Friday, October 23, 2009

Vegan MOFO Day 23 - Jackie's Stuffed "Andouille Stuffed Jalepenos


My friend Jackie is a self described chile fiend. She is also a fantastic cook, so I knew I needed to be on my game to veganize one of her favorites.

Most of the recipe looked pretty easy to veganize. I used Toffutti brand non-hydrogenated cream cheese for the regular cream cheese and daiya Italian blend for the Mozzarella in the original recipe.

The challenge for me was how to make an Andouille substitute that was not made from vital wheat gluten. I don't have anything against making seitan style sausages, mind you, as a matter of fact I love them. However, I let my day get away from me and didn't have time to make the sausages and give them proper sitting time. I decided to use marinated tempeh as the substitute. It went a little something like this:

Jackie's Stuffed "Andouille" Jalepenos

14 fresh jalepenos, halved and cleaned of seeds and pith
1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon canola oil
8 oz Toffutti brand non-hydrogenated vegan cream cheese
1 - 8 oz package tempeh, diced in 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese

For the marinade:
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon gumbo file
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (important that it is smoked)
1 chili tepin, crushed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme

Steam tempeh for 10 minutes. While tempeh is steaming mix all of the ingredients in a container just large enough for the tempeh to cover the bottom in one layer. Pour hot steamed tempeh in marinade. Marinade for at least 30 minutes, preferably overnight. The longer it is marinated the more flavorful it will be.

Preheat oven to 350.

Bake jalepeno halves for 10 minutes. Let cool.

In a large iron skillet or saute pan over medium heat, saute red peppers, red onion, and minced garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Add tempeh and all of the marinade, if there is any left (marinade may be soaked up by tempeh) and saute until liquid is gone, tempeh is just browned and mixture is a bit sticky, maybe 10 minutes. Remove from heat and put in medium sized bowl. Cool down to room temperature. Stir in cream cheese, liquid smoke and salt (to taste).

Stuff jalepeno halves with about 2 teaspoons mixture each. Sprinkle top with mozzarella. Bake until cheese is melted and just starting to get golden.

5 comments:

Jen Treehugger said...

Looks delicioso!

Anonymous said...

How did it turn out? I tried to make Andouille seitan sausage last week but they weren't very good, this looks really interesting since you but the file powder in the marinade. I like the blend. The whole thing looks awesome!

Veg-In-Training said...

lazysmurf - I thought it was really good. I did update the recipe a bit. I added a 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke to the cream cheese mixture and it upped the flavor to a nice smoky level. If you were going to make the tempeh apart from this dish, I would add it to the marinade.

Veg-In-Training said...

This is the note I got from the gal who gave me the original recipe. YAY!

Despite the fact that I work for an Arizona-renowned IT firm, I'm a bit of an IT ludite (i.e. I couldn't figure out how to post to your blog)...

I just imbibed in your tasty reinvention of one of my favorite recipes and here's my review:

Whatever Farmers Market Kim acquired the jalapenos from, they were spot-on. Not as wussy as those you will find in most suburban markets, but also not so hot that you can't enjoy the other ingredients. I must say that there was very little difference between Kim's version and mine. They were very "cheesy and meaty". I just wish I'd had more than just four to sample! I thought I'd given Kim a good challenge here, and she met it head-on.... hmmmm now I'll have to search my recipe archives for something a bit more challening for our switcharoo vegan guru.

Jackie

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

Looks awesome! I can't wait to try this recipe.