Mushroom soup; sweet potato cornbread

Mushroom Soup

1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
~30 mixed mushrooms (mostly field mushrooms), sliced / chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp white wine
2 cups veg stock
1 tsp soy sauce
salt+pepper
olive oil
~ 1/2 cup almond milk

Heat ~ 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add onion and garlic and saute until softened and golden.  Add mushrooms and saute some more, until browned and softened.  Add white wine, soy sauce and veg stock and thyme, bring to the boil and simmer for ~ 15 min.  Allow to cool a little, then blend roughly until about half smooth - nice to leave some pieces.  Add almond milk and seasoning to taste.  Reheat gently and eat.



Sweet potato cornbread

From How it All Vegan! cookbook.

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup sweet potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed with a fork
4 tbsp oil
1/4 cup sugar or maple syrup
2 tbsp powdered flax seed mixed with 4 tbsp water
1/2 cup sour milk (almond milk mixed with 1/2 tbsp vinegar)

Heat oven to 375F.  Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice and cornmeal in a bowl with a fork.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix til just combined.  Put into a greased loaf tin.  Cook for 30-40 min til a knife comes out clean.


Both were good.  Mushroom soup good and mushroomy.  Cornbread also nice, although I think I like this one better.

Rhubarb crumble and custard

We bought a big bunch of beautiful rhubarb at the farm shop last weekend.  So many possibilities, but you can't beat rhubarb crumble / rhubarb with ginger.  I remember trying to find a crumble recipe everywhere when I first started cooking - seemed like it was something too obvious and simple for anyone to bother writing one down.  But so good though.  And, since Bird's custard is egg free I figured vegan custard shouldn't be too tough...


Rhubarb Crumble

1.5-2 lb rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into ~1in long chunks
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 oz sugar

6 oz SF flour (or plain)
3 oz fake butter
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 oz sugar
3 oz flaked almonds / almond meal mix

Mix the rhubarb, fresh ginger and first lot of sugar and put into ovenproof dish ~ 8inx8in.  Set aside.  Heat oven to 400F.  Rub butter into flour until like breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar, spices and almonds.  Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit to make a thick layer with no fruit poking through.  Put in the oven for 35-40 min.  Remove and allow to cool for 5 min or so before eating.


Custard

2 cups fake milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp cornflour

Heat the milk and sugar in a small saucepan.  Add the vanilla.  Mix the cornflour in a separate bowl with a little water (1-2 tsp), then add to the pan and heat until thickened.


Custard was quite white, not yellow - adding turmeric gives a more yellow colour - but perhaps white is fine.  The rhubarb was delicious (the farm shop rules, 100%) although the crumble wasn't perfect - could have done with another 10min in the oven perhaps?

Sticky lemon and sesame tofu

I kind of had this in my head and wanted to eat it.

~ 8 oz extra firm tofu
juice of 1/4 lemon
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Cut the tofu into chunks about 2cm cube and dry off as much liquid as possible.  Squeeze the lemon into a small saucepan, and add the rest of the ingredients except the sesame seeds and tofu.  Whisk and warm gently until it thickens.  It turns quite dark at the same time.  If it is too thick thin with extra rice vinegar.  Add the tofu chunks and heat gently until warmed through.  At the same time, toast the sesame seeds in a different pan.  When the tofu is heated through add the sesame seeds and toss until all the tofu chunks are coated with sticky sauce and sesame seeds.  Serve with rice (or cous cous if you're in a hurry).  Coriander on top would be good too.

I liked the sauce a lot.  Might be an idea to shallow fry the tofu chunks first, but I wanted it quick.  Quite liked the softer texture anyway.

Cold peanut noodle salad / chickpea avocado salad

Reinventing leftovers - to make something interesting.

We had some wonderful asparagus (from the farm shop on the way to Bboro) - really fresh and tender.  Even the shoots as big as my finger were super tender.  I just steamed them for 5-10min then we ate them with a little 'butter' and salt and pepper.  Soooo good - could have eaten them forever.

Cold peanut noodle salad

We had noodles and some leek flower with dried tofu left from yesterday's dinner so I decided to make it into a salad.

