I won a MoFie!

So the MoFie awards are in full swing at the moment celebrating some of the best of vegan MoFo 2014.
There are some awesome categories and prizes, too! Go have a look on the MoFo website :)
I am honoured to receive one, and I cannot wait to nom my Raw chocolate Co prize!

Potatoes for the win!

Vegan MoFo #30 Tomato pasta with olives, leeks and vegan Parmesan

Keeping it simple for my last vegan MoFo 2014 post. I can't believe it'll be over tomorrow :( 

As easy as this dish is, the leek and garlic give it tonnes of flavour. The easy Parmesan takes it to super tasty. It's pretty much a pasta version of the pizza pie I made but whatevs, it's my 30th MoFo post!

Ingredients 

However much pasta you need (the sauce makes enough for 3-4 servings)

1 leek, trimmed and finely diced

500 g passata

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A handful of black olives, halved

Oil for frying

Salt & pepper to taste

For the Parmesan

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp ground almonds

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Pinch of salt

1 heaped tsp dried chives 

Method

Par boil the pasta then set aside

In a separate pan, sauté the finely diced leek for 10-15 minutes in a generous amount of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper until the green bits have gone soft 

Add the other ingredients including the par-boiled pasta (drained) and simmer for 10 minutes

Mix the Parma ingredients, sprinkle over the top then serve

So, that's me all done for MoFo 2014. I've enjoyed it so much, I think I'm going to keep blogging. Not every day though! 

Hopefully some of you will still keep in touch before next MoFo, I know I'll be keeping an eye on all the amazing vegan blogs I've discovered through MoFo.

Big shout outs to all the lovely people who have commented on my blog, it's really helped my confidence and mental health. 

Take care all x

Vegan laverbread caviar!

 

Morning MoFo'ers! I was up early this morning pondering how to make this work as the first time I tried it last week, it was a messy failure. But now I have it sussed! Laverbread on it's own is pretty strong stuff and I believe this to be a much tastier, prettier way of serving this delicacy. Doesn't it look cool? Can you tell I'm a bit excited about this? Anyways, on to the recipe. 

Ingredients

Approx 2 heaped tbsp laverbread

1/2 cup of water

1 tsp soy sauce

Pinch of salt

One sachet agar agar 

Bottle of oil 

Method

Before you do anything else, you want to put your oil in the freezer. A tall, thin bottle works best. Don't worry, it won't be wasted, you can still use it as oil afterwards as we're only cooling it, not freezing it. About 45 minutes is perfect chilling time. 

Mix all your other ingredients in a blender and whizz until the seaweed is as small as you can get it. If it's too 'bitty' it will clog and not work.

Bring all your caviar ingredients to a boil, stirring constantly then remove from heat.

Leave to cool a few minutes, then load your dripping device. I used an empty, clean sriracha bottle but a pipette would be ideal.

Drip the mixture into the chilled oil drop by drop, as it gets to the bottom of the oil  it should solidify. Magic!
Pour the oil and caviar into a sieve, placing a pot underneath if you want to catch the oil. Rinse the caviar in water then place on kitchen roll to dry.

It does take a bit of getting used to if you're not using a pipette but practice makes perfect! 

I served mine on parsley potato crackers with chilli relish on some and vegan tuna on the others. Lush!

Can't wait to try this technique with some other flavours (chilli and lime or carrot and ginger anyone?)

Baked laverbread falafel patties with cumin seed chickpea flatbread

This was so tasty! I had to have at least one recipe with laverbread in, it's a Welsh delicacy! (It's a seaweed for those who have not heard of it). You can get it fresh in markets all over Wales but I used tinned. The falafel patties are quite spicy and lovely and moist inside. You could make them as normal falafels but you'd need to deep fat fry them or roll them in a little chickpea flour to hold their shape. 

Ingredients 

1 can of chickpeas (400g) rinsed and drained

2 tbsp laverbread

2 tbsp rice bran oil

2 tbsp plain flour

A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced 

Good squeeze of lemon juice

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander 

A pinch of salt and pepper

(For the flatbreads I forgot to write the measurements but it was chickpea flour, rice bran oil, a splash of hot water, salt, a pinch or baking powder and a pinch of cumin seeds. Combine in to a bread dough consistency, roll very thin then fry in oil both sides.....when it starts to bubble it's ready to flip)

Method

Mash the chickpeas in a bowl with a potato masher, or blitz in a blender.

Combine all the other falafel patty ingredients and mix until all ingredients have combined.

Form into balls and place on a tray lined with baking parchment.

Oven bake on gas mark 6 for approximately 30 minutes, making sure you flip the patties over about half way through.

I served mine with salad and a wonderful spicy chutney from a local farmers market. 

Leek and cashew pizza pie

Yes, I said pizza pie. I love pie, and I love pizza so it was only a matter of time before this happened. Don't be put off by the leeks or the olives! They work really well in this recipe. You can add more pizza toppings to the mix if you like though, go crazy.


