Beans&Greens's Open Salon Blog

Bookstore Noir

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:11:27 -0500

I know that e-books are the future, but I will continue to wander bookstores until they disappear. Walking through a bookstore is a sensuous experience. The sights, smells, and feel of countless books of different shapes and sizes, and different ages, simply cannot be replicated by sitting hunched over a sterile screen and tapping at keys.

My favorite bookstore is Silver Spring Books, a glorious mess of a used book store located in the funky neighborhood of Silver Spring, MD, just north of D.C. Thousands of books are crammed into floor to ceiling bookcases, arranged more or less by genre, and more or less (often less) in alphabetical order. There are also piles of books scattered around, waiting to be shelved before they tip over. It’s the kind of store where you can find the latest hardcover selling for half price, or an ancient pulp paperback selling for 10 times its original price (of 35 cents!) This is where I find my beloved trashy horror novels, and where I stumbled across a copy of Moby-Dick and realized I’d never read what is now my favorite book.

I owe my knowledge of this store to Silver Spring native and renowned crime fiction author George Pelecanos. In Hell to Pay, Pelecanos’ recurring tough guy Terry Quinn worked at the store. If you’re a Pelecanos fan, then head out to Silver Spring and see how many landmarks you recognize from his books. Your first stop should be Silver Spring Books, located at 938 Bonifant St, Silver Spring, MD. Find yourself a good read, then go across the street to Kefa Café, a coffee shop that also appears in Pelecanos’ novels. And if you see a dopey-looking guy reaching for a tattered old H.P. Lovecraft paperback, chances are it will be me.

Tiracashu

Sun, 6 Mar 2011 20:03:40 -0500

Anything you can moo I cashew better, I cashew anything better than moo!

Tiramisu, which means “pick-me-up," is a popular Italian dessert. The first time I tried it was in an amazing dessert restaurant called “La Dolce Finale” in the Woodley Park section of Washington, D.C. Mrs. Beans&Greens and I were strolling down the sidewalk late at night. Everything was closed, but we saw light coming from a stairwell leading down from the sidewalk to a subterranean restaurant. Intrigued, we went to investigate.

We were amazed at what we found. It was a small, converted wine cellar packed with tiny tables. The walls were brick, the lighting was dark, and racks of wine lined the walls. Off to one side was a counter filled with beautiful Italian desserts and behind that, a small bar and coffee counter. Couples filled the room elbow to elbow with each other, but miraculously, there was one empty table. We grabbed it and marveled at this cozy, romantic treasure we had discovered. Though we had come in for nightcaps, the desserts looked too good to pass up. One in particular stood out: a creamy light brown concoction in a Martini class, topped with whipped cream and dusted with chocolate. We asked what it was. The answer: tiramisu. We ordered two.

Like a first kiss with the one you love, there is only one first tiramisu, and like that first kiss, you never forget it. However, a lot has changed since that night we wandered down those cellar stairs. For one thing, La Dolce Finale has closed, taking with it some of Washington, D.C.’s much needed romance. For another, my wife and I both became vegans and gave up eating all dairy products. Tiramisu became a thing of the past, fondly remembered, but replaced by sorbets and dark chocolates and rich coconut milk ice cream.

Being vegan means many things, not least of which is finding your inner mad culinary scientist. On any given dark and stormy night, you are likely to find me in my kitchen, staring intently at a recipe featuring meat or dairy and pondering how to veganize it. “Crazy, am I? We'll see whether I'm crazy or not. Igor, fetch me some tofu, and make sure it’s fresh!” “Yes, Master!”

(I call my wife “Igor.” She calls me “Master.” It’s the secret of our marital bliss.)

When I saw this week’s SKC, my first thought was, nut cheese stuffed shells. But then I decided, nah, not fancy enough. My next thought was nut cheese cannelloni. But then I thought, nah, not photogenic enough. I wanted something fancy, something photogenic, something sensual. And then it hit me: tiramasu. And forget about nut-based ricotta; leave that to the amateurs. This dish will be really special. This dish will feature cashew marscapone.

