Vegan Breakfast Roll

I'm not sure how widespread this is, but in Ireland breakfast rolls are quite popular. There was even a song about it that was somewhat popular. Normally they're filled with bacon, sausages and pudding. Maybe eggs. So it's a hash brown and ketchup roll for anyone following a vegan diet. That's nothing to turn your nose at, it's actually pretty good. But I thought I'd try a fancier one.

 

This is beautiful! It consists of; Fried Cabbage (with Frank's Hot Sauce & Nutritional Yeast), Linda McCartney Veggie Sausages, Sliced Cooked Beetroot, Tomato Relish, and Lovage, served in a baguette. A great way to start a day. If you're not in a rush.

- Dara

Celebrated Granola

Granola would be nice. But organic granola is expensive. And ethically-sourced, organic granola is very expensive. Ethically-sourced, organic, sugar-and-honey-free granola? Forget about it, pal. What are you, a celebrity? Are you celebrated? You're not? No fancy granola for you. Have our sugary, unethical granola or get lost. That's the way things are. Don't get clever.

But help is at hand, in the form of your cleverness. Yes, that's right. You always knew granola was over-priced. But you accepted it because the packaging is pretty and partially transparent and you can see the clusters and so it must be worth five times its weight in oats. Not so. Give your own granola a try. You can source all the ingredients locally and to your preference, so you know exactly what's going in.

Instead of refined sugar, I mixed barley malt syrup and some other natural sweeteners (I had some maple syrup to hand - hey, big spender!) with some oats and vegetable oil. I threw in some sunflower seeds and nuts (and a hint of some spices) and mixed it all up till I got a cluster-like consistency. Or something close to it. Spread this evenly on a baking tray and bake for a while till you're happy. Just in general. It's important to be happy. Then check on your oats. They're done! Great. Add some raisins to the mix (don't bake them as they'll burn) and bam. You have a lovely granola. Serve as a cereal or with yoghurt or just on its own and realise that you are happier than any celebrity. You have just made your own granola and that is to be celebrated.

Home-made Granola and Soy Milk

- Dara

Climate Week - Competition

Just in case you didn't already know, this week is climate week. YAAY! Big up the awareness raising. They've got loads going on, so check it out.

Kassie, who is one of the people organising the week, very kindly responded to my email and we are now on their list of blogs.

Something that may interest the free food fans amongst you is a competition to win a hamper of sustainable goodies from Tescos. Think of it like skipping, but without leaving the comfort of your own home...

What you need to do is register a meal that is low carbon. Low carbon meals include those made from locally sourced ingredients, those made from leftovers, or those which are low in meat and dairy. If you need inspiration just scroll down ;-)

Enter here:
http://www.climateweek.com/eat-low-carbon/register-your-low-carbon-meal/

And check out the other recommended blogs here:
http://www.climateweek.com/eat-low-carbon/food-blogs-we-like/

Spinach and Tomato Tart (Vegan Pizza)

I miss pizza sometimes. Friends in places like San Francisco do not understand this, as they have things as amazing as vegan pizzerias there. I was a bit shocked. However, I am in Ireland. So, I'll have to make my own. I'm reluctant to call things like this a pizza. Vegan-phobic people then pounce on it as a fake, a poor replacement for the real thing. 'Vegan pizza,' they'd say, 'No. You can't have a pizza without cheese because you just can't and if we start challenging everything where would we be? You'd drive yourself mad.' That kind of thing. So, that's why I'm calling it a tart, mainly, with vegan pizza in brackets.

 

Spinach and Tomato Tart (Vegan Pizza)

It's very easy to make. The prep time is about 5 - 10 minutes, and cooking time is about 10 - 15 minutes. I mixed some strong white flour with organic olive oil and water and made a nice dough. I was hungry, and so dispensed with the traditional addition of yeast and the subsequent hour or so for it to rise. I rolled the dough out thinly on a floured board, then placed it on a baking tray (a good trick is to put it on the tray before adding the toppings - it's harder to keep it all together when it's overloaded), and pre-heated the oven.

I made a quick tomato sauce from tomato puree, olive oil and oregano and spread it on the base. Then I made the thing that goes where the cheese would normally go (not a replacement, mind you). I blended up lots of baby spinach, some olive oil, nutritional yeast, capers and a bit of crunchy peanut butter. And I threw in some other things I had to hand till it tasted nice. I think there was carrot. There was definitely Frank's Hot Sauce. Always.

Being silly, I put all the toppings on before I added this spinach-sauce layer. Underneath it and unseen there sits; onion, pepper, sweetcorn, tomato, and thickly-sliced (cooked) beetroot, which gives it a nice bite. I threw on a few cashew nuts and a bit of rocket to top it all off, and threw it in a hot (not cold - fool me once) oven till I was satisfied and could wait no more (about 10 - 15 minutes). It was surprisingly good and I ate the whole tart (pizza) at once. I say surprisingly, as I often do in these entries, as cooking for me and Gwen is always an adventure. Generally it turns out pretty well. Rarely do you get lost in the woods without a map and get eaten by a bear. And certainly not this time.

- Dara

Ginger Chocolate Cake

Better than non-vegan chocolate cake. I swear on my next meal.

First I mixed the dry ingredients: 1 and a half cups of flour, a third of a cup of sugar (white makes a lighter cake, brown makes a tastier one), a teaspoon of baking powder and a third of a cup of cocoa.

While I was doing this, my willing helper grated three inches of fat ginger stem using the fine side of the grater. He then picked up the solid mulch, squeezed it hard in his man hands and threw it away. Other ways to do this include using a muslin cloth to strain off the liquid, but I prefer my way.