Ingredients
Large sheet of puff pastry
1 leek, trimmed, washed and finely diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1 tsp Italian mixed herbs
100g cashews, halved
1/2 cup of sliced black olives
250 ml passata
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

For the parmesan topping
1 tbsp ground almonds
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp dried chives
Pinch of garlic powder

Method
Roll the pastry out, lightly oil a dish and line the dish with pastry.
Trim, wash and dice the leek as finely as you can. Sweat in a frying pan in olive oil, salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cashews, olives, mixed Italian herbs and passata. Bring to a low boil then simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce is not runny.
Spoon into the pastry and spread out.
Mix the parmesan topping ingredients together then distribute over the pizza pie topping. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake on gas mark 5 for 30 minutes.
Nom.

Butternut, kale and walnut galette

I used up the last of my Welsh kale last night to make an easy, tasty and filling galette. Basically a pie without a lid with folded up edges. You can sub the thyme for a herb of your choice if you're using different veg, it's one of those really versatile dishes. Sorry for another rubbish indoor photo, it was 10pm when I finished making this. It was much brighter in real life!

Ingredients
One large sheet of rolled puff pastry
150g strong vegan cheese, grated
100g walnuts, chopped
1 small butternut squash, peeled and finely chopped
A handful of kale leaves, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 onion, diced
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato chutney (or relish)
A blob of marge or oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Roll your pastry out to larger than whatever size dish you're baking it in. Oil your dish and line with the pastry so that the pastry overhangs bu about an inch.
Lightly fry the onion and butternut squash together in a generous blob of  marge or oil, with a little salt and pepper, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, kale, thyme, walnuts and saute on low for another 10 minutes. Stir in the relish and half of the cheese, stir for a few minutes, check for seasoning then spoon into the pastry lined dish.
Cover the filling with the rest of the cheese, then fold and pinch the edges over.
Bake on gas mark 5-6 for approximately 30 minutes.

P.s. Works really well for leftovers the next day!

Kaleslaw

I got some kale from the market yesterday and had to make some kaleslaw with it. I made it this morning before work to take in for dinner but accidentally ate it all by 11.30. Whoopsies.
I used a mix of purple and regular carrots in this to give it a bit of colour. It's one of those easy, quick sides that is great to have at a barbeque or get together. Pass me the jacket potato.

Ingredients
2-3 carrots, peeled and grated
A generous handful of kale, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 tbsp vegan mayo
1 tbsp mustard (I used American as others can be too overpowering)
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Method
Mix all the wet ingredients together first, then simply stir in the raw vegetables and serve. You can garnish with parsley, chives or seeds to make it a bit special. Nom.

Vegan life magazine

 

Today I received my copy of the debut issue of Vegan life magazine, the first mainstream UK vegan lifestyle magazine. I was super excited to delve in to this as it's about time there was a paper magazine of it's kind available on the high street.

The first thing I noticed was the feel of the magazine; a wonderful matte paper cover and perfect binding. It instantly gives it the feel of a good quality publication, something you'd be happy to keep on your book shelf.

As I flicked through the magazine, I was greeted with page after page of informative articles, thought-provoking features and beautiful food photography. The adverts, albeit many of them, are relevant to me, as are the reviews.
One of the things I was most pleased about was the abundance of recipes. I know it's easy enough to get recipes online these days what with the wealth of fantastic vegan blogs and websites out there. There's also plenty of excellent vegan cookery books. But to have something specifically tailored to UK readers is terrific. All too often I find myself sighing when recipes have some ingredient you can't get over here. I'm particularly excited to try my hand at the pad Thai summer rolls and the apple crumble cheesecake.

I really love the layout and tone of the magazine, it has a positive vibe which is welcoming to any people out there wanting to give veganism a go. This can only be a good thing.
I'm very much looking forward to the next issue, I'm only sorry I didn't see the advert for the free vitamins before I placed my subscription order ;)

Find more information at http://veganlifemag.co.uk/

Roasted curried squash soup

This was made with the last of my market vegetable haul (sad face). I normally make it with butternut squash but this time I made it with patty pan. Those things are not easy to peel! I have to give a shout out to my dear friend Tansy for this recipe, it's based on one of hers. I'm sorry for all the soup recipes, I just really love soup. But I promise you pie this week! And other exciting things. Mostly pie.

