Strawberry lemonade (refined sugar-free) 20 May 2012

You should imagine the fresh strawberry garnish, not in the photo!

Summer is almost here, time to get the cold drinks out!  Using the recipe from ‘Color Me Vegan‘ by Coleen Patrick-Goudreau, I substituted granulated sugar for fruit sugar, for the usual benefits of avoiding refined sugar.

Ingredients

• 7 ice cubes
• 1 cup (235 ml) fresh lemon juice (about 6 medium lemons)
• 5 cups (1175 ml) cold water
• 120 g fruit sugar, (instead of 200 g granulated sugar) – adjust to your sweetness preference
• 6 – 8 whole strawberries, stems removed, plus more for garnish

Method

1. Dissolve the fruit sugar in the water on a low heat on the hob; this stops it being too crystaline, which can happen with fruit sugar.  Allow the water to chill again before continuing. (You can skip this step if using granulated sugar.)
2. In a blender, whiz the ice up a little, then add the lemon juice, water and sugar.  Blend and taste – you may wish to add more sugar, lemon or water to suit your taste.
3. Next, add the strawberries, and blend to the texture you prefer.
4. Serve in a pitcher or glasses.  Makes about 1.5 litres.

GUEST SPOT: Chocolate ‘cheesecake’ 18 May 2012

The whole, semi-set cake. (See below for photos of slices.)

Andrew’s amazing creation.  After looking through various vegan cheesecake recipes, he came up with his own, and struck chocolate gold.

Ingredients

• 1 packet oat biscuits, smashed up
• approx. 100 g sunflower spread/marg, like Vitalite
• 300 g Bournville or other sweet chocolate
• 1 whole tub Tofutti or other plain soft non-dairy cream cheese
• ⅔ carton soya cream
• approx. 1 tbsp agave syrup
• decoration (for example, some extra grated or flaked chocolate

Method

1. Melt the marg, stir in the smashed up biscuits.  Press the mixture into a tall tin and chill.
2. Melt the chocolate (in a bowl over a saucepan), then whisk in the remaining ingredients until smooth.
3. Spoon the chocolate mixture onto the base, decorate the top.  Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Shown here at a picnic, sliced up.

Vegetable pasta bake 18 May 2012

Served with cucumber and kumquat salad.

Two kinds of pasta and seven kinds of vegetable (if you count tomato), topped with a little melting Vegusto (one of the best vegan cheese substitutes).  Served with a side salad of juiced kumquats, diced cucumber, chopped tomato and green olives.

Ingredients

• 200g wholewheat penne pasta
• 200g large tube-y pasta (sorry, I forget the name)
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 red peppers, 1 yellow, all diced
• 2 courgettes, cut with a spiraliser, then chopped further (thin short strips)
• 3 carrots, finely sliced
• 5 fresh tomatoes, diced
• some sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely diced
• 2 cartons of chopped tomatoes
• half a cup of red lentils (omitted from the version photographed)
• a good squirt of basil in a tube, or large handful of freshly chopped basil
• third of a tube of Vegusto No-Moo Melty, thinly sliced and cut again

Method

1. Boil the carrots and cook the lentils, both for 10 minutes.  At the same time, gently fry the onion then add the garlic in a large pot. Preheat the oven to around 180 °C.
2. Add the carrots, peppers and courgette to the onions, stirring often.  At the same time, start to boil the pastas, for about 10-12 minutes, as per the instructions on the packets (with a little olive oil).
3. Add all the tomatoes and lentils to the large pot and stew for 5 minutes.  Add the basil and remove from the heat.
4. In a large oven dish, place a layer of the large pasta, then half the vegetables, a layer of the penne, the other half of the veg, and finally pieces of Vegusto on top.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Just out of the oven.

Triple chocolate sponge, gluten-free 17 May 2012

The middle layer is soft Bournville.

As part of an anniversary get-together, I was asked to do half of the catering, which comprised a vegetable chilli and a sponge sandwich cake.  I thought I’d better do the cake gluten-free and wheat-free, since I didn’t know the dietary requirements of those attending, and of course as usual the cake is egg-free and dairy-free too, despite having three types of chocolate.

