Tamales

We'd agreed, before we left for California, that we should eat lots of Mexican food there. I'd also discovered that I had, totally by coincidence, booked a hotel for our first three nights in Monterey right opposite a Whole Foods in a little outdoor mall type thing (and, by the way, a farmer's market the day after we arrived in the parking lot - double stroke of luck!)... We have previous for doing most of our eating on road trippy type American adventures out of Whole Foods markets.

So when we arrived, having flown 11 hours with our 7 month old baby and driven for two straight off of the flight, getting in about 8pm, we made as fast a turnaround as we could and went straight over to the Whole Foods to see what we could scavenge for dinner... We got there about 10 minutes before closing so it was a bit of a supermarket sweep, but included guacamole, salsa, and microwavable vegan tamales... We'd made sure to book a motel with a microwave in the room (and a pool), to make life with baby easier. The tamales turned out to be delicious (and microwavable in 3 min!), so we ended up eating loads of them during our trip. We also made it to two awesome Mexican restaurants during our trip - (1) vegan Mexican El Cantaro in Monterey; and (2) veg-friendly Obelisco in Fruitvale, Oakland.

When we got home, S found this recipe and convinced me to try it while he took care of baby S. It was quite a project and took a while, but kind of fun... I made them with sweetcorn, monterey jack cheese, sweet potato and a bit of chili inside - our fave ones from Whole Foods were with butternut squash, corn, and a little chilli and cheese. Luckily our local Irma just started stocking various Mexican goodies including masa harina (I guess we have Hija de Sanchez to thank for that).

(makes 12-20 depending on size of corn ears/husks)

3 ears fresh sweetcorn in their husks
1 3/4 cups masa harina mixed with 1 cup plus 2 tbsp hot water, then allowed to cool
4 oz butter, cut into 1 cm dice and slightly softened
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 mild chili, finely chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1 cm dice (or use butternut squash)
monterey jack cheese, amount to taste, chopped into 1 cm dice

Corn and Husks:
Cut through the ears of corn just above where the cob joins the stalk. Carefully remove the husks without tearing, and put into warm water. Remove and discard the corn silk. Slice the kernels off the cobs and set aside 2 cobs' worth for dough and 1 cob's worth for filling.

Dough:
Put the kernels from two corn cobs into a blender and blend to a medium-coarse puree. Transfer to a large bowl, then add the masa, butter, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix with wand blender and wooden spoon til well combined.

Form and steam tamales:
Sort the husks: keep the best ones (large and whole) for the tamale outer layers; tear thin strips off any non-whole large ones for tying tamales; and use any remaining small/broken ones to line the base and top of the steamer. Set up the steamer and line it with husks. Then take one large husk (or two overlapping medium ones - but start with large ones), and spread about 1/4 cup of the batter into about a 4 in square, leaving at least a 1 1/2 in border on the side toward you and a 3/4 in border along the other sides (with large husks, the borders will be much bigger). Sprinkle about 1 1/2 tbsp of the filling down the center of the batter. Pick up the two long sides of the husk and bring them together (so the batter surrounds the filling). Bring the borders together and roll both sides in the same direction around the tamal. Finally, fold up the empty 1 1/2 in base of the husk (to form a tightly closed “bottom” leaving the top open), and secure it in place by loosely tying one of the strips of husk around the tamal. As they’re made, stand the tamales on their folded bottoms in the prepared steamer. Don’t tie the tamales too tightly or pack them too closely in the steamer - they need room to expand. If your husk-wrapped tamales don’t take up the entire steamer, fill in the open spaces with loosely wadded aluminum foil (to keep the tamales from falling over). Top with additional husks, cover and steam over a constant medium heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Watch carefully that all the water doesn’t boil away and, to keep the steam steady, pour boiling water into the pot when more is necessary. Tamales are done when the husk peels away from the masa easily. Let tamales stand in the steamer off the heat for a few minutes to firm up. For the best textured tamales, let them cool completely, then re-steam about 15 min to heat through.

Carrot, chickpea and ginger soup (with shiso and sweetcorn)

D gave me a big bag of reject carrots from his farm (perfectly good, just broken or slightly nibbled and therefore unsaleable) after a lovely evening at ECO.

I bunged them in the fridge and forgot about them for a few days, but then peeled one and dipped in it hummus, and it was such a tasty carrot I started to think about what to do with them. Some I pickled, and I also decided to make soup, for an unknown reason totally unlinked to the fact it just got hot again...