Ingredients
1 squash, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 tbsp mustard seeds
4 cloves of garlic
Rice bran oil or other neutral oil for frying and baking
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp turmeric powder
3 cups of water
A vegetable stock cube
200ml coconut milk
Freshly ground salt and black pepper

Method
In an oiled baking tray, place the chopped squash, chopped carrots and quartered onions. Place the cloves of garlic, whole and still with skins on, on top. Cover in oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes until the veg is just starting to brown, remove from the oven.
Whilst the veg is cooling enough to be able to handle, in a saucepan gently fry the mustard seeds in oil until they begin to pop. When they are popping, remove from the heat and add the garam masala and turmeric, stirring quickly for the spices to absorb the oil. Add the water, vegetable stock cube and salt and pepper and simmer on a low heat.
Squeeze the garlic out of the skin and add to the pan with the rest of the vegetables. It's essential you leave the skin on whilst roasting as it makes it sweet.
Add the coconut milk then using a hand blender, blend until smooth.
Simmer without bringing back to the boil for a further 20-30 minutes to let the flavours develop.
Check for seasoning then serve.

Liebster award!

So, yesterday I got nominated for a Liebster award by Julie from  my apologies for the novel
Admittedly I'd not heard of this before but I'm going to take part because it sounds fun and I'd rather do this than actual work.  

 Here's what you do when you get nominated for the Liebster Award:
1. Answer the questions given and then come up with 10 new ones to ask your nominees.
2. Nominate 8 other blogs, let them know you have nominated them and put a link to their blog in your post.
3. No tag backs.
4. Nominees must have under 200 followers on any platform.
5. You must tell all the blogs that you nominate that you have nominated them.

1. When is your “veganniversary”/the date you went vegan? (Or if, like me, you don't remember the exact date, have you chosen a day on which to celebrate your veganniversary?) 
To be honest, I'm not sure, I think I've been vegan for about 3 and a half years, and vegetarian for 15 years before that. I was 10 when I decided to give up meat.
2. What's your best quality?
I have a kind heart.

3. What is your most-used kitchen tool/utensil? 
Other than a knife, my Kenwood mini chopper, it's the bomb.
4. Do you share your life with any animals? (If so, tell us a bit about them.) 
I live with a 4 year old pug named Pedro, and an 18 month old chihuahua, Phoebe. Pedro is totally batshit crazy and hilarious but also has a really soft, affectionate side. Like when I cry he nuzzles his head on to my lap and gazes up at me to make me feel better. Phoebe is quiet and well behaved and just loves to cuddle. She's ridiculously cute. They're both snuggle monsters and I couldn't live without them.
5. If you could open a sanctuary, what would be the first type of animal you would rescue? 
Capybaras! I love capybaras, they're the world's biggest rodents. They just mooch about all day being a grumpus and give lifts to other animals on their backs.
6. Do you prefer your pizza hot and fresh, or cold as leftovers the next day? 
I don't mind cold pizza but it has to be hot, really.
7. What is your favorite type of tea? 
English breakfast tea. It has to be Yorkshire gold.
8. What's one food/meal that you thought you'd never have again once you went vegan, only to find out later that there is a vegan version of it? 
Egg mayo. I used to love egg mayo baguettes as a vegetarian and didn't think I'd ever get that taste again, but if you mash tofu or broad beans with black salt, pepper and vegan mayo, you have the taste of egg mayo. Hoorah.
9. What would be your “catch phrase?” (What is your favorite phrase and/or what is the phrase you say most often?) 
Take care.
10. What's your go-to dish to bring to a vegan potluck?  
I've never been to a vegan potluck as I don't have any vegan friends (sob) but it'd probably be my garlicky potato salad. 

No pressure to answer the questions; if I nominated you, I already think you are awesome! (Also, if another blog nominated you before I did, don't worry about answering my questions in addition to theirs.)  

My nominations are:
Caeli at little vegan bear
Nicole at vegan nom noms 
Bonnie at eating with the rabbits
Imogen Michel at Imogen Michel 
Loz at In rad taste 
Emma at Walks, talks and eats 
Lisa at Down right vegan 

I'm working on the eighth one.

And my questions for you lovely ladies are:
1. If you could bring any one animal back from extinction, what would it be?
2. What would you say is the dish you cook most often?
3. If a zombie apocalypse was imminent and you could only take 5 store cupboard staples in your bag before fleeing, what would they be?
4. Tell me about your favourite restaurant, and your favourite dish there.
5. Are you a cat or a dog person?
6. What animal do you think you are most like in personality?
7. What new ingredients have you discovered that you love since going vegan?
8. What are your favourite resources for getting inspiration for vegan food?
9. What has been your biggest fail in vegan cooking and have you managed to resolve said fail?
10. Do you have a non-vegan childhood favourite food that you have managed to re-create to be sfv?

Let me know if you took part so I can read your answers by commenting on this post :)
 

Mini quichey things

Well they're not quite quiches as they have no crust and there's no egg in it, but they're pretty tasty and great to take to work or have in the fridge for a quick breakfast. You don't have to put chard or pepper in them but that's what I used because of the whole using local food thing. 

Ingredients 

200g tofu

1 cup chickpea flour

1 cup water 

1 tbsp rice bran oil

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Handful of chopped chard leaves

1 red pepper

1 tbsp chives

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp black salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Method

Mash the tofu with a fork so it resembles a scrambled egg texture. Sift the flour in, add the water then mix well.

