Jumping on the breadwagon

I think I may be late to the "Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" party.... The master recipe is available free online, so go forth and experiment if you haven't already!

Everything tastes better wrapped in puff pastry!

I recently picked up Vegan Yum Yum's book after spotting it at a local book-store. That very night, I tried a creamy pasta recipe. The next night, I tried the apple strudel.

It was amazing. The recipe was simple, and the result was divine. I hadn't cooked with puff pastry in ages... The experience reminded me of the first time I tried deep fried goat's cheese. I was in heaven. Other types of cheeses were tried. For a while I was coating everything in eggs and breadcrumbs and frying it.

My boyfriend even rolled up chicken curry and rice leftovers into little balls to batter and fry. Oh yes.

The other night, I made a simple rice and veg sauce dinner. I was also craving puff pastry. So I spread out a layer of rice on a sheet of puff pastry, then a layer of sauce, rolled it up and baked it.


It was amazing, if a little funny looking. It's true... everything tastes better wrapped in puff pastry!

Dhal with a twist

I like dhal. It's a tasty, colourful, cheap, nutritious, easy, dish to make. I prefer to make it as a side for curries, veg, etc., but sometimes I'm too tired or lazy to cook more than one dish.

Dhal with rice can be a touch on the bland side, so I was delighted to see that Vegan Dad had posted a recipe for dhal with a twist: Tarka Dhal.

Now my photo looks pretty different to his, and I did adjust the recipe slightly.

I didn't have sweet onions, so I just used a red onion and added a teaspoon of brown sugar to take the edge off its taste. I also added a teaspoon of chilli flakes to the tomato mixture. It was super punchy, so I didn't miss the garam masala which I usually add to dhal :)

Anatomy of a veggie Christmas

I've been vegetarian for a little over a year now. This is my second veggie Christmas. Last year I was visiting my folks in Tasmania and we all went to a Turkish restaurant for lunch. It was lovely, but not a silly-hat-and-crackers kind of affair. Which is usually how we roll. This year, the folks came up to Canberra.

So I said, no sweat, we'll have lunch at home. You guys can cook the traditional roast chicken and I'll supply a veg dish. Hell, two veg dishes. And I'll even make them vegan so that Dad, who's lactose-intolerant, can try them.

And so it was that Christmas Eve rolled around and I realised that if a roast was cooking I'd be hard pressed to have my two main courses ready at the same time. So I'd have to pre-cook them. No worries, I thought. I'll get right on to it. I planned out my two dishes - lentil bobotie (from Linda Stoner's book "Now Vegan!") & veg lasagna (based on the mediterranean lasagne from Delia's vegetarian collection using vegan cheese sauce and vegan white sauce).

So I got right onto... sewing a zebra bag. 6pm rolls around. No sweat, I think. I still have time. I search for vegan lasagna recipes online. I dig out my recipe book for the lasagna I made last time. The first line reads "Prepare the aubergine and courgettes ahead of time". Oh...

I get the zucchini and eggplant sweating, cube up the rest of the veg and put them in a roasting tray. When they're all in the oven I turn my attention to the bobotie. The bobotie is ready to go in when the roast veg come out. I'm on a roll! Next I tackle the cheese sauce and the white sauce.

The kitchen timer goes off as I'm stirring the white sauce. I find myself in a bit of a pickle. I need to take the bobotie out but I can't stop stirring the white sauce or it'll go lumpy and/or burn to the bottom.

I compromise, and turn off the oven with one hand, and open the door slightly so it can cool. So there I was, sweating away as I stirred the white sauce, now with the oven air streaming up to heat my already-sweating face. Plus I burned my finger when my curiosity as to what vegan white sauce tastes like got the better of me.

At this point, I pause and wonder just why I'm bringing two such un-Christmassy and unrelated dishes... I decorate the bobotie with cherry tomatoes and basil leaves in the form of holly in an attempt to cheer myself up.

As the lasagna baked, I set to work making yummy orange and date cookies (from Nicola Graime's book "Vegan cooking"). I have made these so many times... they're easy to make and delicious to boot! As the lasagna came out of the oven, the cookies went in.

In the end, everything went down well with different members of my family and there were plenty of leftovers.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

To finish off, here's a shot of the lovely dish & choccies that Mum - whoops, I mean Santa - left me. Mmmmmm!

Vegan truffles

I made these truffles following Dreena's recipe. The only reasonably-priced vegan dark chocolate I could find at Coles (after all, I needed to get 3 x 100g blocks) was 70% cocoa. I'm not much of a dark chocolate girl - I prefer around the 50-60% mark personally.