Ingredients

• 7 oz self raising flour
• 1 heaped tsp baking powder
• 3.5 oz fruit sugar
• 8 fl oz (225 ml) cold water
• 3 fl oz (85 ml) sunflower oil
• 20 g cocoa powder
• The middle cream layer is a 200g bar of Bournville melted together with half a carton of oat cream.
• The top is just 12 non-dairy white chocolate buttons, available from Sainsbury and Holland & Barratt stores, amongst others.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Combine the flour, baking powder, fruit sugar and cocoa powder in a large bowl.  Mix in the water and oil well.
2. Spoon into two same-size cake tins (6-8 inch/15-20 cm diameter) .  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.
3. Melt the dark chocolate and stir in the oat cream.  It will start to harden after 10 minutes, at which point spoon it on to the bottom sponge sandwich cake, saving a little to use as glue for the white chocolate buttons on top.

Potato gratin 15 May 2012

Oh, I remember the wonderful cooked garlic smell even now!

It was time to try new things from recipe books again, and today was potato pan gratin from The Practical Encyclopedia of Whole Foods by Nicola Graimes.  I found the potatoes were not cooking properly after I followed the recipe exactly, so I added some stock half way through cooking,  the left overs of which was then used with cous cous as a bonus course. Thinking after the event, I suggest par-boiling the potatoes instead, so I’ll work that in to the transcription below.

Ingredients

• 900g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp marg
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp mustard (recipe called for Dijon, I only had wholegrain)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to garnish (I substitutes with dried chives)
• 50 ml vegetable stock (I needed to add 500 ml later)
• salt and finely ground black pepper

Method

1. Thinly slice the potatoes, then place in bowl of cold water to prevent them discolouring.  (I suggest parboiling them instead.)
2. Preheat the oven to 200 °C/Gas 6.  Heat the marg and oil in a deep pan or skillet.  Add the garlic and cook gently for 3 minutes or until light golden, stirring constantly.  Stir in the lemon, mustard and thyme (or chives).  Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into a jug.
3. Drain the potatoes and pat dry with kitchen roll.  In an oven-proof dish, place a third of the potatoes and pour over a third of the mustard mixture.  Repeat and season, repeat again and season again.  Finally, pour over the stock and the remaining thyme.
4. Cover the top with greaseproof paper and bake for 1 hour (probably only half an hour if you parboil the potatoes).  Remove the paper and cook for a further 15 minutes or until golden.

Serve with a nut roast, salad or other vegetables.

Choc fudge festival 7 May 2012

Shown here bagged up and ready to sell.

I was a volunteer at this year’s Celebrate Festival Whalley Range (hosted by Whalley Range Forum).  I designed the poster and programme, and helped out at the venue, but possibly my favourite thing I did was making four kinds of chocolate fudge to sell, to raise funds for Whiz Youth Project.

It’s basically the same chocolate fudge recipe I’ve posted before, but since it was so long ago I’ll repeat it.

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate (many are non-dairy, I used the Asda brand one)
• 100g Pure sunflower margarine
• 400g icing sugar
• 80-100 ml soya cream
• 10g cocoa powder
• drop vanilla extract (or other flavour such as orange)
• (optional) raisins, chopped hazelnuts or other fruit/nut mix

Method

1. Melt the chocolate and marg carefully (not directly over the heat).
2. Stir in the vanilla and cocoa, and gradually add the sugar and cream a bit at a time until it stiffens. Add the nuts and fruit towards the end.
3. Place in a greased container in the fridge for two hours.
4. Cut into cubes.

I made plain chocolate, fruit and nut, chocolate orange and mint-choc-chip varieties, and they all sold out, thanks to the team of young people and volunteers from Whiz (see photo below, by Anthony Morris).

Well done everyone for selling hot drinks, cakes, flapjacks and fudge to raise funds, even in the rain.

Potato and rosemary soup 5 May 2012

Serve with warm tiger bread or similar.

Alternative title: How to use up a cauliflower without anyone noticing.

Ingredients

• 5 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 stock cube
• handful of fresh rosemary leaves
• bouillon powder
• Third-to-half of a carton of soya cream
• 1 tblsp sunflower oil

Method

1. Chop and begin to boil then simmer the potatoes, then do the same for the cauliflower (overlapping).  They need at least 15 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. Add half the rosemary to the potatoes after, and continue to heat on a very low light while doing the next step.  (Scoop off any starch that comes to the surface of the water while boiling.)
2. Gently fry the onions and garlic in a large pan for the soup, then add the green pepper.
3. Add the potatoes and their water to the big pan, with the stock cube and bouillon powder.  Stir well, and raise to a medium heat. Add the cauliflower too and the rest of the rosemary, and bring to the boil then simmer.
4. Add the soya cream, stir in well, then take off the heat and use a hand blender across the whole soup.
5. In batches, pour the soup into a food processor and blend more finely.