Add all the other ingredients, putting the pepper and chard in last.

Lightly grease your little quiche tins then spoon in the mixture. You can add some grated vegan cheese on top and it is better with this but I forgot to pick some up and these were still tasty....so it's not essential.

Bake on has mark 5 for about 40 minutes.

Leave to cool before popping them out of their cases. Enjoy your little quichey type things :) 

Spicy carrot & noodle soup with toasted sesame seeds

This is one of the quickest, easiest, tastiest things I like to eat. It's super simple and requires mostly store cupboard staples. It just about adheres to my theme by featuring locally grown carrot. And that's about it.

Ingredients (makes 3-4 portions)
1 medium onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely sliced (not coined...bleurgh!)
5-6 cups of water
Vegetable stock cube
200g soba noodles, broken in to thirds
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tbsp sriracha
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Dice the onion and gently saute in the toasted sesame oil for a few minutes. Add the 5 cups of the water, stock cube and carrots, bring to the boil.
Add the remaining ingredients except for the sesame seeds and remaining cup of water and allow to simmer whilst you toast the sesame seeds in a separate pan (no oil required, they should be ready when they turn light brown). You may want to add another cup of water if your soup looks too thick.
When the soup is ready, serve with the toasted sesame seeds on top.

Herby quinoa and beet salad

Day 19 of Vegan MoFo and the weather here is showing no signs of cooling down so salad time it is! I don't know about you but I cannot be doing with salads made entirely from cold vegetables. I need something in there a little more filling. This is, like most of my recipes, really easy to make. You can sub the coriander for fresh mint if you're not a coriander fan (apparently there are people that don't like coriander....I know, right?). Normally I would use broad beans but I forgot that I schnarfed all the beans so I used peas instead. Peas are great!

Ingredients
1-2 cups cooked quinoa (depending on how much you want to make)
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2-3 beetroots, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup peas or broad beans
A tbsp good quality olive oil
1/2 tbsp agave nectar
Good squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook the quinoa in vegetable stock then leave to cool.
Seperate with a fork then add the olive oil, agave, salt & pepper and lemon juice.
Mix well then add the remaining ingredients.
Check for seasoning then serve.

Uh-oh, spaghettiO!

Spaghetti squash, that is. I didn't want to mess around too much with this bad boy as I love the flavour of spaghetti squash so I kept things simple. It was super delicious.

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeds removed
Olive oil
2 fresh plum tomatoes
Salt & pepper
A little garlic powder
Chives to garnish

Method
Halve the spaghetti squash and remove the seeds from inside. Place upside down on a baking tray and bake on gas mark 4-5 for 40 minutes or until your squash is cooked.
Empty the inside of the squash into a pan with a little olive oil, chopped fresh plum tomatoes, a pinch of garlic powder and salt and pepper.
On a low heat, stir all the ingredients until the tomatoes are warm through (but not properly cooked) then spoon back into the empty squash carcass (using the squash carcass as a bowl because I'm lazy and it looks cool)
Garnish with chives then nom.

Ugly-ass chard pizza with sunflower cheese

I really need to get home from work earlier now it's getting dark sooner because taking photos indoors is clearly not doing my food photos any favours. 

Apologies. 

I made these pizzas using Amisa gluten-free pizza bases with a tomato purée and ketchup sauce (don't knock it 'til you've tried it).

The toppings were locally grown chard, tomatoes and not locally grown olives.

I made the cheese replacement with the following...

150g sunflower seeds, soaked and drained

A splash of coconut milk

Pinch of sweet paprika

Pinch of turmeric

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard

3 tbsp nooch

A little garlic powder

A splodge of sriracha

Salt & pepper

I whizzed it all up in a blender them smeared over my pizzas so it looked like I'd thrown up on them.

Result = very tasty indeed but super ugly. 

Spicy bean burger sammich with beet chips

I've been feeling pretty ill and stressed the last couple of days so I apologise for the lack of imagination and the godawful photo of this sammich.

I'm not going to post a recipe today as I forgot to write the quantities down and there's a bazillion burger recipes out there. 

I'll tell you the Welsh veg I used in this though; golden and candy cane beets for the chips, carrot, tomato and onion in the bean burger. 

Ooh, and the coriander seed bread was bought from a local market, too. 

I'll try to do better tomorrow, promise! 

Marina market vegetable haul

Hello MoFo'ers! This is the stage where I wave goodbye to the classic Welsh re-vamps and focus on food made with local Welsh ingredients. I'll aim to include at least one locally grown/made ingredient in each post.

Here's my organic Welsh vegetables from the wonderful Marina market (more about that after MoFo). These beautiful veggies were grown by Blaencamel farm, I aim to use them all up this week for MoFo.

Check out my tiny carrot! I think I'll call him Horace.

