Sunday, January 3, 2010

Paella with Oyster Mushrooms & Sherry-braised Seitan Sausages

paella 009

First, happy new year everybody! I hope you all have a great 2010, and that our new decade is an improvement on the last. We'll leave it at that.

I would love to claim this recipe as my own, because it was perfectly awesome. It's from Tal Ronnen's The Conscious Cook. I picked up the book this weekend, with a Christmas gift card from my brother and sister-in-law. She said she wanted to give me a vegan cookbook, but they got a gift card so I could pick it out - very cool, so thanks Kim!

The Conscious Cook was on my cookbook wish-list. He was the chef who prepared Oprah's meals during her vegan experiment earlier this year, and clearly wants to eliminate any "second class" status for vegan cooking. All of the recipes and photos look like things you would find in a high-end gourmet restaurant. At least I assume that's what they look like, since I've never been to one of those places.

This paella sticks pretty close to Ronnen's recipe, and any changes were minor. Simmering the sausages in sherry just seemed like a good excuse to sip a little sherry while I was cooking. The oyster mushrooms were sauteed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and dusted with nori flakes to give them a sea flavor. That trick alone made this recipe worthwhile - the nori-oyster mushrooms are simply delicious.

14 comments:

Trinity (of haiku tofu) said...

This looks delicious! I had a veggie paella when I was in Spain, and I'm forever chasing the flavors and technique. Do you tweet?

Bianca said...

Wow! This looks delicious, especially since I'm off gluten for a 26-day cleanse (grrr...). I need Tal's book! I thumbed through it the other day in the store, and I REALLY want it. But I've gotta work through some other new cookbooks before I can buy any more.

Miss Kitchen Witch said...

That looks so awesome. I'm not usually big on mushrooms, but we just got this book too and now I really want to make this. Tal is doing a demo at our whole foods next week, I can't wait!

Woobie is Vegan said...

I'm excited to see a recipe from Tal's book! We just got it over the holidays too but haven't tested the waters on anything. Cool!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

yum it looks great

Shenandoah bed and breakfast said...

I have used the 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c raw sugar, 1/2 c brown sugar, a touch of salt, and a table spoon of butter. I stake it could be made vegan. I put it on medium-high heat and stimulated it and watched it 'til it got the consistency and color of caramel. It was so surprisingly good that I ended up eating what was left straight out of the bowl!

Best Regards,

Anonymous said...

I got that cookbook for Christmas and loooove it. The quinoa sushi rocked my socks and you're right, he's totally gourmet...no funky vegan here :)

vegan.in.brighton said...

Yum that looks really really great, I think I'll have to add that cookbook to my ever growing wish list. i've never had a vegan paella and I really need to get around to trying one!

River - The Crafty Kook said...

It looks amazing! I just saw Tal Ronnen on Oprah a couple of days ago. Oprah was showing some of her favorite clips from her show, I think, and Tal Ronnen's clip was one of them. That book is also definitely on my wish list!

Unknown said...

This looks great, I too will have to find that book eventually. I don't frequently have time to comment, but your blog is one of the ones that keeps me excited and inspired about vegan cooking and veganism, so thank you and keep up the good work.

Cassie - Vegan Fox said...

This looks delicious! Not sure when I will have a copy of this book myself, but luckily our library has it. I've never had a paella, but this looks like a good one to start with.

viagra online said...

Looks delicious, my grandmother once did the exact dish, but it does not looked like the one on your photo.

Jaclyn said...

Here, I do not actually think this is likely to have success.

Palak Varma said...

When someone gets attached, it feels very amazing. When I get bored in the house, I come to the people to comment. Thank you very much
Sector 17 Escorts Service
Call Girls Sector 16
haryana Escorts Service
Call Girls Sector 18
Call Girls Sector 19
Call Girls Sector 20
Call Girls DLF Phase 1
Call Girls DLF Phase 3