It’s alive! Alive! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

TIRACASHU

Most of this recipe comes courtesy of Bryanna Clark Grogan, mostly from her cookbook, Nonna’s Italian Kitchen: Delicious Home-Style Vegan Cuisine. I tweaked bits here and there to use nuts whenever possible, in particular, cashews. I’ve used cashews in the past to make a vegan ricotta cheese, but it turns out that you can make a very tasty mascarpone cheese out of them, too.

There are a number of components to this dessert. I recommend making the mascarpone and whipped “cream” a day ahead, so as to give them time to chill and make your next day’s cooking that much easier. This recipe uses liquor, but can easily be made with substitutes such as coffee or almond flavoring.

Tofu-Cashew Mascarpone

Ingredients

1 (12.3 oz.) box extra-firm Silken tofu

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw cashew pieces, ground very fine (I used a coffee grinder)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

pinch salt

Directions

Whirl all ingredients in a food processor at high speed for several minutes. Be patient -- it has to be very smooth. You may have to stop the machine a couple of times and scrape the sides and push the ingredients that have accumulated under the blade towards the middle. Blend until as smooth as possible.

Now add:

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whirl again in food processor until smooth, then set aside in refrigerator.

Whipped “Cream” Topping

This will need to chill for at least several hours, so make this ahead of time.

Ingredients

1 (12.3 oz.) box extra-firm Silken tofu

1/3 c. melted Earth Balance or other non-dairy, healthy margarine

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon almond-cashew cream (I used a store-bought brand called “MimicCreme,” but regular almond milk will work, too).

1 and-a-half teaspoon vanilla

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 tablespoons coffee liqueur

Directions

Whip all ingredients together in food processor until very smooth.

(Note: To further stabilize your whipped cream, dissolve one tablespoon vegan (kosher) gelatin in the two tablespoons of liqueur, having first heated the liqueur to near boiling, then whip in with the other ingredients).

Refrigerate for at least several hours before serving.

Genoise Cake (Torta Maddalena O Pasta Genovese)

This makes a great substitution for the lady fingers that are typically used in tiramisu. An electric mixer will make this step much easier for you.

Ingredients

1 and ¾ cups of whole wheat pastry or cake flour

1 cup turbinado sugar, ground fine in a blender

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ cup Earth Balance or similar margarine

2/3 cup water

½ cup almond-cashew cream, or almond milk

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two round 8 inch greased and floured cake pans – preferably springform pans, though that’s not necessary.

Mix dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl with a whisk.

Add the margarine and water, and beat with an electric blender for one minute.

Add the remaining ingredients and beat one more minute.

Divide equally between the two pans. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cakes test as done. Test by sticking a toothpick in. If it comes out clean, cakes are done. If it comes out gooey, cook a few more minutes and try again. If it comes out bloody, call an exorcist.

Cool on racks (or your stove) for five minutes, then loosen cakes and remove from pans to finish cooling. These cakes are delicate, so patience and TLC will help get them out of the pan in one piece.

Raspberry Sauce (courtesy of Wolfgang Puck)

Ingredients

Two pints of fresh raspberries

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries exude some juice, then bring to boil and stir until thickened but still liquid.

Press through a fine strainer into a bowl until only the seeds and other solids remain in the strainer. Place the bowl of sauce in the fridge to chill, and discard the contents of the strainer.

Espresso-Liquor Mixture

Stir together:

1/3 cup freshly brewed espresso, or espresso made from 1/3 cup boiling water and one packet of instant espresso powder, and

3 tablespoons of liquor. I used two tablespoons of 151 proof rum and one tablespoon of coffee liqueur, but amaretto or brandy, etc., will work too.