Creamy leek soup with garlicky bagel croutons

I couldn't have a Welsh theme for Vegan MoFo and not have a leek recipe. This is a simple soup with the real emphasis being on the leeks. The garlicky bagel croutons give it an extra lil sump'n sump'n. I really enjoyed eating this, hope you do too.

Ingredients

For the soup

2 large leeks, chopped

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 pint of water

1 tbsp rice bran oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)

1 vegetable stock cube

1 small (165ml) tin coconut milk

Salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Dried parsley to garnish (optional)

For the garlicky croutons

1 bagel, stale

Vegan marge or oil 

Garlic powder (go easy on this)

Mixed Italian herbs

A tiny pinch of salt

Method

Chop and sauté the leeks in the oil for 5 minutes or so. 

Finely dice the potatoes and add with the water, stock cube, salt and pepper and bring to boil. 

Simmer with a lid on for half an hour. 5 minutes before serving, add the coconut milk and remove the lid, simmer for 5 minutes. 

To make the bagel croutons, finely slice your bagel and butter with all the ingredients, flash grill.

Remove soup from the heat and blend with an electric hand blender, serve with the croutons and enjoy :) 

Welsh faggots with peas, mash and onion gravy

I made these up last night as I thought I had tvp in the house but it transpires I imagined that. So I made these with brown lentils instead! They're my meat-free alternative to the traditional faggots which are made with all kinds of gross stuff like pigs innards. I always remember as a kid having them with rice (we used to call them birds nests!). I digress. This was a total make-it-up-as-I-go-along so it does need tweaking, I'll try to update it when I get time to make it again.

Ingredients

1 large onion
Oil for frying
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tbsp tamari
1 cup cooked brown lentils
1 tbsp dried parsley
A few sage leaves
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (depending on personal preference - I love nooch so used 2)
Egg replacer for one egg (I used orgran)


Method

Gently fry the onions, then add all the other ingredients. Add a little water and bring to the boil. Simmer on a low heat until all the water has evaporated. Leave to cool. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. When completely cool, form into tight balls then lightly fry for 5-10 minutes on each side (depending on your preference of having them crispy or what-not). You could oven-bake them but they'll probably fall apart.
Serve with mash, peas and onion gravy.

Pikelets with warm blueberry sauce

So, pikelets. They essentially taste like pancakes but have the texture of crumpets. I always remember having them toasted with butter but these ones are straight from the pan with some home-made blueberry sauce. I made these for breakfast this morning, so simple and such a treat.

Ingredients  
for the pikelets (makes about 10)
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tbps caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Egg replacer to replace one egg (I used orgran)
Vegan margarine or oil for frying (margarine is yummier)

for the sauce 
125g blueberries
A splash of water
1.5 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp xanthan gum

Method
Mix all the dry pikelet ingredients in to a bowl, well. Add the wet ingredients then whisk. Not for too long though, just until there are no lumps.
On a medium-high heat spoon the batter out into a well oiled/marged pan a tbsp at a time to form small pancakes. Just blob it in, it doesn't matter what shape they are. Flip when they are bubbling and cook the other side. Stack them on a plate as you go to keep them warm. Be sure to add more margarine/oil to the pan as you go along so as not to have them stick to your pan.
For the sauce, simply add all the ingredients in a saucepan, stir well and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to slightly cool and thicken. Spoon on to pikelets and enjoy.

Rhubarb rhubarb

Or should I say riwbob riwbob? This is an easy peasy recipe for a rhubarb tart, or tarten riwbob in Welsh. Apologies for the messiness of it and the rubbish photo, I got home late last night and this was all I could muster.

Ingredients
5-6 large sticks of rhubarb, sliced
A little water
100g sugar
Large pinch of mixed spice
Shortcrust pastry (I bought ready-made, don't hate)

Method
Peel the stringy bits off the rhubarb and chop into chunks. Place in the pan with the sugar, mixed spice and a little water and cook on a low heat until the fruit is cooked and the sugar is all melted. Remove from the heat and roll out your pastry.
Line a dish of some description with pastry, fill with the rhubarb then place some kind of pastry lid on top....as you can see mine was nice and messy. Dust with cinnamon and sugar, bake until the pastry is done and nom with some custard.

Glamorgan snossages

Yay, snossages! I love a bit of sausage. I have an addiction to Linda Mac sausages but we won't go there. Today is all about veganising Glamorgan sausages!

These Welsh beauties are vegetarian to begin with but I've made them totally cruelty-free and totally yummy. I've also snuck some potato into my recipe, because potatoes, even though they aren't traditionally made with this. You will need some kind of blender for this recipe, but nothing fancy. I used a Kenwood mini-chopper. It's surprisingly powerful (I use it for making pesto with all the time, it goes through nuts like butter). You could probably make it by finely chopping things but in the words of Sweet Brown, ain't nobody got time for that.

