Vegan Food and Wine Pairing: A Six-Course Adventure

Growing up in the California Central Valley, I remember washing dishes after family dinners while looking out over vineyards full of ripening grapes. The smells of dirt and fruit that filled the air on those September evenings during harvest are what came to my mind when I found out my round three Project Food Blog challenge:

"Celebrate! You've made it this far, and the next challenge is to hold a party for your friends and family (at least four guests, you can include yourself in the 4 person count). Whether you're an experienced host or an entertaining newbie, get creative and host a luxurious dinner party where your guests will discover new tastes and exotic flavors. Share your hosting secrets with readers, like how to cook for a crowd, plan a menu, or involve guests in the prep."

Wine is a community builder. It can create a bond between strangers who find themselves tasting and sharing their thoughts on the bottle they have experienced. With my vino-philosophy in mind, I invited my dinner guests to bring a bottle of California wine to the dinner and with 48-hours notice, I would create a dish to pair with their offering. My friends are always offering to help, and this allowed my guests to be active contributors to the party while leaving them guessing how their wines would be paired.

While I did the research, pairing, and cooking; I added a teacher-twist to the evening by asking my guests to explain what wine they brought and why they chose it. You can take the public-speaking teacher out of the classroom but she will still encourage everyone to speak in an intimate environment involving wine and food! This got everyone involved in conversations about the wines while I brought the dishes to each of my guests. Since I am participating in the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 21-Day Kickstart, I decided to prepare an all-vegan menu for the evening, a first for my entertaining résumé which meant lots of research.

In doing my research on pairing vegan menus with wine, I learned something new about wine-making. Most wines aren't vegan! Both conventional and organic wine makers use "animal products" to keep wines from turning cloudy and/or removing "off-tastes." This process is called fining and works by an agent acting like an electrostatic magnet to collect the unwanted matter. Although non-animal alternatives exist, the more common agents used are egg whites, casein, gelatin, egg albumin, and isinglass (derived from fish). While the fining agent is removed from the wine before bottling, there are still animal products used in it's production.

Unfortunately, I had already asked my friends to choose the wines, and several had already picked special wines for the event. I encourage strict vegans to investigate before purchasing wine to ensure it meets your standards. I could not find any of the wines I served on vegan-friendly wine lists, so while my dishes are vegan, the wines may not be. However, these dishes were prepared to pair with regionally grown varietals and could be paired with wine from a vegan winemaker as well!

Pairing food with wine is an art. However, you don't have to be a pro to celebrate local wines and foods. While most wine guides reference meat and cheese pairings, you can create the perfect pairing without animal products. In fact, according to Berenice Madrigal-Galan and Hildegarde Heymann at the University of California at Davis, eating cheese can significantly alter the flavors of red wine. So let's explore some simple pairing guidelines that you can use at your next party, as I share the dishes I prepared for my guests!

Fresh Peach Gazpacho

Check with the Winery! My friends Susan and Rob introduced me to J Vintage Brut through a tasting experience in the J Winery Bubble Room. This wine and food pairing experience changed how I saw pairing wine and food, because the food was created to pair with the wine instead of finding a wine to pair with a dish you are already preparing. When Susan told me they were bringing J Vintage Brut to the dinner, I took a quick peek at the winery Web site where I found a dish I adapted to be vegan. Many wineries offer pairing ideas and recipes that have been created to serve with their wines, so I encourage checking out their Web sites while preparing your menus. In the case of this fresh peach gazpacho, I substituted agave nectar for the honey and soy yogurt in place of traditional yogurt.

Campari Tomato filled with Chili-Laced Avocado and Grapefruit garnish

Acidity: Pair acidic foods with wines that have a higher acid level. Tomatoes and citrus make for a lovely salad, but you don't want to drown out the subtleties of the wine you are enjoying. While acid levels in wine vary based on region and winemaker, Sauvignon Blanc is a wine that is generally on the higher acid spectrum. I prepared the avocado by mashing it with a little lemon juice, salt, and chili powder before piping it into the hollowed Compari tomato and adding a wedge of locally-grown grapefruit.

Forbidden Rice Salad with Roast Winter Squash

Body & Weight: Look at the weight of both the food and wine you are serving. I don't mean break out the scale, but rather consider the mouth feel of both things you plan to serve together. Wines range from having a light feeling to a heavier taste in your mouth and your food should match that weight. In this pairing, the lighter body of the rice salad matched the mouthfeel of the Pinot Noir, while the sweet spicy flavor of the roast squash brought out the earthy notes of the wine without weighing it down.