Cocoa Sugar Sprinkle

In a blender or food processor, mix until powdery:

1/3 cup Dutch (dark) unsweetened cocoa

3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Store in a covered jar or shaker bottle (a clean spice jar with a perforated top works well).

ASSEMBLING THE TIRACASHU

This is the fun part. You can assemble your tiracashu in two ways:

First: in a martini glass:

We will build this baby from the bottom up.

Step one: Take a shot glass, hold it upside down, and cut a small round piece out of one of your cakes. Do this near the edge, so as to leave most of the cake intact. Shake the piece out carefully, then put it in the bottom of the glass. Gently press it down to fill in the bottom of the glass

Step two: Sprinkle some espresso liquor mixture over the cake, saving most for later on.

Step three: Put a goodly scoop of mascarpone on top of the cake/espresso liquor level. Bear in mind that you’ll be needing most of the mascarpone for the upper layer, where the diameter of the glass is larger.

Step four: cover the mascarpone with some raspberry sauce, enough to make a satisfyingly pretty and tasty level.

Step five: Find a drinking glass or something else that is about the diameter of the martini glass at the step four level. Use it to cut a round out of the cake and put that round on top of the raspberry sauce.

Lookin’ pretty good now, eh? You might actually pull this thing off.

Step six: Sprinkle espresso liquor mixture over the cake.

Step seven: Put in a healthy dollop of mascarpone, saving some room in the glass for the whipped cream.

Step eight: Sprinkle cocoa-sugar mix onto mascarpone, covering it.

Step nine: Add your whipped cream, filling to top of glass. Smooth it flat with a spoon or, if no one is watching, your finger.

Step ten: Cover with more cocoa-sugar mix.

Put the finished creation in the refrigerator so it can chill for at least several hours before serving. This is the part where, if you were going to screw things up, now’s the time. Handle that glass like a precious object. Once it’s safely in the refrigerator, shut the door gently and take a deep breath. Congratulations! You did it!

Repeat with as many more glasses as you see fit.

The other way to assemble your tiracashu is as a cake:

You will do this according to the steps above, layer by layer, with one exception. Instead of cutting rounds out of your cake, you will instead cut your cake in half horizontally.

You’ll need a sharp knife and steady nerves for this, because the cake is fragile. Worse, the edges are stiff and crusty, which is all well and good, except it makes the cutting that much more difficult. A good way to do this is to get a long, sharp knife and insert it tip-first into the cake with one hand, while using your other hand to press down the top of the cake, above where you think the knife blade is. Start sawing through your cake slowly and carefully, taking care not to angle the blade up through the top and into your hand (if that happens, tell them it’s just raspberry sauce. They’ll never know).

Once you’ve cut the cake in half, figure out a good way to separate the two halves, such as by inserting something large and thin between them. If you have a very large spatula, that might work, but this cake – especially a thin half of the cake – won’t hold together at the edges if there’s nothing under it to support it.

Having successfully separated the two halves, put them onto a cake platter or in a large shallow dish – whatever you’ll be serving it on – and assemble in the same manner as the martini glass method, then chill for several hours.

Bon appetit! If this dessert doesn’t get you some romancing from whoever you serve it to (preferably your significant other, and not your mom), then nothing will.

Collard Greens Dolmades with Cannellini Beans & Kale Filling

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:02:40 -0500

I love dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), and one of my favorite soups is Tuscan white bean & kale soup. So, when I read about this week's SKC, I thought, why not combine the two?

This dish starts with Mark Bittman's inspired take on dolmades, in which he substituted collard greens for the traditional grape leaves, but after that it was all improvisation. I hope you like it.

COLLARD GREENS DOLAMDES WITH CANNELLINI BEANS & KALE FILLING:

(I had originally intended to use dried beans, but couldn’t locate any, so I had to make do with the canned variety. If you can find dried beans, use them instead. They always taste better, methinks).

There are two parts to this recipe: turning a bunch of collard greens into your dolmades wrappers, and making the filling.

