Broccoli Rising and Miami Vegan
Greetings, beloved Broccoli Rising subscribers. I have news — my new cookbook Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes From the Tropics to Your Table is coming out in May.
The details:
Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes From the Tropics To Your Table
ISBN 9781962539210
LCIX Editions
Feast on Miami Vegan, a plant-based celebration of the tropics, brimming with bold Latin and Caribbean flavors and beloved dishes reflecting Miami’s delicious diversity. Award-winning author and Miami native Ellen Kanner brings Miami to your table with over 80 recipes delivering succulence, sizzle, and the big sun-drenched flavors you love— all with a plant-based spin.
Longtime Broccoli Rising subscribers (thank you, thank you) might recognize some of the recipes, which debuted here, like
But honey, there’s more than 80 new recipes, and they sing Miami. Taste it all with recipes like:
Flaky guava cream cheese pastry
Citrus-sparked and fish-free ceviche
Creamy, coconutty Caribbean curry
Savory Latin favorite picadillo
Meltingly tender sweet plantains
Classic gone vegan Key lime pie
I hope you buy Miami Vegan. I hope you love Miami Vegan. I hope you bring it into your heart and your kitchen and the book becomes totally food-splattered with use. So no pressure on either of us.
And now, two words about pre-orders. They matter. Two more words. A lot.
Every copy of Miami Vegan sold before the book even comes out is known as a pre-order in the book biz. All pre-orders count towards the first week of sales. If Miami Vegan debuts with soaring sales, independent booksellers get excited. In a good way. They scramble to order copies for their stores.
Pre-ordering means you get
to be the first kid on your block with a copy of Miami Vegan
my undying gratitude
But that’s not enough.
Broccoli Rising subscriber pre-orders also get a special 15% discount off Miami Vegan copies (so buy two!). Just use the special discount code MIAMIVEGANLOVE at checkout (valid through April 3).
And that’s not all. All Broccoli Rising subscribers who pre-order are invited to a special free virtual cooking class right after Miami Vegan’s release. Just send a screenshot of your pre-order confirmation to ellen@soulfulvegan.com, and you’re on the list. So mark your calendars and stay tuned for details.
May is breathing down my neck, and not necessarily in a sexy way. But it’s still two months off, right? So let’s look at March:
March is Women’s History Month.
March 4 Mardi Gras — Break out your beads. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, the annual revelry before Lent and its 40 days of austerity. So indulge while you can with stylish but super-easy mushroom étouffée
March 5 Miami 305 Day Miami gets its own day — the fifth day of the third month, get it? It’s for real and it’s sooooo Miami
March 8 International Women's Day
March 9 Daylight Savings Time begins (the spring forward one my husband doesn’t like)
March 14 Holi India’s joyous celebration of bright colors signifying love and new beginnings — all that and a lunar eclipse too
March 14 Pi Day (like 305 day only different). Pi, or 3.14 is considered a constant in mathematics. And honey, a day to celebrate the constant when the ground is shifting under our feet is a good thing. So is pie.
This is a vegan Key lime pie recipe in Miami Vegan. Just saying.
March 17 St. Patrick’s Day
March 20 Vernal Equinox
March 31 Eid el Fitr — Ramadan ends at sundown
King Cake
6 tablespoons vegan butter
3/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
1-1/4 cups blanched almond flour
3 tablespoons aquafaba
1 tablespoon amaretto
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 sheet (1//2 package) vegan puff pastry, such as Pepperidge Farm, thawed
1 dried fava bean or similar bean*
Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Melt vegan butter in a medium saucepan. Set aside briefly to cool. Then stir in evaporated cane sugar until well-combined and creamy. Add the almond flour, aquafaba, amaretto and vanilla. Stir again to incorporate.
Gently roll out pastry and using a sharp knife, cut into a 10-inch round.
Place the pastry on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, so pastry browns and puffs.
Reduce heat to 350℉ and continue baking for 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Using a serrated knife, such as a bread knife, slice pastry in half horizontally. Carefully remove the top half and flip it over. If it’s baked up properly, it should be puffed and have formed a sort of shell or basket, perfect for holding the frangipane.
Spread the frangipane inside, then drop in your bean. Gently invert the top half of the pastry and set on top of the frangipane, so you have a kind of frangipane sandwich.
Return it to the oven and bake or until the pastry is brown and everything smells toasty and sweet.
Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, then decorate with joyfully gaudy swaths of yellow, purple and green icing, using plant-based food coloring.
Slice and enjoy. Watch out for the bean.