Ratatouille with Brown Rice Couscous

Trust the Classics: One of the reasons I decided to write about wine pairing in my dinner party post was the lack of research I turned up while looking for vegan pairing suggestions with the majority of pages I found addressing vegetarian dishes full of egg and cheese. However, I scoured guides from the pros like The International Guild of Professional Butlers to help me when I was at a loss. Specifically when a guest told me she was bringing Merlot but couldn't remember the name of the winery. Without winemaker notes or a region, I looked to a classic pairing of ratatouille suggested by the IGPB.

Mustard-Tarragon Tofu Steaks with a Balsamic Mushroom Pocket

Read Winemaker Descriptions & Find Complimentary Spice Levels: California Zinfandel tends to have strong tannins, spicy characteristics, and high alcohol content. When my coworker decided to share his prized Nalle Zinfandel Reserve, I knew I had to find a dish that was flavorful enough to stand up to the description from the winemaker. Mustard has a spicy character that reminds me of the described "cigar box" qualities of the Zin while mushrooms enhanced the earthy notes of the wine.
   

Cabernet Sauvignon Sorbet with Dark Chocolate Brownie

Incorporate the Wine in the Dish! Using the guidelines above, your guests can enjoy varietals in the glass and on the plate when you integrate the wine into the cooking. I did this at both the beginning of my dinner with the gazpacho, but also brought the dinner to a close with Cabernet Sauvignon served two ways. I made a sorbet out of a Cabernet from another region of California, adding color to the dish with chopped mint after reading the winemaker include mint in the description of the wine we were drinking. Sweet chocolate pairs well with dessert wines, but dark chocolate is delicious with more structured red wines like this Cabernet Sauvignon.

I loved the opportunity to prepare this dinner party because it gave me a chance to introduce vegan cuisine to wine-loving friends who couldn't believe a paired six-course meal could be successful without cheese and meat. I have included the complete menu with wines below as a reference guide. I hope it was as educational and enjoyable for you to read about as it was for me to host!

EDITED ON 10-8-10:

J Winery has clarified their sparkling wines are vegan but still wines are not. Lucas & Lewellen has been vegan-friendly since 2007. Bogle and Nalle are not vegan-friendly. I have yet to hear back from EOS and Lava Cap.

Mustard-Tarragon Tofu Steaks with Balsamic Mushroom Pockets

This recipe was crafted to pair with a California Zinfandel for my round three Project Food Blog challenge. Other than knowing I used a pound of mushrooms, a cup of vegetable broth, and a half-cup of balsamic vinegar, the rest of the dish was made by feel. It is really easy to make even if you aren't used to cooking without measurements.

Mix mustard that contains whole seeds with fresh tarragon and brush it over extra-firm tofu which has been pressed to remove excess water. Bake the steaks at 400 degrees for fifteen minutes.

The mushroom pockets are made by pan-frying a pound of sliced mushrooms (I used a local mix) in olive oil and then adding a cup of vegetable broth and a half-cup of balsamic vinegar. I cooked the mushroom mixture on medium-low until the sauce has reduced, about 10-15 minutes. Scoop mushrooms (save the liquid!) into whole wheat phyllo dough and fold into pockets. Baked at 450 degrees until lightly brown, less than eight minutes. You can drizzle the remaining liquid over the pockets once you have plated.

Uncovering Uthappam: Celebrating Cultural Classics

Uthappams with Onion, Tomato, and Coriander

When I was younger, I was a very picky eater. My parents were not okay with this. They wanted to expose me to a variety of foods and to try everything. I remember a couple of nights where my dad would tell me that I could just go hungry if I didn't want to eat what was for dinner. I probably threw a temper tantrum but would inevitably eat dinner because I was hungry.

My parents were right. I might not have liked everything I was fed but it expanded my palate and taught me to try everything at least once. When I found out on Friday that Uncovering Food had made it to round two of Project Food Blog (Thank you to those who voted!), I was excited to find out what the challenge was:

"Ready to tackle a classic dish from another culture? Pick an ethnic classic that is outside your comfort zone or are not as familiar with. You should include how you arrived at this decision in your post. Do your research then try to pull off successfully creating this challenge. Try to keep the dish as authentic as the real deal, and document your experience through a compelling post."

I am always ready to learn about new cuisines! This was right up my alley! At first I thought I would learn how to make a traditional Hungarian dish since my dad's family is from Hungary and I have never learned how to make any of the dishes he made me. This would be out of my comfort zone but there were three other challenges I faced when selecting my dish. One, I am familiar with Hungarian food. In my mind this challenge was asking me to find a classic dish from a culture that I don't know very well. The second constraint was that I am partaking in the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 21-day vegan challenge which means the dish I would be making would need to be vegan. The third constraint was that I would be at a debate tournament all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I would have limited prep and shopping time late in the evenings and early in the mornings.

