Barley and mushrooms combine with warm spices and maple syrup to make a wonderfully delicious vegan version of a French Canadian classic.  Barley gives structure to the filling and complements the mushrooms’ taste and texture.  You can make the filling the day before to let the flavours really blend together, and to save you some time on baking day.

INGREDIENTS
Makes a 10″ pie
– pie crust
– 2 tbsp oil
– 2 onions, diced
– 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 tsp ground fennel
– 1 tsp thyme
– 1/2 tsp rubbed sage
– 1/2 tsp cinnamon
– 1/4 tsp cloves
– 1/4 tsp coriander
– pinch nutmeg
– 8 cups chopped assorted mushrooms (I used oyster, cremini, and portabello)
– 1 tbsp light soy sauce
– 2 tbsp maple syrup
– 1/3 cup vegetable stock
– 1/2 cup red wine (or more vegetable stock)
– 2 cups cooked pot barley (cooked in vegetable broth is best)
– 1.5 cups diced potato, boiled for 3-5 mins, until slightly tender
– salt and papper to taste
– plain soy milk for brushing

METHOD
1. Make your pastry, chill, etc.
2. Cook the barley according to the directions on the bag.  Generally, 1 cup of uncooked barley will yield almost 4 cups of cooked barley.  I like to have extra on hand to throw into soups and the like throughout the week.
3. Boil your potatoes while the barley is simmering.  Rinse with cold water and set aside.
4. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Sauté onions and celery for 5-7 mins, until softened.  Add garlic and spices and cook for 1 min more.
5. Add mushrooms, soy sauce, maple syrup and stock.  Mix well and cook for about 5 mins, stirring regularly, until mushrooms have released their water and have cooked down.
6. Add red wine and cook for 5 mins.  Add barley and potato and mix well.  Cook for another 5 mins or so, stirring very regularly.  The mixture should be moist but not soupy.  When you drag your stirring utensil along the bottom of the pot, liquid should not immediately fill the void.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Adjust spices as needed.
8. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge to cool down.
9. Make the pie as per usual.  Brush the top crust with plain soy milk and place in the fridge.
10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the bottom third of the oven.  When oven is up to temperature, brush the top crust once more with soy milk.  Bake for about 50 minutes, or until top crust is golden brown.

This recipe (a spin on an Italian soup with peas and pancetta) is fairly simple in that it does not have a lot of ingredients, and so its success relies on making sure those ingredients are top quality.  Making your own veggie stock is ideal, and making your own pasta is essential unless you are lucky enough to live in a place that sells eggless fresh pasta.  The key to the pasta is making a firm dough and giving the noodles some time to dry before they go into the broth.

INGREDIENTS
– 2 tbsp oil
– 1 cup finely chopped firm or extra firm tofu
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 tsp ketchup
– 1/4 tsp liquid smoke

– 2 tbsp margarine
– 1 onion, small dice
– 3 cups peas, frozen or fresh
– 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
– 8 cups vegetable stock
– salt and pepper to taste

– 1 recipe fresh pasta, rolled out to #4, cut into wide strips

METHOD
1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over med-hi heat.  Add tofu and fry, stirring regularly, until golden brown on all sides.  Add salt, ketchup, and liquid smoke and mix well.  Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Heat margarine in a stock pot over medium heat.  Sauté onion for 5-7 mins, until softened.
3. Add peas, parsley, and stock.  Bring to boil over high heat.  Add pasta and tofu and cook until paste is tender.  Season to taste and serve.

This soup is thick and rich and creamy and perfect for a soup and sandwich lunch on a cold winter’s day.  It does take a little time to make, but the flavour and the texture that comes from reducing all the ingredients down is well worth the wait.

INGREDIENTS
– 2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes (or plum tomatoes)
– 2 tbsp oil
– 1 sweet onion, diced
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 4 stems of fresh thyme
– 1/2 cup diced carrot
– 1/4 cup red lentils
– 4 cups vegetable stock
– 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
– 1 can light coconut milk
– salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Make a tomato paste: Place chopped cherry tomatoes in a small saucepan.  Bring to bubbling over medium heat and cook, uncovered, for 10-12 mins, until thickened and tomatoes have broken down.  Mash with a spoon as they cook.
2. Use a spoon to push the tomato mixture through a fine sieve until just the skins and seeds are left behind.  It will yield about 3/4 cup.
3. While tomatoes are cooking, sauté onions with a large pinch of salt over medium heat in a large pot for 5-7 mins, until softened.  Add garlic, thyme, carrot, and lentils and sauté for 2 mins more.
4. Add stock, canned tomatoes (juice and all), and the cherry tomato paste.  Bring to bubbling over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered for about 40 mins, or until liquid has reduced by a third and veggies are barely covered.  REMOVE THYME STEMS.
5. Blend with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender, until very smooth.  Return to heat and add coconut milk.  Mix well.  Heat through, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve.

A new year, the Gregorian calendar tells us.  What will 2014 bring?  For me, it brings a return to blogging.  Inspired by my time at the Atlanta Veg Fest, I am recipe developing and testing once again and posting the results here.  I am still pretty busy in my non-blogging life, but I realized that I really needed the creative outlet that is this blog.  Plus, I met so many great people in Georgia who love what I do, even though I had not been doing it for a while.  So thanks to everyone: the people who email me about the recipes they like, the almost 27,000 likes on Facebook, the amazing people I have met in person during my travels, etc., etc.  Here’s to the vegan family in 2014!

This Christmas Santa brought me a Breville FastSlow Cooker–a slow cooker and a pressure cooker all in one.  My mom never was into the whole crock pot thing, so it’s not something I am familiar with.  If you are also unfamiliar with the ways of the slow cooker, this recipe will show everything you need to know.  The beauty of slow cooking this soup (besides dinner being ready when you come home from work) is that is makes the chunks of sweet potato tender and delicate without being mushy and breaking apart in the broth.  Delightful.  This soup is reminiscent of Indian dal, and so its warm spices and hearty lentil goodness are perfect for a cold polar vortex kind of day.

INGREDIENTS:
– 2 tbsp oil
– 4 cups of sliced onions (halve and slice onions, then measure)
– 6 cloves of garlic, minced
– 1 jalapeno, de-seeded and minced (optional, or more if you want more heat)
– 2 tsp garam masala
– 2 tsp chili powder
– 1 tsp turmeric
– 1 tsp cumin
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 4 whole cloves
– 6 cups of peeled sweet potato chunks (large, but still bite-sized)
– 1.5 cups chopped tomato (canned or fresh)
– 1 cup red lentils
– 6 cups vegetable stock (or water)
– 1 tsp salt (or as needed, to taste)
– chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

METHOD
This method is for the Breville FastSlow Cooker.  You may have to adjust for your own appliance.
1. Set the slow cooker to the saute setting.  Sauté onions for 8-10 mins, until deep golden brown.  Add garlic and jalapeno (if using) and sauté for 1 min.
2. Add spices and sauté for 1 min.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Adjust salt as needed (it depends on how salty your broth is).  Put the lid of the slow cooker on and cook for 8 hours.  Adjust seasoning as needed.  Top with chopped cilantro if you like it.  Serve.

OK, I think I have all of my holiday beverages sorted out now.  For the past few years I have made Isa’s Matrioshka EggNog, but the problem has always been getting the perfect avocado (as this image suggests).  Considering how far avocad…