~500g cooked green ribbon noodles
1 cup mixed fried dry tofu and leek flowers

~1 1/2 tbsp coriander, chopped
~1 1/2 tbsp mint, chopped

For dressing:
2 tbsp unsalted peanut butter
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp umeboshi plum vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice

Put the dressing ingredients in bottom of medium bowl and mix well together - taste to check balance (the plum vinegar is quite sour and the miso quite salty).  Tear the noodles into manageable sized pieces and add.  Mix well together.  Add tofu / leek flower and herbs and mix.


Chickpea avocado salad

I prepped a whole load of chickpeas and blackeyed peas at the weekend - this is chickpeas, combined with some stuff out the fridge that needed using (incl a beautifully ripe avocado from TJs - I bought organic because it seemed to be cheaper that day - is it worth buying organic more often?)...

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 small ripe avocado, roughly chopped
3/4 a small yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 1/2 tbsp coriander, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp mint, chopped
good squeeze of lemon juice

olive oil
salt+pepper

Put all ingredients into a bowl, toss and serve.

Chocolate Biscuit (Fridge) Cake and Prune Brownies (both vegan)

L: Prune brownie.  R: Chocolate biscuit cake

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

I had been thinking about making some chocolate biscuit cake since the Royal Wedding.  Two reasons:  1) the media said it was Prince William's choice for his wedding cake, apparently since it was a childhood favourite - this reminded me it was a childhood favourite of ours too.  2) I had a load of digestive biscuits (from Nick) left after our teaparty and it seemed like the best thing to do with them.

1 oz (30g) margarine
1 rounded dssp honey / golden syrup
2 floz (60 ml) fake milk
3 1/2 oz (100g) plain chocolate
4 oz (100g) digestive biscuits, broken up (put into plastic bag and bash, leaving some chunks)
couple of handfuls dried fruit / toasted, chopped nuts (used raisins, cranberries and flaked almonds)

1. Melt the margarine, honey, milk and chocolate in a bowl over water.
2. Add the biscuits, fruit and nuts, and mix well.
3. Spread into a small greased container to desired thickness and place in the fridge to set for three hours or longer.

This wasn't quite the recipe I used as a teenager - decided to make it a bit more decadent by using real chocolate instead of cocoa powder (partly as used up the cocoa powder in the brownies).  For some reason decided to add fake milk, which I think was a mistake - at first I was afraid it wouldn't set at all, then it did but was perhaps still a little bit melty.  Another time I prob wouldn't add it.  I used to make it with a layer of chocolate spread over the top - this would make it look prettier, perhaps worth a try another time.


Prune Brownies

I liked the sound of prune puree in brownies, so decided to try this recipe.

For the Brownies
¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup plain flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot (subbed cornflour, which was fine.  suspect could also just sub regular flour)
1 cup cocoa powder
½ cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 tablespoons canola oil (or another neutral oil?  or olive? or coconut?  plus more for oiling pan)
1 cup maple syrup
⅓ cup prune puree (recipe below) or use baby food prunes or apple and plums
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
½ cup walnuts (used mixture with pecans), toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped
(optional) ⅓ cup vegan chocolate chips and/or 1/3 cup chopped dried fruit (used handful cranberries)

For Prune Puree: (Makes 2/3 -1 cup)
6 ounces dried, pitted prunes
7 ounces boiling water, more if needed

Soak the prunes in water until very soft. Pour prunes and soaking liquid into a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Use immediately or refrigerate up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350˚ F. Oil a 9 x 9-inch pan with oil.
Place a wire mesh strainer over a medium bowl. Add pastry flour, white flour, arrowroot, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt to the strainer and sift into the bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to distribute the ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk oil, maple syrup, prune puree, water and vanilla until very well blended. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir the walnuts and chocolate chips, if using into the batter. (The batter will be thick.)
Spread the batter into the prepared pan evenly. Bake for17 to 18 minutes (+5), until the top looks dry and set, and the sides of the brownies have pulled away from the sides slightly. A tester inserted into the center will be coated with very moist cake, but the cake will not feel gummy. The brownies will firm as they cool.
Place the pan on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate or freeze before cutting--cold brownies slice neatly. Store in the freezer, well wrapped up to a month. Apparently you can eat the brownies straight from the freezer.

