Benny and Flo do Brunch

. . . how this vegan does brunch.

Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine are two simple, classic brunch dishes.  They are very similar:  English muffins topped with ham for Benedict and sauteed spinach for Florentine, with poached eggs and then smothered in Hollandaise sauce.  These are egg/dairy/meat filled cholesterol bombs . . . that I miss very much.

It’s a rainy day here in Northern Minnesota, so I figured that it was the perfect day to make a hybrid, vegan version of Benedict and Florence.  This took some planning.  While the English muffin, spinach, and even ham portions were easy to sub out for, the egg and the Hollandaise were going to be issues.

Tofu usually makes a decent egg sub, like in tofu scramble.  That wouldn’t pose too much of a problem.  Though, poached tofu sounds disgusting, so I decided to bake it and give it a much more toothsome texture and brown, crispy corners.

As for the Hollandaise . . . hoo boy.  Classic Hollandaise sauce recipes consist of two main things: butter and eggs.  Gross.  Even vegan substitutions for those couldn’t make the creamy, rich texture of Hollandaise sauce.  I needed a new plan.  I looked up other recipes for vegan Hollandaise sauce, but none of them really tickled my fancy.  They all involved either vegan sour cream or silken tofu, neither of which I had in my fridge, nor did I really feel like walking (in the rain) down to the co op to get.

So I did what any good vegan cook would do.  I made up my own.  It’s more like a modified bechamel sauce than traditional Hollandaise (which is basically hot mayonnaise . . . ew) and it more than does the job.

The recipe that follows is quite involved and took about an hour and a half to make.  There’s a lot of downtime in there, though.  Mostly when pressing and marinating the tofu.  Also, all the quantities given, except for the sauce are for one serving.  Feel free to double/triple/quadruple this recipe to suit your needs.  The sauce recipe will make about 4 servings.  So, one recipe of the sauce, a whole block of tofu, a 5 oz bag of spinach, and 4 English muffins should be just about perfect to feed yourself and three friends who trust your cooking.

Shall we then . . .

Ingredients:

The Tofu Portion:

• 1/4 pound of tofu (approximately), sliced horizontally off the block
• 3-4 Tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce, shoyu, braggs, whathaveyou)
• 1-2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• pepper
• olive oil

Vegan Hollandaise Sauce:

• 3 Tablespoons Earth Balance margarine
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• pinch of turmeric
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• big pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 Tablespoon vegenaise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Everything Else:

• One whole wheat English muffin (do make sure it’s vegan), split, toasted, and slathered with some Earth Balance
• A big handful of spinach
• 2 Slices smokey vegan meaty substitute (I used smoked tofurky.  Feel free to use fake bacon or veggie ham if you prefer)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• parsley and fruit for garnish (optional, but pretty)

The Method

The Tofu Portion:

First of all, press your tofu.  Wrap it in either a good thick wad of paper towels (I used about 5 layers on each side of the tofu, folded of course), or a clean, cotton, folded kitchen towel.  Set the wrapped tofu on your cutting board and put a heavy plate on top and add more weights on top of that.  I use my stack of cast iron frying pans, but you can use a pot of water or canned goods if you can stack them high enough.  Allow the tofu to press like this for 10 to 15 minutes.

Next is the marinade.  Slice your tofu down the middle (the short way) so you have two rectangles.  Place the slices on a plate (I used the same one with which I pressed the tofu.)  Pour your tamari and rice vinegar on top of your tofu and swish it all around with your hands to mix it up and get all sides of the tofu slices covered.  The strength of the marinade is up to you.  If you like it a little saltier, use the full amount of tamari and less vinegar.  If you like it a little more sour, use less tamari and more vinegar.  I use the full amount of both, but you can be the judge.  Also, you want there to be enough marinade on the plate so the tofu sucks it up really well.

Cover and let the tofu marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Pour a couple teaspoons of olive oil on the foil and spread it around with your fingers (or a pastry brush if you must).  sprinkle ground pepper on both sides of the tofu and put on the baking sheet.  Drizzle with a little more oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

While the tofu cooks, you can move on to the sauce . . .

Vegan Hollandaise Sauce:

Heat a small saucepan over medium low heat.  Add the Earth Balance and heat until it is sizzling and boiling quite a bit.  Whisk in the flour all at once to make a paste and continue to whisk it constantly for about a minute.  Add in a SMALL pinch of turmeric for color and mix well (you want your sauce yellow, but you don’t want it too yellow).  Slowly whisk in soy milk.  Bring sauce to a boil, whisking frequently.  Boil for 2 to 3 minutes and remove from heat.  Whisk in the cayenne and nutritional yeast.  Add the lemon juice and mix well.  Taste for seasoning.  I probably ended up adding in about a teaspoon of salt, but I didn’t measure and I really like salt.  I just kept adding it until I thought my sauce was sufficiently salty.  Season to your taste with salt and a bit of black pepper.  Lastly, add the vegenaise for a little bit more creaminess.

The finished Hollandaise

Keep the sauce warm by covering it with a lid or you can put it over low heat if you watch it carefully and whisk periodically, as to keep it from burning.

Putting it all together . . .

By the time your sauce is done, your tofu ought to be coming out of the oven.  You want it nicely browned with just the edges starting to get crispy.  Mine took about 20 minutes.  You want your tofu to look roughly like mine in the picture there.  Let this cool a bit, but keep it warm while you finish your prep for the last of your ingredients.

Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil in a small skillet (about 8 inches) over medium heat.  Add a big handful of spinach, more or less filling the pan as it cooks down a lot.  Cook until the spinach is wilted.

Meanwhile, toast your English muffin.  When toasted, butter it!  To heat up my smoky vegan meaty subsititute, I placed slices of smoked tofurky on my English muffins and put them back in the toaster oven.  If you don’t have a toaster oven (I suggest you get one, first off), you can use your full size oven to get your muffin/meaty combo all toasty.

Now that you’ve got your tofu baked, your sauce thickened, your spinach wilted, and your muffin toasted . . . it’s time to plate . . .

Step one

Place your muffins on a plate . . .

. . . step two . . .

Divide up your spinach and spread it on top of the faux-meat.

. . . step three . . .

Place a baked tofu slice on top of each muffin half.

. . . step four . . .

Smother the tofu slices in the vegan Hollandaise sauce.

Then garnish with some chopped parsley, cut fruit and a lemon twist and you’ve got yourself a delicious hybrid of eggs Benedict and eggs Florentine made vegan.

. . . and then garnish!

Admittedly, this is not a low-calorie recipe.  To be honest, I rarely try to make things as such.  Also, it is quite involved.  It’s not the lazy Sunday sort of meal one would hope a brunch dish to be.  Well, unless you’re like me, that is.  I love involved cooking on Sunday mornings.

However, this is definitely an impressive brunch dish.  Especially if you’re making a meal for other vegans.