Veganized Italian Fritters

Having had the good fortune of growing up Italian American, I learned how to cook from my Nonna. Many of my earliest memories of absolute happiness involve working with her to produce delicious, nourishing food. We picked fava beans in her garden and I helped her water the tomato plants that towered over me like giants. I'll never forget how proud I was when I was finally tall enough to turn the crank handle of her manual pasta machine without standing on a crate. Her El Cerrito basement was a veritable pasta and ravioli-making factory. Those were the happiest days of my life.

At the age of 11, I came to the realization that I could no longer eat animals. I simply could not, and would not do it any more. Poor Nonna thought I'd lost my mind. Regarding my sudden dietary overhaul, she asked: "Ma, you crazy o what??!!" She was, after all, the same woman who raised rabbits in her back yard "for eat". They were beautiful, furry white creatures with reddish-pink eyes. And they were so soft! (I can recall how delicious they were too... with fresh egg noodles and tomato sauce from the garden... Maybe somewhere around dinner time when my older brother teased: "Anna, please pass the bunny" I stopped caring about how good they tasted.)

After more than 26 years as a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I went VEGAN, cold-turkey, about 3 months ago. (I'd tried once and failed when I was 18. Then again, when I was around 23.) Somewhere between then and now, I'd slipped back into sweet denial. But then I watched Shaun Monson's documentary Earthlings, and it was a done deal. Fortunately, I'd been eating very little dairy anyway, since my partner Mike had learned he had high cholesterol and a fatty liver. (Foie gras anyone???) He'd been indulging in butter-laden bear claws and cheezy, sour cream-filled vegetarian burritos and it finally caught up with him. He watched Earthlings just last week, and now he's on board the Vegan Train too! (Where's Don Cornelius when you need him?)

Let's be honest though, really.
When you grow up in a culture where bacon&eggs = a normal American breakfast, you're gonna run in to some challenges. Since I've been cooking my entire life, I feel that I have a leg up on a lot of people whose families didn't prepare fresh food every day. So now, I'm loving every bit of the newness of veganizing every food I can. Pancakes and waffles? Easy! Cakes and pies? Done! Cream sauces? Gravy? Fried rice? Breakfast scrambles? It's all so much fun! I feel so completely inspired since since becoming vegan that all I want to do is cook!!! But for those of you who might need a bit of inspiration, I cannot recommend the following cookbooks highly enough: 1.) Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and 2.) The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Both of these cookbooks have proven to be invaluable.

When I'm not trying out new recipes, I'm veganizing trusted old family ones.
This one, for fritelli or in Nonna's genovese dialect frisceu, is easy and delicious.
Ligurian women can whip these suckers up in no time, and that comes in handy when the men in the family are drinking a bit too much vino and need to be quickly sobered-up.

These tasty fritters are traditionally made with borage leaves, but unless you're of Ligurian or French descent, you probably don't grow borage or have access to it. Green onion will suffice. Just remember to be generous with the greens of the onions as well as the whites.

Green Onion Frisceu

"Freeshoo"

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup unsweetened plain soymilk

2 Tbs. ground flaxseed (I use golden flax seeds)

6 Tbs. water

2 tsp. vinegar

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (including lots of greens!)

Fresh ground black pepper

Kosher salt

Olive oil for frying

Soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids for dipping (optional)

Directions:

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flax seeds and water. Mix with an electric hand mixer until bubbly, about one minute. Add the soymilk and the vinegar. Slowly, stir in the flour. It will start to resemble pancake batter. Add the onions. Stir just to combine. Grind in some fresh black pepper and 2 or 3 good pinches of Kosher salt. Do not over-mix. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes or so, while you heat about 1/2 an inch of olive oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot and ready, spoon about a heaping tablespoon at a time around the perimeter of the pan. You might have room for one more in the center. Let them sizzle, over medium-high heat and occasionally escort them either clockwise or counterclockwise with a fork. Don't turn them over until they're a warm, golden brown. Repeat on the second side. Place the hot fritters on newspaper, to sop up any extra oil. Dust with a little more salt and serve hot. They're delicious at room temperature too, and they make for a tasty addition to a brown bag lunch. (They're very good dipped in a bit of Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids or soy sauce. Just don't tell Nonna!)

With a simple green salad and a glass of red wine, there's nothing more you'll need to fill your happy, vegan belly.