Still, they're part of a Christmas gift for my housemate, who is vegan, so that's what I went for. Also, I stuck with almond essence rather than almond extract (again, based on availability). For the liqueur, I used Cointreau. Mmm.


Her main present is a darling purple & white round casserole dish with a matching lid which I picked up from my local Op-Shop. My family and friends follow the tradition whereby you put a coin in a wallet when it is a gift, so I decided to extend that, and place some food in the baking dish. (The fact that living with her gives me immediate access to copious quantities of truffles post-Christmas may also have contributed to this decision...)

I just traced the bottom of the casserole onto freezer paper (of which I have a roll of for stencilling) and then layered the truffles up with freezer paper between each layer.


From left to right: Coconut, cocoa, crushed walnuts, icing sugar and hundreds&thousands.

The Cunning Cupcake Caper

I've had a lot going on this last month, including (but not limited to) impending deadlines for my honours-thesis-of-doom. Luckily, I have two sisters who are intent on cheering me up, no matter how many colourful cupcakes and edible glittery gel such a feat might require.


The sheer quantity of cupcakes allowed for plenty of sharing amongst friends. These were by far the most popular ones: a double-choc base, with a chocolate mousse filling and cream on top. Comfort food, anybody?

Roast pumpkin, spinach and fetta lasagna

Yesterday I decided I needed to use up the big lump of pumpkin and two bunches of spinach which had been sitting in my fridge. This is what I came up with:

Ingredients

• 250g pack instant lasagna or enough for 5 layers in the dish you will be using
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese to top
  

For the pumpkin layer

• olive oil
  
• 1.2kg pumpkin, skinned and cubed
  
• 5 cloves garlic, in skins [I love garlic. A lot. You may want to just put in one or two.]
• salt, pepper

For the spinach layer

• 30g butter
• 2 bunches big leafy (Savoy) spinach, stems removed (~550g stemless green leaves)
• 120g feta, crumbled
• 3 tbsp pine nuts, dry toasted
• nutmeg to taste

White sauce

• 90g butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 500mL milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
• nutmeg, salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and add a few tbsp of olive oil to a shallow baking dish
   
2. Peel and cube the pumpkin into 1.5"ish cubes. Put them into the dish with the the garlic and toss in oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place baking dish in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, until pumpkin is cooked through. Leave the oven on. When it is done, slip the garlic out of its papery shell and mash the pumpkin and garlic together (not to a paste, you want a little lumpy consistency). Pour off any excess liquid, or add a little oil if it is too dry.
   
4. While the pumpkin is roasting, wash the stemmed spinach leaves in three changes of water. Shake (or spin) dry.
5. Melt the butter in a large frying or saucepan. Add a sprinkle of nutmeg and the spinach (can be done in two batches depending on the size of your pan). Cook for a few minutes, turning a few times so that it steams evenly.
6. When the spinach is wilted and has lost most of its water, drain the spinach. Transfer it to a clean bowl, handful by handful, giving each one a good squeeze over the sink to get out as much juice as possible.
7. Toast the pine nuts on a dry frying pan if you haven't already. Add them, along with the crumbled fetta cheese, to the spinach.
8. Time to make the white sauce! Melt the butter over med-high heat. Add the flour and stir quickly for about a minute. Slowly add the milk, beating well after each addition so that it doesn't go lumpy. Pop in a bay leaf and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Keep stirring as the mixture boils and thickens. Turn the heat down to low and cook for a further five minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.
9. Pour some hot water into a large bowl. You will be using this to soften the lasagna sheets. Spread the bottom of your lasagna baking dish with some white sauce. Dip the first layer of lasagna sheets in the hot water, then lay them on top of the white sauce. Spread half of the pumpkin mixture on top of this. Repeat the pasta layer, and then add half the spinach mixture. Next comes another pasta layer, then the rest of the pumpkin, then more lasagna, the rest of the spinach, and a final layer of lasagna. Pour the rest of the white sauce on top. Make sure the top pasta layer is completely covered with it, and let it run down the sides if there is any excess. Sprinkle top with grated Parmesan cheese.
10. Pop in the oven (same temperature) for around 50 minutes. Test if it's done by sliding a fork or knife into the lasagna. There should be little resistance. The top should be crispy and brown. Yum.
11. Admire your masterpiece. Serve with a simple fresh salad.

Serves 3-6. Tastes delightful reheated in the microwave. Just what I needed tonight, after realising I managed to leave my wallet on the bus. Fingers crossed it gets turned in!

Update: Somebody handed my wallet in, so I got it back! Hooray!