Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads!

Hello, blog.  Did you miss me?  I'm sorry.  I've brought you something special to make up for my absence:  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!

Giant Squid!  Attack!  Yaaaaaahhhh!

This is such a great movie.  First of all, it stars James Mason as Captain Nemo, Kirk Douglas as Ned the Sailor, and Peter Lorre as the Strange Sidekick. Captain Nemo is a classic misanthrope, and does not care the tiniest bit what happens to his fellow men.  In fact, he enjoys ramming his submarine, the Nautilus, into passing ships.  The Professor (played by Paul Lukas), Ned and the Strange Sidekick end up on the Nautilus after Nemo attacks their ship.  This turns into a great opportunity for Walt Disney to insert yet another educational sequence about the vast potential of the world's oceans to support mankind.  We see a poor sea turtle being led off by Nemo's men.  Thankfully, a gigantic squid attacks and messes with everyone's heads.  The good guys manage to get off the sub as it sinks with Nemo and his crew aboard.  Whew! 

There's a great scene in this movie where the main characters are dining on the Nautilus, and Nemo tells everyone that they are eating stuff like, "saute of unborn octopus."  HURL.  Seriously dude? 

Don't you have anything VEGAN to eat, Captain Nemo?

Here's my recipe inspired by today's film.  I hope you enjoy it much more than saute of unborn octopus.

TENTACLE PIE

Make your favorite recipe for a double-crust pie (I used Isa & Terry's butter crust recipe, sans sugar, from Vegan Pie in the Sky)

For the filling, blend the following together until smooth:
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp mild white miso
pinch of turmeric
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 package (6 oz) extra firm silken tofu (you can use regular tofu if you want; I had this leftover from making a batch of seitan earlier today)

Set aside. Now saute one diced yellow onion in a tablespoon of Earth Balance over medium heat until translucent.  Add about 8 oz of sliced mushrooms and continue to saute another five minutes or so.  Add about 2/3 cup frozen artichoke hearts (I used a couple of handfuls from a bag from Trader Joe's) and continue cooking until the artichoke hearts are soft.  You can cut them in half if you want.  Now add a bag of baby spinach (about 10 oz).  Cook until the spinach is good and wilted.  Now add about 2 cloves of minced garlic, some salt and pepper, and some oregano and thyme.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the tofu/cashew blended mixture.

Now, roll out the bottom pie crust and put in a pie dish.  Put in the filling and spread evenly.  Now top with the other crust and seal the edges.  Cut out everything that does not look like a giant squid from the top crust and discard. 

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40-45 minutes, until the crust is browned and the filling is set.  Enjoy!

Mushrooms, artichokes, and spinach are just natural friends.

Ready to mix.

My brother got me this great board for rolling pies.  It has printed circles on it and a ruler to show you how big things are. 

Looks like vegan squid guts to me!

Top crust in place

Tentacle Pie!