One day a week vegan - comfort food 1 - Nostalgia

Mention the words 'comfort food' to me and two things spring to mind, mashed potatoes and rice pudding. Both ultimate nursery food with lots of nostalgic memories. 

These are my vegan take on those comfort foods. They are just as creamy and comforting but without all the full fat milk and butter. This is a pretty carbohydrate heavy menu, so not one for every day, unless your days are very active. But every so often it's good to indulge in at least one comfort food meal. 

Supper

Vegetable hotpot with creamy mustard mashed potatoes  and balsamic beetroot. 

I don't have mashed potatoes very often but when I do, I love to make them with lots of good olive oil and grainy Dijon mustard or with the centre of softly cooked garlic cloves squeezed into them. Both make the ultimate mashed potatoes. I like to serve them with wholesome seasonal vegetable casseroles like this one:

Ingredients for the vegetabel hot pot:

• One medium red onion, finely sliced
• A clove of garlic or two, crushed
• A small pieces of fresh ginger, grated
• One or two sticks of celery
• One head of broccoli, chopped up into small florets
• One large parsnip, peeled and cut into small cubes
• Three large carrots, grated
• One green apple, grated
• Olive oil and sea salt
• A little ground turmeric
• One and a half pints of hot vegetable stock, there's a good recipe here, alternatively use hot water.

Method:

1. Pour a little olive oil into a heavy based pan, heat up and add the onions. Cook until caramelised. 
2. Add the garlic and turmeric and cook out for a couple of minutes, stirring well to avoid burning.
3. Add the other vegetables, stir allowing them to absorb all the flavours of the onion, garlic and spice. 
4. Pour in the hot stock or water, stir, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat, cover with a lid and leave to cook until the vegetables are tender.
5. Check the seasoning and add salt if necessary. 
6. Remove the lid and allow the liquid to reduce if it seems too soupy.

Pickled beetroot:

• One raw beetroot per person, small ones will cook more quickly
• Sea salt
• Balsamic or malt vinegar 

Method:

• Wash the beetroots very well and then place in a pan of cold water ensuring that it covers the beetroots. Season with a little salt. 
• Place on the hob and bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and allow to cook for about half to an hour or longer, depending on the size, until tender. 
• When cooked remove from the heat and drain. Allow to cool and then remove the skin and slice.
• Place in a jar or bowl and cover with balsamic vinegar. 

These will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks as long as they are covered with the vinegar.

Ingredients for the mash:

• One medium potato per person and one for the pot. Choose a variety like King Edwards that mash well. 
• Olive oil
• Grainy Dijon mustard (or mustard of choice)
• Sea salt

Method:

1. Wash, peel and cube the potatoes into small pieces. The smaller they are the faster they will cook, and save energy.
2. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Don't fill the the pan too full, just ensure they are well covered. 
3. Add sea salt. B ring the water to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until tender. This should take about fifteen minutes or so. Check every so often to ensure the water doesn't dry out.
4. When tender if pricked with a skewer or fork remove from the heat and drain in colander or sieve. 
5. Return to the pan and add a good drizzle of olive oil and heaped spoonful of grainy mustard. Beat really well until smooth and creamy, adding more olive oil if necessary.
6. Check the seasoning, adjusting if necessary. 

Pudding

Coconut milk aborio rice pudding with poached cinnamon and cardamom pears.

I could have used any dairy alternative for the pudding such as rice or almond milk but decided to use creamy coconut milk and it was delicious. Served with poached cinnamon and cardamom pears because they remind me of the tinned pears that mum used to let us eat if we had a temperature and couldn't face cooked food. The cold soft pears were cooling and easy to eat. I serve these ones warm.

Mum's rice pudding would be baked in an earthenware dish in the oven for ages until a thick crunchy crust formed. My sisters and I hated that bit and wanted the creamy pudding hiding underneath. Mum loved that crunchy topping and would always amaze us that she considered it a treat...the more crunchy and burnt, the more she loved it. 

I cooked it on the hob for a speedier result. 

Ingredients:

• One can of coconut milk plus one cup of water
• One cup of arborio or pudding rice
• Maple syrup or alternative to sweeten
• A pinch of sea salt
• A piece of cinnamon stick or a little ground cinnamon
• The seeds of two cardamom pods
• The seeds of a vanilla pod or a little vanilla extract

I usually make rice pudding with pudding rice but didn't have any in the house so used aborio rice instead. The resulting pudding was amazingly creamy and unctuous. I think that from now on I won't bother to buy separate pudding rice. 

Method:

1. Simply put all the ingredients into a saucepan. 
2. Place on the hob bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is tender. Check every so often to make sure that it doesn't burn. 
3. Taste and adjust the flavouring if necessary then serve with the poached pears. 

I used thick creamy coconut milk not a low fat version for this comforting pudding. 

Poached cinnamon and cardamom pears.

You can link to the recipe here. For my vegan version I omitted the honey using maple syrup to sweeten the sauce. You could sugar or any other sweetener of choice. 

