Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Vegan bacon 'n' egg muffins

August 4, 2013


When we first moved to Melbourne, we really weren't expecting to settle in to our Carlton apartment for the long-haul. It's been seven years now and, after devouring all that the neighbourhood had to offer, we're finally moving on (don't worry, we're not going far!). Our current apartment has been the site of a few excellent vegan potlucks over the years (most notoriously Cindy's ice-cream themed birthday potluck, which left me with a massive sugar hangover), so we decided to throw a final celebratory potluck to say farewell.


We went with a brunch theme and everyone came through with the goods - there were sweet and smoky baked beans from Johanna, a tofu quichey thing from Veganator, wondeful pastries from Vicki, spicy noodles from The Simple Eater, quinoa soy bombs from AOF, chocolate pudding from Lisa plus deep-fried amazingness (including Oreos!), berry cornbread, cauliflower curry and on and on and on. Incredible.

I decided to go for a veganised version of McMuffins, combining this brilliant omelette recipe with some old-fashioned tempeh bacon to create a salty, eggy treat. We originally talked about making our own muffins from scratch, but time got away for us (besides, the white-bread muffins we bought were probably closer in spirit to what Maccas serve up). 


I realised too late that real McMuffins actually come with a soggy puddle of cheese on top of the bacon and egg, so these were even less authentic than you'd expect. Instead, we gave our guests their choice of sauces to slather on - my favourite combo was a generous squirt of tomato sauce with a drip or two of Sriracha. I was really happy with how these turned out - it's not actually that much work (or at least it wouldn't be if you were making four rather than twelve), and they really were fantastic. The ability of black salt to turn silken tofu + seasonings into something eggy never fails to blow my mind. I'll definitely be testing out the kitchen in our new place with a batch of these pretty soon.

18 comments:

  1. I loved these - I have never had a McMuffin from Maccas so I don't have much to compare it to but I thought the soft oozy omelette and the crispy facon was brilliant - I have never managed to get tempeh bacon right but your was fantastic

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    1. Hi Johanna - I agree, Michael did a great job! I'm glad we could share these with you.

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    1. ... to the unit we've lived in for the past 7 years.

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  3. And there I had just come to terms with the fact that I had missed deep-fried oreos, and now there's this delicious revelation?! REGRETS.

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    1. Hayley - we regret your absence too! On the other side, there were some post-fried-food regrets had.

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  4. they were so freaking delicious. a complete revelation! sorry to be so boring as to bring tea.

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    1. No problem, Carla! Lord knows, there was plenty of food to go around and I dug the tea. :-)

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  5. That omelette sounds intriguingly delicious! That's an impressive collection of vegan brunch items as well - nice job!
    Hope you're moving somewhere that still has easy access to vegan goodness!
    I finally made it to Bayte for brunch on Sunday and had the pancake with persian floss - SO good. Thanks for the headsup!

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    1. Hi Lizzie - you're welcome! I'm glad the pancake lived up to the description. Luckily for us, we're moving slightly closer to Melbourne's vegan epicentre if anything. :-D

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  6. I'm so sorry to have missed out on all of these delicious foods - what a fantastic spread! Your McMuffins look fantastic, like Johanna I've never mastered tempeh bacon and would have enjoyed trying yours.

    Glad to hear you aren't moving far and will still be based in Melbourne...

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    1. Mel, you were missed! I hope your household is back to good health and we might see you at another veg gathering soon. :-)

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  7. I love how you make it sound like the time to move is once you've exhausted all eating options nearby. I can get on board with that.

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    1. That is totally legit, Hannah! Though actually we found ourselves writing a list of places we should go one more time before vacating.

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  8. Your farewell potluck spread looks fabulous! Tofu + black salt = something eggy? Tell me more! Good luck with the move guys :)

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    1. Lisa, yes! Black salt actually looks greyish-pink and can be found in Indian grocers. It has a bizarre sulfurous smell the definitely = something eggy.

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  9. Love pot lucks - such a good way of having a feast with everyone contributing!

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    1. Cara - you got it in one. We're lucky to have a circle of enthusiastic potlucking buddies here in Melbourne!

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