Tunaless Salad and Oyster Mushroom Scallops

This post has an ocean theme...A Post Aquatic if you will.  I wasn't a huge seafood fan in my pre-gan days, but every once in a while I could go for some tuna salad and occasionally I would have scallops.

In the Rouxbe chapter on grains and beans, one of the assignments was preparing a Tuna-less Salad.   The dish consists of mashed chickpeas, seaweed, pickles, mayo and some other extras.  It has a slight flavor of the sea, but in reality is just a fresh, tasty chickpea salad that doesn't need to be compared to tuna.

At the same time as taking this class, I'm also helping recipe test for Celine and Joni's upcoming cookbook: Vegan Substitutions 2.  When I saw the Crispy Bacon and Shallot King Oyster Scallops, I knew I had to try them.  This is built on two other recipes from the book, bacon bits and (believe it or not!) bacon grease.   It never occurred to me to try to veganize bacon grease, so kudos to the authors there.

Anyway, this is an imaginative and tasty dish like so many others you'll find when this book is released.

As far as Rouxbe, I've been making my way through chapters on soups, sauces, marinades, dairy replacements, proteins and most recently fresh pasta.  Expect to see some posts from these tasks soon.