We had shiso from the CSA last week, and I didn't know what to do with it... I tasted some and I actually like it - tangy and slightly minty, but different. Sprinkled on soup seemed like it could work?

1-2 tbsp olive oil
~5 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
2 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
~4 cups chopped, peeled carrots
~2 cups chickpeas
~5 cups water
~4 tbsp chickpea miso
~1 tsp honey
salt+pepper
~4 leaves shiso, shredded
kernels from 1/2 a sweetcorn cob

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the spring onions and ginger. Cook until softened. Add the carrots and cook for a few more minutes. Add the chickpeas and water, bring to the boil and simmer for ~ 20 min, until the carrots are just tender. Let cool, then blend until smooth. Add the miso, honey and salt and pepper to taste and mix well. To serve, sprinkle generously with shiso and sweetcorn kernels. Think it might also be good cold: will test this later.

Summer

We made an adventure to Roslindale today - first to the farmers' market, reputed to be the best in town. Where I found this awesome local soy and quinoa tempeh. Then we stopped by our friend S's place, where he showed us the tiny house and the tiny library of German books he built. Onwards through the woods of Stony Brook Reservation to Turtle Pond. Seb spotted this little Chicken of the Woods by the path. We lazed on the dock awhile, then rode down the big hill and along the corridor park back to JP, where ice tea was to be found at Ula. From there, we collected our CSA on the way home, including the first (much anticipated, and suitably sweet) corn of the year.

Apart from the above-described chicken of the woods (which was pale in colour when we found it, but took on a much more distinct chicken of the woods vibrant orange when cooked), corn and tempeh, the above also incorporates spring onions, chilli and garlic from previous CSAs, coriander grown on my roof, South River (Western Mass) chickpea tamari, and a squeeze of lime juice. Such delicious ingredients - this is one of my favourites (pretty much this recipe).

Glass noodle salad (peanuts, sweetcorn and sprouts)

I was making tofu salad from my last batch of homemade tofu, we needed something else, this was quick and complementary. I have made versions of this many times and always get frustrated with how the dressing fails to coat the noodles and the other vegetables etc get all clumped down the bottom of the bowl. I was actually quite pleased with this one, so here it is. Think key things are: slightly undercook the noodles and drain them well; don't skimp on the sauce; make veg / additions small and/or clingy so they stay in among the noodles as much as poss.

4 bundles of glass noodles
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh lemongrass
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp light miso
2 tbsp rice vinegar (or lime juice)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
2 tbsp peanuts
1/2 cup assorted little beansprouts (used lentils and alfalfa)
3/4 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
1/4 cup coriander, chopped (or a mixture of coriander and mint)

Put the noodles in a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 5 min, until the bundles loosen and the noodles become bendy but not soft - make sure they are al dente. Drain and run under cold water to stop cooking quickly.

While the noodles are cooking you can start preparing the other ingredients: toast and crush the peanuts, defrost sweetcorn, wash and chop coriander, ginger, lemongrass. Put ginger and lemongrass in a small bowl with the peanut butter, miso, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and mirin and whisk together with a fork. Check for consistency (should be runny but thick) and taste for sweet-sour-saltiness and modify.

Put the noodles in a serving bowl, add the peanut butter mixture and toss well with a spoon and fork so the noodles are all coated. Add the toasted crushed peanuts, sweetcorn, beansprouts and coriander (and/or mint), toss again and serve immediately.

Sweetcorn, tempeh, parsley and paprika

As I rode home last night I was thinking about how evocative food is for me - how both cooking and eating can make me feel connected to people, places, or times in the past. Then, as I parked my bike, I thought about my favourite childhood dinner - sweetcorn and cottage cheese pie with paprika and chives - and wondered why I'd never tried to make it. I couldn't really be assed with pie crust last night, and I don't really eat cottage cheese any more. But decided to substitute tempeh and see how it went.

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 pack soy tempeh
1 1/2 cups frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
~1 tbsp chopped parsley
~1 tbsp chopped chives
~2 tsp paprika
salt+pepper
juice of 1/2 a lime (optional)

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Crumble in the tempeh and stir and fry for a few minutes to heat and brown. Add the sweetcorn, herbs and paprika and fry for a bit longer, until everything is combined and hot. Season to taste, and add lime juice if using.