Chocolate knickerbocker glory 24 April 2012

Six glasses that demand to be respected, then devoured.

The ultimate chocolate dessert.  After watching HBO’s Carnivàle show, I wanted to make something American early 20th Century, and this came to mind.  After various changing plans, and preparing over four days, this is the result.  (Who needs dairy?)

Layers, bottom to top

• Chocolate mousse
  • Half carton Alpro soya chocolate dessert and 100g dark chocolate, melted together.
• Sponge cake fairy cakes, diced
  • Half my standard vanilla sponge recipe, with dark sugar instead of fruit sugar.
• Bourbon biscuit milkshake
  • Thicker version of my previous bourbon milkshake recipe, using ~100ml soya milk to half a tub of Swedish Glace and 6 biscuits.
• Cookie dough blob
  • From my previous ice cream recipe featuring cookie dough.
• Flake
  • Made with Cadbury Bournville chocolate, using the previous flake recipe.
• Shiny balls
  • Some of the shiny balls at Asda are vegan.  Look to avoid shellac, which comes from insects, despite the Vegetarian Society approving it.

Makes at least 6 servings in champagne /small wine glasses.

GUEST SPOT: Rainbow salad platter 3 April 2012

Purple, red, orange, yellow and various shades of green and white.

One of Andrew’s creations, this features coloured capsicum peppers, beansprout salad, beetroot salad, carrot, avocado, tomato mango chilli salad, on a bed of mixed leaves, cucumber and decorated with cherry tomatoes.

Oh yes, and the watermelon slices too!

From the other side.

Triple choc raspberry trifle 3 April 2012

Shame you can't see the bottom layers well here! Imagine the jelly and sponge parts.

I had a dream about making a chocolate trifle, and since I’ve never made one before, I decided to literally follow my dream.

The layers, from the bottom to top, are raspberry jelly, vanilla sponge with real raspberry bits, chocolate custard, white chocolate cream and flaked dark chocolate on top. It’s dairy-free and egg-free, as always.

Ingredients

• 1 packet vegetarian jelly crystals (Just Wholefoods, from health food shop)
• sponge cake mix (please excuse the mix of metric and imperial)
  • 3.5 oz self-raising flour
  • 1.5 oz fruit sugar
  • 0.5 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 115 ml water
  • 43 ml sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • handful frozen raspberries, crushed
• 1 carton chocolate soya dessert (Alpro, like custard)
• 160 g dark chocolate (Bournville in my case)
• 100g bar white chocolate (Organica, non-dairy kind from health food shop, or bags of non-dairy white chocolate buttons from supermarket free-from section)
• 3 tblsp soya cream
• grated chocolate for the top (I had some Hotel Chocolat shavings for making hot chocolate drink that worked well)

Method

1. Make the sponge first. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, and mix the dry cake ingredients together, then slowly mix in the wet ones, stirring in a figure-8 motion. Bake the cake in a tin the same size and shape as the trifle dish; mine was about 20cm square.  It should take 15-30 minutes, depending on how thin your sponge is.
2. When the sponge comes out of the oven, cut it into roughly 1 inch squares while still in the tin, and pop it back in the oven for 3-5 minutes to slightly crisp up the newly cut edges.  Then let the cake cool.
3. Transfer the cut pieces of cake to the trifle dish. Make the jelly as per the instructions on the packet, which will be to make 1 pint, then pour it over the sponge.  Be aware that the jelly will flow under the sponge and soak it up. Put it all in the fridge to set for 2 hours.
4. Once the jelly has set, melt the dark chocolate bar in the usual careful way, then stir in the chocolate custard/dessert in.  Pour this over the jelly and sponge, then return to the fridge for another hour until it firms up a bit.
5. Melt the white chocolate and stir in the soya cream, then spread that over the chocolate custard layer. You may wish to bulk this up with more soya cream, or use almond cream for a better, complementary flavour. You could add melted marg and icing sugar then pipe it on, for a very naughty version.
6. Finally, sprinkle on the grated or flaked chocolate, and return to the fridge for another 45-60 minutes to set.