Garlic Bread

You will have to forgive my lack of posting recently. I've had exams. And if any of you are ever wondering if you should do Part III maths exams at Cambridge the answer is: no. No, don't do it. It's horrid.

While I was studying Geoff was kind enough to go away so that I could have the house to myself. However, this did mean that I had no one to cook me dinner at my command so I had to come up with a few quick, easy and tasty meals.

Pasta, of course, is very easy to make especially if you cheated and bought some vegan pesto from your local vegetarian store (which Cambridge has). Sometimes, however, you feel like you need something else to make your meal a little more interesting. And this is how I discovered how to make a very easy garlic bread.

Garlic Bread

2-4 slices of bread

2 tbsp of vegan butter

1 clove of garlic, crushed and chopped very finely

1 tsp Italian herbs* (dried is fine)

 Put the grill on.

Put the bread slices in the toaster on the lowest setting. This is to ensure that when you put the butter on the toast and put it under the grill it is firm enough to not go soggy but not toasted enough to burn.

While the toast is toasting mix the butter, garlic and herbs in a small bowl. Once the toast is up let it cool for about a minute and then spread the garlic butter over the slices. 

Put the slices under the grill, butter side up, until the edges and garlic start to go golden brown.

This recipe could also easily be adapted to go on a warm baguette (put in the oven for 10 minutes or so) or some other, more traditional breads.

* Supermarkets do tend to carry a "Italian herbs" bottle of spices that we buy. If you aren't a fan of this, or you can't get any, you basically just need basil, parsely and small amount of oregano and thyme.

Leek, Mushroom and Lemon Risotto

This recipe is a veganised version of a recipe I found in the wonderfully colourful Vegetarian. The lemon adds quite a nice flavour and considering that it is not a difficult recipe to prepare and that leeks have the nifty attribute of being in season in the UK from September to March I think this is a great recipe for cold winter nights. We shared this one over a bottle of wine with some friends.

If you want to try to keep to seasonal ingredients ignore the lemon rind and just use bottled lemon juice.

Leek, Mushroom and Lemon Risotto

225g trimmed leeks (about 3)

225g brown-cap mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed

salt and pepper

6 tbsp vegan butter

1 brown onion

1 3/4 cup aborio rice

5 cups vegie stock

3 tbsp lemon juice

lemon rind, grated

2/3 cup vegan parmesen

2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Wash the leeks and slice them in half lengthways then chop roughly. Chop the mushrooms roughly too. Heat oil in a saucepan and cook the garlic for 1 minute and then add the leeks, mushrooms and lots of salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until soft and browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add 2 tbsp of the butter to the just emptied pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute until golden. Add a ladleful of stock and cook gently, stirring now and then. Once the liquid is absorbed add another ladleful until it is absorbed. Repeat this process until the risotto is thick and creamy and the rice is tender but not sticky.

Just before serving add the leeks and mushrooms with the rest of the butter, grated rind and 3 tbsp of the lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

Red Pesto

I decided to try out a roasted pepper pesto recipe from The Perfect Pantry but I pretty much suck at sticking to recipes and came up with my own. The real reason for this was that the roasted peppers (capsicum) that I bought were soaked in brine and I thought brine was salty water but apparently their definition of brine is vinegar. So my pesto tasted a lot like vinegar. The recipe also called for more vinegar and I added this except I didn't really look at the bottle it was coming from and so it turned out I added sesame oil and not balsamic vinegar.

Yes, I suck at sticking to recipes.

I would not recommend adding the sesame oil.

Red Pesto

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted in oil free pan for few minutes
12 oz/340 g roasted red peppers/capsicum (from jar, weight after drained)

1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley leaves

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup olives (pitted)

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (leave this out if peppers are in brine)
1 pinch of mild red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Put ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. If pesto is a little sticky or looks like dough add another tbsp of oil.

Makes enough pesto for 500 grams of dried pasta.

Oriental Ratatouille

Once again adapted from Virtually Vegetarian this is quick and easy and delicious.

Oriental Ratatouille

1 tbsp sesame oil

4 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 inch ginger root, finely chopped

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1 zucchini, diced

50g mooli*, diced

1 small aubergine, diced (small)

200g plum/egg tomatoes, diced

400g can chopped/whole tomatoes

1/2 tsp sugar

salt & pepper

10 basil leaves

Heat oils in a pan and simmer garlic and ginger until they release their aromas. Add all the vegetables excluding the tomatoes and saute on a high heat for 2-3 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and sugar and cook for another half a minute. The vegetables should not be brown and should be crispy. Season to taste and add basil. Transfer to another dish to let it cool.**

* See previous post about this.