For the collard greens wrappers, you will need:

16-20 collard greens (about two bunches). Try to buy the biggest ones you can find, with as few torn leaves as possible. Cut the stems off.

For the filling, you’ll need:

Two 15-ounce cans of Cannellini beans, or one cup of dried beans.

One bunch of kale (approximately 8 ounces) destemmed and chopped

Couple tablespoons of olive oil

4-6 cloves of garlic, or more, depending on your taste or level of vampiric infestation, roughly chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 cup chopped parsley, preferably Italian, but curly will work, too.

¼ teaspoon of each of the following dried herbs: rosemary, basil, oregano, marjoram, and thyme.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Half a cup of short grain brown rice.

Glass of white wine (optional)

Directions

Drain the canned beans, reserving the liquid. Set beans aside.

So, cook up your rice and set it aside. To cook the rice, put the half cup of brown rice and one cup of water into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt, and bring to boil over a high heat. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 50 minutes. When it’s done, remove from heat, take the cover off, fluff it and let it sit.

While the rice is cooking, add the olive oil to a large pan or wok and heat over medium high. It is very important to have your glass of wine within reach. When the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and saute until soft. Be careful not to let the garlic or onion get brown; you just want it all nice and soft. This will take several minutes, and is somewhat tedious. As you stir with one hand, take hold of the glass of wine with the other. Have a sip. Have another. This will help to relieve the tedium.

It occurs to me that sautéing and playing darts share the same virtue: both activities can be done with one hand, while your free hand can hold your drink. This, then, makes both the perfect leisure activity.

Once the garlic and onions are soft, pour in your herbs, salt, and pepper, stir it up, and add the kale. Stir everything up to coat the kale, and sauté until the kale gets soft. This will take a few minutes, and thus is the ideal time to finish your glass of wine.

Once the kale is soft, remove the mixture from heat.

You’ll now need a food processor or blender. Put the beans and kale mixture into the food processor, add the parsley, and process until smooth. You can add some of the reserved bean liquid, but try not to, as you want a nice thick mixture. Set aside to cool.

Check on your rice! Burned rice tastes crummy, and if that happens, you’ll need to start the nearly hour-long process all over again.

At this point, if you have cats or other pets and it is near their dinner time, take a break from the cooking and feed them. The righteous man feedeth his beasts before himself. If you are a woman, find yourself a righteous man to feedeth your beasts.

Having fedeth your beasts, it is now time to prepareth the collard greens.

This part is easy. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add some salt, and then put half the collard greens into the pot for 2 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon or spatula, put them in a colander, and rinse with cold water. Repeat with the other half of greens.

Your collard greens should now be a beautiful, rich, deep green color. They're good enough to eat by themselves, but try to restrain yourself. However, if any of the greens got torn in the cooking, go to town.

Dry the collard greens, though not completely. An easy way to do this is to lay a towel on your counter, put some leaves on it, and blot with a second towel.

After the leaves are mostly dry, but still moist, take a sharp knife and run it along each side of the stem, removing stem in the process. The stems are actually sweet and tasty, so if you’re hungry, go ahead and eat them.

Mark Bittman says to trim the top and bottom of the leaves to make a rectangle, but I didn’t. That’s up to you.

Your rice should be cooked and cooled by now. Mix some into the bean mixture until you get the consistency you want. Taste test, and add more salt or other seasonings as you see fit. Like I said, you want your filling to have a nice thick consistency.

Now comes the fun part: rolling up your dolmades. This will get messy, so have a towel handy. Spoon some filling into a leaf and roll it up. The only way to do this right is to try a few and figure out what works for you. I can tell you that less filling is better, as it will allow you to roll the leaves up like a burrito. This is also kinda like rolling a doobie, or so I’ve heard.

Place the dolmade on a plate, seam side down, and move on to the next one. After you make a few more, you’ll probably find yourself staring at that heaping pile of collard green leaves and realizing that it’s going to take a lot longer than you thought to make all those dolmades. This is the perfect occasion to wash your hands off and pour yourself another glass of wine.