Lunch

This all seems like a lot of food for one day so a light lunch would be good, something like this clear spinach, butter bean and sweet potato soup. Omitting the parmesan rind and of course using vegetable stock or hot water. It's just as comforting as a rich creamy one. 

Ingredients for four people:

• Two pints of vegetable stock
• A large handful of dried butter beans, soaked as long as possible in hot water, or one can of ready cooked beans
• A couple of handfuls of roughly chopped baby spinach leaves
• One medium sized sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
• Two sticks of celery, sliced finely
• Two small potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
• Sea salt and crushed black pepper to season

Method:

Simply place all the vegetables plus the drained dried beans into a heavy saucepan and cook until everything is tender. About thirty to forty minutes. 

 Breakfast

Childhood breakfast was almost always porridge on week days. Made the Scottish way with water and a pinch of salt. We would eat it hot with cold milk tricked on top and a big spoonful of Tate and Lyles golden syrup or brown sugar. Eeek...It sounds much too sweet now. I think it was only the syrup that made us eat the porridge. My comfort vegan version would be made in the same way and served with a trickle of fudgy maple syrup.

Alternatively, my homemade spelt loaf makes amazing comforting sandwiches. You can link to the recipe here

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches  Either make your own peanut butter You just whizz up in a food processor peeled, skinned then roasted nuts till smooth or crunchy, depending what you like best. You can add a little oil, peanut or other and maple syrup to taste along with a dash of sea salt. Or you can get good shop bought ones. I love this one which has no added sugar. This is a really substantial breakfast packed with second class protein from the peanuts. 

I hope that you enjoy at least some of the elements of this vegan comfort food menu. 
debx

Titan Supper Club - Chocolate and hazelnut biscotti.

I was invited to join the Titan Supper Club this month.  A lovely out of the blue invitation. It was one of those weird serendipitous coincidences.

 I'd just bought 'A' a new coffee grinder, and as we were drinking a pot with the aroma of the freshly ground beans still in the air we were deciding wether to try and get away to Europe for a few days over the holidays.

We began to reminisce about when we used to spend the summer in Tuscany every year, and how we missed it. About  the awesome time we met hospitable Evo, who only spoke about two words of English but managed to invite us to a homemade supper in the cutest little chestnut lodge up in the Tuscan hills. Of waking up to beautiful scenery (must get the photos out of the old computer). The morning walks we'd have down to coffee shops or bars in Sienna or Florence where we'd have espresso and crunchy biscotti for breakfast, sometimes even the odd Brandy or Amaretto. H would have hot chocolate of course, and no alcohol. 

We remembered the culture and the museums,  the buzz in the air like nowhere else we've ever been to. Of driving up the steeply curved roads with the roof down on balmy nights pretending to be Audrey Hepburn...(the girls that is).  

Wow...I think I got a bit carried  off down that road again...Anyway the point I was trying to make was, what with the coffee, and the reminiscing we both decided to have a go at making biscotti sometime. We've never tried before but always said we would. So when I was sent the recipe, and even a voucher for my favourite store to buy all the lovely ingredients for chocolate and hazelnut biscotti, I was over the moon. 

...And it was so much easier than I expected...

Here's the recipe curtousy of the chocolate log blog if you'd like to try too: (I've been struggling to link over to it all day but without fail...I'll keep trying)

Ingredients:

• 140g hazelnuts
• 100g dark chocolate
• 300g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 75g cocoa powder
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2tsp orange zest
• 3 large eggs

Method:

1. Roast the hazelnuts in a hot oven for ten minutes to loosen the skins. Allow to cool and then roll between your hands to remove the skins. Chop roughly. Turn the oven down to 180c.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa powder into a large bowl, add the sugar and mix. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it one by one. Work the eggs into the mixture and the vanilla extract with a wooden spoon, by bringing the dry ingredients in from the side. 
3. Melt the chocolate the pour it into the other ingredients, mixing it until it is evenly spread through the mixture. Stir in the nuts, if the dough is too dry to hold together, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to bring it together.
4. Divide the dough into two and roll into sausage shapes, about three inches (8cm) wide. Place the two sausages on lined baking trays (best to use two trays, as they will expand) and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are a rich dark brown. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. 
5. Slice the rolls diagonally, making each slice about 1cm in width. Bake the slices for a further 20 minutes (10 mins on each side) at 160c. Cool on a wire rack before eating. 

These are delicious and more-ish, deeply chocolatey very grownup double chocolate biscotti. Awesome with coffee, espresso or filter, or even better afoggato for an extra special treat. Very easy to make. I think maybe I'll try almond ones next...ooh with a hint of amaretto.

This recipe makes lots. As usual I was overly generous and my slices were more like two than one centimetre deep, but that just made them twice as yummy. I really recommend trying these. 

Do you have any special deserts that bring back nostalgic memories? It's really good to have a go at making them...it conjures up all those magical memories over again...

debx

Memorable Meals - Mini Savoury Tarts.

