Millennium Paella September 15, 2009

I had the weekend to myself, without much testing to do. I’d sort of decided to spend Saturday slaving over a hot stove, but when I saw how sunny it was, I had a change of plan. I still wanted to cook myself something nice, but didn’t want to spend the whole day doing it.

I decided to try the paella from the Millennium book. It’s actually one of the quicker dishes from Eric Tucker’s two books, and as long as you do a bit of planning it comes together quite quickly at the end.

It’s based on a saffron rice pilaf, which I made earlier in the day. I also home smoked the tofu at the same time – and it was the best smoked tofu I have ever done. I’ll do a tutorial on what I did when I next do it and get some photos. I didn’t take any because I’ve done it loads of times and didn’t expect it to turn out so well. There was a secret part to it, which was just a happy find.

The other main flavours of the dish included arame seaweed, capers, orange zest, chile flakes, courgettes, cumin seeds and black olives. Looking at the amount of seaweed after it had soaked, I suspected it would be too overpowering, but it just provided a really gentle taste of the sea, which was perfect.

It was served with a chile tofu aoli. I’m always a touch suspicious of silken tofu where it’s standing in for mayonnaise or sour cream. This is probably a hangover from a very early vegan brush with a Sarah Kramer recipe where the tofu ended up tasting resoundingly of… tofu, and had to be thrown away. However, this was deliciously creamy, garlicky and fresh, and worked perfectly with the deep flavours of the paella.

For a really tasty dish, from a book renowned for difficult dishes, this one really didn’t take too long. You don’t need to smoke your own tofu so don’t let that put you off. You can use shop bought smoked tofu or a seitan sausage. I would highly recommend giving this a go. And look! The recipe is available on googlebooks here – no excuses!

Broad bean and potato salad August 12, 2009

I always get very confused about certain differences in US English versus proper  UK English. One of the ones I’ve never got to the bottom of is broad beans and butter beans. Broad beans are those yummy looking green things in the picture, which happen to be fresh but also come tinned and frozen. I don’t think you can get them dried, at least, i’ve never seen them. Butter beans are big and white and mealy and usually tinned, sometimes dries. So are they fava beans, lima beans or neither? I’ve never really been sure, and its one question I’ve searched the internet, and asked on various food fora, and never quite found an answer. Certainly, when I’ve looked at photos people have taken of recipes with one of them in, they often look like not the sort of bean I’d have used.

Anyway, I don’t suppose it really matters as long you enjoy the results of what you’re eating!

My Mother in Law loves broad beans, and can’t get them where she lives (Hawaii), so whenever she comes to stay, if the season is right, I try to make something with them. I bought two huge bags of local broad beans and spent several happy hours catching up with Top Chef Season 3, and double podding the beans. I just love those furry, velvetty insides of the pod. I don’t always double pod but I had an urge to this time, and it was very satisfying. Now I had this pile of beans, what could I do with them?

It was a nice sunny day so I went for a salad. I cooked some local new potatoes until almost soft, then threw the beans in for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, I made a dressing by blending together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mint, parsley, wholegrain mustard, salt and pepper. I drained the potatoes and beans, and while they were still warm I covered with the dressing. Snipped a few spring onions over the top, and there you go. A lovely taste of English summer, whatever the beans are called!

And by the way, does anyone know if you can do anything useful with the pods?

Beyond Skin July 23, 2009

Wait! That’s not food. It’s a shoe. A beautiful shoe.

I know this is a food blog, but since I’m doing so much recipe testing at the moment I thought I might occasionally feature companies or products I particularly like.

And I have fallen head over heels with Beyond Skin and their shoes.

I gave up leather and suede about 10 years ago. I had been vegetarian for ages but it took me an amazingly long time to make the connection between leather and animals. Since then I’ve always found it difficult buying shoes. I have several pairs from Vegetarian Shoes and I have worn my beloved Wombats forever. But the range isn’t huge and they certainly don’t sell anything that could be described as glamorous.

Other than that, I do buy cheap shoes that just happen to not contain leather or suede as I find them, and turn a blind eye to what the glue is made of, what the working conditions in the factory may be like, and the environmental impacts of the materials.

So that’s why I was delighted to discover Beyond Skin and their beautiful range of vegan, ethical shoes. Yes, they’re not cheap. But quality isn’t cheap and nor is producing shoes that give the makers good working conditions. I can easily spend £20 on cheap shoes that I never wear because the material they’re made from is so damn uncomfy. Much better to stop doing that and buy from Beyond Skin instead.

I was fortunate to spend some time in their office at the weekend. It was chaos, shoes everywhere, some boxed, some not. There were samples from Summer 2010 collections as well as Autumn 2009. But it was great fun, with lovely staff who know their products and obviously care about their business. I tried on lots of pairs including samples of the new flat pumps which will be available soon. Believe me when I tell you that if you need shoes that are comfortable yet look smart you will want these in at least 3 fabrics.

