Best of ‘Impressive Food’ on Instagram 22 May 2013

First, apologies for the radio silence! I have been mostly posting my food creations and experiences on Instagram over the last twelve months. It’s quicker and easier, plus it seems to be getting a great response.

Since it is National Vegetarian Week here in the UK, I thought I should make a post on my WordPress blog highlighting some of my most-liked posts from my Instagram feed.

Homemade dark chocolate flake dipped in vanilla hot chocolate. Best breakfast ever! #vegan #veganfoodshare #veganlife #chocolate #ricemilk

Pot luck with veg tofu skewers, red falafel, various leafy and tofu salads and spicy rice and beans. Tangy auburn sauce and savoury white sauce. #vegan #veganfoodshare #veganlife

Savoury from me, for a change. Corn on the cob (cooked with garlic, thyme, bay, chives and paprika), tomato watercress pumpkin seed salad (with red&green capsicums, lettuce and a dressing), quinoa, Shamir hummus with masbacha sauce and finally alfalfa sprouts. Very tasty, especially the corn and the hummus. #vegan #veganlife #veganfoodshare

Some of the other food at our #potluck, including a quinoa salad, spicy corn salad and @janesamuels’ stuffed parathas. All yum. Off photo: tortilla, falafel, enchiladas, more salad, ziti and salt & pepper chips. #vegan #veganfoodshare

Four Seasons cake I’m making for tonight’s event. Right: Bakewell sponge (sugar-free). Left: Neopolitan sponge (gluten-free). Bottom: Choc fudge sponge. Top: Victoria sponge. #vegancake #veganfoodshare #vegan Shh, they don’t know I didn’t use egg!

Mummy dogs, copied from Naked Vegan Cooking blog. #halloween #vegan #veganfoodshare

Vegan BLT 19 October 2012

Eat ‘em while they’re hot!

Okay, so I’m calling this a BLT, but tomato is the only one of those really in it. This is a low saturated fat alternative using soy sauce fried tofu instead of the B. I didn’t have any lettuce even though I like it, so I used spinach from the greenhouse and some freshly picked wild watercress to cover the L. Anyway, it’s a good thing I made two each for everyone as there were happy faces and tapping feet all round!

Ingredients

• 2 fluffy white buns/rolls/baps/etc. per person (I’m not getting into bread name politics!)
• 2 thick slices of medium firm bean curd/tofu per person (about 133 g per person)
• small red onion, diced
• crushed garlic, from a jar or fresh
• 1 tomato per person, sliced
• spinach and watercress, washed and roughly chopped, (or lettuce)
• soy sauce
• olive oil
• garlic egg-free mayo
• Vitalite or other non-dairy marg, for spreading on the bread

Method

1. Prepare the bread and slice the tomatoes.
2. In a large pan, warm some oil and lightly fry the onions. Once the onions begin to cook, add the slices of tofu with some garlic and soy sauce. Gently fry both sides of the tofu for about 10-15 minutes, taking care not to burn the onions. Meanwhile, add some mayo to the bread and wash and chop the greens.
3. Make up the BLTs on the bread, in the order Vitalite, mayo, tofu, tomato, spinach and watercress, more mayo. Serve immediately.

2.5 kilos of egg-free mayo! I could get lost in this.

3 BLTs ready for serving

Bakewell slice (refined sugar-free) 12 October 2012

One of ten tasty slices.

My first recipe post in quite a while! Let’s get right down to it. I’ve wanted to make a Bakewell tart for quite a while and this is my first attempt. It’s a pastry base, almond soft sponge top with a layer of raspberry jam between, decorated in flaked almonds and almond cream. Despite the three almond components, the flavour was subtle and brilliantly offset by the slim layer of tart raspberry. The recipe was inspired mostly by one for Cakewell Tart on Veggies website and is egg-free and dairy-free like everything on this blog.

To ice or not to ice? That was the question I pondered. I asked Twitter (via @ImpressiveFood) and the decision was to go traditional and not ice. That also meant I could keep it free from refined sugars.

Ingredients

• Half a packet of ready-roll shortcrust pastry
• 225 g white flour
• 80 g Sweet Freedom Dark (or 112 g demerara sugar)
• 10 g baking powder
• 60 g ground almonds
• 140 ml sunflower oil
• 225 ml cold water
• half a 284 g jar of Meridian raspberry jam (no added sugar)
• almond (or oat) cream and flaked almonds, to decorate

Method

1. Roll out the pastry and place in an oven dish or pie dish. (I used a 22cm by 22cm square one.) Prick all over with a fork, then bake for 20-25 minutes at 190°C. I recommend leaving plenty of pastry around the edge, perhaps over hanging, as it will shrink in the oven; but I rescued mine by folding the edges of the pastry in to make a little ridge after 10 minutes.
2. Once the pastry has cooled, cover completely with jam.
3. Mix together the dry sponge ingredients (flour, baking powder, (sugar if using it) and ground almonds. In a jug or similar, mix together the wet ingredients (water, oil and Sweet Freedom) then mix the wet into the dry. Pour the mixture over the jammy pastry base.
4. Bake at 190°C for 35 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing and decorating with a drizzle of almond (or oat) cream and flaked almonds.

Choc chip cookies (refined sugar-free) 29 June 2012

Shown here nearly finished cooking. I made another 6 from this batch (not photographed).

I followed a new recipe to make these cookies, adapting a cookie recipe on AllRecipes.co.uk (mine is not gluten-free, I didn’t have the right flour). I didn’t have as much chocolate as their recipe either, so my chunks/chips were not as well spread out.

But enough of the self-criticism; they were good and tasty!

Ingredients

• 350 g plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 125 ml sunflower oil (grapeseed would be better)
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 125 ml agave syrup (same thing as agave nectar)
• 85-150 g dark chocolate no added sugar (I used 85 g Thorntons diabetic range) (chopped up or broken)

Method

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl (except the chocolate).
2. Stir together the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl or mixing jug.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, then stir in the chocolate.
4. Make into small balls and press onto a lined baking tray.
5. Bake at 180 °C for 10 minute or until they begin to darken. (The ones in the photo above had a few more minutes in the oven after the photo was taken.)
6. Cool and serve.

GUEST SPOT: Ginger and tofu soup 24 June 2012

Served with spiral salads and bread.

Jan made this amazing soup, from blended tofu, ginger, carrot, spring onion, garlic, oil and seasoning. What a great colour it turned out!

My contribution was a pair of spiralised salads; courgette/kohl rabi and carrot/apple. We topped them off with toasted walnuts.

We had a little tasty Italian bread too.

Rhubarb and apple crumble (refined sugar-free) 12 June 2012

Just out of the oven.

Using rhubarb from the garden with apples and the juice of an orange, I made an improvised crumble.

The topping is no-added-sugar muesli, marg, more oats and agave syrup. The base was cooked on a medium heat in a pan for 10 to 15 minutes first, which meant it didn’t need more than 15 to 20 minutes in the oven.

Not bad for my first crumble!

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.