** This will stop it from continuing cooking in the pan and being overcooked.

Oriental Black Risotto with Basmati Rice

This is by far my new favourite dish. It's a bit involved but well worth it. Very delicious! This is adapted from Virtually Vegetarian.

 

Oriental Black Risotto with Basmati Rice

Risotto

50g vegan butter

1 small onion or shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 inch piece ginger root, finely chopped

250g basmati rice

2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

3 cups mushroom stock*

salt & pepper

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

Vegetable Garnish

4 tbsp sesame oil

50g vegan butter

14 shiitake mushrooms, halved

1/2 inch ginger root, finely chopped

1 carrot, grated

1/4 red pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 green pepper, thinly sliced

15g mooli (daikon raddish), grated*

2 spring onions, finely chopped

16 coriander leaves

Risotto

Heat butter in a saucepan and add onion/shallot, garlic, ginger and cook for 1 min. Do not brown. The add rice and try to coat the grains with the melted butter. Then add five-spice. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Season to taste and simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring frequently. Rice should be al dente and most of the stock should evaporate. 

Once you have cooked the risotto, add the soy sauce.

Vegetable Garnish

While the rice is cooking heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil and 15g of the butter in a wok or frying pan. Saute the mushrooms until tender. Remove the mushrooms, place on a plate with a paper towel over them and keep them somewhere warm.

Heat the rest of the oil and butter in the same pan and stir in ginger and garlic. Leave for a few minutes then add the rest of the vegetables. You want the vegetables to be crisp so don't overcook. Season.

Spoon the risotto into bowls and garnish with the vegetables, mushrooms and coriander leaves.

* I made my own and will post the recipe soon.

** I'd never seen it before I came to England so I don't think you'll be able to get it in Australia. It doesn't add much to the dish anyway and could easily be left out.

Pizza Pizza!

I'm well aware that I've been slack with the posting (I can rarely begin something without finishing it all in one go so I accidentally read all 10 Southern Vampire Mystery novels in less than two weeks despite the fact that Charlaine Harris writes like an 11-year-old (one with a vivid sexual imagination) and then discovered Generation Kill which I almost watched in one sitting). With only two more days of Vegan MoFo to go I need to get motivated.

Vegan MoFo has been great. We have tried out a lot of new recipes despite the fact that I'm glued to my work most of the day. Geoff has been great: he picks out the recipes, does all the shopping, cleans the kitchen and puts out all of the ingredients and utensils (last night he even marinated eggplant for tonight; I don't even know what we are cooking tonight). He even stirs. All I do is chop and be bossy. So a lot of credit needs to go to Geoff. Without him I wouldn't have done Vegan Mofo.

There are a couple of recipes that he picked out recently that were fantastic but I'll save them so the next few days as Vegan MoFo wraps up.

One of the recipes we do use a lot is pizza dough. I couldn't find vegan pizza bases here in Cambridge that didn't have palm oil in them (and palm oil is very bad!) so I like to make my own.

I've posted about the recipe here before but the recipe was a bit dodgy. So this is my better version.

Pizza Dough

7g sachet dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup warm water
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine water, yeast, sugar and salt in jug. Whisk to dissolve. Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for 5 mins or until you see bubbles on the surface. Add oil to the mixture.

Sift flour into a bowl. Add yeast mixture to it. Mix to form a soft dough. At first the dough should look a little too dry but it will eventually start sticking as you mix more. I normally do it with my hands. If you are really sure it is not wet enough just add some water but do it slowly and carefully. Sticking dough is very hard to work with especially after it had risen.

Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes until elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Stand in warm place for 25-30 minutes or until dough has doubled size.

Use fist to punch dough down. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Top with whatever you like and bake for 10-15 minutes.

 

The topping on the pizza; ready to go.

Pre-oven. I like to add leeks because they make it taste hearty.
This one has vegan cheese on it but I rarely use it since I don't like the taste.

Green Risotto with Fresh Herbs

This is another recipe from Virtually Vegetarian. I've veganised it and it tastes great! Just make sure when you cook it you follow the recipe very closely. There are small details that make sure the risotto turns out as it should.

The original recipe uses herb juice and not herbs. However, not having something small enough to make herb juice I just used chopped herbs (although it was quite obvious that I should have spent more time chopping them finer). However, the smaller you can get the herbs the better so I would suggest that if you have a mortar and pestle that you squish the fresh herbs into a juice. Alternatively, you could blend the final bit of butter and the herbs together in a blender or food processor to get the smaller bits of herbs.

Green Risotto with Fresh Herbs

  

600ml vegetable stock

100g unsalted vegan butter

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

250g Aborio rice

90ml white wine

125g mixed herbs*

salt and pepper

Bring stock to the boil in a saucepan and keep it over a low heat to be added to the risotto.

