Coffee crusted ribz

I did a lot of testing for Grills Gone Vegan and now it’s finally here I decided to revisit one of my favourites. In case you don’t know, all the testing and planning of Grills was done quite a long time ago and it got a bit held up at the publishers, hence this book being released so soon after Whole Grain Vegan Baking, which was co-authored with Celine Steen. I did a review of some of the fabulous recipes I tested almost 2 years ago!

There’s loads to love about this book, and even as I sit staring out of my window in the middle of May into cloudy skies and endless rain, I know there are some recipes I’ll turn to again and again. One of them is the Coffee Crusted Ribs. They were the first recipe I decided to remake, partly because I loved them, and partly because I finally got my hands on another jar of instant espresso when I was in the US recently. The recipe is in two parts – you make the ribs first and then there a number of sauces and rubs that you can use on them. They are a little bit fussy but they make a lot and they freeze brilliantly. They’re a great dense texture and you probably wouldn’t guess there was coffee in the rub, just a deep flavour that adds a low note to the ribs.

I served them alongside some macaroni cheese with spinach in. I generally make my own cheese sauces but while in Chicago, Matthew really enjoyed the macaroni cheese side dish in Chicago Diner, which uses Teese. I had only tried cooking with the mozarella Teese and wasn’t hugely impressed with it, but when I saw that they sold a cheese sauce I brought some back to try. For a bought product we both enjoyed it; it certainly made for a very quick pasta dish and if it was available here I might well keep a tube of it around for emergencies. Apparently it keeps for a month in the fridge once opened so I’ll be trying the leftovers in something else.

I can’t wait to revisit some of my other old favourites from Grills Gone Vegan and I’ll be sure to keep you posted here when I do!

Food Network Monthly Cookalong – Pizza

I need to start this post with a confession. This meal had nothing to do with a grill at all, but I’m including it in Kelly’s Food Network Cookalong, because if I had an outdoor grill it easily could have been (always assuming it ever stopped raining, of course).

Ages ago I did some amazing testing for Tami’s forthcoming grill book, Grills Gone Vegan. The book has been held up at the publishers so I decided it was time to revisit some of the tests last weekend. Most of the dishes can be cooked either outside or indoors on a grill pan, an electric grill or even in the oven. I just used the oven this time.

Two of my favourite dishes from the book were the pizzas and they came out even better second time around.

The top one is currently called Jim’s Favourite Spinach pizza, after Tami’s husband Jim, but the name may change for the book. It has a spinach sauce, fresh tomatoes, artichokes and some optional vegan cheese (I used Teese on this occasion because I’d been wanting to try it for a while). The bottom one is Buffalo pizza, which uses a creamy ranch dressing and spicy tempeh. Neither pizza has a traditional tomato sauce and I love them both equally.

Whether you’ve got a grill or not, you ought be keeping a place on your bookshelf for this book when it comes out!