When you’re finally done, put the dolmades in the refrigerator until chilled, then serve with lemon wedges.

Bon appetit!

Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh with red rice and collard greens

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:02:15 -0500

This Open Salon citrus challenge dish is made with fresh oranges and lime. The main ingredient is tempeh, a fermented soy product very popular in Indonesia. Tempeh has a delicious nutty flavor and firm texture, and is a good source of protein.

Mrs. Beans & Greens declared this meal delicious, and I have to admit that I agreed with her.

This recipe comes courtesy of Heidi Swanson. I made a few changes that are indicated below.

ORANGE PAN-GLAZED TEMPEH

Ingredients

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3-4 large juicy oranges)

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons tamari (or soy sauce)

1 1/2 tablespoons mirin

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 small garlic cloves, crushed roughly

10 ounces of tempeh

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 lime

A handful of basil leaves*

Directions

Put the orange juice in a small bowl. Add the tamari, mirin, and maple syrup, ground coriander, and crushed garlic.** Mix together and set aside.

Cut the tempeh into thin-ish, bite-sized pieces. Put the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the tempeh and fry for 5 minutes, or until golden underneath. Turn and cook the other side for another 5 minutes, or until golden. Pour the orange juice mixture into the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced to a lovely thick glaze. Turn the tempeh once more during this time and spoon the sauce over the tofu from time to time.

Serve the tempeh drizzled with any remaining sauce and a squeeze of lime, with the coriander scattered on top.

My variations from the original recipe are indicated above by asterisks, and are as follows:

* The original recipe called for cilantro leaves. I substituted chopped fresh basil.

** The original recipe called for squeezing the grated ginger over the orange juice to extract the ginger juice, then discarding the pulp. I just mixed all of the grated ginger in with the juice.

I served this dish over Bhutanese red rice cooked in coconut water instead of plain water. Bhutanese red rice has a nice nutty flavor and slightly crunchy texture. For a side dish, I stir fried collard greens with minced fresh garlic in sesame oil. We served it with Strongbow dry hard apple cider, which went very well with the sweetness of the meal.

The original recipe can be found here: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/orange-panglazed-tempeh-recipe.html

Enjoy!

A Peek into the Mysterious Mundane Diet of a Vegan Salonista

Fri, 4 Feb 2011 19:02:29 -0500

[This post was inspired by Francis Lam’s article, “A Peek into the Thrilling, Exotic Diet of a Food Writer”]

The other day at the supermarket checkout line, the young woman scanning my purchases asked me if I was vegan. When I answered yes, she asked a question we vegans get all the time:

"What do you eat?”

The dictionary answer is, everything except for animal products. But that’s not what people are asking; these days, it seems everyone knows what “vegan” means. What they really want to know is, if you don’t eat those things, then what on Earth do you eat?

From my perspective as a vegan of 20 years, that makes me smile just a little. The truth is that I eat a wider variety of foods now than I ever did as an omnivore. Being vegan in the United States, home of the sacred cheeseburger, practically forces one to explore the cuisines of the world. If eating is one of your greatest pleasures, as it is for me, then you soon discover that it’s a labor of love.

That is a topic for another time. Right now, I would just like to describe what I and my wife (also a vegan) ate in the last week. This is a normal week for us: no special occasions that call for elaborate meals, no dinner parties where we seek to impress and entertain, no snow days where we have plenty of spare time to indulge in gastronomic creativity. Instead, this is a typical meal plan for the work week, in which we wake up early, race to get to our jobs on time, schlep home tired and cranky, and drag our sorry asses out a few nights of the week to remind ourselves that we work to live, not live to work.

Monday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (rolled oats) topped with raisins, banana, blueberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk (So Delicious brand).

Morning snack: An apple.