I liked this. Not sure how accurate it was, but perhaps a little evocative. I didn't add lime juice, but did wonder if it could have used a little acidity. We ate it with cooked tomatilloes, so in this case lime wasn't needed but otherwise might have been nice? S pointed out it is quite similar to my favourite chicken of the woods preparation, which is totally true. It's also true that the tempeh is fairly similar in appearance and especially texture to chicken of the woods, although different in taste - also hadn't occurred to me til he pointed it out.

Wild mushroom and lettuce 'risotto'

Chicken of the woods (above) has a tendency to be a little dry, especially when it has been sitting in the fridge for a week like the stuff I needed to use up last night. I also had some maitake that had dried out a bit. I'd been wanting to try some form of chicken of the woods risotto as I thought it might be a good way of counteracting the dryness. Both mushrooms have a substantial enough texture (and taste) to hold up to cooking in liquid without losing their shape or going slimy. The problem with real risotto is that it is not good as leftovers (unless it becomes arancini), so I decided to make a kind of pseudo risotto with a different kind of rice. Lettuce also needed eating. I enjoy cooked lettuce and thought its sweetness would go well with the earthy mushrooms and rice.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
~1/2 cup chopped chicken of the woods
~1/2 cup chopped maitake
1 cup rice mix (brown rice, black barley, daikon seeds - TJs)
2 cups hot veg stock
2 tbsp barley+chickpea aged miso
3/4 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 small lettuce, chopped
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley
soy sauce
salt+pepper
toasted sunflower seeds

Heat the oil in a medium, lidded saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or so til starting to soften. Add the chicken of the woods and maitake and cook for a few more minutes, cover and cook some more until lightly browned. If it started to dry out add a little of the stock. Add the rice mix and stir until the brown rice looks transparent. Add the stock, cover and cook for ~20 min, until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the miso halfway through and mix it through the liquid. Finally, add in the lettuce, parsley and sweetcorn and mix until the lettuce is wilted. Taste for seasoning and add black pepper and salt (and/or soy sauce) if needed. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds to serve.


This is good. I like it.

Maitake, the Dancing Mushroom

In August, I dreamed about Black Trumpets and how much I wanted to try them. And, lo and behold, that very day C rang to see if we wanted to share in a fantastic haul of those very same shrooms. So lucky! Come October maitake (hen of the woods) was my dream. Lucky again: this time it is D whose generosity lets it be reality. Maitake is a beautiful mushroom, inside and out. I may have to revise my favourite mushroom rankings...

I was thinking of just sauteeing the mushroom with a little garlic, but I fancied eating it with bok choi... and miso... and egg... and the next thing I knew all those things (and a few more besides) were in one pan making party. Maitake is fairly substantial in volume, taste and texture, so I figured it should stand up to some light flavour addition - I wouldn't consider any of these additions to be too overpowering (in the quantities used).

1-2 tbsp veg oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 piece ginger same size as the garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
~2 cupfuls cleaned maitake, torn into equal-sized pieces about 1 in x 3 in
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten (optional)
1 bunch small bok choi, washed and cut into pieces similar sized to the maitake
1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
1 tbsp white miso
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp lime juice
1-2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute or two then add the chilli flakes. Stir, then add the maitake. Saute for 10-15 min, until it has released liquid and taken it up again, shrunk, and is lightly browned. Add the sesame seeds and cook for a minute or two til just starting to brown. Make space in the pan then add the beaten egg. Let it cook into a mini omelette in the middle then slice roughly with your spoon and mix in lightly. Add the bok choi and sweetcorn and cook until the bok choi just wilts. Mix the miso, maple syrup, soy sauce and lime juice in a small bowl, then add to the pan, turn off heat and mix to combine. Serve with a sprinkling of coriander. Good with noodles or rice or wheatberries (the last being what I had kicking around in the fridge).


For notes on drying and rehydrating maitake, see here.

Mango and sweetcorn salsa

The first PhD student ever to graduate from the lab I'm working in is defending his thesis today. So we will have a little 'reception' afterwards. It will feature a zebra-shaped pinata: I am excited... We also needed snacks and nibbles for mid afternoon, so I decided to make a few dips and chop up some veg (I have lots of peppers right now) to go with them; perhaps make some crackers if I have time. One person in the lab doesn't eat nightshades (ie peppers, chillies, aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes) so the two dips I made are both nightshade-free as well as gluten-free and vegan. I made a red lentil dip and this. I was thinking of using fresh corn but ended up using frozen for speed and ease - fresh corn would probably be delicious.

