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MEAT-FREE DINING FOR DEVOTED CARNIVORES

The word "tofu" sends shivers down the spines of meat-lovers. Maya Kulycky casts about for hearty vegetarian recipes from committed carnivores, such as Bill Niman and Steven Raichlen ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

I am a meat lover. I sat down to write this having just devoured the cold remains of a T-bone steak. I carefully carved the tender meat into slices before dipping each piece in salt. Delicious.

I know I have to cut back on my carnivorous ways. The world is groaning under the burden of skyrocketing meat consumption, which has increased 75% in the last 20 years and is expected to double over the next half-century. Since meat production now accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse-gas emissions, that’s a problem. So what’s a meat-lover to do?

For starters, don’t swap meat for fish. As healthful as those little swimmers are, most fish may be harvested to extinction within decades if fishing continues at its current rate. Dr Rajendra Pachuri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, suggests everyone should have at least one meat-free day a week.    
     
One day is easy, right? In theory, yes. But very few vegetarian recipes will satisfy devoted carnivores. A tofurkey is not a turkey. Most restaurants offer meatless options, but it’s hard not to feel like they’ve taken the fun away.

I needed help, so I asked several meat connoisseurs to offer a single meat-free recipe for those of us who are accustomed to seeing a hunk of hot flesh at the centre of our plates.

I began with Dario Cecchini, an Italian butcher born into a family of carnivores with 250 years of butchering experience. As the owner of Solociccia, a Florence-based restaurant  (the name means "only meat”), he was wary of my quest, convinced I was “a secret agent for the vegetarians”. Once I assured him that I was in fact on his meat-ophilic team, he had me cooking up a batch of his grandmother’s La Pappa Maritata, a bread and tomato soup.

The recipe is simple: a loaf of bread, some olive oil, tomatoes, herbs and eggs.  Soon I was hunched over a steaming bowl of thick, smooth pappa. “I like it!” proclaimed my carnivorous husband, echoing my own thoughts. The concept of soup from bread seems thoroughly Biblical, like the nourishment Jesus served the multitudes, and impressively frugal. Our one loaf of bread provided several tasty filling servings (after a half-serving I was bursting at the seams). My only complaint was with the eggs, which Cecchini explained should be runny throughout (like “when Rocky drinks the eggs in the movie”). I recall gagging during that scene, so I allowed the eggs to firm up a bit before serving. Very tasty indeed. 

La Pappa Maritata

6 to 8 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup (approx.) extra-virgin olive oil
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, minced
2 pounds fresh, ripe Roma tomatoes peeled and diced, or 2 16-ounce cans whole or crushed tomatoes
1lb loaf day-old bread, preferably a rustic Italian-style loaf
salt and pepper
small bunch fresh basil, torn just before use
1 egg per serving

Float bread in a large bowl of water to soak through. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, gently cook garlic and sage in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add tomatoes and cook over medium heat for a few minutes. Lift bread out of bowl and give it a good squeeze to eliminate as much water as possible. Add bread to tomato mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring often, as bread falls apart and “soup” becomes creamy, approx. 20 minutes. Tear basil leaves and add to the pot. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Take off heat. (If you think you won’t be serving the entire pot, set aside the amount you won’t need.) Break the eggs, one at a time, into the pot just as it has been taken off the heat. Give a good stir after adding each egg. Serve with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. 

Serves approx. 8

Next up was a chilli recipe from Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman. Bill made his name and fortune as a rancher committed to sustainable farming and raising animals without antibiotics or hormones. His wife, however, is a vegetarian and the author of "Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms". Bill enjoys the occasional vegetarian meal now, but Nicolette revealed that when they met he was living the meat-lover’s dream.  “I would ask him ‘Oh what did you have for dinner tonight?’ and he would say ‘Two Niman Ranch hot dogs and a glass of champagne.” 

Now, he cites vegetarian chilli as “one example of how meat eaters can get unlimited satisfaction from a non-meat dish.” Having now prepared the recipe, I wholeheartedly agree. The beans gave the dish a “meaty” texture and the cheddar and sour cream topping lent it a salty, cooling richness. The aroma of freshly ground spices that rose from the pot was seductive in itself. My husband declared it was as good as my meat chilli, and I wasn't even stung. I murmured “Mm hmm” and gulped down more. It did cross my mind how perfect the leftover chilli would be on a hot dog, however. I’m not ready for soy-dogs yet.

Three Bean Chili (adapted from Deborah Madison’s All-Bean Chili, from "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone")

1 (15 oz) can organic pinto beans
1 (15 oz) can organic black beans
1 (15 oz) can organic kidney beans
4 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
3 medium onions, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
Salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
4 teaspoons sweet paprika
3 tablespoons ground red chile
1 (28 oz) can whole organic stewed tomatoes, chopped
1 (15 oz) can organic tomato puree
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Dash of red wine vinegar
Garnish with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream and finely chopped cilantro

Pour beans into a colander and rinse; set aside. In a large, heavy pot, saute onions in the oil over medium-low heat until onions are clear and edges are browned. Meanwhile, toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Add oregano to skillet for about ten seconds; remove from heat. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the cumin and oregano together until fine. When the onions are ready, add salt, pepper, the cumin-oregano mixture, garlic, paprika, and chile. Turn heat to low, stir and allow to cook a few minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and all their juices, tomato sauce, and cilantro; stir. Raise heat to medium until mixture bubbles gently. Add beans and stir. Cover and simmer on low heat, stirring periodically, for as long as possible, at least an hour (you may need to add a bit of water occasionally). Test periodically and add salt, pepper, and chile to taste. Just before serving, add a dash of vinegar. Ladle into wide, heavy bowls and garnish with cheese, sour cream and cilantro.