Lunch: Salad of red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber, red pepper, walnuts, and this week’s special guest star, sliced rutabaga.   A carrot. A few sticks of celery.

Afternoon snack: Handful of almonds, two prunes, an orange.

Dinner: Olives for an appetizer. Whole wheat pasta with soy “meatballs” in marinara sauce, kale sautéed in olive oil and garlic. Red wine.

Dessert: A wee bit o’ dark chocolate.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (quinoa flakes) topped with raisins, banana, blueberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk.

Morning snack: An apple.

Lunch: Salad of red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber, red pepper, walnuts, and sliced rutabaga.   A carrot. A few sticks of celery.

Afternoon snack: Handful of almonds, two prunes, an orange.

Dinner: Cuban-style black beans. Long grain brown rice. Spinach sautéed in olive oil and garlic. Red wine.

Dessert: A wee bit o’ dark chocolate.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (whole wheat farina) topped with raisins, banana, blueberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk.

Morning snack: An apple.

Lunch: Marinated baked tofu sandwich with lettuce, onion and tomato.   A carrot. A few sticks of celery.

Afternoon snack: Handful of almonds, two prunes, an orange.

Dinner: Mulligatawny soup made with red lentils, seitan, coconut milk, and cilantro, over brown basmati rice. White wine.

Dessert: A wee bit o’ dark chocolate.

Thursday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (brown rice grits) topped with raisins, banana, blueberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk.

Morning snack: An apple.

Lunch: Salad of green bibb lettuce, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber, red pepper, walnuts, and sliced, rutabaga.   A carrot. A few sticks of celery.

Afternoon snack: Handful of almonds, two prunes, an orange.

Dinner: Leftover Mulligatawny soup made with red lentils, seitan, coconut milk, and cilantro, over brown basmati rice. White wine.

Dessert: A wee bit o’ dark chocolate.

Friday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (corn grits) topped with raisins, banana, blueberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk.

Morning snack: An apple.

Lunch: Salad of green bibb lettuce, tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber, red pepper, walnuts, and sliced rutabaga. A carrot. A few sticks of celery.

Afternoon snack: Handful of almonds, two prunes, an orange.

Dinner: Taco night! The funnest night of the year! Lock the doors and close the curtains. It’s gonna get messy!

Taco shells filled with soy ground round mixed with diced tomatoes, Hatch green chili peppers, and spices. Topped with shredded green lettuce, salsa, chopped onions, vegan cheddar cheese (Daiya brand), vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand), guacamole, and fresh jalapeno slices. Served with plenty of cerveza.

Dessert: Lemon sorbet.

Saturday

Breakfast: Hot cereal (steel cut oats) topped with raisins, banana, strawberries, a mixture of chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, with vanilla hemp milk. Coffee with coconut milk.

Lunch: Leftovers scrounged from the fridge.

Dinner: Restaurant night. This time, Burmese:

Appetizer: A salad of shredded fresh ginger, cabbage tossed with Burmese dressing, garnished with fried garlic, crispy yellow peas, and carrots

Entrée (hers): Lightly fried tofu with cilantro simmered in onion tomato base curry. House ale.

Entrée (his): Lightly fried tofu and Asian hot pepper simmered in onion tomato base curry. House ale.

Dessert: Coconut milk ice cream.

Sunday

Breakfast: Buckwheat pancakes made with hemp milk and egg substitute (Ener-G brand), mushed banana and chopped walnuts, topped with maple syrup and strawberries. Vegan snausages (Tofurkey brand). Plenty of coffee with coconut milk.

Lunch: Leftovers scrounged from the fridge.

Dinner: Pizza made with vegan mozzarella (Daiya brand), topped with mushrooms, onions, hot pepper rings and vegan pepperoni (Yves brand). Red wine.

Dessert: A wee bit o’ dark chocolate.

So there you have it. The answer to the question, "What do vegans eat?" Next week: "What do vegans wear to a leather bar?"