you guys are in luck! today we have a guest post from the sexy vegan, with an outtake recipe from his upcoming cookbook that deals with one of our favoritest foods ever: JACKFRUIT! if you live in LA, you’re probably mourning the loss of pure luck’s insane bbq jackfruit sandwich, so i highly suggest you give this one a shot. you can get canned jackfruit at indian or asian markets, as well as a grocery warehouse on the east side and figgy prod in highland park. enjoy!

During my extensive search of the elusive jackfruit for a recipe for my upcoming cookbook The Sexy Vegan Cookbook: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude (thought I’d get the shameless plugging out of the way early), I found myself – as I often do – at my favorite Indian market/eatery, Samosa House in Culver City. When I walked in, I spotted an Indian woman talking to another woman, and they were gesturing to an object that I was pretty sure was a jackfruit. It seemed the Indian woman was schooling the other woman on everything about the fruit. I was very much interested in what she was saying, but I didn’t want to interrupt, so I figured I’d do my shopping first, and when they were done, would ask the Indian woman all about it. After about 5 minutes or so, the other woman walked away, and I approached the Indian woman. She explained to me that it was indeed a jackfruit, and proceeded to tell me all about it. Where it grows. How to break one down. How the ripe ones bear a sweet fruit, while you can cook the “meat” of an un-ripened, or “green” one to achieve the texture of pulled pork (which is why I was interested in it). She spent 7 or 8 minutes politely educating me, and answering all my questions. When we were about done, and I was ready to go to her manager and tell him how helpful she had been, I finally asked her how often they get them in. She said, “I don’t know. I don’t work here, I’m just buying vegetables.” Oops…I think I was profiling at the Indian market. My bad. She was super nice and helpful though. I’m sure she’s great at whatever job she does.

I did not, however purchase that one, as it was already ripened and sweet. And while I was able to finally find a source for the jackfruit, I ultimately decided that the it was too difficult to come by, and therefore not ready to be in the book. But if you can find some, here’s a little something I’ve come up with. Enjoy!…

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Hello people! Sexy Vegan here. If you’re like me, you love stuffing stuff into other stuff. Not sure where this passion for stuffed foods came from. It’s something we just grew up with, I suppose. Pop Tarts for breakfast, Hot Pockets for lunch, and ricotta stuffed shells for dinner. Wow…I think my mom was trying to kill me. Not sure how I’m still alive, actually. Anyway, there are certainly healthier ways to enjoy eating things that are stuffed into other things, and here’s one of them. This Chorizo Stuffed Zucchini has it all: veggies, protein, savory and sweet. Enjoy!

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Hello, people! Sexy Vegan, here. I didn’t really eat that many vegetables as a kid, unless you count pizza sauce. My mom didn’t really like to cook, so the majority of my childhood diet consisted mainly of pizza, and pizza related items. Cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, cheesesteak pizza, garlic knots, and don’t even get me started on stromboli. We had all the local pizza joints on speed dial. Remember when home phones had that list of buttons you could program? Remember home phones? I’m glad we never had any type of emergency requiring us to hit the 911 speed dial button, because we would have heard, “Claudio’s, what can I getcha?” on the other end.

There is one pizza, however, that has managed to elude me during my first 33 years of existence: Deep Dish. Having never been to Chicago, I’ve not had the delight of indulging in a true deep-dish pizza. And I suppose if I went to Chicago now, coming by a vegan one, would be a herculean task. So I thought I’d take a stab at making my own…and if Chicago’s is half as good as this one, then I think they’ve got a future in the deep-dish pizza industry. All you need for this recipe is a 6 inch cast iron skillet, some vegan cheese, and a Trader Joe’s. The cheeze I used here is my own “Not-zzarella Cheeze” which consists mainly of cashews and silken tofu, and is a recipe you will find in my book. Yes, I have written a cookbook, but there is no release date yet. All I know is that the world is supposed to end TWICE before it comes out.

O.k. on to the recipe:

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hey everyone! time for a vegan round up of coachella day #2 from the sexy vegan. this food looks amazing, so be sure to check it out if you are in the desert today. i don’t know what i’m more jealous of…the insane vegan cuisine or the bands!

Coachella – Day 2: Ahhh…started Saturday off rested and refreshed. Slept in…slept WAY in..all the way to 7:45! My aging bladder usually wakes me up at 6:15 so this really was a treat.

When lunchtime arrived, we ventured into the food/ferris wheel/giant steel praying mantis area, and weighed our options: Indian? It’s 100 degrees, I’m sweating enough, thank you…maybe when the sun goes down. Raw? I ate healthy yesterday, I’m looking to get down n’ dirty today. Stir fry over pad Thai noodles with egg roll? Now we’re talkin’! How ’bout some garlic fries to go along with that? Sounds like a match made in music festival heaven!

The Stir Fry: This all vegan stand was brought to us by The Egg Roll People. The stir fry was decent. It was served up from a steam table, and while the big hunks of broccoli were a bit over cooked, there’s really no need to hold it against them, since they certainly can’t be expected to stir fry veggies to order. The rice noodles were cooked right, the peanut sauce was tasty, and there were little fried tofu cubes tossed in. This was fairly solid.

The egg roll was, however, was the run-away winner on the plate. Browned and crispy with perfect cabbage that had a nice gingery kick. If you’re trying to sample everything, and your belly space is becoming prime real estate, skip the stir fry and get an order of egg rolls. They are the EGG ROLL PEOPLE after all.

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just when you thought onion rings couldn’t get any better, the sexy vegan is here to teach you how to make onion rings encrusted with vegan funyuns. sounds crazy, right? well this guy is a genius, so check out his guest blog post and video to learn how to make this insanely brilliant snack. oh, and follow him on twitter!

A ring is a helluva thing. It’s circular form has been recognized throughout this planet’s history as being a symbol of unity, infinity, life, and perfection. And that’s really very nice and all…but If you ask me, a circle can’t truly be perfect unless it’s a circle made out of onion…which then gets coated with a bunch of other, smaller, crushed-up circles, that taste like onions. What the hell am I talking about, you ask? You know those rings of pure joy, that a trader named Joe occasionally bestows upon us, known as “Baked Onion Rings?” Wait, what am I saying? You’re a loyal reader of quarrygirl.com, of course you do. Then you also know that they are both vegan and delicious. Well, they’ll be the coating for these oven baked beauties that I like to call: “Oven Baked Onion Ring Encrusted Oven Baked Onion Rings!” A more perfect circle, I could not imagine.

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