Vegan Brunch: we ate it up

[Guest guest]

by Samantha CohenJune 5, 2009 11:36pmFiled under: BooksFoodProduct ReviewRecipes

& Cooking

 

After much loved Vegan with a Vengeance and two delightful cookbook

collaborations with Terry Hope Romero, Isa Chandra Moskowitz has done it again:

amused, enlightened, and fed us with the sassy and scrumptious recipes in her

second solo cookbook, Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For—from

Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes. Actually, this time she amazed and even

frightened us with this book's comprehensiveness. What other cookbook, vegan or

otherwise, includes recipes for from-scratch sausage, bagels, tofu and tempeh

scramble, waffles and pancakes (even some gluten-free), breads, muffins, and

essential brunch drinks, like mimosas and bloody marys?

 

To get intimate with our newest best friend, we tested a bunch of Vegan Brunch's

recipes last weekend potluck-style. Laura packed Potato Spinach Squares, the

Shiitake Dill Fritatta, and the fixings for Pumpkin French Toast; Cat cooked two

recipes of Basic Tofu Scramble; Summer baked Cinnamon Rolls; Jason toted Bloody

Moskowitz materials and Tomato Rosemary Scones on his bike; and Matt and I made

Diner Home Fries, a Classic Broccoli Quiche, and Old-Fashioned Chelsea Waffles.

 

Let's swiftly move on to the food.

 

Tomato Rosemary Scones

The savory flavors of tomato and rosemary were delicious on their own and

complemented the other dishes nicely (thanks for the tip, Deb!). Our two

regrets: 1. we didn't make mushroom gravy for these, and 2. it seems like we

over-mixed them; they were less scone-like and more biscuity. My first batch of

Banana-Date Scones from Veganomicon turned out the same way. Lesson learned:

Mixing scones to perfection is an art that we haven't mastered. Isa, we'd

appreciate it if you could spell it out for us: when do we stop mixing?

 

Diner Home Fries

Some of us thought these were outstanding, and others were nonplussed. (What?

You want my personal opinion? Why, yes, sure. I'd make them with every brunch.)

 

Shiitake Dill Frittata

Yowza, that's a lot of dill! Which we loved. We also enjoyed the frittata's

omelette-like consistency, one that was new for us in vegan recipes. We'll

definitely make this again.

 

Bloody Moskowitz

For a few of us this was our first bloody mary. While we were all generally

pleased with the mingling of tomato, horseradish, pickle juice (yeah, really),

and hot sauce, each of us had a different idea of how it could be improved to

satisfy our disparate tastes. Matt put his down halfway through because it was

" too much like shrimp cocktail. " Mmmmm.

 

Potato Spinach Squares

Is it just me, or are these the most delicious portable food I've ever met?

Well, if you ask a few other SuperVegans, it's just me. Mixed reactions to this

recipe included " fine, but I'm not sure what niche they fill, " " surprising

flavors, " and " I could eat these every day. "

 

Classic Broccoli Quiche

Maybe our tastebuds became lazy after effortlessly sensing the half-cup of fresh

dill in the frittata and the zesty lemon in the potato squares, but we thought

the quiche was blandly seasoned and we could barely taste the broccoli, onions,

and garlic. Damn if the texture wasn't perfect, though—soft, a little creamy,

and it still had a satisfying bite.

 

In fact, the texture was so good that I made this quiche again the following

day, just to see if a heavier dose of herbs and mustard would satisfy my

insensitive tastebuds. And it did! Hurrah! I doubled up on mustard and added

another 50 percent of the herbs, then topped the quiche with about twice as many

grape tomatoes as are pictured here, on the first go-around. The mustard brought

out the taste of the onions, but alas, I still couldn't taste the broccoli.

 

If you use a prepared crust, which we did, this recipe is super quick and simple

and allows more time for reading Bust while waiting for the quiche to bake than

it requires for preparation. Once it's cooked, it tastes splendid at any

temperature, though I think it's best enjoyed a little warm.

 

 

The Chelsea Waffles, Cinnamon Buns, Pumpkin French Toast, and Basic Scrambled

Tofu garnered the same comments: perfectly solid vegan brunch staples, though

perhaps not as impressive as some of the less common recipes Isa offers. Wish

we'd made some bagels or sausages or a Tofu Benny, but we'll save those for our

next vegan brunch. Yum!