Vegan Chopped! Blackberry Chipotle Cornbread with Chili-Chocolate Coconut Meat, Mint Gremolada, Braised Greens and Peas and a Blackberry, Chocolate, Balsamic Mint Sauce!

Vegan Chopped!

My entry:

Blackberry Chipotle Cornbread with a Black Eyed Pea Butter

served with...

Broiled Chili-Chocolate Coconut Meat

topped with a Pistachio-Orange-Mint Gremoulada

over...

Braised Red Kale, Chard and Collards with Black Eyed Peas

alongside

A Blackberry-Chocolate-Balsamic-Mint Sauce

Obnoxious array of meticulously created photos (that were absolutely not taken within the forty minute time period- duh! I hope that is alright!)

the cornbread was made in a sizzling cast iron skillet

(2 cups of corn meal

1 1/4 cup of buttermilk

1 Tb baking powder

salt

1 Tb sugar

2 chipotles, chopped

1 Ener-g egg replacer

3 Tb all natural shortening

dotted with halved blackberries)

BAKING TIME: 22 MINUTES

the black eyed pea butter was phenomenally simple with just

~a half cup of black eyed peas

4 Tb of coconut butter

2 tsp black strap molasses

parsley and mint

white pepper and salt~

TIME: 5 MINUTES plus time in the freezer for solidifying so 15 MINUTES

The young thai coconut meat was tossed in:

dark dark chocolate

chili powder

ginger

cumin

coconut vinegar

braggs

liqiud smoke

olive oil

agave

and baked with the cornbread for about 20 minutes then broiled for 5ish

TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES

Featuring Kahlo the cat, who was very close to attacking that coconut because she strangely loves it so much.  A gremolada is a spiced herb condiment. Mine contained:

Chili Pistachios

Orange Zest

Mint from the garden

a little Parsley

Garlic

Salt

TOTAL TIME: 2 MINUTES

The Greens:

Red Kale

Chard and Collards from my garden

Onion, Garlic

Salt, White Pepper

Broth

Thyme

Paprika

Liquid Smoke

Black Eyed Peas

and Lemon Juice

TOTAL TIME: 10 MINUTES

AND FINALLY:

The reduction sauce was really simple with just 1/4 cup of some high quality balsamic vinegar, 3-5 cubes of chocolate, a small handful of blackberries, some salt and I cheated on time by using a little coconut oil and some arrowroot powder

TOTAL TIME: 10 MINUTES

UGH this was so incredibly fun.  A JP-style twist on a traditional southern meal featuring two of my secret weapons: coconut meat and gremolada which I am basically just obsessed with because it sounds so obscure and fancy but adds more flavor than any silly grated cheese would for those non-vegans out there.  Coconut meat is, well, meaty.  Usually I grill it, but roasting and broiling worked well for these purposes.  It's somewhere between pork and chicken.  Thank the goddess for my weird raw foods restaurant because I just do not know where else I would find this without having to get seriously violent with a hatchet of some sort and overpriced coconuts at Whole Foods. PLUS some of the ingredients were hyper local a.k.a from my backyard.

If I wasn't such a freak and did not work in restaurants it would have been challenging to do this in 40 minutes.  Alas, I had my ladybug timer and after a rigorous work out of chopping, slightly freaking out, sweating, and taking a few swigs of wine, it was done and I am very proud. The cornbread and coconut went in first and in that half hour of waiting time I was able to do the butter, then the reduction, followed by the greens and then the gremolada.  Clean up was another story, I basically threw everything on the ground as if there were some magical clean up crew to disappear all of my craziness.  Nope.  Totally worth it though.  

Dear Judges: Please do this one million more times because it was the highlight of my weekend and my roommates weren't so displeased with it either! As usual, it was nice to share a meal with ladies I love and now I seriously need some Sleepytime Tea and to eat a cupcake.  <3

Love always,

JP