Melt 40g of the butter in a pan and add the shallots and garlic and cook until tender. Add the rice and mix to coat it with the butter so it's nice and shiny. The add the until and cook until the wine has reduced its volume by half. Then add a ladelful of stock and stir until it is completely absorbed by the rice. Keep adding the stock like this (ladelful, stir, absorb, ladelful, stir, absorb etc) until it is all gone. This will take a while (1/2 hour).

The risotto should be loose but not sloppy and the rice should be tender but still had bite. If it becomes this before you run out of stock then don't add anymore. If it is still not at this point after you've run out of stock then just add ladelfuls of boiling water.

Once the rice is cooked add in the remaining butter and herbs and season to taste. 

* Parsley and basil were my choice. The recipe also suggests adding chevril to the mix. I have no idea what chevril is. See my comments at the start of the post about how to prepare the herbs.

Soy-Glazed Linguine with Ginger and Tofu

Cambridge is somewhat of a cultural odd pot. The town definitely basks in that British traditionalism that the university exudes in great loads but it can always surprise you.

When I was fifteen I visited New Caledonia with my French class. New Caledonia is a little lax on the alcohol (and a bunch of other) laws and being fifteen and from a small country town I, and the rest of the French class, went a little crazy. There was alcohol, French men (who I now have a rather low opinion of seeing as they were chasing after fifteen year olds!) and even smoking. I detest smoking but I'm also not fond of people disliking things they haven't tried (unless it's heroin or has moral implications like, say, the flesh of an animal).

I had a point here.

There were these drinks called Desperados there (a premixed beer and tequila drink) and we drank them by the gallon. When I returned to Australia I tried to find them again (although that was a little difficult until I was 18) but never succeeded. All my travels in France (and the rest of Europe), my travels in Canada and the US have never discovered these little bottles of beer/tequila gold.

The thought of beer and tequila now makes me want to vomit so I gave up my quest a little while ago. However, Geoff and I walked to Mill Road the other day in search of rice paper to make rice paper rolls (Mill Road houses most of Cambridge's Asian grocers) and we spotted a bottle shop, popped in to look at the wine and there, sitting in a small little fridge, were Desperados.

Of course I had a small girly fit.

The guy behind the counter said: "That's Cambridge for you. You never know what you'll find."

I thought he was being a bit sentimental and gave him my awkward I-think-you-are-a-giant-weirdo-so-please-shut-up-now smile.

However, it turned out to be very true.

An example of this weird Cambridge culture happened on Saturday. Geoff and I were walking back to our bikes with groceries and saw some people coming out of a church (there are many old, old, old churches here). Geoff suddenly walked into the church demanding I follow.

I don't know if I've told my readers this before but Geoff has a special power. He has special book detecting skills.

The entire church was full of second hand books. They were selling them at pretty good prices too! My most precious find was a book called Virtually Vegetarian. It cost me £1.

It's an interesting book. It's written by a British chef called Paul Gayler and it consists of a bunch of vegetarian recipes that use gelatin and chicken stock (hence the virtual bit) with meat additions suggested on most recipes. So it's not really a vegan cook book at all but we've discovered that most of it can be veganised and that this chef gives great instructions and has some quirky tastes that seem to work!

So here is the first veganised recipe we made from it. It tasted great too!

Soy-Glazed Linguine with Ginger and Tofu

450g linguine

1 tbsp vegan butter

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

25g fresh ginger, finely shredded

1 carrot, finely grated

2 spring onions, finely shredded

75g (about 7) shiitake mushrooms, shredded

2 bok choi heads, shredded

1 yellow pepper, finely shredded

2 tbsp dry white wine*

4 tbsp ketjap manis**

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar***

90ml vegetable stock

100g firm tofu, cubed

2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves

2 red chillies, deseeded and cut into thin rings****

Okay. First of all, don't freak out about all the shredding. I just basically grated everything. I'm sure a food processor would be easier but make sure you keep the ginger and garlic separate from everything else. Also, everything happens quickly so have everything prepped before.

Cook the linguine until al dente. Drain well and keep aside and warm.

Heat the butter and oil in a pan with the garlic and ginger for 1 min over moderate heat. The stir in the carrot, spring onions, mushrooms, bok choi and yellow pepper and stir for another minute.

Add the wine, ketjap manis and vinegar and bring to the boil. Once it has boiled cook it for a further 2 minutes. Add vege stock and cook until it is "light and syrupy". The more finely your shredding the syrupier***** the sauce.

This is my version of  "light and syrupy". It looks soft and mushy to me.