Ingredients (makes about 6 sausages)
1 leek, white bit only, finely chopped
1 tbsp margarine plus extra for frying
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
150g vegan melt-able cheese (I used cheezly mozzarella style)
100g fresh breadcrumbs (I used the end of a french baguette. Try to use dry/stale bread)
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
Egg replacer to make up one 'egg'
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Begin by boiling the peeled and chopped potato until it's ready to mash. Once it's ready, drain and transfer to your bowl but in the meantime...
Blitz your bread in a blender of some description until they resemble breadcrumbs. The finer the better. 
Sweat the leeks and garlic in some marge with a little salt.
Once the leeks are done add to the potato and mash well. Add the margarine, grated cheezly, the egg replacer, 25g of the breadcrumbs (the rest are for coating), the herbs, mustard and nutritional yeast and stir until all ingredients are evenly distributed and there are no mash lumps. Season with salt and pepper to taste then leave to cool.
Once cool, place the remaining breadcrumbs on a plate ready for rolling. Form your mixture into balls or sausage shapes (I found shorter sausages stuck together fine) and roll over the breadcrumbs until covered.
Cook your sausages in a well oiled frying pan for a few minutes each side on a medium-high heat.
Enjoy whilst they're still warm and oozing cruelty-free cheese!
I served mine with a pepper-cress salad and spicy tomato chutney. Hom nom nom.

Welsh cakes with orange zest

Well my MoFo theme wouldn't be complete without some Welsh cakes now, would it? Firstly I apologise for the cack photo, I totally forgot to take one after I made them so had to quickly snap something before work, which I was already running late for when I realised. Soz.
Welsh cakes were traditionally cooked on bake-stones back in the day, I used a cast iron pan for mine which is essentially the same thing....right? Well it's as close to a bake-stone as I'll get.
They typically aren't made with orange at all but I think mixed spice and orange are a match made in heaven.

My recipe makes 5-6 Welsh cakes. Double quantities for a larger batch.

Ingredients
150g plain flour
50g currants
75g vegan margarine
50g caster sugar plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp mixed spice
Juice and zest of an orange

Method
Sift the flour and mix with the caster sugar, mixed spice, salt, currants and baking powder. Chop the margarine into small pieces then add this, along with the orange juice to the flour. Rub the margarine into the flour and squish it all by hand until you get an even dough consistency.

Flour your surface and rolling pin, then roll into an even dough, about  1cm thick. If you make your dough too thick they will not cook through.
Use a cookie cutter or knife to shape your dough into round pieces.Cook your cakes on a low setting for 4-6 minutes each side, until cooked through.
Dust with caster sugar and orange zest.

Enjoy them whilst they're hot :)

You say potato, I say MORE BUTTER!

Yeah, so I made  Welsh onion cake which is essentially potato, butter, onions, more potato, more butter and probably more butter again. This was really easy to veganise since the only thing I really needed to change was the butter, using vegan margarine instead. I had to have a lie down after this, think I had some kind of carb brown-out.

Ingredients
100g melted vegan margarine
500g onions, I used a mix of spring, white and chives but the original recipe calls for just white
2 rosemary sprigs
1kg of maris piper potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Use about the quarter of the marge to saute the onions and rosemary in a frying pan for about 15 minutes whilst the oven is warming up.
When they're ready remove from the heat and discard the rosemary sprigs.
Thinly slice the potatoes and put about half of them in a dish. Pour half the remaining marge over these, then spread the onions over the top. Add the remaining potatoes then cover that with the last of the marge. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast with a lid on for about 40 mins, then remove the lid to brown the top layer for another 20 mins or so.
Traditionally you would turn this over to serve but fork that noise, I am way too messy to do stuff like that and not have it fall apart.

Seeded flower pot bread

Well this was fun to make! What's not to like about bread in a clay flower pot? I think these would be great to serve along side a main when friends come over, they just look so cute. This was admittedly the second time I've ever made bread so I was ecstatic when they came out perfect. I altered an old recipe I found for the bread online, changing the flour and some of the measurements and the result was a lovely golden bread which was delightfully soft and airy in the middle. It also made my house smell incredible. Bonus. If you want to make this bread you'll need new clay pots (not painted as some of the paints contain lead so I'm told), wash them thoroughly then bake them several times before using. I just bunged mine in the bottom of the oven and baked them whilst I had the oven on for something else so as not to waste energy.

Ingredients
350g self raising flour
100g vital wheat gluten flour
2 tsp brown sugar
1.5 tsp sea salt
50g margarine (warmed)
2 tsp dried active yeast
300ml tepid water
50g mixed seeds (I used chia, linseed, pumpkin and sunflower)

Method
Line your clay pots with greaseproof paper then cut the excess off the top. Place on a baking tray ready for later.
Add half the sugar and the yeast to the tepid water and leave 'til it bubbles (about 10 minutes).
In a mixing bowl sift the flours followed by the salt, remaining sugar and seeds, mix well. Add the melted butter followed by the yeast mixture and mix well.
Knead the mixture on a smooth surface like a mofo until it's smooth and not sticky. I find humming an 80's pop song whilst kneading is quite therapeutic on a Sunday morn.
Cut the dough in to 6 equal pieces, roll into balls and put into individual flower pots.
Cover the tray of  pots with cling film/saran wrap and leave somewhere warm to rise for 45-60 minutes.
Remove cling film and pop in the oven at gas mark 5/190 and bake until golden brown (about 20-30 minutes).
Leave to cool then take each roll of bread out, remove the greaseproof  paper. Pop the little loaves of joy back in their pots and enjoy!