1 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted (or use fresh)
1 cup frozen mango chunks, slightly thawed and then diced into ~7mm chunks
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp nasturtium seeds, finely chopped*
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
juice of ~1 lime
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly-ground white pepper*

Prepare all the ingredients then mix together in a bowl. Taste for seasoning and lime.

*I used nasturtium seeds and white pepper to add a bit of spice in the absence of nightshades - I would add some finely chopped fresh chilli or some dried chilli flakes if nightshades weren't an issue.

Sweetcorn, chicken of the woods, lime

Rolling home, around 8pm. A frilly, orange mushroom I hadn't noticed before catches my eye. On a tree, a little above eye level, right by my way. I ride on a little, approaching the next green light, my brain processing what my eyes had seen. Could it have been a chicken of the woods? I pull over and turn around. I'm sure it is. It is beautiful, with a soft-but-firm texture and a mushroomy, slightly fruity (and very tempting) smell. It's about the diameter of my spread-out hand, and very clean and fresh-looking. I debate picking: it looks so perfect and tasty; but is right beside the road; and is so pretty as well - it seems a shame to take it so others can't see it. Then again, I am amazed that no-one else seems to have seen it / nabbed it - so many people tramp this way, towards the T, all the time. I decide to take just a bit - that way I can taste it while leaving the rest to be beautiful. I break off a couple of lobes and secrete them in my backpack.

I excitedly doublecheck my ID when I get home; the mushroom book only confirms what I am sure of already. I can't wait to eat it! It hardly needs washing but I do anyway. It's just a little bit, but I decide it would go well with freshly-cut sweetcorn, a little bit of chilli, salt and lime, chives for colour, and garlic because I seem incapable of cooking a mushroom without garlic.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
2-3 cobs of sweetcorn (make sure it is good, sweet corn)
about 50g of chicken of the woods
little pinch of salt
good pinch of paprika
2 tsp chopped chives
good squeeze of lime

Prepare the corn by removing the husk then carefully cutting off the kernels by working a sharp knife down the sides of the cob. Set aside in a bowl. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and cook for a minute until starting to soften. Add the chilli flakes and cook for 30 sec. Add the chicken of the woods, torn into small (1 inch long / 1/2 inch across) pieces, and saute until it starts to look lightly browned: 2-3 minutes. Add the corn, and continue cooking for 4-5 min. It will get deeper yellow and start to brown a little. If it sticks a little bit that's ok: the burny bits are weirdly good. When the corn is done, add salt and paprika and taste for seasoning. Finally, turn off the heat and stir through chives and lime juice. Yum!


Chicken of the woods has to be one of my all time favourite mushrooms - it has great taste and texture (really substantial and not at all wet; quite unique) and beautiful colour. The reddish-orange mushroom in combination with the yellow corn and the flecks of green chives and red-brown chilli and paprika is super pretty. And tastes awesome: the sweetness of the corn offsets the vibrant, rich mushroom taste really well, and the lime and chilli cut through nicely. We ate it with wheatberries, and that was good too. I was planning to observe the rest of the mushroom in situ and see how it changed over time, but the following evening on the way home from work someone had taken the whole thing!


Note: I've found out a few things about CotW since I wrote this - first that specimens can be variable in taste (I haven't had a bad one yet but apparently they exist) and texture (older ones can be dry); second that it has a tendency to soak up a lot of oil and dry out in the pan - have been dealing with this by keeping covered and adding liquid. Looking forward to trying out a CotW risotto. I froze some of my last one (just as was, in cleaned pieces), so there's potential risotto right there in my freezer.

Raw sweetcorn

Sweetcorn is really good at the moment - it's fresh and in season so it doesn't travel far before it gets to our kitchen, and is still sweet and juicy when it arrives. When corn is like this, it doesn't need cooking. I had been meaning to make a raw corn salad - something simple that lets the corn stand out. This is it. I had to keep resisting adding more stuff (avocado, sesame, sweet peppers, tomato... might be good variations in future). I think corn, lime, chilli and these herbs really complement each other.

