Lemon, parsley and roasted garlic. Can you go really go wrong with these? I don’t think so.
The other day I started thinking about how I missed the buffalo chicken burrito (minus the chicken) I used to get at a burrito shop back home. While they were totally accommodating when I was just vegetarian in leaving out the chicken and subbing black beans, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to make it vegan, seeing as both the sauce and the blue cheese dressing made it not.
Then I got to thinking that I can make a pretty decent vegan ranch dressing, and I had some Lightlife chick’n strips in the fridge. I didn’t want to make it a burrito, since I don’t have the equipment to really replicate the stretchy burrito wrap the right way (plus I wasn’t really in the mood for the rice and beans part anyway), but I could make it into a sandwich on pita! Of course, I didn’t have the pita nor did I have everything I needed for the dressing- namely parsley and lemon, though I happened to have some roasted garlic in the fridge. And certainly, the amount of parsley and lemon called for to make just a couple of spoonfuls of dressing is much less than you can really buy at the grocery store, so this called for another plan, at least after a trip to the store. First, the sandwich:
To make the buffalo chick’n strips, simply melt some vegan margarine in a pan, add some hot sauce, mix it up, toss in the strips and coat them. I then put them on a cookie sheet and warmed them up in the oven for a few minutes. I didn’t bother to look at the temperature on the oven. The dressing is a couple of a tablespoons of Veganaise, mixed with some chopped parsley, some smashed roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and about half of the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of lemon zest. Then it’s just a matter of adding some lettuce to some pita, putting in some chick’n strips and adding some dressing on top. Delicious. The box of chick’n strips and the amount of dressing made here is enough for two sandwiches.
But now, I’ve still got all this lemon, parsley and some leftover roasted garlic. They do sound like they might be good over pasta with some olive oil and other spices. And guess what? It was!
