Save an animal! Make your next meal meatless

Alright! Listen up all you carnivores! It's time to eat your veggies just like mom used to tell you. Only this time you'll be licking your plate clean. Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza, of the Candle Cafe in New York City and authors of "The Candle Cafe Cookbook," were invited on "Today" to to share this meatless menu. Here are the recipes:

Rosemary-Pecan Crusted Seitan
Serves 4-6
This is a very versatile dish that we have made in many ways. In addition to coating the seitan cutlets with walnuts, you can also use pecans, sesame seeds, or pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup umeboshi vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup shoyu
1/4 cup garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
8-10 seitan cutlets (about 1 pound), preferably homemade
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely ground pecan
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
4 tablespoons olive oil

Direction
Place the tomato paste, vinegar, wine, orange juice, shoyu, garlic, parsley, tarragon and rosemary in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the marinade over the seitan and marinate in the refrigerator at least 3 hours or overnight.

Mix the flour, salt, pepper, walnuts and rosemary together and place in a shallow bowl. Dredge the cutlets.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan and sauté the cutlets until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Serve at once with desired sauce.

Angel’s Dumplings      
Yield:  35 dumplings

Ingredients
35 wonton wrappers
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced small
2 scallions, sliced thinly, use all
1/4 lb. oyster mushrooms, diced small
1/3 lb. shitake mushrooms, stems removed, diced small
1 cup green or Napa cabbage, diced small
1 tsp. smeboshi vinegar
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. safflower oil
1 1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1/2 tsp. ginger juice
Very small pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. tamari or good quality soy sauce

Directions
Heat oil, add onions, sauté for 1 minute. Add mushrooms, sauté for 2 minutes. Add cabbage, cayenne, ginger, and scallions, sauté until most of the liquid is evaporated.
Add tamari, the 2 vinegars, ginger juice, and lemon juice, cook for 1 minute, and remove from heat. Strain all excess liquid through a fine-meshed strainer or cheesecloth.
To assemble dumplings, place wonton wrappers on a flat surface, moisten edges with water, place 1 tbsp. filling on center of each wrapper, and fold over, sealing edges with a little water, or fold into a parcel shape, bringing edges up in center, twisting slightly to fan out tops.
To cook, fill pot with 4 inches good quality vegetable oil – bring it up to 350 degrees and drop dumplings in for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Serve with carrot miso dipping sauce.

For the sauce:
Ingredients
1/2 cup carrot juice
1 tsp. wasabi powder mixed with 2 tsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. umeboshi vinegar
1/4 stalk lemongrass – tough skin removed and minced very fine
2 tsp. mellow white miso or sweet white miso
2 shitake mushrooms sliced and sautéed in vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp. tamari (or a good quality soy sauce)
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Small pinch cayenne

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine meshed strainer. Serve on the side with the dumplings.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pyramid
Ingredients for the peanut butter mousse
1 1/2 cup tofu cream cheese
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 tsp. agar agar
1 cup Florida crystals
1/4 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup silk soy milk

Directions for make the mousse
Place the peanut butter, silk soy milk, tofu cream cheese, arrow root, agar agar, and Florida crystals in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour mousse into a square baking pan.  Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until set.  Chill.

Ingredients for the chocolate mousse
1 1/5 cups dairy-free chocolate chips
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. vanilla soy milk
1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. kuzu
3/4 block (20 ounces) silken tofu
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract.

Directions for the mousse filling
Place the chocolate chips, 1 cup of soy milk, and the cocoa powder in a bowl.  Dissolve the kuzu in the remaining 2 tsp. of soy milk and add to the mixture.  Place the mixture in a double boiler and heat over simmering water on medium heat until melted, stirring occasionally, 15 – 20 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool slightly. Place the tofu in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add the maple syrup and vanilla and almond extracts and blend again.  Fold into the chocolate mixture until well blended, chill.

Ingredients for chocolate cake
1/2 cup unbleached while flour
1/2 cup pastry flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (fine grained)
1/4 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions for chocolate cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar.  In another bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of water, the soy milk, maple syrup, oil, vinegar, and vanilla and almond extracts.  Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir well to combine.

To assemble pyramids
Place one ounce chocolate cake batter in pyramid placed upside down, balanced in soufflé dish, bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Let cake cool for 20 minutes, top with 2 oz peanut butter mousse and then 2 oz chocolate mousse, smooth over with spatula. Place in refrigerator and allow to set for at least 30 minutes To remove go around inside edge with a flat butter knife and tap gently on pyramid until it falls on plate (hold as close to plate as possible to maintain shape).

Garnish with fresh berries and sprig of mint.

Recipes excerpted or adapted from "The Candle Cafe Cookbook: More Than 150 Enlightened Recipes from New York's Renowned Vegan Restaurant," by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza. Copyright © 2004 by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt can be used without permission of the publisher.

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