Jo Jo Potato Poutine, The Akron Vegan Way

February 3, 2015 osuadamrLeave a comment

Part of me wishes I had tried poutine before taking the vegan plunge 4 years ago. Then again, the amalgamation of deep fried potatoes, brown gravy and cheese curds probably wouldn’t have sat well with me. I didn’t even know what poutine was until my little brother made several trips north of the border and came back raving about it. Since I had been thinking about veganizing the Canadian specialty for a while, a vegan Super Bowl party in Akron seemed like a perfect time.

What makes this poutine different from all other poutine? Well aside from the fact it’s vegan, made with Field Roast Chao cheese and Vegan Sausage Gravy (see recipe below), it is also a special type of French fry known only to Akronites and Summit County Ohio dwellers as Jo Jo potatoes. Ok, the potato wedge isn’t exactly unique to Akron, Ohio, but I can almost guarantee you that Jo Jo Potatoes have never made their way into vegan poutine before this. And now it’s time to share with the world.

The recipe is not hard to put together. To mimic the deep fried, egg covered Jo Jo’s found in pizza and chicken shops in my hometown, I parboiled potato wedges and coated them in cornstarch, spices and a little olive oil before roasting them. The result is a crispy outside and a moist steamy inside. The poutine is assembled in separate bowls topped with the savory sausage gravy and a sprinkle of fresh sage. You can serve as an app, side or main dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes (2.5 pounds)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Gravy Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped, about 1/2 cup
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
2 Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage sausages, crumbled
1 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup plain soymilk or almond milk
1 cup water
1 tsp sriracha
black pepper to taste
1/2 cup cubed Field Roast tomato cayenne chao cheese (or other vegan cheese of choice)
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped fine

Directions

Jo Jo’s: Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Scrub the potatoes and cut them, lengthwise, into 10 to 12 even wedges.

Place the sliced potatoes into a large bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let them soak for 10 minutes (aka parboil).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat. Drain the potatoes and pat them dry thoroughly with a clean tea towel or paper towels. Evenly toss the potatoes with the cornstarch, than add the oil, salt and pepper.

Arrange the fries in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip them. Continue to bake until the fries are golden and crisp, about another 20 minutes longer. In the last 5 minutes, remove the pans and add the cheese on top. Allow to melt before removing. Time serving so these are hot!

Sausage Gravy: Heat a skillet over a medium flame. Add the onions and cook for three minutes, until starting to soften. Add the crumbled sausage and cook for five minutes, until starting to brown. Add the flour and stir well. After two minutes, add the remaining ingredients, whisking well to combine. It will thicken and be ready rather quickly.

To serve: Place fries in a bowl or on a plate and sprinkle with cheese. While still warm, pour gravy over fries and cheese. Top with fresh sage and enjoy!

Parboiled taters in cornstarch

Coated taters ready for the oven

Crumbled sausage

MMMMM graaaaavyyy

Jo Jo’s

The final product

cashews · field roast · greens · sausage

Chipotle Sausage Stuffed Cabbage with Creamy Chipotle Tomato Sauce

July 24, 2014 osuadamrLeave a comment

It’s been too long! I’ve neglected posting but have been blogging over at Field Roast and Fresh Fork. I figured, why not share those awesome recipes over here! Football season is coming up soon so it’s time to get thinking about what to cook. Enjoy!

The first step to stuffing cabbage is steaming the head and peeling off the leaves one by one. Fill the leaves with flavorful mixture or vegan sausage, brown rice, onions, garlic and spices. Meanwhile, whip up a creamy, spicy tomato sauce. Once the sauce is done and a cabbages are rolled, let simmer and prepare to be amazed!

Sauce

4 large tomatoes, diced or 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
6 oz. can of Tomato Paste
1 cup Vegetable Broth
1 Small Onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups greens, chopped
1/4 cups basil, chopped and packed
1 cup raw cashews
3 chipotle chiles, seeded and washed (optional)
¾ cup water
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large sautee pan, sautee the diced onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook for a minute more.
Add the diced tomatoes with liquid, the vegetable stock and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the cashews, water and chipotle peppers to a high speed blender. Blend until smooth. (Tip: if you soak the cashews overnight it helps blend. Also feel free to use soy creamer instead!)
Add the greens, basil and blended chipotle cashew cream and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Cabbage Rolls

1 medium cabbage, cored
4 chipotle field roast or your favorite vegan sausage, crumbled
2 cups cooked brown rice
½ cup minced onion
1/2 cup sauce, reserved
Italian seasonings, to taste
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions

Partially boil the head of cabbage just enough until you can gently peel away each layer. The leaves should be pliable but intact. Drain on a paper or kitchen towel. Repeat until the whole cabbage is done.
Mix together all ingredients for the rolls. Place in the center, not too much so you can’t roll!
Roll like a burrito. If necessary, you can use a toothpick to hold them together. Repeat.
Place all of the finished rolls into a large sauce pot.
Add all of the sauce to cover. If needed, you can add some additional vegetable broth or water.
Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour until sauce is bubbling, cabbage leaves are more translucent and filling is hot inside.
Serve hot alongside green beans and maybe with a dallop of guac on top!

liquid smoke · nutritional yeast · sausage · seitan · vegan · vital wheat gluten

Vegan Links on the Gridiron

October 15, 2013November 8, 2016 osuadamrLeave a comment

Week 6 Browns vs. Lions

The Browns were dealt a low blow losing hometown hero QB Brian Hoyer last week to a season ending knee injury. Back comes Brandon Weeden and he precedes to make “the worst interception of all time.” All joking aside, this is kind of what we come to expect from the Browns, year after year. So what do we rely on? The tailgate. And it was one of the years best. Perfect fall day and people in good spirits.