A number of students I work with are from southern states in India and I knew a couple of them were vegan, so I asked for a restaurant recommendation for lunch on Friday to explore the cuisines of this part of India. My assistant debate coach and I ended up at Madura, a vegetarian restaurant with a number of vegan options. We ordered a variety of items on the menu to try and when I broke out my camera, that's when the education started.

Madura Dishes (clockwise from left): Medhu Vada & Rava Kichadi; Pea, Onion, and Mushroom Uthappam; Spring Dosa

The owner of the restaurant asked what I was taking pictures for and I explained the Project Food Blog challenge. He was especially nice to us upon learning this and explained to me how each dish was prepared and what ingredients were in every dish. I will definitely be going back to Madura to enjoy more of the dishes that were lighter than Indian dishes I was more familiar with from other regions of the country. Every dish I tried was full of flavor and would have been fun to make, but keeping in mind that Uncovering Food is about exploring healthier options, I opted to make Uthappam, a pancake that is eaten for breakfasts and lunches and is embedded with a variety of vegetables and spices.

What I failed to learn at the restaurant was how much time goes into preparing the batter. The first step takes 6 to 12 hours, then after a few prep steps you have another 12-48 hours of fermentation before the cooking of the batter. Which meant I would need to buy ingredients on Friday night after the tournament and cook the Uthappam on Sunday morning before leaving for the 8 a.m. tournament.

I also hadn't anticipated that one of the primary ingredients would be difficult to find at a traditional American grocery store. When I was told the dish contained lentils, I wrongly assumed they were the ones I was familiar with. However, Uthappam utilizes Urad Dal which is much smaller than lentils most Americans are familiar with.

This is a real penny. Split Urad Dal is very small! 
Be careful to not confuse it with larger lentil varieties.

Luckily, after a harrowing search by fellow coaches and students I found a kit for another Indian dish at Whole Foods that had a bag of plain urad dal in it, so I was saved with only seven minutes before the store closed. I took my ingredients back to the tournament, which hadn't ended, and anxiously waited for the rounds to finish.

The recipe I ended up making came about from both my conversations at Madura but also with parents at the debate tournament. I learned that many people now buy the flour pre-made for Uthappam but the best are always made from scratch. It reminded me of the difference between Bisquick and homemade hot cakes. However, I never got exact measurements and after doing some online research, I realized there is no exact formula. The ratios of rice to urad dal are between 2:1 and 3:1 and sometimes have the addition of cooked rice and/or flattened rice in the batter. While I would have probably soaked my rice and urad dal a bit longer because it supposedly heightens the flavor of the Uthappam, this recipe got rave reviews from the students and coaches who tried it on National Pancake Day (how appropriate to prepare these Indian pancakes on a day that celebrates it's American cousin!).

Uthappam is a thick hearty pancake that can be topped with a variety of vegetables, fresh herbs, and spices.

Tomato-Onion-Coriander Uthappam

2 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 cup split urad dal, uncooked
1 tsp sea salt
1 vine-ripened tomato, sliced thin
1 small purple onion, sliced thin
fresh coriander, minced
canola oil, as needed

Rinse rice and urad dal in separate containers and soak for eight to twelve hours.

Drain and grind rice while reserving the liquid. Drain and grind urad dal while reserving the liquid. Mix rice powder, urad dal powder, and salt together. Add small amounts of each liquid until you reach a thick but spreadable consistency. This will vary depending on how long you soaked the rice and urad dal, but I added about a half cup of liquid. You will want the batter to look almost like a thick pancake batter that can be poured but is thick enough for the toppings to stick to. Cover the batter and let sit in a warm place to ferment for 12 to 48 hours.

Warm a large frying pan or griddle to a medium-high heat. I found in my research that the Uthappam is often cooked on a Tawa or Tava which can reduce the amount of oil needed because of the concave shape of the pan/griddle.

Pour the desired amount of batter on the griddle and spread to a thickness of about a quarter to half inch. Sprinkle tomato, onion, and coriander on the uncooked side. You can choose to drizzle oil over the top of the Uthappam or around the edges. Once the bottom is browned, flip over and let the toppings-side cook for about ten seconds. You want the batter to brown lightly to secure the toppings without burning the toppings.

