Native Foods Blog: Training Day

by Chef Kendall Huff

Native Foods Cafe

I have always wanted to be on a Chopped Vegan TV Show or Iron Chef America- The Vegan Edition. So my better half will occasionally bring home goodies, wrapped in a bag or box and bust into the kitchen saying, “You have 30 minutes Chef, and your time starts NOW!” Kind of like the chairman does! So let the training day commence...

We have a lot of fun cooking in our house and this challenge was no different... Winter Root Veggie Challenge!!

Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan recipe, vegan restaurant

And the goodies were revealed. We have celery root, sun chokes, fresh basil and thyme, green asparagus, mixed mushrooms, soy free vegan butter, homemade seitan and oat milk. Easy money!

First, I decided to peel and dice the celery root. I really like to make celery root mash or puree. It has a nice sweet flavor to it. And if you add one or two small red bliss potatoes to it, the puree will be nice and thick and creamy!

1 each celery root, peeled and diced into ½ inch dice

½ cup yellow onions, diced

2 each red bliss potatoes, washed and quartered

2 cups oat milk

2 TBSP vegan butter

2 TBSP fresh thyme, chopped

2 tsp Sea Salt

Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan recipe, vegan restaurant

Put everything into a saucepan and cook for 20 minutes. When the celery root is soft and done, puree the ingredients in a pan with a hand blender (or transfer to blender) until smooth.

Next, it’s time to incorporate all the fresh herbs and veggies into a quick and delicious sauté. Peel and slice the sun chokes. Heat up 2 TBSP of safflower oil in a sauté pan and add the sun chokes.

Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan recipe, vegan restaurant

Then slice the asparagus on a bias and added them to the sauté pan. Next we add the mushroom mix (portabellos, shitakes, and oysters). Sauté the mix for about 2 minutes. Finally, add the fresh basil and a wee bit of sea salt.

Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan recipe, vegan restaurant

Now it’s time for the power protein. Homemade Seitan! (Recipe next blog)

I did a quick, light batter, by mixing unbleached flour, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Then I sliced the seitan loaf into medallions and tossed them into the flour. Heat ¼ inch of safflower oil in a pan and carefully placed the seitan into the oil. Flipped into after 2 minutes and did the same thing on the other side. Mmmmmm... nice and crispy on the outside, and warm on the inside.

Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan recipe, vegan restaurant