 

 

A's brother paid us a surprise flying visit mid-week. He has a bit of a nomadic lifestyle that we all envy, dividing his time between Denmark, England and Iran. In his usual generous way he treated us to supper at his favourite place by the river. 

We caught up and ate, drank, talked and laughed as the sun went down over the Thames. I had an enormous, brie, pea and mint  wholemeal quiche with lovely little garlic roasted new potatoes and roasted vegetable salad with pesto dressing. H had chicken breast, glazed with a smoky chili jam cooked with chorizo and similar vegetables. Whilst the men had wild boar burgers, topped with free range eggs and served with beer chutney and enormous big chunky chips. Really substantial portions but it was so tasty that not even a crumb was left behind...

These are my dainty little quiches that I sometimes make. Inspired by the best smoked salmon tart bought from a cute artisan patisserie in the shadow of Notre Dame on the Ile de la cite, eaten from paper bags on a balmy Parisian summer evening. Mine was laced with tiny slivers of smoke salmon. I'd never had fish in a quiche before and it was delicious.


I used my recipe that I've written here only I now make slightly larger ones that are less fiddely to work with. You could make one large family sized one but Individual works well for us so that we can each choose our  favourite filling.

But what about you...do you have any favourite recipes inspired by memorable meals?

“One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore.

 

It was a different kind of Christmas this year. I love the whole thing so much that I generally have the tree bought and dressed as soon after the 1st of the month as possible without being too premature. In fact the whole kitchen is usually bedecked with giant paper snowflakes soon after.  The cake baked, presents made or bought, weeks, if not months in advance and the food prepared long before needed. I don't know what happened this year, I just couldn't get organised.  So I didn't manage to make the ginger cookies using the special biscuit cutter gift to hang on the tree the weekend before, as hoped.

Christmas morning arrived and we exchanged gifts, less than usual as agreed. Had the sparkling wine and breakfast thanks to A. The table set, thanks to H and there was I, still in PJ's sitting down peeling potatoes...I never sit down to prepare veg...check out the lip-chewing concentration...The room needed  tidying, guest on her way...I didn't even notice that A was trying out his Christmas gift off H...At last someone else is taking taking photographs besides me...As you can see he likes playing with different effects like changing the colour to sepia or black and white for a change....

Amazingly everything came together food-wise...It was surprisingly very good. But poor H came down with flu. she was waining at the Christmas Dinner table. Thankfully we only had one guest this year and she didn't. But gradually over the next couple of days 'A' did and then I followed suit...We had to re-arrange a few invitations, but it was good that no-one had work to go to and we watched gentle films like Lilo and Stitch instead of playing games. H slept a lot and it rained and we thought the flood defence would go back up, but we didn't really mind, we weren't going anywhere soon...and we had lots of fun new things to play with...

I hope yours was a good one...

deb

A's students graduation ball

Some of A's students graduated this week and we went along to the graduation dinner/ball on Thursday evening. They are a great bunch of students and they all love A...which is verified by the signed teddy bears, bottles of wine & spirits, photographs, cigars, cards and gifts currently on the kitchen table.  He works really hard but times like this are so rewarding. Not the gifts...just knowing how much he's appreciated and how much he's influenced so many lives over the past few years.

The venue was amazing.  A lovely old country house hotel called Fallowfields in Kingston Bagpuize, Oxfordshire.  I wish I'd taken some photo's of it now but I kept getting distracted by students asking me take photo's of them with 'A'...I now have tons of emailing photo's to do. 

The girls all looked beautiful in their evening dresses and the boys handsome in their suits (teachers too). The food was presented amazingly.  The greenest vegetable soup ever for starters, followed by either tomato risotto or chicken breast with intricately layered potatoes and greens. 

Fallowfields  have their own kitchen garden, farm and orchards. All the produce is either home grown or locally sourced. A great food philosophy. They were cooked to perfection. My only criticism is that it was a tad cold by the time it was served.  But catering for what must have been over a couple of hundred people must be a logistical nightmare. Especially as a hot sticky day had turned into a chilly evening and food in the marquee section soon cooled down.  Oh and I wasn't too keen on the desert.  I think it was tiramisu or chocolate torte with ice-cream...just a little heavy on the 80 percent cocoa...great quality but a little too bitter for me but A enjoyed having an extra one. 

More of my attempt at dodgy filming...but actually if it was too clear I couldn't post it...all those rules about not filming and photographing young people that I have to heed...

...I just had to stop filming and start dancing when the DJ  starting playing  Tu Vuo Fa' L'Americano.  I mean who couldn't?

...still think the original version was the best ever...I love those instrumentals...can't beat that 50's vibe

...Oh and aren't the carriages beautiful...they beat the limousines hands down for me...so much cooler...but I've always been obsessed with horses and it's just so more romantic...even if it did bring the traffic to a standstill in Oxford...