3 cobs of fresh, sweet corn
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tbsp chopped chives (I like to snip chives with scissors rather than chop them)
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Strip the husks from the corn and trim off any imperfect-looking bits. Cut off the kernels (carefully) and put them in a bowl. Squeeze the lime juice over the corn, then add the remaining ingredients and toss. You can eat it straight away but it will also be fine, perhaps even better, if you let it sit for an hour or for a day or more in the fridge.

Gluten-free baking

Photo by Alvin

My friends A and K asked me to teach them what I knew about GF baking. I was unsure at first: unconvinced that I knew any more about it than they did. But they persuaded me that even what little I knew would be helpful to them, and I figured it would be fun whatever happened - I like hanging out and drinking tea and cooking, and they are good company. So we got together for a day of GF baking.

I think the main thing I have figured out about GF baking is that you often need a combination of flours - something like glutinous rice flour or tapioca flour or cornstarch or potato starch to stick it together, and then a combination to give good texture: rice flour alone is light but tastes dusty, gram flour is heavy and its taste is overpowering (although lends a pleasant eggy flavour when used in small quantities), oat flour I like, others such as quinoa or millet flour are different again, and some combination (varied depending on the taste you are looking for / what goes with the other stuff in the mix) is what will make it good. Getting a good rise is doubly challenging when doing vegan+GF (no eggs, no gluten).

I thought of three things:

1) Oat-sunflower-raisin biscuits
(I knew these would work (and they did), also thought they were interesting because of the lack of flour / most of the fat coming from the nut/seed butter)

2) Savoury corn muffins
Wanted to do a basic muffin type thing. A mentioned he got coarse cornmeal from his CSA and this idea suggested itself - though it would be nice to do something simple and savoury as most of the GF things I have baked are sweet... I also recently noticed that Trader Joe's started doing a GF flour blend (brown rice flour, potato starch, white rice flour and something else), so thought it would be fun to try something with that. This is based on my favourite basic cornbread recipe, made in a muffin form and with lots of additions.

2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with ~5 tbsp boiling water
1 TJ’s GF flour mix (see above)
½ tsp xanthan gum
1 cup cornmeal
4 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 tsp paprika (note, spice combination is very flexible; adding dried chili or finely chopped fresh chili would also be good)
1 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
2 tbsp honey (or sugar)
1 cup fake milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
¼ cup oil (used grapeseed, any oil would work here really - even stronger flavoured ones - as these are savoury)
Handful sweetcorn kernels, defrosted
~4 spring onions, cleaned, trimmed and chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Heat oven to 425F*. Prepare muffin cups by lining with paper cases. Mix flour, cornmeal, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, dry spices and seeds (and sugar if using) in a bowl. Add vinegar to the milk, then mix this with the linseed mixture, oil and honey (if using). Add the sweetcorn, coriander and spring onions to the dry ingredients and toss. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just combined. Bake for 20-25 min.

These came out well: pleasant, savoury, corny taste, with a robust texture from the cornmeal and a slight sweetness from the kernels. Quite dense, but held together well and rose enough to give a nice shape. *Could perhaps try a slightly lower temperature next time: they browned up on top quite quickly (not a problem really).


3) Little nutty cakes (an educational semi-disaster)
I'd seen these a while ago, and thought they sounded interesting: liked the nuts and the olive oil. But noticed the reliance on eggs and thought maybe they'd be too difficult to adapt. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to try anyway - I think partly because I got into the idea of mixing nut flour and buckwheat flour.

3 tbsp linseed mixed with 7.5 tbsp boiling water (or 3 eggs)
1 cup (200g) sugar
2/3 cup (90g / 3 ¼ oz) ground almonds (or hazelnuts)
1 ½ cups flour – sub ¾ cup oat flour plus ¾ cup buckwheat flour plus ½ tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp (200 ml) mixture of extra virgin olive oil and grapeseed oil
About ¼ cup (25g) mixed chopped untoasted nuts for sprinkling (used hazelnuts)

Heat oven to 400F. Prepare muffin tins. Beat linseed (or eggs) and sugar together with a whisk, a lot – til doubled in volume. Mix ground nuts, flours, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt in a bowl with a fork. Add olive oil to the linseed-sugar mix. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fill muffin cups halfway. Sprinkle mixed chopped nuts on top. Bake for 15 min / until springy (might take a bit longer without muffin tins).

