A Classic Irish entree - Colcannon, mash, cabbage and bacon.. vegan style

I had staved off soy products for a long time.  Not really into 'fakin' it, or ordering meals with animal product titles (bleugh..weird).  However, in the last few months whilst travelling and scouting for new vegan food, I've opened up my scope a bit.  I have been checking out processed vegan proteins (didn't want to call them meats).

Kathy from Lunch Box Bunch (a beautiful, colourful blog...go see, if you haven't already...I am in AWE of her!) had posted a recipe for 'Facon'.  Vegan Tempeh bacon . I had some free time yesterday... and the inspiration, so I printed off her recipe to get it in my hot little hands.  My father was Irish; he loved simple home cooked meals like his mammy used to make.  A favourite of his was colcannon - bacon, cabbage & mashed potatoes.  I loved this as a child, so decided to veganise it, update it a little, with the store cupboard ingredients I had to hand.  So it was perfect for Kathy's recipe for facon.  Now all I had to do was to personalise it.

I decided to make Vegan facon, boiled cabbage, peppery carrot & swede (Rutabaga) mash with celeriac (celeriac..in the USA its called celery root) & mustard puree.  I had pre-recipe excitement...woo hoo! - I LOVE trying new dishes.  My mouth was watering, I cranked up the music and got to it.  It was so much fun, working up some new flavours.  Just the mash,cabbage,puree combo alone would have been yummy by itself, (with a squirt of tom ketchup!) and with the tempeh bacon!  Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it was the leprechauns maracas!  Ta da! Vegan tempeh bacon. I almost did the Irish Jig!

Lunch Box Bunch original recipe with my own 'flourish'.  Partly due to the need to mix it up a bit and also, based on what I had to hand.

To whip up the marinade for the tempeh, I used; 

• 1 tbsp Black strap molasses (Kathy used maple syrup..my cupboard was bare, I improvised!)
• 1 tbsp Extra virgin OO
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp tamari sauce
• black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic/lemon/onion salt
• spray pan with oil to frying

Slice and thinly as you can, half to 2/3 of standard 8 ounce tempeh and use mixed ingredients above in a shallow dish to make the marinade.  Leave tempeh slices to liquid to absorb the flavours for at least 5 mins. Dry off excess to make it nice and crispy.

I am staying at a friends place and the knife was not playing ball and cutting the slices as thin as I think they should be but it was still good.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and gently place facon to fry for about a minute each side.  Remove and put on kitchen paper to drain.  Check for seasoning and add sprinkle or grind of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt.

Peppery carrot and rutabaga mash

The picture is of the ingredients fresh from its steam bath, pre-mashing;

You will need:

• sml Swede (rutabaga)
• 2 carrots
• pinch of salt (Himalayan is good, fresh ground from a salt mill)
• Black pepper
• sml cup of chopped salad onions (scallions), or chives - optional

Chop and steam carrots and swede until soft.
Season to taste
Rough mash or hand blend if preferred. Add scallions or chives and mix.

There are so many variations to mash...here are just a few that spring to mind right now;  parsnip, white potato with mustard/butternut squash......celeriac & vegan butter or olive oil......I also sometimes use a dusting of rough ground roasted cumin seeds or a spoon of rough ground sesame seeds for a crunch. 

Celeriac & mustard mash
You will need;

• a dollop or two (depending on your taste) mustard.  Dijon is great but I used spicy mustard from Trader Joes
• half a celeriac (celery root)

chop & steam celeriac..about 20mins

puree
spoon in mustard and cream together.  Add a sprinkle of salt if thou desires.

Cabbage 

You will need to put before you on the kitchen counter;

• half green or savoy cabbage
• salt & pepper
• splash of apple cider vinegar (ACV)

Chop the cabbage relatively finely and then wash and chop finely

add to an inch or two of boiling water to a pan (you could steam it to make it super healthy but I LOVE drinking the peppery cabbage water...try it.  Its great for sore throats if you add fresh ginger to the water too)
cook until becoming translucent.  Remove from water and add a splash of ACV

Arrange all on a plate beautifully (hopefully far better than my pathetic attempt at styling...stomach got the better of me and I just wanted to dive in)!

I hope you enjoy this little taste of Ireland....   Sláinte!