Miso Gravy

Today I woke up and was at a loss for breakfast. I had no tofu for a scramble, and no cold soy for cereal. But what I did have, was a black bean burger left from the other day. And I had potatoes. So rather than treat the black bean patty as a burger, I decided to think of it as a sausage. Which would require gravy.

I ended up with my best batch of miso gravy yet! I only tried my hand at making gravy twice before, and it always turned up too thick. But not this time! Not too thick, and full of flavor, it closely resembles the gravy I grew up with at Sunday dinner, made by my english Grandmother. I always preferred the thin, strongly spiced gravy she made to the thick, milky variety my mother would make. But rather than using roast drippings, this one uses miso paste! Now I can have gravy at my holiday dinners, as I never really bothered to make my own before. But with a recipe like this, i'll make sure to include it in my holidays from now on.

(My patty broke in the pan, as I couldn't find my spatula to flip it. So I got little mini 'sausage' pattys)

Miso Gravy
(around two servings)

1 tbsp miso paste (i used red)
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp flour
2-3 tsp boullion base
1/4 cup of hot water (or veg. stock - if using omit the boullion base)
2 tsp mrs.dash
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp paprika

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine and combine with miso paste. Add the flour and stir frequently until mixed together. Slowly add the water (or veg stock) and whisk into the miso mixture. Add the boullion and dissolve. Add the spices and whisk until everything is combined. Simmer for 3-5 mins, or longer if thicker gravy is desired.




I also made home fires with some baby potatoes and a bit of leftover sweet potato. If you haven't heard the secret to home fries yet, that's ok. I didn't know until maybe a year ago.

Home Fries
Heat some olive oil in a pan. (Medium heat) Chop your potatoes and add to the pan. Cover and let sit for about 5 mins (if using sweet potatoes, only 3 mins should do as they cook faster) DO NOT STIR. Just let them sit there or they will not be nice and crispy, and if they are not nice and crispy they will be nowhere near as good. Be patient, grasshopper. After they are nicely crisped and browned on one side, give them a stir and throw in some seasonings (i use mrs.dash and a bit of seasoning salt) and cover and cook a few more mins. Repeat until potatoes are crispy and tender.

Vegetarian Poutine

Oh, poutine! Such a disturbing and delicious dish. Although the idea of cheese curds atop a mountain of fries smothered in gravy is enough to give you a heart attack (literally) it is oh so delicious. It used to be one of my favorite things to get every year or so until I became a vegetarian. Then I had to say farewell to the poutine, as it is impossible to find a vegetarian version that is close to the original. The only vegetarian poutine I've ever found was made with roasted yams, feta, and sesame gray. Still a really good dish, and probably a lot healthier- but sometimes you just want something that tastes damn good and that's it. Turn off that little voice in your head that's babbling on and on about fat, calories and sodium and just enjoy the deliciousness. Which is what you should do when you dig in to poutine.

This was also my first time making gravy, and it turned out pretty decent for a first try. Although I think I added too much flour, as it was pretty thick and I prefer my gray runny. Oh well. At least the taste was there.



Miso gravy:

2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 white onion, diced
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of flour
1/2 cup of water
2-3 tbsp miso paste
2-3 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp herbs of your choice (i used a blend)
salt, pepper

Head the oil over medium heat and add the onion and garlic until soft. Next add the flour until it forms a rue. Slowly add the water while stirring constantly, then add the rest of the ingridients until dissolved. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you need to thicken it, add more flour.

Roasted potatoes

1 small russest potato
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp seasonings (i used mrs.dash and black pepper)

Preheat oven to 400. Wash, peel and chop the potato then coat in olive oil and seasoning. Roast for 15-20 mins.


Then to make the poutine just dice some mozzarella cheese over the potatoes, then top with miso gravy. Dig in to the cheesy salty deliciousness and try not to think to much about what you are eating.

Homemade Veggie Burger

Lately one of my newest food blog obsessions is Everybody Likes Sandwiches. It's got great recipes and the pictures are so pretty to look at. As I was browsing through some past entries on said flog, I came across this recipe for Walnut Oat Burgers. I've been wanting to try a hand at making my own veggie burgers for a while now, and this recipe seemed like the perfect endeavor.


I'm happy to report that these burgers came out great. They were so so good I don't ever want to see a soy burger again in my life!



They are also much healthier then soy patties. Since a large ammount of the mix is made up of ground walnuts, and walnuts are one of the World's Healthiest Foods, I have no qualms to treating myself to a burger now.


And the recipe seems easy enough to follow too. I only say that it seems easy enough because for whatever reason, I had a few troubles following it this afternoon. I'm not sure why, but I mixed up the bread crumb measurement and I forgot to add milk. The bread crumb situation rectified itself easily enough, I just ended up scooping some out of the rest of the mixture. The lack of milk however, was most likely the reason for the tiniest problem I had with these burgers. As a few of them fell apart. They buckled from the pressure of me trying to flip them on the first go. However, the strong ones survived and they were happily devoured by me and my family members who were brave enough to try them.




The recipe:

Walnut Oat Burgers
(Courtesy of Everybody Likes Sandwiches

burger mixture:
2 cups walnut pieces
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup breadcrumbs
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup skim milk
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sage*
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

for cooking burgers:
oil to brown patties
3 cups vegetable stock

1. Grind walnuts in blender and combine with the rest of the burger mixture ingredients. Let the mixture rest in refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld together.

2. Form the mixture into patties. The entire mixture will make 8-12 burgers depending on the size patty formed. It is recommended to use half of the mixture now, and reserve the rest for use in another recipe or for more burgers later.

3. Brown patties on both sides in a lightly oiled skillet, then pour the stock into the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve on buns with all your burger fixings.



*I didn't have any sage on hand so I just used some ramdom herb and garlic seasoning I found in my pantry. They still tasted great.




Now the perfect side to this dish? Home baked taco fries.



They are a tastier and healthier alternative to those gross fries out of a bag from the freezer. Also, they couldn't be easier to make. This recipe is just an approximate guess of what I did, as there is really no need to measure with something like this.

First preheat your oven to 375. Clean and chop 5 medium sized russet potatoes. Slice into small strips, or cut into wedges. Whatever thickness you desire will work. Once all potatoes have been cleaned and chopped, throw into a large bowl. Toss slices with a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a tiny pinch of salt, and liberal shakes of chili powder and garlic powder. You can also use taco mix, but since there is a lot of added sodium with that I'd reccomend using your own spices.
Once all the pieces are coated, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cook them for about 30-40 mins, or until cooked and crispy.