Its only a week into the new year and Ive already fulfilled one of my new years goals.  Id say that bodes pretty well for the rest of the year.

Throughout my life there have been countless attempts at very unsuccessful gelatin desserts with the panna cotta dinner party disaster almost a year ago being the latest in a long line of less than delicious runny creations.  I decided to shun gelatin all together wondering if perhaps we just werent destined to get along and moved onto the vegan friendly variety, agar agar, a seaweed concoction so great you have to say it twice. 

Ive know about this gelatinous variation for a while now, hearing that its more user friendly and nearly impossible to screw up but the price tag was keeping me from experimenting with it.  The tiny bags of it are around $15 dollars at Whole Foods.   Which was more of a commitment than I was willing to go into for something I might only use once especially considering I just spent the same amount on xanthan gum recently to forge my way into gluten free baking.  Then on a trip through every Asian grocery store in Madison I saw huge bricks of it for less than a dollar and bought some.

So the other night when I needed a fairly quick dessert I pulled out a vegan panna cotta recipe from the goddess of those creamy little desserts and hoped for the best.  Given that it was coconut milk and agave nectar I knew it would still be tasty if it didnt set so it wouldnt be a total bust but I was really hoping for lovely little white custards to top with the left over cherry sauce from a David Lebovitz I had in the refrigerator (which is easy and works just fine with frozen cherries.) 

And that was exactly what I ended up with!  They were gorgeous.  Perfect little cups of sweet coconut custard with a creamy mouth filling texture.  They werent too cloyingly sweet and so were divine with the stewed cherries.  I was so pleased with them and how delicious they were I had to, there wasnt a person on earth that could have kept me from the bliss that was putting coconut pan cotta in my mouth for the second time after so many failures.

So happy 2010 to me Ive conquered gelatin, kind of sort of.  Now I guess Ill have to give the real thing another go.   Seeing as I could gladly eat panna cotta in all of its variations every day this wont be a problem.

Vegan Panna Cotta

1 and 1/4 cups coconut milk
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 block, crumbled or 2 teaspoons agar agar powder
1 cup soy yogurt(regular yogurt will work fine but make for a thinner consistency)

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan combine the coconut milk, agave nectar and agar agar. Let stand 5 minutes. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, 8 minutes, or until agar has mostly dissolved (there will be some flecks of translucent agar in mixture), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve into small pitcher or measuring cup. Whisk in yogurt and vanilla until smooth. Pour into 4 individual ramekins/custard cups.  Transfer to refrigerator. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour until set.

To serve, immerse bottom half of ramekin or custard cup in hot water about 15 seconds. Run a clean small knife around edge to loosen. Invert onto dessert plate.  Serve with David Lebovitzs amazing stewed cherries.

Original recipe from Enlightened cooking blog.

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 Its tasty and its the right color but it still didnt cure my mac and cheese craving.

Anyone on this crazy French Diet is familiar with figuring out diet friendly substitutions for the forbidden foods you crave.  Pureed cauliflower takes over for the super carby mashed potatoes.  Almond flour becomes your best friend when you crave naan or pizza.  And ribboned vegetables make a great stand in for pasta.  But sometimes the thing you are craving is just out of your reach because it just might not be possible to make with the dietary restrictions youre working with.

 Just this sort of culinary failure is plaguing me today.  All I wanted was some macaroni and cheese.  I have no idea why.  When I could have eaten all of it I wanted it never occurred to me to eat it because it was never a favorite of mine.  But true to my contrary nature the second my body decided to was totally intolerant to dairy my brain went on a frantic quest to try to convince me I needed to eat mac and cheese immediately or the world would end.

I put off the craving as long as possible but today I gave in and looked into the ridiculous possibility of vegan cheese.   Ill try anything once so I gave it a shot with what was touted as the "worlds best recipe for vegan cheese" on many a food blog.  Turns out making vegan cheese is a time consuming, soul killing, messy process with a very strange end result.  The sauce I made was cheddar cheese colored and tasty but it was not at all cheese like or cheese flavored but I continued on hoping that once it mingled with my gluten free pasta and breadcrumbs and got toasty it would be amazing.

It was not meant to be so.  After being baked, what little moisture was in sauce had disappeared, Im assuming because I omitted the potato from the original recipe and was having a hard time reading the original recipe due to it being in an oddly ordered and so put in the wrong amount of margarine.  However for a dry distinctly uncheesy pasta dish it is really good and Im not just saying that.  If someone presented it as yummy noodles I would be very happy eating it.  It was only my strong desire for mac and cheese that made it not a totally satisfying experience.  Out of the context of cheese its tasty.

So I rearranged the recipe for (I hope) ease of preparation in the hopes someone else will try this with better results to let me know if I should try to make it again.  If  you want to give it a go with the potato from the original recipe then take out one cup of the carrots and use a small red potato then let me know what happens.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

NOODLES

4 quarts water

1 tablespoon sea salt

8 ounces macaroni

Just in case you dont know how to make pasta:  In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Return to pot and set aside.

BREADCRUMBS

4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces

2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine (I used Shedds soy margarine)

In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Put in a bowl and set aside.

“CHEESE" SAUCE

1 medium shallots, peeled and chopped

1 and 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped  (about 3 medium carrots)

1/2 of a small onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup water

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup raw cashews

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

In a food processor, blend the garlic, cashews, salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, mustard, margarine, and  lemon juice. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.

Pour “cheese” mixture onto the pasta and toss together until pasta is completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

Original recipe from Veg News food blog.

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This is another one of those insanely easy side dishes that would be well suited for taking to a summer picnic.  I made the quinoa earlier in the week during a cooking frenzy so when it was time prepare this recipe all I did was toss it together and eat.  Its filling, delicious, and just spicy enough to keep things interesting.  I of course made it vegan my using dairy free butter spread but Im sure its even better with the real thing.

I didnt change a thing so this very short post is brought to you by my love for 101Cookbooks where you can find the recipe for this simple salad.  Go check it out if youve been hiding under a rock and havent discovered this trove of healthy whole food recipes.

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