Quick Tomato Soup/ Berlin Skipping

 

On the way to breakfast at my friends I couldn't help but stop off at the skip. It's sort of an addiction. I was pretty late for breakfast, but from the above skip haul, I whipped a quick and easy tomato soup for lunch. I basically chopped up all the tomatoes and simmered them with some garlic, basil and oil. And the freshly baked rolls from the skip went perfectly. This is basically my favourite way to cook, when the skip decides what I'll be preparing.

- Dara

Creamy Mushroom Tart / Skipping in Dublin

I went skipping in Dublin recently. There was a lot of food in the bins, but this is all we could carry.

Among the skipping haul was a box of mushrooms, double cream, butter and pastry. Inspired by all these ingredients, I decided to make a creamy mushroom tart.

I fried the mushrooms in some of the butter with plenty of garlic. I was bold and I added some salt. Once they were cooked to my liking/ patience, I added in the carton of double cream and let the mixture cook and thicken for a few minutes.

While all this was happening, I pre-heated the oven and flattened the pastry out in a baking dish (I'm lying, I just threw it in the oven - I despise waiting for pre-heated ovens). After the pastry cooked a bit, I took the pot of creamy mushrooms and spread it evenly over the pastry. I popped this in the oven for a bit until the pastry was crispy.

I also made some garlic bread with some skipped ciabattas. I cut them into slices and spread the butter on them, then rubbed in some diced garlic and threw them in the oven. Delicious. Watch yer heart.

- Dara

Rice + Parsley Pesto

I was at a friend's house a while ago and they had a rather large amount of parsley. And I hear parsley has a rake of vitamins. So, this happened.

 

I blended up the parsley in a pot with some garlic, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast and possibly a bit of balsamic vinegar. Some pepper also. Maybe you want to add salt, if you like it. I warmed it all up in a pot, but not too hot as I didn't want to kill the vitamins. I wanted to get that vitamin C in 2 me.

My friend made the rice part of the meal, first frying the uncooked rice in oil to get more flavour out of it (this was news to me). Then they added water to cook it. And also some onion, garlic, and bouillon powder.

The bread is there as I found a couple of loaves in a skip the day before, but it contrasted perfectly with the sloppy components of the meal.

- Dara

Using Stuff Up: One

Using stuff up is one of my preferred ways of cooking. Especially if I'm a guest and cooking at somebody's house. I never feel bad about using ingredients if they 'need to be used up'. Same reason I like skipping. And it means I don't have to make big decisions about what to buy and deal with that horrible ordeal. So, this is one of those and I don't have a name for it.

The base for this was the end of my rocket pesto pasta. It was quite oily but there was a lot of flavour there. So I wanted to expand on it and make it something different. I threw in a lot of things that were around me and I'll try to recount them, mostly.

I chopped up the leftover, oily spaghetti pasta and heated up the pot. There was some really stale bread that needed using up, so I broke it up and stirred it around in the oily mixture, adding some tahini and some old juice that may not have been so nice to drink but worked to offset the bitter-but-creamy tahini and softened the bread. I threw in some tomato puree, some chopped carrots, possibly some vinegar and maybe nutritional yeast. I'm not sure. It's a bit of a blur. But I enjoyed it more that the original pasta. Don't follow this as a recipe. Just use stuff up.

It's fun to use stuff up.

- Dara

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.

Breadcrumb Stuffing

So, stuffing is a strange vegan food. Being that it is normally stuffed into a dead thing. I've always loved stuffing, even back when I ate meat, stuffing was always my favourite part of a fancy Sunday or Christmas dinner. So, it is only natural that it has become the main focus of my Christmas dinners these days. Here's one I made last Christmas, that I've only put up now - because stuffing is not just for Christmas.

