Thanks to Faux

It’s hard to believe that we are already well on our way into October.  What happened to the days of peeling back that loose spaghetti strap in hopes of airing out the line of sweat created from walking half a block down the road?  Where did the summer go this year?  In what really seems like the blink of an eye, mornings have become quiet and dark, t-shirts have turned into oversized wool sweaters and the leaves have gone from green to bright purples, oranges, reds and yellows.  Despite the nip in the air, I really do love everything that fall has to offer…Especially Thanksgiving.

Living away from home and family for the past few years, Thanksgiving has been a holiday that I have had to celebrate by myself as it plops itself into a long weekend that is much too short to fly across Canada for and; of course, it conflicts with midterms and papers that come soon after the feast is put onto the table.

That does NOT mean by any means that I go through the weekend alone or that I don’t celebrate.  In fact I have made it a bigger holiday than what it was when I lived at home.  I take on the ENTIRE to-do and to-make list of Thanksgiving and invite every other “home-less” friend or foe around so that they too can experience and be grateful for the bounty of fall.

This year was extra special and deserved extra gratitude as Adam de-stressed the whole day by cleaning up the trails of messes I left behind me in the kitchen and also put together a beautiful Autumn-inspired table layout complete with real acorns, real pumpkins and real leaves — I emphasize REAL as he was very disappointed in my recent purchase of FAUX leaves…My only justification was “I am tired of replacing all of the live foliage in our house,” but that didn’t stand a chance.  We don’t do faux. No, we don’t.

Well, let’s step back a bit.  We do do faux.  Sometimes…At Thanksgiving. Faux Turkey style.

I made my first faux turkey a few years back as the thought of yet another “lentil loaf” made me cringe and throw up a little in my mouth.  (Don’t take offence to this Mom — Your lentil loafs were lovely…Your loaves are what made me have to start wearing lentil loaf pants at Thanksgiving and Christmas.)  But let’s just say I was ready for a change! And I wanted something that could withstand cranberry sauce AND take on a smothering of gravy…and MAYBE, be stuffed. Okay, I’m pushing it…

Or, am I?

Tofurkey is something you hear about on passing by…Laugh a little, and then remenisce  about that Everybody Loves Raymond episode with the football-like “bird” with protruding “legs” that jiggle.  “Yaaa… That’s the sign of a good bean curd bird!”

But believe me, if you can master Tofurkey you can master anything! And the number one step towards mastering Tofurkey is to have it NOT jiggle.

I have made my fare share of Tofurkey’s and if I do say so myself, I am truly the Queen of Queen’s when it comes to throwing together the staple to any Vegan Thanksgiving Feast.

Faux Turkey, or Tofu Turkey, or Tofurkey

Ingredients

5 packages extra firm tofu (preferably organic and gluten free if necessary)
4 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp tamari sauce, or Bragg’s All Seasoning Sauce
1 tbsp apple butter
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tsp dijon mustard
4 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Stuffing
1 tbsp grape seed oil
3 cups oven dried bread cubes (a medley of any day-old bread on hand — gluten free if necessary; I used some gluten free and some not just because it’s not necessary for me but the stuffing still really works with gluten free bread!)
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 apple, cubed
2 large leaves kale
6 stalks celery, diced
2 small portobella mushroom caps and stems, or 1 large portobello
1/2 cup dried apricot, quartered
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 – 2 cups vegetable stock (read labels if gluten free is necessary — I also used the last bit of carrot juice because I don’t like to waste…Anything.)
6 sprigs fresh thyme, minced
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Assembly

1. The day before feast day (this step can be done in the morning of the feast as well, just as long as it has at least four hours to sit with some weight on it — but I find day before prep really relieves the day of panic attacks!:) Line a large colander/strainer with a smoothed out cheese cloth and set aside. Drain out the liquid from the tofu blocks and then grate all of it with either a box grater or the food processor’s built in grater. Transfer the grated tofu to a large bowl and stir in 2 tsp of the poultry seasoning and 2 tsp of the oregano. Then pour into the cheese cloth lined strainer and press out any more liquid that you can at this time. Fold over the excess cheese cloth so that the top of the tofu is covered and place on any heavy objects, i.e. a tupperware filled with water, a couple cans of pumpkin etc. Store in fridge overnight in a bowl in order to further dehydrate and form the tofu into a circular (err.. turkey) shape.

2. On the day: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove tofu from fridge and set aside. While the tofu comes to room temperature, you can begin preparing the stuffing. In a large pot, sauté the onion, apple, celery, kale, mushrooms and garlic for about 5 minutes. Stir in the dry bread in order to cover it with the vegetable juices and flavours, and then slowly stir in the vegetable stock. Finally add the herbs and spices (only 1 tsp poultry seasoning here.) Leave the stuffing on low heat while you prepare the tofu for actual stuffing.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, tamari, apple butter, orange juice, dijon, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. Remove the cheese cloth covering the top of the tofu and begin to scrape off layers until you have created a bowl-like shape in the strainer. Be sure to set all of the scraped off tofu aside as you still need this! There should be about an inch of tofu remaining lining the strainer by the end.

5. Brush on a bit of the sesame oil mix and then add the stuffing to the cavity. (There will probably be leftover stuffing but that’s okay; just wrap up in tinfoil to further bake in the oven.) Once you have stuffed the whole cavity so that it lines up to the top of the “bowl” you can begin firmly pressing on the tofu scraps in order to completely cover the stuffing and make a seal with the original tofu layer.

6. Brush on a little more sesame oil sauce and then cover the top with tinfoil. This is where it kind of gets tricky. Turn the strainer over so that the flat “top” covered in tinfoil is now the bottom and place in the roasting pan. At this point you can remove the cheese cloth so that you reveal the turkey/circular formation. Brush the top with sesame sauce and place on a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Cover with tinfoil and bake for an hour and a half. Remove from oven and brush on a little more sauce (we’re basting here folks!) Recover with tinfoil and bake for another hour. Remove and brush on more sauce. Return to the oven without the tinfoil and bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until the top is nicely browned.

7. If you are eating right away, remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes and then serve. If not feel free to keep in the oven on its lowest temperature setting for up to two hours; the longer it sits, the more tender and flavourful it gets. Seriously. Time is key.

Serve with all of your other wonderful vegan sides. I’ll be back soon with some other Thanksgiving/Christmas specials to guide you through a tasty and successful evening.

While this recipe is time consuming it really is easy and fool proof.  It can all be done on the same day too, I just like to split it up into two days to lessen the amount to do on the actual day.

To all you Canadians, I hope you had an incredible Thanksgiving — Maybe you can try your hand at this for Christmas or next year! But for all you Americans, there’s still time! Go buy out your local grocer’s tofu supply.

Advertisements