Here's some more  pics of the bread (can you tell I was pleased with this?)

No Pedro, none of delicious bread for you

Mmmmm, carbs.

Ahahaha, my bread has ears!

Roasted parsnip soup

I love me some soup. It's easy, filling and usually full of vegetables when I make it. It's great for taking to work and is pretty easy to make after a long day. I love the subtle hint of ginger in this soup, it gives it a warmth that makes you feel like you're being cuddled. Or maybe I just really like roasted parsnips. And thyme. God I do love thyme! Anyhow, here's how you make this creamy delicious bowl of goodness.

Ingredients
4 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1/2 a swede, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
40g vegan margarine (I used pure)
165ml coconut milk
500ml vegetable stock
200ml soy milk (optional - water is fine but it won't be as creamy)
A pinch of ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme (plus fresh for garnishing - optional)
Salt & pepper to taste

Method
Before you prep anything else, peel and chop the parsnips and onions. Place them on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, dress with oil of your choice and pop them in the oven to roast. Keep an eye on them and remove them if they start to brown before the rest of the soup base is ready.
Whilst the parsnips and onion is cooking, prep the swede, carrot and garlic.
Melt the margarine on a low heat then add the swede, carrot and garlic. Gently saute for 15 minutes making sure you stir regularly or the garlic will burn.
Add the parsnips, ginger, thyme, nutmeg, swede, vegetable stock and some salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Add the coconut milk then puree the soup. It will probably be pretty thick by this point so add some soy milk or water to thin it down if required.
Check for seasoning then serve, garnished with freshly ground black pepper and fresh thyme.

If you like beer, cheese and bread you will love this!

I'm not joking. It has bags of flavour. Welsh rarebit isn't always made with beer but it isn't made with vegan cheese normally either so whatevs. If you're not a fan of beer or strong flavours this is probably one to skip but lovers of real ale I promise you this is worth the effort for what is essentially posh (vegan) cheese on toast.

Ingredients

25g plain white flour
25g vegan margarine (I used pure)
150ml vegan beer (I used victory ale by Bateman's)
150g melt-able vegan cheese (I used vegusto no-moo melty), grated
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp tamari or liquid aminos
freshly ground black pepper
Bread of your choice (I highly recommend sourdough bread)

Method

Warm the butter up slowly in a pan, and sift in the flour once melted. Stir quickly to form a roux.
Add in the beer (room temperature) about 50ml at a time and stir continuously to form a sauce.
Add the grated vegan cheese, tamari, mustard and black pepper until all is mixed completely in to a smooth sauce. Turn the heat off.
Butter one side of the bread and pile the mixture on top of this side. Flash grill until the bread is a golden brown.
Nom away with the rest of the bottle of beer!

Note - Try not to use a beer that is too bitter as this will be reflected in the final result. The Bateman's ale I used was smooth and peppery with a malty finish, perfect for this dish. I'm not sure if all of their beers are vegan but the two that I've tried were marked as vegan-friendly.

Nan Yvonne's Bara Brith

Bara Brith is  Welsh loaf cake filled with fruit and lightly spiced with cinnamon. This isn't a light sponge, it's very filling and great to put in lunchboxes. If you like fruit cake you'll probably like this.

My Nan Yvonne made a very popular Bara Brith and last night I veganised her recipe, so this welsh tea loaf is a tribute to my beautiful Nan Yvonne, who I wish was still with us to have some over a cup of tea with.

Ingredients

1lb dried mixed fruit

half pint of strained tea

8oz brown sugar

3 tbsp marmalade

2 tsp cinnamon

1lb self raising flour
1 tbsp rice bran oil

8 tbsp orange juice

Egg replacer made up to instructions to replace one egg (I used orgran)

Method

Soak the fruit and sugar in the tea overnight.  

Add the rest of the ingredients to the soaked fruit and sugar and mix well. 

Grease a loaf tin with vegan margarine then add the mixture to the tin and cook for 2 hours at 160 degrees/gas mark 3.

Note - although my Nan's recipe says 2 hours I found mine was ready after an hour and a half so do check by sticking a cocktail stick or something through the middle - if  it's covered in raw cake mixture it needs longer.

Traditionally this is served sliced and buttered as it's a loaf cake, not a sponge. I found it tasty enough on it's own though!

Cawl me maybe

Cawl is a traditional Welsh stew usually made in a large pot and oven baked. It's a hearty, beefy stew packed with root vegetables but I made mine sans dead cow and it was flipping lovely.

