I also have a strainer-full of little winking mushrooms and carrots that I've boiled with bay leaves and herbs to make a steamy mushroom broth (see below), with which I am now dressing my daily portion of buckwheat kasha and may use to make a glazed carrot or glazed beet soup. But, the strained goodies, how could I throw these away? Let's travel to the future together and collectively invent a recipe for vegetarian meat loaf made from these little tidbits!
How would you go about making this dream loaf? Would you add some bread crumbs and maybe an egg or two and some milk and blend before baking in a bread pan? Would you roast some other things into the mix? Which herbs? Comrades, let's make this veggie loaf dream happen!
5 comments:
I've made things like that before, and my first instinct - use lentils - seems to be right. See here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Really-Good-Vegetarian-Meatloaf-really-33921 and here: http://healthycooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/vegetarian_meat_loaf; it also sounds like brown rice is a good thing to add - both ingredients easily available in Moscow. And egg and milk for glue and bread crumbs for texture. Personally, I'd also go very heavy on the fried onions and garlic and spice the whole thing with what I call the "Simon and Garfunkel Bouquet" (Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Yes, I do actually sing that when I need to remember what to put in my stews :)). Good luck!
(Also, if you're into potatoes, one can use lentils to make an awesome imitation shepherd's pie! And something I've had here in Slovenia was a very simple buckwheat kasha with mushrooms and sour cream - totally delicious! So may be just leave the 'shrooms in the broth? Worth a try, anyway).
I concur with KG on this one. You think about meatloaf, it's basically an overseasoned hamburger, baked like a loaf of bread. So for a veggie version, why not a giant veggie-burger, baked like a loaf of bread? Lentils make sense for that, and bread crumbs too, in part because the veggies are going to keep getting moister and moister and you need something that can absorb and soak up both flavor and liquid. Beans would work too. Or you go noodle/potato and make something more like a casserole. But if you leave it just veggies than it's not going to hold its shape at all, and the texture will be old person mush and not springy baby flesh.
Also, can I just say how disturbed I am by the baby thigh/flesh imagery?! It's one thing not to like babies, but this is a little much, don't you think?! :)
I only ever want to eat Christmas borscht, like all the - all the - all the time. With mushrooms. Waaaah
Thanks for the brilliant advice, y'all! If I weren't gallivanting around all weekend, this baby-shaped savory torte would be made already. But as it's a holiday weekend (International Women's Day, natch), I've decided to put off cooking. The festivities in an imminent post.
On a side-note, kg, I do believe you've missed the essence of the metaphor - I love babies. Enough to eat. Nom Nom Nom and all that. (cf. cuteoverload.com)
Post a Comment