Vegan BBQ on July 4th and Vegan Peach Melba

It's the time for a BBQ at So Cal (Southern California). It's July 4th, the weather was hot, and the BBQ grill was out. The menu for our July 4th's BBQ consisted of: BBQed Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage sausage topped with grilled onions, peppers, and sauerkraut; grilled vegetables; and a Peach Melba for dessert.

The recipe for grilled Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage on a bun is really easy. If you have not tried this product, I highly recommend it. I love the smoky and sweetness of this vegan sausage. To balance the flavor, I topped it with grilled red onions, red and yellow bell peppers, and organic sauerkraut, sauteed with a little EVOO.

Grilled Field Roast Apple Sage Sausage with Onions, Peppers, and Sauerkraut
Serve 4

1 pkg. Field Roast Apple Sage Sausage
4 vegan hot dog buns, your favorite brand

Toppings:
1 small red onions, sliced
1/2 large red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 large yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 cup organic sauerkraut (I used Eden brand)
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

mustard (your choice)

1. Heat a cast iron pan on medium high flame(I used a portable stove to cook outside when the weather is hot).
2. Add olive oil. Then, add onions. Pan fried for 1 minute. Add bell peppers. Sauteed for another minute.
3. Add organic sauerkraut and ground black pepper. Sautee until all vegetables are browned and heated through.
4. While toppings were being pan fried, put Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage sausages on the grill along with the buns. Carefully, watch the hot dog buns. Flip sausages after 2 minutes.
   
   
   
5. Assemble the hot dog buns and sausages together, Then,add toppings and mustard.
6. Serve immediately.

Grilled Vegetables
Serve 4

Marinade:
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. tamari
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 medium organic sweet potato or yam ( microwaved for 2 minutes)
2 large organic zucchini
2 large organic crooked neck yellow squash
1 lb. organic asparagus

1. Cut(lengthwise) yam, zucchini, and yellow squash into 1/4-inch thin slices.
2. Mix marinade in a small bowl with a wire whisk
3. Marinade all vegetable for about 1 hour
4. Grill on hot coals for about 4 minutes each side

Now, the fun part is the dessert: Vegan Peach Melba, vanilla ice cream served with a poached peach and raspberry sauce. This dessert was inspired by Curtis Stone, the Aussie celebrity chef from Take Home Chef. I love to watch cooking shows whether it is vegan or non-vegan(I always think that recipes can be veganized). Curtis reminded me of Peach Melba, a dessert that I savored in my childhood. This dessert is well-known in Australia where he came from. Americans probably never heard of this dessert. However, growing up in Indonesia which is near Australia, my late dad always took us to have Peach Melba as a treat in our hometown's ice cream shop. I totally forgot about this dessert until Curtis made this dessert in one of his shows. Yeah, I remember this delicious ice cream dessert so I determined to make it and to re-live my childhood.



I invited my mom and siblings to try it and we went back to our memory lane, our childhood era, talking about fun events we had together as a family in our hometown's ice cream shop, having Peach Melba. Mom and siblings had the non-vegan store-bought vanilla ice cream in it. I had it with Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent with Coconut Milk,Vanilla Bean, soy ice cream. This product has been blogged in many different vegan blogs. It finally reached the shelf of the ice cream section of Whole Foods market in my area. This vanilla soy ice cream was really decadent and creamy.

Vegan Peach Melba
Adapted from Curtis Stone's recipe
Serve 4

Ingredients:

For the Poached Peaches:
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Note: I used vanilla beans and scraped the dark bean specks. You are welcome to substitute with vanilla extract (1 -2 teaspoons) but using vanilla beans is much better.
4 peaches, peeled but leave whole

For the Raspberry Sauce:
12 oz. fresh organic raspberries
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Soy Vanilla Ice Cream (try Turtle Mountain new product: Purely Decadent with Coconut Milk)

1. Combine water, sugar, and lemon slices in a heavy large saucepan. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean then add them to the liquid mixture. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Add the peaches and simmer gently over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until the peaches are almost tender. The cooking time will vary depending on the ripeness of the peaches.
3. Allow the peaches to cool in the poaching liquid. Add vanilla extract this time (if you don't use vanilla beans). The peaches will continue to cook in the liquid as it cools, so be sure not to over-cook them initially.
4. While the peaches are cooling off, puree the raspberries and powdered sugar in a blender until smooth.
5. Strain the raspberry sauce through a fine sieve and into a bowl. Discard the seeds.
   
6. Place peaches and raspberry sauce in the fridge until time to serve.
7. To serve: Place 3 tablespoons of raspberry sauce in the center of each 4 plates and stir to create 4 large circles of raspberry sauce. In the center of each plate, place 1 peach and serve with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Alternate serving method is just to put ice cream in the middle, put sliced peaches around it, and drizzle with raspberry sauce (see picture below).


Boy, this ice cream dessert topped it all, a fun filled weekend with a family. I know it is not red, white, and blue (more like red, white, and yellow) as the 4th of July dessert should be but it is absolutely divine and brought a family together in a hot summer day.