Add the drained linguine to the sauce and stir. I would suggest doing this in small parts since the pasta will stick together and you want to get every strand covered in a nice yummy glaze.

Stir in the tofu and garnish with coriander and chilli. Don't neglect this step; the coriander really makes the dish.

* Or dry sherry.

** This is a sweeter, thicker Indonesian soy sauce. You could get it in supermarkets in Australia (sometimes spelled kecap manis). I just made my own with agave nectar and soy sauce. Honey and soy sauce or even sweet chili sauce and soy sauce would also work.

*** If you don't have some you can get it at supermarkets. And it comes in handy with a lot of Asian dishes so don't be afraid to buy some.

**** Please deseed them and cut them into rings and don't put them in the sauce. They are garnish. My darling boyfriend put three extra hot chillies, seeds and all, into the sauce and my entire mouth went numb.

***** Not a word.

Oma's Spaghetti Dish (Elise's vegan version)

Geoff's grandma always loves to make him spaghetti and Geoff loves to eat it (especially for breakfast!). She very kindly gave me the recipe so that I could cook it in Cambridge for Geoff. Of course, it had to be veganised but here it is.

Oma's Spaghetti Dish (Elise's Vegan Version)

3 tbsp of olive oil

3 tbsp vegan butter

250g spaghetti

4-6 cloves garlic chopped finely

1 medium onion diced

400g tin of crushed tomatoes

12 whole button mushrooms sliced

3-4 gherkins sliced

1 red capsicum

12 sliced pitted black olives

mixed herbs & bolognese herbs

500ml of tomato juice

vegan Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add salt. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside in a casserole dish.

Brown the onions and garlic in the olive oil and butter. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicum, herbs, S&P and simmer for a short time. Add the gherkins and olives & stir. Add this sauce to the spaghetti in the casserole dish and mix. Pour in the tomato juice and bake, lidded, in oven for 1/2 hour. Remove and sprinkle with Parmesan and return to the oven, unlidded, until Parmesan turns golden.
  

Notes:

• I can only ever find 1 litre of tomato juice but this is a good thing. The reason it is in this recipe is that the pasta soaks it up while in the oven (I'm sure there are many Nonnas rolling in their graves at the sound of this). I normally pour in half and then check the oven now and then to see if the mix if too dry. If it is I add more juice.
• If you don't have a casserole dish you can put it in a big soup pot and keep it on the stove for half an hour. It's not quite the same but it still tastes good!
• You must put the gherkins in for two reasons: 1. it forces you to buy gherkins which turn out to be tasty snacks, 2. the sourness of the gherkins make everything else taste buttery. Trust me, you need the gherkins.
• As Oma famously says... you never make this recipe the same twice. These are just the ingredients that make it Oma's mix but you can add extra anything.

When Tim Comes to Dinner

Geoff and I had Tim for dinner on Saturday night. We decided to make pizza for dinner and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was the first time I'd made the pudding and also the first time I've made my own dough from scratch and both turned out quite well so I was quite proud of myself. The pizza toppings were a little on the odd side (canned corn not such a good idea after all but I liked the turnips which I fried a little in olive oil before putting them in the oven). The recipes are as follows. The pizza dough recipe is based on a recipe from taste.com.au (but it since seems to have disappeared) and the Sticky Date Pudding recipe is one I found somewhere on the internet but, again, altered a little.

Pizza Dough
7g sachet dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine 3/4 cup warm water, yeast, sugar and salt (what salt?) in jug. Whisk to dissolve. Cover with cling wrap and set aside in a warm place for 5 mins or until you see bubbles on the surface.

Sift flour into a bowl. Add yeast & oil mixture to it. Mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes until elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Stand in warm place for 25-30 minutes or until dough has doubled size.

Use fist to punch dough down. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Top with whatever you like and bake for 5-15 minutes.

Sticky Date Pudding
Cake:
250mls soy milk
100mls water
200g dates (chopped in half)
1 tsp bicarb soda
115g margarine
115g brown sugar
200g white SR flour
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Sauce:
100g golden syrup
200g brown sugar
150g margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence

Cake: Preheat oven to 190C. Put dates in saucepan & cover with milk & water & simmer until dates are soft. Make sure they are soft! Take off heat & stir in bicarb soda. This will froth. Leave to cool.

Beat together the margarine & sugar until pale & creamy. Add date mixture & stir. Mix spices with flour. Sieve & fold into date mixture. Put in 20x20 tin and bake for approx. 30 mins. When done prick the pudding all over and pour half the hot toffee sauce over the pudding and serve the rest with the pudding.

Topping: Melt all ingredients in saucepan & simmer for 5 mins without stirring.