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Healthy living

Crossover cuisine In Berkeley, an omnivore chef cooks up delicious reasons to eat like a vegan By Amy Machnak

Annabelle Breakey (Food styling: Kevin Crafts)

Chickpea cake with fava leaves and arugula salad

Here’s a fun game: Take a menu that lists cheeseburger next to vegan pizza, put it in front of people, and then guess which they’ll choose. If you’re at Gather Restaurant, in Berkeley, cheeseburger would likely be the wrong answer. Chef Sean Baker—whose menu does in fact give both side by side—is getting lots of attention these days for his wildly popular modern take on vegan food.

Americans looking for ways to eat less saturated fat see a vegan meal as a good option. But Sean (who himself is partial to a nice roast chicken) offers an even better reason to occasionally skip the meat: taste. He’s proving, one dish at a time, that vegan food can be so delicious, even carnivores might go for it. We asked him for his tips on how to get the most flavor from your next meat-free meal—and for a recipe that just might rival a burger.

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Chickpea cake with fava leaves and arugula salad SERVES 6 | 1 HOUR, PLUS CHILLING TIME At Gather, Sean Baker serves the chickpea cake with the salad plus seasonal additions like stinging nettles, braised black trumpet mushrooms, and pine-nut salsa.

CHICKPEA CAKE About 1/4 cup olive oil, divided 1 cup chopped onion 1 qt. reduced-sodium vegetable broth 12/3 cups chickpea (garbanzo) flour* 1 tsp. nutritional yeast* 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves 2 cups lightly packed fava leaves or baby spinach* 1 tsp. kosher salt

ARUGULA SALAD 1 qt. lightly packed baby arugula 1/2 cup each fennel fronds and flat-leaf parsley leaves Fennel and orange dressing (recipe follows)

1. Make chickpea cake: Heat 1 tbsp. oil

in a large, wide pot over medium heat.

Cook onion, stirring often, until translucent, about 7 minutes. Add broth and heat until simmering. Sprinkle in chickpea flour and yeast, whisking until smooth.

2. Transfer mixture to a food processor.

PurĂŠe until as smooth as baby food. Stir in thyme, fava leaves, and salt. Pour into a greased 9- by 13-in. baking dish. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on top and use your hand to level mixture. Chill until cold, at least 11/2 hours and up to 2 days.

3. Invert cake onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 squares, then cut each square again diagonally to make 24 triangles.

4. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown triangles, turning once, 8 minutes total; add oil as needed. Set on 6 plates.

5. Make salad: Toss arugula, fennel fronds, parsley, and half the vinaigrette in a bowl.

Spoon salad over chickpea triangles and serve remaining dressing on the side.

*Find chickpea flour and nutritional yeast at natural-food stores or well-stocked grocery stores. Find fava leaves at farmers’ markets; if using spinach leaves instead, increase chickpea flour to 2 cups.

PER SERVING WITH 3 TBSP. DRESSING 395 Cal., 61% (242 cal.) from fat; 9.2 g protein; 28 g fat (3.9 g sat.); 30 g carbo (6.2 g fiber); 987 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.

Fennel and orange dressing MAKES 1 CUP | 35 MINUTES Cook 1 cup each chopped fennel and onion in 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat until well caramelized, about 30 minutes. Add 2 pinches saffron and a pinch each cayenne and paprika; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 3 tbsp. Champagne vinegar, 1/2 cup vegetable broth, 1 tsp. each orange zest and chopped fresh rosemary, and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt. Let cool. Whisk in 5 tbsp. more extra-virgin olive oil.

PER TBSP. 60 Cal., 88% (53 cal.) from fat; 0.2 g protein; 6.2 g fat (0.9 g sat.); 1.7 g carbo (0.4 g fiber); 93 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.

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30 hearty vegetarian main dishes: sunset.com/vegetarian

What, apart from fresh vegetables, do you need to cook great vegan food?

Tamari [which tastes like soy sauce but is mellower].

Also, nutritional yeast, because it fills the middle palate, much the way cheese and dairy would.

[Use it as you would a sprinkle of parmesan.]

Last, a wide array of highquality olive oils. Each has a different acidity and complexity depending on the olives and when they were harvested. A ripe tomato tastes completely different when paired with different olive oils.

Really? Fall [-harvested] olives create a spicier, darker oil with bright acidity that pairs well with a sweeter tomato. Spring olives create a buttery oil

that’s great when paired with a tomato higher in acidity.

Are there any animalbased ingredients you really miss? None. I’m completely comfortable using what’s available.

Not even butter? Not even a tenth of me misses butter! I prefer olive oil and always have. Vegan cooking is as good as omnivore cooking, it just uses a different combination of ingredients to get similar flavors. For example, instead of anchovies, we use seaweed. For egg yolks, we use nutritional yeast and silken tofu to make a creamy emulsion [for recipes] like our vegan aioli.

How do you create a winning vegan dish? I try to show that a vegetable has different expressions when prepared in various ways. When you roast a vegetable, you get a meaty umami flavor, which, when added to broth, gives a deeper, richer taste. The same is true with the different flavors you get from blanching (soft and clean) versus from searing (caramelized and bitter).

When you serve both techniques on the same plate, you’re using the whole vegetable in a way that shows complexity. That’s when it’s really fun to be cooking vegan.

INFO Gather Restaurant ($$; 2200 Oxford St., Berkeley; gatherrestaurant. com or 510/809-0400) ■

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Vegan secrets from a top chef

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