It's very simple, and a great way to use up stale bread that's too far gone for toast (but still not green). Blend up lots of bread (or if you don't have a blender and don't mind some bloody knuckles you can grate it, though I'd recommend the former). I add lots of fresh herbs from the garden; parsely, sage, rosemary, thyme, and anything else Simon and Garfunkel recommended in the song. Add a good glug of olive oil and some black pepper (and salt if you like). That's your standard there. Pretty good. Now to customize it: I diced up lots of apple and added it, along with cashew nuts (all from this), as well as some raisins. And then I added... orange juice! It makes it lovely and moist, gives it a bit of flavour and means you don't have to use as much oil (unless you want to). And it's a bit of natural sweetness that really brings out the raisins.

That's it, stick it in the oven for as long as you like (maybe a half hour or more) along with the rest of your dinner. You can cover it to keep it moist, or leave the top off to make it a bit crispy. Or both.

- Dara

Skipping in Galway / Tips for New Skippers

I went skipping in Galway (Ireland) recently. I had lived there for years before I ever did any skipping, so it was nice to go back in my current mode and SKIP IT. I was there visiting a friend, so I brought him along and it was fun. We had no luck at first, even after scaling a wall into a supermarket back yard (normally this much effort is not necessary). However, upon hopping back over the wall to freedom, we ended up finding a whole plastic-bound package of milk cartons, in date. Presumably thrown over the supermarket wall by some kids or adults or just people. A strange happening, but my friend wanted milk for his tea so it worked out nicely. Though he got a little more than he bargained for (about 8 litres), and after some recent dairy-heavy skip hauls, I wasn't in the mood to help him out with its consumption.

We thought we'd have to be content with our milky lot, but decided to check out the back of one more shopping centre. After discovering several bags of raw meat, I realised I was probably in the wrong bin. 'This must be the butcher's bin,' I thought. More bags of meat. 'Yes, this is most certainly The Butcher's Bin.' I guess the people of Galway don't buy much meat, because it wall all in The Butcher's Bin. Anyway, after this deathly, fleshy encounter, I spied some lovely, clean supermarket bins - but in a cage, as often happens. Luckily, this one was bound with a loose chain & lock rather than a tight bolt & lock. So with some serious team work (arm-stretching from the front to pull the bin near us, and minor finger-pushing from behind through the small cage holes) we managed to gradually wheel it over to the gap between the cage doors. Because of the awkward positioning of the bin, and the small gap between the doors, I could only reach the stuff on top - which proved to be more than we could carry anyway. I foolishly brought some weak bin bags with me (you know, those white ones - good for nothing), which promptly broke and tore and spilled everywhere as soon as we filled them and reminded me of my own film, Hannah, in some kind of joke the universe was playing on me (I even had flowers to add to the coincidence, and dare-I-say irony, of it all - you'll see in the film). It was funny though, and the universe must be a sport because it all worked out and we managed to get home and of course it made the whole thing funnier and more enjoyable. Below is the haul we brought back. I made some delicious buns from the fruit, which you can read about in my next post.

  

If you haven't been skipping before and are considering it (great!) then I would recommend the following:

- Bring sturdy bags for skipping. Ideally an old backpack or gearbag. Bin bags are very unreliable and do not make for a stealthy getaway. (Fittingly, I just found a beautiful new backpack in a skip in Limerick, so that will be my regular from now on!)

- Bring a torch, pretty essential for night-time skipping (though I've used my phone in the past - not ideal)

- Keep looking. If you don't have luck at the first skip don't give up, there are plenty more skips in the sea, or city even. The right one for you is just around the corner.

- Always leave the bin as you found it. If you make a mess then it's likely they'll lock them up or hide them away next time. If you like being a spy then you can always pretend you're a spy on some kind of bin-related mission.

If you have any skipping questions, or would like to share some skipping locations and tips it would be cool to hear from you. Leave a comment with your email or just drop me a line here:

dara [at] fakedogfilms.com

- Dara

Soy Milk & Soy Bread

I've never been a big fan of soy milk. In fact I never tried it until last year. And when I tried it I thought, 'I was right. This is horrible and sweet and fake.' Then I read the ingredients. Horrible. I hate rubbish ingredients. Then, another time after that time, I saw some soy beans in an Indian shop. I decided to buy them. I realised, yes, I am going to make my own soy milk. And make it not-so-sweet or full of rubbish. Turns out, it's really easy.

