The eating o' the green: you can be Irish and vegetarian on St. Patrick's Day - includes recipes - Recipe Redux

Vegetarian Times, March, 1996 by Stephanie Lowe

HOLIDAYS CAN BE TOUGH for vegetarians. Ever since they crawled out of the primordial ooze, most humans have celebrated special occasions with meat. But vegetarians gladly trade in old comfort foods for new and unusual sensations; too bad our family members won't join the parade!

The difference between my food choices and those of my parents were brought home last year when my mother, an Irish-American, visited me for St. Patrick's Day. I had forgotten that she develops an annual craving for corned beef and cabbage around the 17th of March.

In our Irish home, this hearty dish was the traditional accompaniment to St. Patrick's Day, as customary as the parades in New York and Boston. I couldn't believe I had forgotten. Perhaps I had repressed the memory because as a child I dreaded the sour cabbage smell that permeated our house when this stew was simmering on the stove.

Still, a challenge is a challenge and the disappointment on Mom's face as she contemplated a year without her beloved dish sent me to my kitchen to bang pots around in a guilty search for a worthy substitute. What a delicious surprise I found. With the luck of the well, the Irish, I swirled my boiling pot into a tasty, low-fat treat for even the most discriminating Irishman or Irishwoman.

In my meatless version, seitan replaces corned beef. The other traditional ingredients--cabbage, onion and carrots--remain, as well as the traditional seasonings of vinegar, mustard and horseradish. Potatoes, by the way, were cooked separately and served on the side in the house I grew up in.

For vegetarians who prefer not to use seitan, our Bubble and Squeak might be a recipe to try. It is a traditional English dish of equal parts of mashed potatoes and chopped, cooked cabbage mixed together and sauteed in oil until brown.

Early versions of the dish included chopped and boiled beef or sausage, but nowadays, even in meat-eating families, it is usually made without the meat. Onion is sometimes added to the mixture, and some cooks add a little white sauce as a binder. The name of the dish is said to come from the sounds the potato-cabbage mixture makes as it cooks. Some, however, insist that the name comes from the sound your stomach makes after eating it!

Mock 'Corned Beef' and Cabbage

1/2 Tbs. canola oil 1 large yellow onion, cut into wedges 1/2 medium head cabbage, shredded 5 carrots, julienned 3 cups vegetable broth 1 Tbs. bottled English-style hot mustard or 1 tsp. dry mustard mixed to a paste with water 1/2 tsp. mild horseradish 1 Tbs. white wine vinegar 8 oz. prepared seitan. sliced (see glossary) 1/2tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 2 1/2 Tbs. whole wheat flour 1/3 cup water 2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

HEAT OIL in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat; saute onion until soft. Add cabbage, carrots, vegetable broth, mustard, horseradish and vinegar. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Add seitan, salt and pepper; simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

When tender, remove vegetables and seitan to serving dish with slotted spoon. Keep warm in 200-degree oven. Remove cooking broth from pot and reserve.

Mix flour with 1/3 cup water; add to pot with 2 cups reserved broth (add more water if necessary). Simmer mixture 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

TO SERVE: Pour gravy over cabbage mixture in serving dish. Garnish with parsley. If desired, serve with small boiled or oven-roasted potatoes. Makes 4 servings. PER SERVING: 189 CAL.; 14G PROT.; 2G FAT; 37G CARB.; 0 CHOL.; 679MG SOD.; 7G FIBER. VEGAN

Bubble and Squeak

1 lb. potatoes, peeled 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 Tbs. canola oil 3/4 cup milk, soymilk or basic white sauce 3 cups cooked chopped green cabbage Salt to taste Pepper to taste

BOIL POTATOES in salted water until tender. While potatoes cook, saute onion in oil until soft and aromatic. When potatoes are done, drain cooking water. Mash potatoes with milk, soymilk or white sauce. Stir in onion and cabbage. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings. PER SERVING: 13 9 CAL. ; 5G PROT. ; 6G FAT; 32G CARB. ; 6MG CHOL.; 570MG SOD.; 6G FIBER. LACTO/VEGAN

Corned Beef and Cabbage Before Redux

The following ingredients would make c corned-beef-and-cabbage dinner for 6.

4 lb. corned beef brisket 4 medium onions, outer skin removed 6 medium potatoes, peeled 6 carrots, peeled 1 medium head cabbage, cored and cut into 6 wedges PER SERVING: 974 CAL.; 61G PROT.; 50G FAT; 50G CARB.; 296MG CHOL.; 3471MG SOD.; 10G FIBER.

G L O S S A R Y

Seitan: A meat-like, high-protein food made from boiled or baked wheat gluten. Available in dry mixes; prepared chilled in the deli section and prepared frozen.

STEPHANIE LOWE is a free-lance writer in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She has been a vegetarian for four years; her husband and children, for the most part, have come along quietly.