I now own 3 pairs of BS shoes and was incredibly lucky to buy some beautiful bag samples that they had had made up. And I am checking my e-mail desperately waiting for news on the pumps.

No-one has given me any free shoes in order to write this review. I just wanted to pay some serious credit to a great company where you can buy beautiful products and feel good while you are doing it!

Butternut squash in green curry sauce March 12, 2009

I’ve mentioned before that my husband will only eat squash if it’s prepared in ways that disguise its sweetness and bring in lots of other flavours. I had lots of squash leftover from my risotto and was determined to find a way to use it that he’d like. I came across this basic idea in Nancy McDermott’s “Real Vegetarian Thai” but I played around with it enough to let you have a recipe, for a change! We both thought that the sauce was fresh and tasty and really brought out the best of the butternut squash. I served it with some brown rice flavoured with a slight touch of star anise and coriander seed.

Leftover butternut squash, cut into 1 inch cubes (I had about 1lb)
2 big shallots, chopped roughly
1 plump clove garlic, chopped
Small chunk ginger
2 small green chillies
Couple of kaffir lime leaves
Big bunch of fresh coriander
Small sprig sweet basil
About 2/3 tin coconut milk rinsed out with about 1/3 tin water
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt

Blend together the shallots, garlic, chillies, lime leaves, half of the coriander and basil with a splash of water unil you have a smooth paste.  I use my mini chopper attachment.

Heat the coconut milk in a large pan then add the green paste and cook together for a few minutes. Add the water (from the rinsed out tin), the squash, sugar and salt. Increase the heat until boiling then turn down and cook until squash is cooked, about 15 minutes. Stir in the rest of the coriander and serve.

Yuca tortillas December 31, 2008

I have been eying up this recipe in Veganomicon ever since I got it, so I’ve no idea at all what’s stopped me from making it for so long. You might think it was availability of yuca, but I can get it fairly easily fresh and very reliably frozen. I’d never tasted it before so I was a bit unsure what to expect but that doesn’t normally stop me either. I decided to buy my yuca frozen (the bag says tapioca chunks but the man in the shop assured me it’s the same thing; you might see it called cassava too). I expected it to be a bit like sweet potato but it’s not really – it’s starchy but the taste isn’t all that pronounced. I’d say it was more like a starchier version of a normal potato, so if you can’t find yuca I bet normal potato would work too (or someone on the PPK suggested using mashed white beans).

I made 2 of the variations in the book – one was sweetcorn, mushroom and black olive and the other was spinach and coriander. They were both really easy to make and I loved both of them too – I probably marginally preferred the sweetcorn version but it was nice having the mixture. I served it with tropical salsa which is also in the book, and it brought a fresh, zingy taste to the meal.

I loved this meal and will definitely be making it again, both repeating the ones I tried and trying the other variations too. Highly recommended.

Split pea and barley soup December 15, 2008

I don’t often make soup and when I do it tends to be closer to a stew or casserole because I don’t have too much time for thin watery soup. It’s not filling enough to eat as a meal but fills you up enough that you can’t really tuck in and enjoy your carb main course overload.  And if I try to make thick chunky soups my husband doesn’t see them as a meal and still expects a main course afterwards!  This one though is a soup recipe I can really recommend and I will often make it for lunch at weekends.

I love pearl barley and am sad that it doesn’t feature more often in popular recipes. When I was growing up  I loved my Mum’s chicken casserole with lots of barley in it, but I’ve hardly found any good recipes for it since I became vegan. That’s why I was so keen originally to try this recipe from Marlena Spieler’s “Flavor of California”, and I’ve been making it regularly ever since. It’s a nice book  anyway- vegetarian with a decent sprinkling of vegan or easily veganisable recipes.

The base of this recipe is a lovely earthy thick mixture which is simply about twice the amount of barley to yellow split peas cooked in vegetable stock with some ground cumin for about 45 minutes until they’re soft. The amount of broth you use will determine how liquid your soup is. When they’re cooked you stir in a coriander and lemon salsa which is a very simple blend of lettuce, coriander, garlic, chilli and lime juice, but this time I used some coriander pesto from this recipe which I had leftover from something else. It doesn’t really matter what you use as long as it’s fresh and zingy because it really lifts the earthy tone of the lentils and barley.

I’ve been doing lots of other cooking but most of it has been tester recipes. I’ll do a post about that soon. In the meantime I’m trying to plan my Christmas cooking. More on that to come too!

Ginger infused cauliflower dal December 8, 2008

This is another recipe I stashed away during VeganMoFo and hadn’t had time to try yet. Since I’ve stopped getting my organic vegetable box, there are some vegetables that just don’t seem to find their way into my trolley, and cauliflower is one of them. I really like it but since giving up cheese the only way I ever eat it is in Indian food. Any other ideas for it, anyone? If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know that I’m a sucker for any kind of dal dish (and that I still haven’t decided how to spell it), so I was delighted to spot the two things combined in a very different looking dish to the one I’ve tried before.

