Vegan Chickpea Marsala

Dinner has been becoming semi-boring lately.  We’ve been so busy there hasn’t been much time for some delicious gourmet vegan food! Since finals are over and we’re finally free for the winter break… it seems appropriate to make something special!  Meg came over and we made chickpea cutlets from PPK and a nice Marsala sauce that was adopted from Martha Stewart‘s website.  Then for dessert we made peanut butter thumbprint cookies that we got from my fav. recipe book The Vegan Table.

 

Marsala Wine Sauce

Yields about 1 cup sauce

4 Tbsp. Earth Balance butter, divided

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 package mushrooms (we used crimini)

2 cups Marsala wine

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. chopped fresh sage

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

Directions:

Heat the olive oil and 2 Tbsp. of Earth Balance in a saute pan on medium.  Add the mushrooms and cook until deep golden brown.  Dissolve the flour into the marsala wine; add the wine mixture, lemon juice, the remaining 2 Tbsp. of Earth Balance and the sage to the pan and let simmer until thickened.

We made the chickpea cutlets first, then the sauce.   When the sauce was thickened we added the cutlets to the pan and simmered just a few minutes to infuse the flavors together.  If you fry the cutlets the texture is a bit chewier than if you bake it (it’ll be a little more meaty if you bake it).

We ate the Chickpea Marsala by itself, but next time I will definitely pair it with some steamed veggies (like kale or collards) and some bow tie pasta (or rice).  It was very, very satisfying!

♥

For dessert we had some peanut butter thumbprint cookies.

Peanut butter Thumbprint Cookies

Makes 18-20 cookies

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup Earth Balance butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. vanilla unsweetened almond milk

Jam, as needed

Directions:

Combine the flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the Earth Balance and the brown sugar; beat until light in color and fluffy.  Add the peanut butter, milk and vanilla; mix to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir, by hand, until incorporated.  Using your hands (the dough should be dry enough to handle), portion out 18-20 dough balls, then flatten with the back of a damp, metal spoon or your fingers.  Make a well in the middle of each and add your jam.  We used mixed berry in half and blueberry in the other half.

Bake in a 375 F preheated oven for 12 minuts, until golden brown.  Let cool then transfer to a metal cooling rack to finish cooling  This will harden them up a little to make them easier to eat.

I really don’t know which I liked better… they were all gobbled up before we could say done!