The Cinnamon Snail Back on the Street Today!

In case you missed the memo, The Cinnamon Snail is back on the street today!

I had the distinct pleasure of attending their celebratory kitchen-warming this weekend and man-oh-man was it festive and grand.  The huge, new, impeccable space was buzzing with excitement as friends, staff, and like-minded vegan entrepreneurs gathered to toast the incomparable Snail crew's return to action this week: to spread peace, bliss, and vegan food to the masses.

A rare moment of rest for the beloved Snailmobile.

Lucky for us, on this day they were generously sharing it all with us.  It started with this stunning platter of- you guessed it, vegan samoas.

Uber-talented kitchen manager, Michelle, invented [UPDATED 3/11/14] expertly modified a recipe from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza, painstakingly created them, and shared the individual masterpieces in large supply; I could not have been more grateful or impressed.  These were literally the best cookies I've ever eaten.  And let's face it; I've eaten a lot of cookies!

 

Next up was a Snail-catered brunch of magnum portions and proportions:

Here's my hearty and scrumptious Snail plate adorned with two special Snail sauces and accompanied by Vegan Pilot Marty's homemade mac 'n' cheese. 

And the donuts, let us not forget the illustrious donuts.  At first they were like a mirage:

But then I cleaned my smudgy camera lens (those incredible samoas were sticky!) and they quickly came into gorgeous, unbesmirched focus.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the other thoughtful and yummy contributions to the feast.  Two new friends brought homemade, vegan Madeleines.  VEGAN MADELEINES!!!  My excitement was directly proportionate to the photograph's blurriness: the soft, lemon rosemary delicacies were a most unique and delicate sweet/savory treat.

Another victim of my unprofessional excited, photographic blurriness: these terrific raspberry bars from Mister Sister.  I (and everyone else in attendance) could not stop gushing at the perfect cookie, crumb, jam trifecta that made up these impressive bars.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a fruit salad cause more of a stir than this beautiful, star-filled one (courtesy of Doris Lin):

Even a certain Bean you may know and love humbly contributed VCIYCJ cowboy cookies to the celebration.

Believe me: they were no match for the samoas, which I shall continue to dream about...along with this positively magical contraption.  Just one amazing component of the impressive, secret, inner workings of the Snail!

Now that I've got your stomachs grumbling, please note that the schedule for the week has been posted.

 

Now, make like these happy people and get some Snail food!  Welcome back, Cinnamon Snail; you've been missed!  Thanks for who you are and all that you do. xoxo

Recipe Test Kitchen Fusion: Vegan Banh Mi

As you know, I recently conducted recipe testing for two highly anticipated cookbooks: one round was sammies from The Cinnamon Snail and the other Ethiopian food from Kittee Bee Berns.  The testing required a considerable investment of time and effort, but the return in skill, knowledge, and inspiration was astounding.

 

One recipe I was particularly enamored with was Kittee's awaze tofu recipe; I made it so many times that I didn't always have stews or injera on hand for accompaniment.

a tower of tofu!

So when I spied a banh mi on Epicurious Vegan's instagram I had an epiphany.  Hint: it involved a baguette.

I immediately grabbed some carrots and jalapenos...

it's the carrots she's after

and got to pickling via The Cinnamon Snail method.

 

 

I grabbed some Vegenaise and excitedly assembled an awaze tofu banh mi.

 

I'd had an uncharacteristically big lunch the day I planned the amazing fusion sammie for dinner, so when I realized how exquisite it was I found myself wishing I was hungrier just so I could eat more.

 
I had enough for plenty of sandwiches, but regardless of my adulations I can't get VM to eat tofu (it's all in her head).

Timberly is kind enough to sub avocado in her sammies from the Snail, but I didn't think avo would work in this instance.

89 likes tofu so much she carries some around in her beard.

And then I considered cauliflower.  

How I had not already made the association when we are both so enthralled by the illustrious cauliflower banh mi from Sprig and Vine, I can't tell you.  But, I got to work immediately.

I cut a medium head into small florets and included the stems chopped into smaller cubes (That's for GS/VCC!).

looks like popcorn!

Then I tossed the florets in the marinade and other ingredients used in the awaze tofu.

 

I roasted the cauliflower for 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven on a lightly oiled pan, stirring every ten minutes.  Warning: the sauce may burn onto the pan a little, so when you open the oven there may be a considerable amount of smoke expelled.  I'm not saying this will definitely set off the smoke detector, but it could. 

cauliflower for days

I assembled the cooked cauliflower with the same pickled carrots & jalapeno and Vegenaise- this time also adding arugula.

I dare not venture to guess how the Sprig & Vine cauliflower banh mi is prepared, but this was equally decadent.  I really impressed myself.

It was so good that I did it all again for dinner guests, this time with home-made bread!

 

Much more pickling:

 

A bored-with-it-all pooch:

 

And a build-your-own sammie presentation (with string bean accompaniment):

ugly (but delicious) bread

  

It was another delicious success:

I sincerely hope you're all waiting for these cookbooks with as much anticipation as I am.

It will definitely be worth the wait.