Remove from pan and serve with a tomato chutney or Sambar, a lentil soup that usually contains tamarind, toor dal (yellow lentils), and a blend of spices commonly known as sambar curry powder.

Recipe makes 8 Uthappam approximately six-inches in diameter. Nutritional information does not include the optional oil.

One tomato-onion-coriander Uthappam has 258 calories, .69 grams of fat, 9.14 grams of fiber, 8.68 grams of protein.

Uncovering Food: An Introspection

Bloggers are like eggs in a carton just trying to stand out. All different but in many ways all the same...

Blogging is a profession for some and for others it's a past time. Some people define themselves as bloggers while others may never tell anyone they have a blog. In order to enter a contest sponsored by Foodbuzz called Project Food Blog, I was asked "to create a blog post that defines you as a food blogger and makes it clear why you think you have what it takes to be the next food blog star. Consider what makes your blog unique and sets you apart from other food blog brands: is it your foolproof recipes, your mouthwatering photos, or your perspective on family meals? Write a post that comes from the heart and is true to you and your blog." However, in order to answer this prompt, I feel like I needed to explore the essence of Uncovering Food and my relationship with blogging.

I started Uncovering Food after deciding to shut-down my Myspace account, where I had been blogging all of the fun food concoctions I had been making. This blog was my place just to take notes and store my recipes. In the first week I transferred over the sixteen best including Pumpkin and Black Bean Burritos, Turkey and Cranberry Salad, Vegetarian Lasagna Rolls, and an Apple-Beet Sauce that had a little heat!

There were no photographs in those days. It was just a quick teaser with serving suggestions and maybe a flavor profile, some ingredients, instructions, and if you were lucky, the nutritional information.

Then people started reading my blog. It amazed me that there were other people out there who wanted to take time to read what I was creating in a kitchen no bigger than a broom closet!

It took almost a year before Uncovering Food had it's first photograph, and a product review to boot! I was raving about this fermented Korean tea I had just tried and a friend said I should talk about it in my blog. It is only fitting that I picked up three more jars of the Puripan Tea in a Jar yesterday to enjoy while writing today's blog post.

My first recipe with a photograph was an attempt in food styling that, upon reflection, was not as awesome as I thought it was. But the recipe for Baked Buffalo Bites is still delicious which I guess brings me to my perspective on blogging:

Blogging to me is not a definition of who I am. It isn't the black marker that draws the outline of my being and it isn't the canvas on which that outline is drawn. Blogging will show up in that illustration as a part of the mosaic that is my life. It is a chance for a woman who spends more time in hotel rooms than in my own kitchen to celebrate food. It is an opportunity for a high school teacher who spends more time with my students then my own family to share food finds and kitchen creations, however sporadically they may come, with the friends I make around the country.

Students all grabbing for a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake bite!

Attending a blogger conference this summer, I learned that everyone blogs for different reasons. Some bloggers have created brands and can sum up what's in their blog in two sentences or less while some have no idea what their blog is about. Some bloggers are looking to be published while others are looking for an outlet. Some are looking to be the most popular blog on the Web and have nicknames for their followers and some strive to be like other blogs while some of us are just trying to avoid the popularity traps.

I struggled entering this "Project Food Blog" contest for Foodbuzz because I know my blog isn't the most popular. I don't strive for SEO but I love knowing people read my blog, so I have a monthly contest that celebrates those readers. I am not the most active poster, because spending almost every weekend at debate tournaments around the country means sometimes I have to choose between sleep and blogging (and after a day of debates, at 1am, sleep wins). If someone looked inside of my closet of unfinished blog ideas, they would be buried, but if I pushed myself to publish them all, blogging would be a job, no longer my escape but instead a part of what I have to be.

If this is a popularity contest, then count me out now. I work with high school students, I am not striving to become one again. However, if this contest is truly about having a passion for food and sharing it with others, then I think I stand a chance. Is there another blogger out there who has students sign up for tournaments so they can experience the best cupcakes in the region they are traveling to? Who spends hours researching the best local cuisine so that high school kids can experience local flavor at it's finest instead of hitting up the easy national chains? Who loves to peruse Farmers Markets just to talk to farmers for hours? Who turns the shoebox of a kitchen into a place that produces healthy eats that her family and high school students enjoy?

Cupcakes at a Baseball Game?

I think that I could be the next food blog star because I have tenacity and a love to share food. Whether it is finding a food product that ends up becoming a big blogland hit or searching for healthy eats in baseball parks. Uncovering Food is not my whole life, but it is a part of me and an outlet for me to share myself and my love of food with you.