Adding water to the ginger juice, I brought its volume up to a cup and added that to the dry mixture. Next were a third of a cup of sunflower oil and a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Yes, vinegar. Don’t diss it till you’ve tried it.

This was baked in a greased pie dish (in the absence of a cake tin) in a medium heat oven for about half an hour – until a knife came out clean.

After cooling it I covered it in organic dark chocolate and left it on the side to be discovered with delight.

Toasted Walnut Bread with Basil

Wow, just wow. Maybe my favourite way to eat bread, and that’s really saying something. It’s a sort of bruschetta. With the nuts and the basil it’s reminiscent of pesto, so if you’re a pesto fan give this a go pronto!

Walnut bread is easy, easier if you have a bread maker: it is normal bread with crushed walnuts in it. This one had walnut oil too, but that’s just showing off.

So! Grill a a doorstop piece of bread – the difference in thickness will make for different textures as you get through the slice. If you’re a fan of loaves with straight edges then you could always even it up by slicing a doorstop in the opposite direction. It just means you have to eat two slices, but trust me, you will anyway.

When the toast is golden and crunchy on top rub a clove of garlic over it, then rub a few basil leaves on. Sprinkle over some olive oil, salt and pepper and there you have it – a mouth watering delight.

Apologies for the photo – the glare was intense and I couldn’t see what I was doing.

Lemon Pesto Dressed Broccoli with Olive Tofu

Now then, this won’t do much for debunking the myth that vegetarians only eat greens and tofu, but it happens to be one of my favourite light meals.

When I want to get my broccoli on, I steam a whole head – including the peeled stems – and add lemon juice and salt to it. In my opinion, good quality broccoli needs little more, but I am a broccoli head. Sometimes I have to be careful not to steam my own head. *Titter* This version is a little more elaborate – the lemon juice had hemp oil and veggie pesto added to make a tangy dressing, and just before the broccoli was cooked, I threw some cubes of olive tofu into the steamer to heat them up. Man, I love this olive tofu: it really makes giving up cheese a lot easier. I thoroughly recommend you explore this savoury soya delight: http://www.veggiestuff.com/acatalog/taifun-organic-olive-tofu.html

High in protein, low in carbs and fat. Which means you get to have cake for pudding. Score!

Nutroast with Roast Potatoes, Beetroot and Garlic

This was made as a birthday dinner for an ill Ian with very little appetite. I wasn’t feeling great either, and didn’t really feel like eating. This explains the lack of green veg or gravy with the meal – I plain forgot that it would make it a better meal, and neither of us really felt like eating, let alone going back to the shop for more food. Strange really, as we munched our way through more than a plateful each when it was put in front of us. Something to do with the SUPER MEGA DELICIOUSNESS of it! Needless to say, we were revived after our meal and proceeded to take over the world.

The nutroast was made from a packet of mixed nuts, ground finely with a coffee grinder. This was added to fried onion, garlic, courgette (grated) and American jerk flavouring. One of the reasons I bought it was because I wondered what an American jerk might taste like… Ha. Ha-ha. Jokes.

The mixture was baked until it was hard and starting to brown.

The vegetables were cut up into reasonable sized pieces, placed on a baking tray and balsamic vinegar, honey , sea salt and olive oil sprinkled over. They needed about an hour to roast nicely, and I added garlic towards the end. I saved the beetroot stalks for another meal, and boy! was it worth it. They are tasty and make things pink. Excellent.

Eating out in Machynlleth: The Quarry Cafe

I used to work here, so it’s always a bit strange coming back as a customer. The Quarry Café is responsible for quite a lot of my cooking style, and I find their food very comforting. Some things have been the same since it started in the 70’s, like the thick wholewheat pizza covered in so much cheese your heart almost stops just looking at it. The very best thing in my opinion are the baked potatoes – they go in the oven around 9am, and so come lunch time they have been cooking in their own skins for a good few hours so the flesh is sweet and soft and the skin is soft and starting to fall away. Perfect.

This one was served with humus – made on site to an age old recipe –unchanged since hippy began, and yet different every time. Just one of the café’s charms! This one was roughly blended and extremely garlicky. Once when I was washing up in the kitchen, my colleague who was serving out front came in with a bewildered look on his face and said “a woman just made a complaint because she found a chickpea in her hummus.” Erm…

But if you think that’s dim witted, how about the time when a tourist excitedly told me about the ‘vegetarian butchers’ a few doors down - there’s a sign in the window which reads:

“All the meat in this shop is vegetarian. The animals eat the green green grass and we just speed up the process.”

Somehow this woman had failed to see the carcasses on show, or grasp that the meat was still made from animals, and wanted to tell me what a great town it was where even meat is actually vegetarian. Although I’ve never really understood the logic of this notice, I do admire the philosophy behind the statement. If the majority of the meat trade were like this enterprise, then the world would be a much better place. It’s a family run business, with its own abbatoir which only sources from local farms. They pride themselves on traceability, and you can ask for the contact details of the farmer who reared the pig who was made into your herb chipolata. Check it: http://www.wil-lloyd.co.uk/philosophy.htm

So, back to the meat-free lunch… my potato was complimented by an interesting salad of roast butternut squash, tangerine, dry roast cashews and desiccated coconut. It was delicious, and really good to have an experimental salad. Peeking out from behind the potato there is a bit of red onion coleslaw, made with homemade vegan mayonnaise. The whole thing was pretty damn tasty, in fact, the only thing that made it better was eating the skin with my fingers.