Bok Choy Bohemia | A Vegetarian Blog

Friday, March 13, 2009

Meatloaf (The Band) and Banana Split Pudding Brownies

Being somewhat fed up with the crumbly, rather bland, veggie meatloafs I’ve had in the past, I decided it was high time to try one of my own….and I was pretty happy with the results. It was somewhat crumbly until it had cooled for awhile and set up, but it still held its shape much better than some cookbook versions I’ve tried.
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Ingredients
1 cup dried TVP granules
1 cup red wine (I used a California Shiraz)
1 cup “chikn” stock
½ cup vital wheat gluten
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 tbs fire-roasted tomato paste
¼ cup ketchup
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. dried tarragon
Salt and pepper (to taste)
1 medium onion, minced
½ green bell pepper; minced
1 large (or two smaller) zucchini, shredded
2 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs liquid smoke
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions
In a medium sized bowl, reconstitute the TVP in the stock.
Heat a skillet over med/high heat, and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, pepper, and zucchini. When the veggies have started to sweat out a bit, season with tarragon, salt, and pepper. Allow onions to become translucent, and then add the TVP, tomato paste, ketchup and liquid smoke. Once all the skillet contents have been mixed together, add the cup of wine and allow to simmer for approx. 10 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.
Combine all the skillet ingredients with the wheat gluten and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Pour into a loaf pan, and flatten the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum, or until cool. Preheat oven to 350F.
When you remove the loaf from the fridge, combine maple syrup and cayenne in a small bowl. Use a brush to coat the top of the loaf with the mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350F and then allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

I was VERY happy with this. My proudest achievement was the maple/cayenne topping, which just as I had hoped, got sweet and crunchy during the baking process. The loaf was nice and moist, which I attribute to the zucchini and full cup of wine…a factor that also gave it a nice depth of flavor. I wish this was a bit more solid in terms of holding together, but in terms of flavor, it just couldn’t get any better. I’m extremely proud. TVP, liquid smoke, and wine….it’s just SO GOOD. It almost got me humming a lil’ power ballad from the 80s….note the name.

For desert, I tried out the banana split pudding brownies from VwaV. Since I only had about half as much raw sugar as the recipe called for, I had to replace the rest with brown sugar. I also had half as much flour as needed, and replaced the rest with rice flour which WAS rolling around in my pantry. For the record, I’d vouch for these becoming gluten-free, because they worked great with the rice flour. I considered tapioca flour as well…perhaps another time.

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This is a SERIOUS brownie. The banana topping that sinks into it, is ooey-gooey, fruity, and sweet. The brownie part is seriously rich, and frankly I can’t even imagine topping this with sliced banana, although some soy vanilla ice cream would’ve been key. Mmmmm brownies. If you haven’t tried these yet, what on earth are you waiting for? Apparently alterations don’t hurt them much.

Selah.

2 Comments:

  • VERY serious. I was surprised by it's potency and while it might not look like much it definitely packs quite a punch in the YUM department.

    By Blogger Unknown, At March 13, 2009 at 3:39 PM  

  • i just made these for the first time on friday, what a coincidence! i LOVED them...i topped them with a peanut butter drizzle...i shoulda taken a pic so i could blog them!!!!!!!!

    By Blogger Virginia, At March 15, 2009 at 11:07 AM  

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