Ingredients

200-400g homemade seitan or beef-style pieces (you can add more or less, it doesn't really matter)
50g pearl barley
A large peeled and chopped carrot
2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 leek chopped in to chunks
1 small or half a large swede/rutabaga peeled and diced
Any other root vegetable you fancy
1 vegetable stock cube
1 large bay leaf
3/4 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups of tap water
1 + 1/2 tbsp onion gravy powder (optional but it will give it a 'meatier' kick. You may also need to add more water if using this.
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Saute the onion in the olive oil until it begins to brown. Add the water (2 cups initially plus one throughout if it needs it), potatoes, pearl barley and vegetable stock cube then bring to a low boil. Let it simmer for half an hour then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a low boil again then leave it simmer gently for about an hour, preferably with a lid on to keep the moisture in. Add more water throughout if necessary.

Garnish with parsley, check for seasoning and nom.

Spiced apple crumble and custard

This has got to be one of the easiest puddings you can make. It's so comforting and well, who doesn't like a crumble? I was going to make this with blackberries originally but a certain little squishy-faced monster schnarfed all the berries from my blackberry bush.....

I didn't schnarf all the delicious blackberries......honest!

So instead I made apple crumble spiced with cinnamon.

Ingredients

For the filling
750g bramley apples
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
A little water

For the crumble
125g plain flour
75g coconut sugar (caster sugar or brown sugar is fine)
75g vegan margarine (I used Pure)
50g rolled oats

Method

Ok so this is a quick way to make it, traditionally you wouldn't cook the apples first but I did and it tastes just as good.
Peel core and chop your apples in to cubes. Add to a pan and cover with a little water, mix in the Cinnamon, sugar and bring to the boil. Let simmer for a few minutes then transfer to whatever dish you're baking it in.

To make the crumble,  chop the margarine in to small cubes. Sift the flour in and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and oats, then cover the fruit with it.

Bake in the oven until your kitchen smells amazing and the crumble has turned golden :)

Serve with vegan custard or ice cream and enjoy!

MoFo'ing rissoles!

Finally September is here! Now to blog for an entire month on food from Wales. I'm going to start by veganising some traditional Welsh recipes, and as I clutch at straws for ideas toward the end I'll be making non-traditional dishes using local Welsh ingredients. Sound good? It will be! I'm all for comforting, filling food which Welsh food usually is. It's unpretentious, uncomplicated and usually made with readily available, relatively cheap ingredients. Hooray!

So for the first day of MoFo (can I sing this each day to the tune of the first day of Christmas?) I bring you vegan rissoles! Traditionally they are available filled with meat or cheese, and I made a cruelty-free cheese-style rissole for MoFo. You cannot live in Wales and not have had a rissole. They're bloody lush.

Ingredients

For the filling
2 large organic potatoes
A handful of grated or finely cubed cheezly (cheddar style)
A bunch of organic spring onions
1 tbsp chives
3tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
Salt & pepper to taste

For the coating
Cornflour
Almond milk
Natural breadcrumbs

Method

Chop, peel and boil your potatoes then mash when ready. Add a little margarine if you like. I didn't have any to hand though and they were still lovely. Set aside to cool then finely chop and sautee your spring onions but not to browning point.
Mix all the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Now you're ready to coat them (this is kinda messy).

Separate the cornflour, almond milk and breadcrumbs in to three different dishes making sure you have plenty of room to roll the balls around.
Form the rissole mixture into balls, roll first in the cornflour. followed by the almond milk (you might want to use a pastry brush for this to stop them getting soggy) followed by the breadcrumbs.

Once you've assembled your rissole balls they are ready to cook. Traditionally these are deep fried but I hate fried food so I oven baked mine. Be prepared for them to lose their shape if you bake them though. They should be ready when the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Enjoy your cheesy carby balls of goodness whilst they're still hot :)

Looking forward to my first VeganMoFo

So, I suppose I ought to make a first post to see how this thing looks.

I set this blog up mostly so I could take part in VeganMoFo . I'm new to blogging but after seeing many PPKers blogs I felt inspired to do one of my own.

I am not a chef  by any stretch, I'm a novice in the kitchen but hope to share some of my triumphs after years of not knowing how to cook! Becoming vegan meant I had to ditch the microwave meals and start making things myself and it's been pretty awesome so far. I've discovered so many new foods that I find myself chortling when people ask the inevitable "But what DO you eat?!".

Well, hopefully this blog will show you!

My theme for VeganMoFo is *drumroll* The food of Wales.
Kind of obvious being that I live in Wales but I am not Welsh so haven't grown up with cawl and Welsh cakes, so this will be a challenge for me. Also, seeing as most Welsh food is heavy on the meat and animal products, it will be interesting (I hope!) for me to come up with vegan alternatives for these carb-heavy comfort foods.

See you in September :)