Chocolate (Vegan) Ganache
8 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped (between 62 to 72% cocoa)
¾ cup soymilk or almond milk ( or soy or coconut milk creamer)
Put the finely chopped chocolate into a medium-size heatproof bowl.
Pour the soymilk into a in a small saucepan and heat to just under a boil over medium heat a boil. Pour over the chocolate. Swirl the bowl to submerge the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to begin to melt about 1 minute, then stir gently with a wire whisk until smooth.
The ganache will be thick enough to spread on the brownie in 10 to 20 minutes at room temperature. Spread the ganache over chilled brownie for the shiniest glaze.

I didn't try the ganache.  Sounded like a bit much on top of the brownies (and would make them harder to transport).  Might be good icing for something else though.  The brownies were good - sticky and gooey and squidgy and a nice mix of dried fruit / chocolate flavour.

I ate them with this instead of ganache:


Prune tofu cream

1/3 cup prune puree
2/3 cup silken tofu
2-3 tbsp almond milk
1/2 tbsp maple syrup

Put all in a blender and whizz til smooth.  Add milk to reach desired, creamy texture.

Comes out pruney in taste and creamy in texture.

Baked aubergine

S bought a gigantic aubergine from the market, I think just because it was so huge.  It was massive - almost head-sized.  Used half for baba ghanoush, and the other half for this.

1/2 a massive aubergine
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp chili flakes
salt
2 1/2 tbsp cashews
1 clove garlic
squeeze of lemon juice
2 1/2 tbsp almond milk
olive oil
salt and pepper
chopped coriander leaves

Heat oven to ~450F.  Cut the aubergine into 1 cm thick slices.  Squeeze into clean cloth / paper to remove any excess liquid.  Grease a roasting tin with olive oil.  Rub both sides of slices with olive oil.  Toast the cumin and coriander seed in a frying pan til fragrant.  Put into spice grinder and add the chili flakes and some salt.  Whizz to a powder.  Sprinkle 1/4 of the powder on the aubergine slices arranged in the roasting tin.  Put in the oven for 10-15 min.  Then turn over and sprinkle with another 1/4 of powder.  Put back in the oven for another 10-15min, til lightly browned and softened.  Meanwhile, whizz the cashews and garlic in the spice grinder til smooth.  Mix in a small bowl with the remaining spice powder, lemon juice and almond milk til a smooth and creamy texture.  Serve aubergine with sauce and coriander leaves on top.

Tasty.  Plenty of potential for varying spice mix.  Pretty simple.  The sauce was really good - I liked the cashews as an interesting taste / texture.

Polenta fritters / Pea and mint soup

Polenta Fritters

I decided to try polenta last night - don't know if I ever really made it before, but I know I like it.  Did a cupful of polenta in 3 cups of hot water (+1 tsp salt), cooking for about 15min total.  It was good, if a bit lumpy (need to whisk it together more gradually in the beginning?).  I expected it to firm up in the fridge overnight but it remained soft.  Used leftovers today to make fritters:

~3/4 cup cooked soft polenta
1/2 banana, roughly mashed
small piece of yellow chili, finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander, chopped
1 spring onion, sliced
handful sweetcorn, defrosted
~1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
salt
squeeze of lemon juice

Mix ingredients together with a fork.  Heat a little veg oil in a frying pan.  Shape the mixture into rough patties (was still quite wet) and drop them into the pan / flatten into shape.  Cook ~3 min on each side / til done.


Pea and mint soup

This is one of my super quick and easy standby classics.  We got pretty wet today looking around at Wake Up The Earth in the rain, and when we got back I felt like something soupy and minty to eat with good bread so this was it.

1 small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
2 cups frozen peas
2 cups veg stock
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper
olive oil
~ 2 tbsp almond milk

Heat ~1 tbsp olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add onion and garlic and sweat for ~ 5 min without colouring / til soft.  Add the veg stock and frozen peas and bring to the boil.  Simmer for about 5 min.  Take off the heat, add mint, and allow to cool a little.  Blend in liquidiser til smooth.  Add almond milk and season to taste.