Mar20
Meatout Mock Crab Cakes
Posted at 04:13 PM | Permalink
| 
Comments (7)
Amy from the VegCooking blog here. It's that time of the year again for The Great American Meatout—the annual grassroots diet education campaign. Supporters worldwide donate a little of their time to educate the public about delicious vegan cuisine by giving speeches, leafleting, providing food samples, and giving cooking demonstrations. This is exactly where I come in.
I'm confident in saying that I am more of a food expert than Jack, who has admitted to making the same meal for dinner every night for months at a time, which is why I'm here to share a Meatout recipe with you. Trust me, you should be happy it's me and not Jack. He would tell you to open a container of store-bought guacamole and just call it a day.
Since the goal of this day is to encourage meat-eaters to kick that nasty habit (and take the pledge to be veg), I think it's the perfect time to feature a faux-meat recipe. Sure, there are many great products you can buy from the store that require little to no preparation (a few good ones to try are the Morningstar Farms Meal Starters, Boca Chik'n Patties, and Tofurky slices), but if you want to put in a little extra effort—which might be all that's needed to convince your loved ones that they, too, can go veg—try this recipe below for mock crab cakes served up on toasted crostini and topped with a little lemon-dill mayo. Yum.
When your loved ones are done eating, and in awe of how fantastic vegan food can be, don't forget to ask them to take the pledge to be veg.
—Amy
Mock Crab Cakes With Lemon-Dill Mayo
For the Cakes:
1/2 cup finely diced onions
1/4 cup finely diced carrots
Oil for sautéing
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 lbs. firm tofu, crumbled
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/8 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
Juice of 1 lime
- Sauté the onions and carrots in a little oil until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute longer. Let cool completely.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mixing well. Let cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
For the Old Bay Breading:
2 cups panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
- Pulse the panko bread crumbs briefly in a food processor to form a medium-grain crumb.
- Add the Old Bay, salt, and pepper and mix well.
To Assemble:
Tofu mixture
Old Bay breading
Oil for sautéing
1 Baguette
Olive oil for brushing
Lemon-dill mayo (see recipe below)
Dill for garnish (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Form the tofu mixture into 1 1/2-oz. cakes. Dredge the cakes in the breading mix, being certain to cover all surfaces completely.
- Sauté the cakes in a little oil over medium heat in a large, flat-bottomed pan for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until browned and crispy.
- Slice the baguette on the diagonal into 1/2-inch slices, then brush each side with olive oil.
- Bake the baguette slices for 3 to 4 minutes, being careful not to toast completely. Remove from the oven.
- Top each crostini with one tofu cake, a dollop of lemon-dill mayo, and dill garnish, if desired.
Lemon-Dill Mayo
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (try Vegenaise)
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. hot sauce (optional)
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until just combined. Chill until serving.
TAGGED:
vegetarian meatout mock crab cakes crabcakes amy
Comments
Lovely, I can't imagine eating one of the coolest creatures of the sea. Ghost crabs especially, very very wonderful.
And unlike veggie burgers, this recipe is almost wheat free for us allergy folks. Thank you Amy!! ;)
Posted by: Maya, C.V.T. | March 20, 2008 04:30 PM
Sounds good. I'll recommend it to my sister, she loves this kind of stuff.
Posted by: Brianna Fritchey | March 20, 2008 05:13 PM
My husband can hardly wait to make this.
Posted by: Judith, Freedom Fighter for Animals | March 20, 2008 08:59 PM
Looks absolutely delicious!
Posted by: Jason Levy | March 20, 2008 11:50 PM
Hija de puta estas usando un abrigo hecho con ANIMALES?????
HIja de PUTA>
Amar y respetar a los ANIMALES no a las matanzas .STOP por favor...
Son el diablo?
Desde Argentina CONSULATTO>
Posted by: Patricia Visciglio de DIAZ | March 21, 2008 06:17 PM
Thanks for your tastey dishes. I would like to say something that was prompted by a blog argument (not your blogs) on the vegetarian life.
I was blogging with this guy who said he knew everything about the vegetarian diet because he once had a relative who went veggie and they got very sick. He said he researched the lifstyle and was telling everyone how sick they would get if they gave up meat.
He also jumped on PETA for brainwashing young people.
Let me say that I am 60 years old. I became a vegetarian when I first read Peter Singers book, Animal Liberation in the seventies.
I learned how to eat right over the years. There is a wrong way and right way to eat. You can not give up meat and eat a diet of chips and candy and take a few vitamins. Being a vegetarian is a lifestyle and should be treated as such.
People who eat wrong give this lifestyle a bad name.
In this information world there is no reason people should be eating wrong. PETA has some great snack and meal ideas.
BTW, if I have spent $300 at doctor's offices over the past 23 years I would be surprised. Many of my friends are very sick and some have died. I am healthy, happy, and have the energy of a 25 year old.
Oh, and they blogger who thought he knew so much about how bad PETA was signed his name, Farmerboy. Being that I live in a rural area he probablly was a farmer. People need to know that farm journals (and hunting magazines) spend more money on articles about animal right's groups as they do on farm things. They are afraid of vegetarians and brainwash thier readers. Doctors and drug companies are afraid of vegetarians. There are a slew of corporations who are so scared of people being healthy they will defend to their early deaths their right to eat meat, and demand that we do it.
People has nothing to gain from YOU not eating meat. Corporate America does so who are the brainwashers?
I love my life and I owe it all to the way I eat. One thing spirals into another. A happy body makes for a happy mind.
Posted by: Maggy | March 25, 2008 09:51 AM
Thanks to Maggy for that great testimonial. I've been vegetarian for 11 years (it was the Meatout that did it for me, by the way) and most of my family is too. So true about people fearing us. I always notice that whenever I say "No thanks, I don't eat meat," people turn defensive and attack me as if I had tried to push my beliefs on them. In fact I almost never speak up unless I am asked why I don't eat meat, but they sure do feel guilty about their own habits, don't they? Cheers to all who are conscious and considerate enough to do the right thing!
Posted by: Chellee | March 27, 2008 12:51 PM