Wash the soy beans and soak them overnight. The next day, give them a rinse and a drain. There is no need to cook them, we're going straight into the blender (yes, you need a blender for this one - apologies to the blender-deprived). So, what you do is blend up the soy beans with water - start with a 3:1 ratio of water:soy beans. Then strain off the liquid (with a sieve or some kind of filter paper if you're really posh - or a tea towel, that might work) into a pot. It should look white, like soy milk. Keep the solid soy bean mush left in the sieve/ paper/ tea towel/ whatever,  and pop it back in the blender for a second go. This time use maybe a 2:1 ratio. Repeat the straining, and go once again with a smaller bit of water, like 1:1. That's what I found to be a nice consistency. If you like it with a strong soy taste, use less water, or just use the first filtration.

Add some syrup (or sugar) to the pot of strained soy milk, depending on your preference. I find just a small bit of sweetener sets it off, but not too much. You can add salt if you like, but I don't like salt. Bring the mixture to the boil to pasteurise it (or something) and that's it! Give it a last strain if you like, when pouring it into a container, and keep it in the fridge. Delicious and refreshing. Now I can have cereal again!

But ah, what of that left-over soy mush? Well, that's what I was thinking. So I thought, what can I do with it? And I heard bread. Bread? Yes, bread. Put the soy mush in a bowl, add plenty brown flour (till you get a nice dough consistency), a dash or two of cider vinegar, yeast (follow the instruction on the packet), and a few glugs of oil. Also, I find adding some nutritional yeast flakes and bouillon to be quite nice. Or salt, if you like. Coat a baking dish with oil and then place the dough into it. Cover it (perhaps with a plate? A tea towel maybe?) and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or as long as you can wait. I find the latter normally takes precedent. Then, place it into a pre-heated oven, at some kind of hot temperature. Cook it till it's done (stick a skewer in and see if it comes out clear) and then you're done.

And that's it. Some delicious, protein-rich soy bread to have with your soy milk! Nothing goes to waste. Sure isn't that better than rubbish soy milk in silvery box packets? The milk holds for about 3 - 5 days in the fridge, from my experience. And the bread, as long as you can hold off eating it.

- Dara

Dara's Sandwich no. 2

 

Vegetarian sandwiches are the best sandwiches in the world. When done correctly, of course. This one is nice and warm in the middle, but not toasted, and so still soft on the outside. It's pretty amazing. And garlic mushrooms are certainly in the top 20 reasons to be alive. This one is not vegan, I'm afraid, but lose the cheese and you're set.

Here's how to:
Get some brown bread.
Add all of your houmous to it, more piled than spread.
Add some strong cheese and some torn spinach/ baby spinach.
Fry up some mushrooms with chopped garlic.
Place the hot mushrooms on the cheese so it melts slightly.
Top with Frank's Red Hot Sauce to set it all off.
Put it together and EAT.

- Dara

Dara's Sandwich no. 1

As a lifelong sandwich-lover, I couldn't think of much things worse than a life without a sandwich. It is a stereotype that veggie sandwiches are boring. I find it makes you much more inventive and, in fact, I find plain, old meat sandwiches pretty boring and uninventive now. So I'm going to throw up some photos of my sandwiches. They're a little odd sometimes, and different every time, so most of them I've only had once. I usually just use whatever ingredients I have to hand. Here is number 1.

It consists of chopped celery, sliced tomato, a couple of Linda McCartney sausages (vegan-friendly), all served on toasted wholemeal bread, and topped with some Frank's Red Hot Sauce. This was a delicious cold sandwich to enjoy with a cup of tea. I was surprised at how good it was; the celery gives it crunch, the tomatoes make it juicy, and the sausages and condiments make it tasty. Some houmous would also be nice in there, but I did not have any at the time. Hope this fuels your creative sandwich-making. Feel free to share sandwich ideas. More to come.

- Dara