"Ciao" on Spicy Italian Sausage

Since I am a self-taught vegan cook, I get my ideas and inspiration from various sources such as other food blogs, vegan cookbooks, cooking classes, cooking shows, etc. Today I want to share one of my favorite and most helpful websites called Everyday Dish. The website is ran by Julie Hasson, a vegan chef and cookbook author. The site has everything from cooking shows to a food blog, to a marketplace where people can buy vegan cookery-related stuff. Of course, my favorite section is the cooking show, where Julie demonstrates how to cook tons of delicious original vegan dishes such as kimchi, crepes, tofu scramble, cookies, salad, and noodles. She also has guest hosts sometimes who have cooked a variety of vegan dishes like cobbler and bread. The blog is basically a written version of the show and includes beautiful pictures of the cooked dishes. Whether you are an inspired beginner cook or are just curious how versatile vegan food is, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out this website. You will be pleasantly surprised at how creative vegan food can be.

I am sharing/promoting this website simply because it has worked very well for me. Recently, I made a dish created by Julie called Spicy Italian Sausage (click on the link for the show or here for the recipe). What I loved about these vegan sausages are not only because they are super delicious, but also because you can spice up all kinds of Italian dishes with these. I have used the sausage in slices for pasta, patties for Cutlet Parmesan, and crumbles for pizza. I absolutely love this recipe! Also, they were quite popular with my omnivorous boyfriend, so I would highly recommend this dish for your next party where you may have non-vegan guests.



Spicy Italian Sausage
Makes 8 links
(altered from original recipe to cater to my pantry)

2 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour
2 tbsp granulated onion
2 tsp coarsely ground pepper, preferably freshly ground
3 tsp ground smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp grounded rainbow pepper
2 1/4 cups cool water
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce

In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Whisk together the water, garlic, olive oil and soy sauce and using a fork, gently stir into the dry ingredients. Stir just until ingredients are mixed. If dough mixture is too dry, you can add another tablespoon of water or as needed.

Scoop 1/2 cup dough mixture at a time and shape into logs. Place logs on piece of aluminum foil and roll up, twisting ends. Place sausages in steamer and steam for 30 minutes. Once sausages have cooled, remove from foil and refrigerate until ready to eat. After cooling, the sausages may feel a bit dry on the outside. Don’t worry, as they will soften and firm up considerably after chilling.

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Cutlet Parmesan
Serves 4

1/4 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup plain soymilk
2 tbsp cornstarch
Panko breadcrumbs, plain
Vegan mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, optional
4 cutlets (Everyday Dish’s Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages)*
1 pound whole wheat angel hair pasta
1 jar marinara sauce of your choice

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

On a large plate or pie dish, mix together the flour, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the soymilk and cornstarch until smooth. On a large plate or pie dish, add panko breadcrumbs.

Working with one cutlet at a time, lightly coat each side of cutlet with seasoned flour. Next, dip the cutlets into the soymilk mixture, coating cutlets on both sides. Finally, coat the cutlets with the panko breadcrumbs, making sure to coat both sides well. Repeat with remaining cutlets.

Place a large cast iron or other skillet over medium heat. Add a tablespoon or two of oil to skillet, tilting pan to spread oil in an even layer. Add cutlets and cook until lightly browned and crisp on the bottom. Flip cutlets over, cooking until lightly browned and crisp on the other side.

Pour hot marinara sauce on top of cutlets. Place slices of Mozzarella cheese, if using, or sprinkle vegan Parmesan cheese on top of sauce. Place skillet under broiler until cheese is golden (and melted if using Mozzarella) for several minutes. Watch carefully so that cheese doesn’t burn.

Remove skillet from oven and serve over cooked angel hair pasta. Sprinkle additional vegan cheese and oregano, if desired.

*Instead of shaping the seitan dough into sausages, shape the dough into patties and steam for 30 minutes. Refrigerate cooked and cooled patties overnight.

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On a side note, this weekend Max and I went on a small weekend getaway in San Clemente/Laguna Beach. I can't believe I've never been considering I've been in LA for the past 15 years. Anyway, we drove down there and first stopped at Fashion Island (overrated in my opinion) for lunch, then we went to Crystal Cove State Park, a long strip of beach. After, we checked into our bed and breakfast at the Always Inn, where we met the most hospitable hosts you'll ever meet (they gave us complimentary champagne and red wine). For dinner, we stroll the Laguna Beach nightlife and found a Mediterranean restaurant, which had a pretty appetizing bulgar salad (sorry, forgot to take pictures because we were too hungry). Next day, we walked to the San Clemente beach by our bed and breakfast and took some amazing pictures of the beach. The water was absolutely beautiful and so blue that it blended with the skyline.

Crystal Cove State Park

San Clemente Beach

I would definitely suggest a mini weekend getaway in or around Laguna Beach. It is like a resort down there (reminded me of Hawai'i). It was so relaxing to be by the beach and breathing the therapeutic salt water. I definitely needed that little escape before I get back into my hectic life.