These kind of rose up massively and spilled out of the muffin cups across the surface of the tin, leaving a sunken middle - ended up looking a bit like little bird's nests. But they actually tasted delicious: the top parts were all crispy and like a nutty meringue or something, the middle/bottom was squishier but also lovely and nutty, with a hint of grassiness from the olive oil (although quite well stuck to the paper liners). Could have been fun as Easter nests with Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit (grapes to look like eggs?) in the hollows.

My guess as to what went wrong: they rose due to the baking powder and the air from the beating, but lacked enough of anything (no gluten, no eggs) to hold them up and give structure, so sank right back down again. I forgot to add the xanthan gum, so that was probably part of it, but I feel like that might not have been enough anyway. Perhaps adding some cornstarch or glutinous rice flour would have helped (or using eggs instead of linseed, if that's an option). I also found them a bit too oily and a bit too sweet (reminded me a bit of these) - try dialling down the sugar and oil if making again. And, I wondered how the mixture would have fared in a cookie form: perhaps they would have turned out as delicious, nutty, meringue-like things like the top parts tasted like...

Tamale pie

It's S's birthday tomorrow and I've been devoting a lot of my daydream time to thinking up ideas for what to do to make it special. He is playing football in the evening, which he likes, so that's good. I'm going to make a cake. But then also thought it might be fun to go for lunch somewhere. El Pelon (little Mexican place near work) sprang to mind: I heard good things about it but didn't get around to going there for a long time; when I did get there I discovered joyously tasty, filling vegan tamales. So the taste of tamales was drifting temptingly around my brain when I came across the concept of tamale pie: it's sort of like shepherd's pie with Mexican influences. S had accidentally bought masa harina (corn flour made from hominy) a while ago. It's what you need to make corn tortillas or tamales or pupusas. All those things are delicious, but somewhat fiddly - tamale pie is a super simple way of getting that tamale fix. Note: this is my reinterpretation / amalgamation of a bunch of recipes.

(this took me about an hour to make from start to finish - it's a good idea to prep the veg sequentially as you cook to minimise the total time)

For the topping:
1 cup masa harina
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tbsp fake butter
1/2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:
1 tbsp veg or light olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 400g tin tomatoes
2 cups pinto, kidney or black-eyed beans, pre-cooked
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp mushroom powder
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp red wine
3 tbsp chopped coriander
salt+red chilli flakes

To finish:
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp paprika
few squeezes of lime

Heat oven to 400F. Mix masa harina, salt and paprika for the topping in a bowl with a fork. Add boiling water gradually, mixing to form a soft dough. Cover and set aside.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion, cover and cook for a few minutes. Add garlic and chilli and cook a few more minutes. Add grated carrot and cook for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn, cumin, paprika, oregano, soy sauce, mushroom powder, wine and coriander and simmer until it is thickened and all the veg are cooked. Taste for seasoning and add salt and chilli flakes to taste if required.

Mix the butter and baking powder into the masa mixture. Put the filling into a lidded oven dish. Squish the masa to cover over the top as if making a shepherd's pie. Put the lid on (or cover with foil if no lid) and put in the oven for 30 min. Uncover and cook about 10 min more, until it is lightly browned and crispy around the edges.

Let it sit for 5-10 min before serving. Sprinkle with chopped coriander, paprika and a squeeze or two of lime juice.


Notes: Could use squash, mushrooms, courgette, peppers instead of carrot. Tomatilloes might be good too. Could use polenta (or cornbread) as topping instead of masa.


This was filling and tasty - the topping definitely had that tamale taste and went really well with the inside layer.

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.

Baked squash, corn and exciting sauce

The first time I made this Seb said it was the most exciting thing I had ever cooked!

Basically from here.

This is great with warmed corn tortillas. Serves four to six.

1 squash (butternut or red onion), weighing around 1 kg
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cobs of corn
2 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
2 red chillies, very finely chopped
200g goat's cheese, crumbled with your hands (or chopped) (did not use)
Juice of 1 lime
1 handful chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

For the dressing
80g pumpkin seeds
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 tomatoes (green ideally, but not to worry if you can't get hold of any; or tomatilloes)
2 green lettuce leaves (romaine or cos), chopped
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
2 green chillies, roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Peel and deseed the squash. Chop the flesh into 1-2cm chunks, tip into an oven tray, toss in olive oil, season and roast in a medium oven (190C/375F/gas mark 5) for about 30 minutes, until starting to brown and just cooked through.
While the squash is roasting, cook the corn in boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain, refresh and leave to cool a little, then cut the kernels from the cobs.