Anyway, I’d never used French (or puy) lentils before in dal but I would do again. They are nice and earthy but they keep their shape nicely. The ginger  and cardomom are both lovely with the lentils and the cauliflower. I would recommend that you add the lentils before the cauliflower is quite tender because it carries on cooking for a bit longer and mine was just on he edge of being a bit overcooked. It would definitely have been nicer with some fresh coriander too but I didn’t have any this time.

The rice is my favourite way to serve a simple Indian spiced brown rice which I think came from Jamie Oliver in Sainsbury’s magazine, but I grate some carrot in it for colour, sweetness and vitamins.

I’ve said before that one of my favourite combinations for a nice, filling, easy midweek meal is brown rice+spiced lentils+vegetable, and this dish is another one to add to my list of regulars.

VeganMoFo: Gnocchi with broccoli pesto October 21, 2008

There have been a lot of VeganMoFo posts about quick dinners. Tonight was one such in this house. I’d been at work all day and had to go straight to a governors meeting which lasted a few hours. Normally on governor nights my husband cooks something (under orders from me), but today he was in London so I couldn’t rely on that.

I’d bought a bag of ready made gnocchi from the fridge when I was in France a few weeks. They were just about to come to their sell by date so rather than bung them in the freezer I decided to use them. I have made my own gnocchi, and I can buy vegan versions here but not regularly – they often have egg in them.

Anyway, they cook really quickly so I did a very quick pesto to go with them. I LOVE the pesto from Vegan With a Vengeance – I honestly swear I prefer it to non vegan versions. I often have it with gnocchi as it’s nice and light and gnocchi can get a bit claggy if it’s overwhelmed. But today I felt as if I needed some extra greens so I made the pesto as usual but threw in some steamed broccoli and also a small spoonful of Toffuti cream cheese. It made for a delicious sauce but would certainly have been better with dried pasta as the gnocchi really needed something less chunky. Still, It took hardly any longer to make than it does to boil water so I’m really pleased with it for an emergency meal.

Gingerbread waffles and care packages September 23, 2008

This was another test recipe for Isa’s brunch book. It’s a testament to how good it was that a) I was a bit drunk when I made it b) my measuring cups were in the dishwasher and c) I didn’t have quite enough plain flour and had to use some bread flour – and yet it was still the nicest waffle I have ever eaten. The whole house smelt like a gingerbread house; the waffle wasn’t sweet; it was just lovely and spicy. To add insult to injury, my husband realised it went really well with a glass of calvados. There was no going back from that point.

I served the waffles with vanilla Swedish Glace ice-cream and sorghum molasses. Yep, that’s right. I’d never heard of it either until the previous day, when the wonderful Johnp sent me a southern US care package. Southern US food really intrigues me. It’s almost as far removed from English food as, say, Chinese food. And when you don’t understand a cuisine, it’s doubly difficult to get to grips with vegan versions. The rest of the package includes 3 different barbecue sauces, grits, boiled peanuts, black eyed peas and hominy. And I know you are wondering, the sorghum molasses is wonderful, and perfect with the waffles.

Beer battered chicken seitan September 20, 2008

This is another Yellow Rose recipe that came right at the end of the week and didn’t make it into the last post. I’ve talked about making seitan before and although I’ve made seitan sausages that worked really well I’ve not had much success with seitan steaks. I really wanted a version that made nice smooth steaks that I could use in a variety of recipes. I can buy seitan in tins at the chinese shop but I find they leave a bit of a strange aftertaste. I can also get good smoked seitan but you don’t always want a smoky flavour to what you’re cooking.

When I saw this version on Joanna’s blog I decided to try again. Well, this was my best effort so far but still by no means perfect. It made an absolute tonne of seitan but it was still very spongy. I know that different brands of wheat gluten work differently and I suspect that I will never get a good smooth steak using this brand (the only brand I think you can get in the UK).

Still, I wasn’t going to let a bit of sponginess get in the way of fried beer batter so I pressed on with the recipe regardless. If there’s anything better than frying something, it’s frying it twice, so I was always going to love this recipe. You could really taste the beer in the batter, unlike other beer batters I’ve tried. That may not be to everyone’s taste but as we both love beer and we both love oil, it worked really well for us! The sponginess of the seitan was still noticeable but it didn’t ruin the dish at all. I can only imagine how great it would be with lovely smooth seitan!

I’ve still got loads of seitan left so I’ll be looking for other ways to try it, and I’ll let you know how they go. Incidentally just in case frying the seitan twice wasn’t enough, I served it with chips and a nice homemade spicy tomato sauce.