Serves 8-10

Steven Raichlen, a barbecue expert, delivered my next recipe: Tauhu Bakar, a Malaysian Grilled Tofu with Chilli Peanut Sauce. Tofu, known for its mushy texture and bland taste, is the food that makes meat lovers recoil in horror.

But Raichlen is no novice, with seven barbecue books under his belt and grilling methods documented in over 50 countries. He waxes poetic about beef steak, ribs and brisket. In Raichlen’s opinion fried and grilled tofu with chilli sauce, pineapple and cucumber is a good stand-in for meat because it’s “something you can cut with a knife and fork and…sink your teeth into.” He was right. The tofu even had a good deal of flavour. Peanuts gave a nice texture to the dish and searing hot chilli gave it bite, leaving my mouth was burning--but the cool pineapple and cucumber provided relief. 

Raichlen suggested that meat-lovers in search of vegetarian recipes should consider a wide range of countries. “I think I read somewhere [that] there are about 300m vegetarians in India,” he said, “so that’s actually more people than we have in the United States and the level of sophistication in meatless grilling in India is absolutely amazing.” After enjoying Malaysian tofu I was ready to give more Indian vegetarian dishes a try.

Malaysian Grilled Tofu with Chilli Peanut Sauce

8 (4- by 4-inch) pieces fried tofu or 2 pounds fresh extra firm tofu (if using the latter, press it flat under a heavy skillet for 30 minutes, then drain well)
1 large or 2 small cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small shallot minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and rough chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons Malaysian or Chinese chili paste
2 tablespoons palm sugar or light brown sugar
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon MSG (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped roasted peanuts, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Make the sauce. Heat the oil in a wok or shallow saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, shallot, ginger and cilantro and fry until fragrant and lightly browned, three minutes. Stir in the chilli paste and sugar and fry for one minute.  Add the hoisin sauce, MSG, two tablespoons peanuts and sesame seeds and cook for one minute. Add six tablespoons water and simmer the sauce over medium heat until thick and richly flavoured, five minutes, stirring often. The sauce can be made several hours ahead and stored at room temperature. 

Cut the cucumbers widthwise into 1-1/2-inch pieces. Cut each piece lengthwise into 1/4-inch sticks. Cut the pineapple crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Cut each slice into sticks 1-1/2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide. Arrange the cucumber, pineapple, and mung bean sprouts in piles on a platter. If using fresh tofu, cut each piece in half through the side. If using fried tofu, leave whole. Lightly brush each tofu piece on both sides with a little of the chilli sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce into a bowl and sprinkle with the remaining one tablespoon chopped peanuts.

Set up your grill for direct grilling and preheat to high. Brush and oil the grill grate. Arrange the tofu pieces on the grate and grill until nicely browned on both sides, two to four minutes per side. If you like, give each piece a quarter turn after one minute to lay on a crosshatch of grill marks. Transfer the tofu to the platter and serve at once. Eat the grilled tofu with the sauce spooned over it, alternating with bites of crisp cool cucumber, pineapple and bean sprouts.

Serves 4

Abigail Donnelly, editor of South Africa’s Eat Out magazine and food editor for Taste, talks luxuriantly about lamb livers wrapped in stomach lining grilled to a crisp, and then sprinkled with coriander and served on Melba toast. She dreams of having a piggery. Particularly in South Africa, meat is serious business.

So what was her vegetarian recommendation? Donnelly suggested a Porcini Tart Tatin because “with a nice little salad it’s a fabulous meal. Meat is not missed.” Although locating fresh porcini mushrooms can be difficult, she insisted there was no need to fuss.  “You can just do big black mushrooms…little portabellinis, you can have a mixture of mushrooms…no real rules.” 

After sautéing and caramelising the porcinis, the fragrant aroma of mushrooms filled my kitchen. Then I watched with glee as the puff pastry rose to a golden buttery dome. When I flipped the tart onto a plate the mushrooms were a beautiful, rich brown. The taste was great: the porcinis were firm and chewy, not rubbery. Caramelised sugar and balsamic vinegar complemented the salty, buttery pastry. I had been afraid it wouldn’t be filling, but I didn’t find myself rummaging for a snack later in the evening.  A chicken commercial elicited only a longing sigh, no rush for the fridge.

Porcini Tart Tatin

400g Porcini mushrooms, halved
30ml (2 tablespoons) butter
15ml (1 tablespoon) extra-virgin olive oil
60ml (4 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar
30ml (2 tablespoons) sugar
10g fresh sage
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g Butter puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF). Place a cast-iron pan over medium heat with butter and olive oil. Lightly fry the porcini mushrooms and sage leaves until golden brown, then add the balsamic vinegar and sugar to the pan and slightly caramelise the mushrooms. Remove from heat and cover completely with the butter puff pastry, tucking in the edges. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown. Once cooked place a platter or a board on top of the pan and carefully flip the pan upside down to remove the tart. Serve this open tart with a fresh leaf green salad.

Serves 6

At the end of my meatless-dinner journey, I celebrated my return to the carnivore’s club with a bone-in rib-eye steak. Eating more meatless meals is an incredibly satisfying and necessary challenge, one that keeps the earth from footing the bill.  But I’ll eat tofurkey when pigs fly.

Picture credit: procsilas, Björn Söderqvist, vacationtime (all via Flickr)

(Maya Kulycky is a South Africa-based lawyer, television correspondent and writer, but her pre-occupation is food.)