Potato Rolls and Vegetable Phyllo

The last time I attempted a roll it was also potato…sweet potato in fact, and I was making it for thanksgiving last year. Long story short, it didn’t work, and I ended up with two dozen orange rocks….yum….rocks. It reminds me of a childhood story about stone soup. Almost twelve months later and I finally worked up the nerve to attempt some more rolls, this time with white potatoes.


They look great, and to be honest, they don’t taste bad either. Everything in between however, was a complete disaster. I used the potato roll recipe from Veganomicon, and since I didn’t have much flour, I decided to halve the entire recipe, which usually works out fine. Instead of forming a dough as the cookbook dictated, I ended up with a finished product closer to a soup. I was of course out of flour at this point, and the only back up I had was garbanzo flour, so I used that. I kept pouring it in…more….and more….and more. When all was set and done, I’d used MORE than the recommended 5.5 cups, with the liquid from the recipe halved. The dough remained very sticky, but I was nearly out of the garbanzo flour at this point, and I figured the rolls would probably end up fit for the trash anyway. I allowed the dough to rise for 2 hours, which it did, albeit light and full of bubbles because it was still so wet.
The recipe suggested that the dough then be cut into two halves, and those rolled out into ropes, then split into walnut sized pieces. I attempted to cut the sticky mass into halves…not a chance. I floured my hands and attempted to roll the suggested balls to put in the muffin tins…no way. I ended up just ripping chunks of the mass of dough, and separating those off my fingers and into the tin as best as possible. I was expecting nothing of this…seriously nothing, so when they came out pretty well, I was shocked. True, they taste like a roll and look like a muffin…but in the grand scheme of things, it could have gone a LOT worse. I have no clue how the proportions of the recipe could have been so off, since for once in my life I measured EVERYTHING, but no harm no foul. We’ll be able to enjoy these for a couple days, and I’m not too scared of trying out more muffins in the future.

The next recipe was found in the Vegetarian Times Cookbook under the title “spinach-filled crepes”. I didn’t make crepes, and of all the vegetables, herbs, and spices stuffed into this, I barely remember the spinach. In addition to Popeye’s favorite, these had onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, parsley, basil, and a hearty vegan béchamel sauce. In place of the crepes, I used layers of phyllo dough, and spooned the béchamel over all the veggies, placing another few layers of phyllo on top of that. The phyllo was brushed with soy milk, and the whole thing was baked in a 350F oven for 25 minutes.


The only complaint I can make about this dish is that it was a bit sweet for my taste. I don’t think I can blame that on the cookbook though, I’m pretty sure it can be traced back to the vanilla soy milk I used the béchamel…I didn’t have any plain.
Selah.