veganomicon is one of my favorite cookbooks, and i've been eyeing the chickpea cutlets for a while. not only because they sound interesting, but because every single blog entry i've ever read (that has cooked them) likes them. so, chances are, i might like them too. and i'm still working out how i feel about vital wheat gluten, so i thought it'd be safe to try a recipe that lots of other people seem to enjoy.
following v-con's suggestion, i made the cutlets with some roasted asparagus and topped both with a little homemade mustard sauce. the other third of the plate was being taken up by lemony roasted potatoes, as you can see in the above photo.
so, allow me to describe my meal in sections:
first, i point out that meals that require multiple, simultaneous methods of cooking (particularly when one of them contains the label of "saute") are not my forte. baking, soups, stews, casseroles, one-pot meals, etc. - those things come more easily to me. but i've been trying to branch out more. that, and i watch top chef. i watch top chef and i think to myself, 'i want to do that! i want 5 pots going at once - it doesn't matter that i've had no formal training!' it really does matter, but i'm trying to ignore that part. plus, practicing counts for something.
anyway.
lemony roasted potatoes are an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. recipe. easily some of the most delicious potatoes i've ever eaten. and if you don't own v-con, i found a posting of the recipe online, which i will now link you to... (click here to get to lemony potato recipe)*.
the only thing is that the recipe calls for them to be in the oven for 30-35 minutes, and mine needed to be in the oven for, um, over an hour. this is not a big deal unto itself, but if you're trying to be a TOP CHEF and are timing the asparagus out with the potatoes and then have numerous pots on top of the stove dependent upon the potatoes being finished a certain time, this is bad and throws everything off. its also sad in that two other people i know have cooked this recipe before and have had the exact same problem, and i simply forgot. but do not let this deter you, because the taste is sooo worth it. so. worth. it. five stars. five TOP CHEF stars.
now onto the rest...
sadly, due to the slow-cooking potato debacle, the asparagus lost some of its lustre. nothing to be done. oh well. live and let die.
the cutlets - this was the big one. vital wheat gluten AND saute - my enemy. and ... i do believe i liked them. i think the trick (for me personally), as i am learning with vital wheat gluten, is that it becomes palatable when you panfry whatever it is you are eating. which means that i don't eat it very often, as i'm trying not to eat a lot of fried foods. and i liked the mustard sauce just fine, but i do believe that i would enjoy it more with a mushroom gravy. or (she said, thinking outside the box) i think i could eat this baked if it were a chickpea cutlet parmesan type concoction.
mmmm.
* which brings me to 'recipes online.' does anyone know how it works? i've been assuming that if its published in a book or written on someone else's website, then it can't go on your (or my) website. yet, i see re-prints all the time. i have no interest in doing anything illegal, but i'd write recipes if i knew i could. as mary asked, what's the 411?
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