Cinco De Mayo Recipes with Eric Ripert. Plus His Contest.

Any foodie knows who the Michelin Star awarded chef Eric Ripert is. He leads the fabulous team at Le Bernardin in NYC. From watching Eric on foodie/chef TV shows like Top Chef and No Reservations, you can easily get a sense of how incredibly skilled a chef and warm and ‘cool’ a person he is. And Eric’s website rocks.

Cinco De Mayo Recipes a la Eric. Eric is hosting a Cinco De Mayo recipe feature and contest on his website. Prepare his special Cinco De Mayo Party recipes, take some photos and win a prize. But, since not all of the recipes on Eric’s menu are vegan, I decided to “veganize” them. It would make for a vegan fiesta with some Eric Ripert flair. The recipes and my Le Bernardin experience ahead…

My Le Bernardin Experience. I dined there last year and was pleasantly amazed when Eric’s kitchen or wait staff didn’t blink an eye when I requested an all vegan meal. It was one of the best vegan meals I have ever had. Vegan salad on seasonal fresh ingredients, amazing vegan pasta and marinara sauce, mushrooms and even some amazing sorbet. My husband enjoyed his “Surf ‘n Turf” non-vegan dish immensely as well. Le Bernardin is a spot-on special occasion restaurant. It made me an Eric Ripert super fan.

My Veganized “Eric Ripert” Cinco De Mayo Menu.

Here is Eric’s menu:

Avocado Salsa Verde with Sea Salt and Black Pepper Chips
Sangrita Shrimp Ceviche
Jicama and Watermelon Salad with Mint
Achiote Steak Taco “Cones” with Roasted Corn and Chipotle Salsa
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Sandwiches
cocktail: The Guava-Agave Cooler

My veganized version:

Instead of: Avocado Salsa Verde with Sea Salt and Black Pepper Chips
Veganized: My Avocado Salsa Verde Recipe (or Eric’s)
I already posted my delicious recipe for a similar recipe. You can use my recipe, or go with Eric’s.
Serve with blue corn tortilla chips with fresh black pepper grinded on top
This one is easy.

Instead of: Sangrita Shrimp Ceviche
Veganized: Citrus Braised Tofu with Chilled Citrus Cilantro Mango & Pineapple Slices.
Eric’s shrimp dish is a citrus marinated cold dish. Shrimp is a protein, so I wanted to keep slightly in tune with Eric’s menu flow.

Instead of: Jicama and Watermelon Salad with Mint
Veganized: Jicama and Watermelon Salad with Mint
Same! No need to veganize! This recipe is 100% vegan and sounds delicious. A bit of spice, a touch of tequila and a lot of healthy flavor! We love jicama!

Instead of: Achiote Steak Taco “Cones” with Roasted Corn and Chipotle Salsa
Veganized: Achiote Seitan Taco “Cones” with roasted corn and Chipotle Salsa
Another easy one! Eric’s recipe sounds delicious. So all we need to do is substitute the steak with seitan-a very similar protein in texture. This one sounds divine and flavorful. Perfect with some of the salsa verde guac.

Instead of: Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Sandwiches
Veganized: Cinnamon-Agave Soy Cream Sandwiches
This one is actually pretty easy. You can either bake your our vegan shortbread cookies or simply buy some at a place like Whole Foods. Then simply add in some vegan vanilla soy cream. I think it would be fabulous to mix in some agave and cinnamon into the soy cream before smushing it between the cookies for a sandwich. Yum.

Cocktail: The Guava-Agave Cooler, vegan and sounds divine. Yippee.

So those are my Veganized versions of Eric’s suggested Cinco De mayo Menu.

You can read his full original menu and read about how you can enter the contest on his website: http://aveceric.com/2009/04/23/cinco-de-mayo-dinner-social/