Part 27 (2/2)

Filling: pound Yukon gold or other waxy potato (about 2 medium-size potatoes)

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 small onion, diced finely

1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

pound mushrooms, any variety, sliced thinly

Plenty of freshly ground pepper

Salt

Optional sauces for garnish: Mushroom Gravy, Mustard Sauce, Dill-Tahini Sauce, all-natural unsweetened apple sauce, store-bought soy sour cream FIRST, PREPARE the crepes (see page 77). Stack them, one on top the other, on a dinner plate. Cover the plate with plastic wrap and set aside.

Peel and coa.r.s.ely chop the potatoes. Place them in a medium-size pot, add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch, and boil for 20 to 25 minutes until easily pierced with a fork and tender. Drain, place the potatoes in a large bowl, and mash coa.r.s.ely.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and add the onion. Stir and fry the onion until it's golden-brown and very soft, about 15 minutes. Add the caraway seeds and mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms are very tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 7 minutes.

Fold the cooked mushroom mixture into mashed potatoes and season to taste with salt and plenty of ground black pepper.

To a.s.semble each blintz, place 3 to 4 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the crepe. Pat the filling to shape it into an oblong. Fold two opposite sides of the crepe over the filling, then fold the remaining two sides over those. The resulting blintz should be a rectangular little bundle. Stack the a.s.sembled blintzes on a plate, seam side down.

Heat a heavy skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. The pan will be ready when a few droplets of water flicked onto its surface sizzle. Using a silicone brush, brush the bottom of skillet with the softened margarine. Place two or three blintzes, seam side down, onto the skillet and cook on each side for 3 to 4 minutes, until their pan-side surface is crisped and browned. Use a small, firm spatula to turn once. Serve the hot blintzes immediately.

Variation: Potato-Spinach Blintzes: Subst.i.tute 1 pound of cooked, chopped fresh spinach for the mushrooms.

SALADS AND DRESSINGS.

WE HAVE NOTHING personal against salads. Some have suspected that we do, just because they don't feature prominently in Vegan with a Vengeance. It's just that, all too often, salads are a.s.sumed to be the staple of vegetarians everywhere, and lots of times they end up being just that. It's because we sympathize with the eleven-year-old vegetarian who ends up eating a sprig of parsley and a slice of limp, pink tomato while the rest of her family chows down on hamburgers that we've often paid attention to heartier, cooked fare, rather than a handful of leaves and olive oil.

But salad lovers everywhere can now rejoice that we've come to terms with all of those issues. Time well spent on the couch has allowed us to reexperience the subtle joys of arugula, spinach, fresh fruits and herbs, piquant vinegars, and oils. We lean toward substantial salads these days, so you'll notice lots of tender grains, beans, roasted vegetables, and mushrooms adding plenty of depth and flavor to the medley of traditional leafy greens.

Most of these salads can be served as entrees with a couple of add-ons. Salads deserve to hang out all year round-not just during those steamy summer days-therefore, we proudly present a salad for most any occasion and season. So dust off those salad tongs and rev up the salad spinner. And don't forget the parsley.

CAESAR SALAD WITH ROASTED GARLIC CROUTONS.

SERVES 4 TO 6 AS A SIDE, 2 TO 3 AS A ENTReE.

TIME: 30 MINUTES, PLUS TIME TO CHILL.

Creamy, bold, garlicky-this is the cla.s.sic salad that eats like a meal. In our version of a Caesar, ground almonds provide a texture similar to that of grated hard cheese, and capers bring on that essential briny flavor. Fresh, homemade croutons bathed in roasted garlic and olive oil really make this and are super-easy, so don't subst.i.tute lame store-bought ones if you can help it. (Be sure to roast a bulb of garlic in advance so that you can get on with the crouton recipe-see page 32.) Be generous when applying the Caesar dressing to the salad, as this dressing recipe makes a lot.

Leftover salad, dressing, and grilled tempeh or tofu make an amazing filling for homemade Caesar salad wraps. Just tuck and roll up filling ingredients into your favorite flatbread and eat ASAP.

Caesar dressing: cup slivered or sliced blanched almonds

<script>