I decided to make vegan sausages for the 3rd time. I had a couple practice rounds before trying it out at the tailgate. People tend to grimace when I tell them my sausages are vegan, but honestly do they even know what kind of meat is in a “normal sausage?” Probably better they don’t know. While some don’t want to know how the sausage is made, I’m ready wax poetic about how to make these delectable vegan apple sage sausages.

Fall means apples in Ohio and across the midwest. A trip to an apple orchard with my girlfriend left us with a huge bounty of several varieties of apples. I made sure to get a number that were good for baking and making sauce. By cooking down the apples, I made a plain jane apple sauce (just water and apples) to use in recipes, including the one below.

The technique is similar to the All-Pro Veggie Burgs, where you knead wheat gluten with wet ingredients, wrap in foil and then steam. Afterwards, the sausages can be refrigerated until they are ready to grill. Next time I might use a bit less wheat gluten to make the sausages more moist. The flavor was incredible though and people were impressed. We even topped them off with some polish stew for an authentic taste. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes 10-12 sausages)

Cooking the apples

3 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp dried sage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cayenne
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 cup smooth cooked down apples or unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

Directions
1. Combine the dry ingredients in one bow and whisk the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Wet and dry

2. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and knead for about 5 minutes.
3. Pull off a small clump of the dough and roll into a log. It should be the size of a sausage!

Its a sausage!

4. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil (see picture)

The wrapped sausages

5. Steam for 40 minutes in a steamer or a pot/pan with a steamer basket.
6. Remove and refrigerate until ready to grill.
7. Grill on an oiled grill grate for 5-7 minutes.

Grillin and chillin

liquid smoke · nutritional yeast · sausage · vegan shrimp · vital wheat gluten

Vegan Low Country Boil with Handmade Sausages

September 19, 2013November 8, 2016 osuadamr1 Comment

Week 2 Ravens vs. Browns (road game)

If you would have asked me a couple years ago what a “low country boil” is I would have looked at you dumbfounded. But when my brother went to Alabama to work for 7 months, he came back talking about this common backyard BBQ tradition. I thought, why can’t you veganize it? So we did.

Low Country Boil

The concept behind a low country boil is simple. Take a bunch of seafood, sausages and veggies, add a ton of spices, liquid to cover and bring to a boil on an outdoor heat source. While there are a few common ingredients, such as potatoes and corn, everything else it pretty much left up to you. The spice mix varies, but I’d recommend going heavy on the flavor. Why not? The more complex the flavor profile the better. The key to our boil was the bay leaves. Other folks swear by Old Bay.

The number one takeaway is that its pretty hard to mess this up. No matter what, a low country boil comes out tasting good and serving a crowd. You are supposed to dump it on a picnic table covered in newspaper, but we just didn’t have the capacity to do that. Next time!

I could’ve taken the easy road and purchased my favorite Field Roast Sausages along with all the other ingredients. Instead, I prepared handmade sausages for just the second time and they came out great. Thanks to a bulk vital wheat gluten purchase, I had abundant supplies to create sausages from scratch. The technique is interesting and one I picked up on from one of my favorite vegan chefs Alicia Simpson.

You start out making the sausages like nearly every other seitan recipe, dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other, knead together. But here you roll the sausages out, wrap them in foil and steam them for 30-40 minutes before cooking. The result is a plump, juicy vegan sausage loaded with your favorite spices and without any added oil.

Enjoy!

Sausages
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
2 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
4 garlic cloves, mined
5 button mushrooms, minced
1/4 red pepper, minced
1/2 cup water
1 tbs bragg’s or tamari
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbs vegan Worcestershire
1 tsp liquid smoke

Directions

Combine wheat gluten and spices in one bowl.
Whisk together Garlic, mushrooms, red pepper and liquids in another bowl.
Combine the wet and dry and knead for a few minutes.
Roll out 4 sausages and wrap tightly in aluminum foil, twisting the ends to seal (make sure they are tight!)
Steam for 30-40 minutes
Cook anyway you like! Grill, saute, bake… the possibilities are endless. Or just refrigerate until ready to use.

The final product after 30 minutes steaming

Low Country Boil
Ingredients

Package of vegan prawns, chopped into chunks (I used Sophie’s Kitchen brand)
4 vegan sausages, chopped into chunks (see recipe above or use Field Roast)
4 medium sized red potatoes, chopped
4 ears sweet corn, quartered
1 red onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tbs thyme
1 tbs sage
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion power
1 tbs red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Foil lasagna pan
Water to fill

Directions

Place the veggies in the foil pan. Throw in the spice mix and cover with water. Make sure to mix it around!
Cover tightly with foil (or the lid if using a pot) and place it on a hot grill. Let simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour.
Remove cover and add prawns and sausages (the water should be boiling). Cover and let cook for another half hour.
Take the pan off of the grill and serve hot! Preferably you have a newspaper lined picnic table, but plates will do.

Boil!

Ready to serve!

juice · sausage · soccer · tailgate · vegan

The Offseason Nears Completion

April 7, 2013November 8, 2016 osuadamrLeave a comment

Dear Fellow Vegan Tailgaters,

We have made it through a long, cold, northeast Ohio winter unscathed. Well aside from my epic 7-day juice cleanse and fast. Now it’s time to start planning for tailgate season. There are lots of things in the works at Hold the Pigskin including a debut 2013 tailgate at the USA/Belgium soccer match May 29th. This year we will have more homemade dishes, like vegan sausage, and new special features, like how to stock a vegan kitchen. Final exams are just around the bend, so stay tuned in early May for another update. Until then, I leave you with some photos from some boring indoor vegan cooking I did over the winter. Enjoy!