Take the squash out of the oven (leave the heat on) and toss in the chopped garlic, chilli and corn kernels. Transfer the lot to an ovenproof serving dish and return to the oven for five minutes.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by dry-frying the pumpkin seeds over a medium heat for five minutes, until they are toasted and have popped. When cool, tip the seeds into the jug of a liquidiser, add all the other dressing ingredients and blend, adding a little water to take it to a pouring consistency.

Fold the goat's cheese into the squash and corn mix, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until the goat's cheese is hot.

To serve, squeeze lime juice over the pumpkin mix, drizzle the dressing over, season to taste and sprinkle with coriander.

I tend to downregulate the chili and garlic in the sauce a little (or just modify to suit the spiciness / sizes I have).  I also used sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin sometimes, or a combination of.  Left out the goat cheese.  Used frozen, briefly defrosted and refreshed, sweetcorn instead of fresh.  Used any kind of squash.

It is yummy.  Even just the squash roasted with corn and garlic and chili is very simple and tasty.

First Sunday in January

Using stuff up before going on holiday...

Made veg stock.

Also celeriac lentil salad:

Celeriac lentil salad @ Guardian

80g hazelnuts
200g puy lentils
700ml water
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm chips
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp hazelnut oil (didn't have - used more olive instead)
3 tbsp cider vinegar
6 tbsp fresh mint, leaves picked and washed (used some dried from fridge instead)
Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/ gas mark 1. Scatter the hazelnuts over a baking tray and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, set aside to cool down, then chop roughly.
Put the lentils, water, bay leaves and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the lentils are al dente, then drain into a sieve. Remove and discard the bay leaves and the woody sprigs.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring plenty of water to a boil, drop in the celeriac, along with the lemon juice and some salt, and simmer for 12 minutes, or until just tender. Drain.
In a large bowl, mix the hot lentils (make sure they don't cool down - lentils soak up flavours much better when they're piping hot) with the olive oil, two tablespoons of the hazelnut oil, the vinegar, a few grinds of black pepper and plenty of salt. Add the celeriac, stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
If you're serving this straight away, stir in half the mint and the hazelnuts, then pile in a big heap on to a suitable serving dish. Drizzle the remaining hazelnut oil over the top, then garnish with the rest of the mint and nuts.
If you're planning on serving it cold, wait for the lentil and celeriac mixture to cool down, taste again, then make a final adjustment to the seasoning. Add the rest of the hazelnut oil, the mint and the nuts just as you do when serving it hot.

Was pretty tasty.  Liked the other one I made better (with the crisp celeriac and sweet apple), but this was good too, and quite different.

Then baked a turban squash whole as it was too tough to cut uncooked.  Stabbed it quite a lot as I thought it might explode.  Baked at 350F for about an hour.

Squash puree

With nutmeg, almond milk, fake butter and s+p.

Squash, sweetcorn and ginger soup

Fried an onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil.  Added baked squash (scraped out of shell) and 900ml of veg stock.  Cooked a little to defrost stock, then added couple of handfuls frozen sweetcorn.  Cooked 5 min or so, then allow to cool a little, seasoned, and liquidised.  Added some almond milk.  Taste to check seasoning.

Vegan Collard Greens and Cornbread

We bought collard greens thinking we could make a variant on kale chips, but that didn't work out so we still had a bunch of greens. I've never had real collard greens but thought I'd do some American food, vegan style, before Seb got back from work...

Cornbread

Basically this recipe.

2 tbsp ground linseed
6 tbsp boiling water
1 cup plain flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup fake milk
1/4 cup veg oil
handful of sweetcorn kernels

Heat oven to 425F. Grease loaf tin with oil.

Mix the linseed and hot water with a fork until thickened. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add the linseed mixture, milk and oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat). Finally add corn kernels (defrosted if using frozen).

Pour into prepared loaf tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean - it will not be completely dry, don't cook too long or it'll burn on the bottom.

Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; then turn out and cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.


Collard Greens

Chop and fry 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, bit of chili, some pepper flakes - fry for about 5-10 min til well cooked. In the meantime wash the collard greens thoroughly, remove stems and chop roughly. Add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar (balsamic) and of soy sauce to the pan and cook a little. Add a cup of veg stock and the collard greens and cook til the greens are tender but still green (about 10min). Add some mustard and a little salt to taste.