I’ve been a bit of a slacker about this blog for the past year because we’ve been so busy (and so preoccupied with Poppy’s behavioural issues!), but we’re up at the cabin for a week, and I’ve been cooking up a storm, so I thought I’d post my latest experiment: a vegan BLT!!

This experiment started with our neighbour, Alec, sending me a recipe for bread-machine rye bread. I made the bread, which has a lovely bouncy texture and an excellent crumb…

I decided I needed to make vegan pastrami for pastrami-on-rye sammies and found a recipe, but the result was disappointingly tasteless, so I decided to retain the recipe’s method for slicing tofu, but change the marinade completely, as well as the cooking method.

The result is VERY tasty indeed and makes a great BLT (to James’ delight!).

So here is the method!

Vegan BLT!!

First…

Press a 350-gram block of tofu to release as much water as possible for about fifteen minutes. I press tofu only when I’m using a marinade–otherwise, it’s not really necessary.

Second…

While the tofu is being pressed, whisk together the following “bacon-flavour” ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a very slight boil:

• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TBS water
• 2 TBS maple syrup
• 1 TBS liquid smoke
• 1 tsp Knorr vegetable broth powder or vegan chicken broth powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Third…

Turn the block of tofu on its side and slice with a wide vegetable peeler:

Fourth:

Place the tofu in a heat-proof container and pour the hot “bacon” marinade on top. Cover with a plate and let sit for at least half an hour:

Fifth:

Spray a pan with oil or a bit of vegan butter, and fry up the strips until a little crispy on the edges:

The sandwich is better if you stack up the slices nice and thick on your sammy, so you’ll want to cook more than four measly slices in the frying pan, but this is the best pic I had to show the colour you want!

Now…make the sammy! Toast a couple of slices of nice sandwich bread, slap a bit of vegan mayo on each side, toss on some slices of tomato and lettuce, and pile on the slices of tofu! Oh, and while you’re at it, slice up a couple of taters and make some air-fried chips! …or, okay, just have it with a pickle!

And just look at that crumb on my rye bread! I’ve discovered the trick to a bouncy texture is weighing my flour, not measuring it. As it turns out, a cup of flour is only 120 grams, and when I measure with a cup, it’s usually closer to 200 grams–far too much flour with a result that’s far too dense!

And the weather on the island has been outstanding! As an added bonus, we hit the week of the herring run and the ocean has turned a glorious aquamarine in strips along the shore where the herring are spawning. According to Dr. Doug Hay, DFO research scientist, “Lambert Channel and adjecent shorelines of Hornby are THE most important in all of B.C. for spawning. Nearly one in four of B.C.’s herring spawn in these areas.” Here’s a little video of our view of Lambert Channel from the beach access across the road and down the street:

And I’m still obsessed with Aoife O’Donovan, who I’ve been listening to all week as I’ve been cooking up a storm. Her acoustic cover of Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” is especially lovely: