avg. red skinned potatoes, quartered and boiled until tender
2 tomatoes, cut up
2 very thin slices of red onion
handful of sliced niçoise or black olives
fresh parsley
salt & pepper

Once the beans and potatoes are done cooking, toss with half of the dressing.
Arrange salad on two plates. Sprinkle with parsley, salt, and pepper. Spoon over dressing.

1 comments:

Kaylyn said...

Great idea with the tuna!