Category Archives: Vegetarian

Orange polenta cake

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Gluten free – if you use gluten free baking powder

Vegetarian

cake
cake ingredients
serving

 

This excellent cake is based on one we tasted and enjoyed at a branch of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. He describes how to make it on his website. We increased the amount of polenta and reduced the quantity of ground almonds. Being naturally lazy, we also just put everything into one bowl so it super-easy to make.

The texture is soft and moist yet has a crunch. Really worth a try

 Ingredients – for the cake

  • 200 g unsalted butter , at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
  • 200 g demerara sugar
  • 3 large free-range eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 100 g ground almonds
  • 200 g coarse polenta
  • 2 oranges , zest of
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for the syrup

  • 200 ml orange juice , (from about 2 to 3 oranges) You can use the oranges used for the zest
  • 125 g sugar

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/gas 2½.
  • Grease a 20cm tin, line the bottom and sides with baking

paper.

  • combine all the the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Providing the butter is not too cold, this is easy to do with a power whisk. If it looks a little too stiff add a slurp of orange juice
  • Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40–50 minutes, until the surface is light brown and the cake is coming away slightly from the sides of the tin.
  • Remove the tin from the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. This cake will be quite moist and a little fragile, so handle carefully as you remove it.
  • To make the syrup, put the sugar and orange juice in a saucepan and simmer over a low–medium heat until reduced and thickened slightly, it should take about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  • Prick the cake all over with a skewer, then brush generously with the syrup.

 

Serve in slices with a dollop of crème fraîche, yoghurt or ice cream.

Freya and Hermione’s gorgeous gluten free cup cakes.

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Vegetarian

Gluten free

This is a basic sponge recipe, enlivened by creating whatever you want to celebrate! Freya was making cakes decorated for Easter with some plainer ones for her dad. All were delicious and, gluten free flour, made these tastier than their gluten full counterparts.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 170g self raising gluten free flour
  • 170g butter
  • 110g caster sugar –170g if cakes are not iced to avoid sugar overload
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • splash of milk

Bung in bowl and mix. I usually have to add a splash or two (technical kitchen language) of milk because the GF flour makes a drier mixture.

Line a cupcake tin with pretty colour cases. Dollop (more jargon – hope you can understand) about a desert-spoon of mixture into each case.

Place into a preheated oven at 180C (gas mark 4) for about 15 minutes until risen, lightly golden and spongy (keep up, now!) when prodded.

Even if small people are desperate to ice these cakes they must wait until they are cool or else the icing will melt and run away. These will be the longest minutes of your life (listen to the mantra – are they cool yet? are they cool yet? are they cool yet?).

Make the icing. This is not a true butter icing – we only use a bit of butter to make the icing soft – the kids are not keen if it tastes too buttery. This comes down to personal taste: you might prefer to use loads of butter and to cut down on the icing sugar! Anyway…

Place a generous knob of soft butter in a bowl. Add in loads of icing sugar (remember that when you add water in a minute it will magically shrink to no icing sugar at all!) using a spoon if you just want to get the job done, or with a sieve if you like a thin layer of sticky snow over your kitchen. Don’t forget kids have to suck in the icing smoke around the bowl!

Use the back of a spoon to press the butter and sugar together until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add a few drops (or more!) of the craziest colouring you can find and a drop or two of vanilla. Add in some hot water A TEASPOON AT A TIME and mix after each addition.

If you are going to pipe the icing then it needs to be thick enough to hold its shape. If you are going to drizzle then you can add more water. Here is the magic part. Leave the children in the kitchen with the icing, the cakes and a selection of sweets and sprinkles. Go and have a cuppa where you can’t see. When you return there will be the most creative, delicious cakes you have ever seen (worth a quick count to see if they are all there) and a kitchen that you just won’t believe!

Swedish scalded rye bread

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For a long time now, I have been trying to make bread – with mixed success it has to be said. Most bread failures were due to an obstinate refusal to rise, resulting in a series of high-density bricks. More recently, however, I have concentrated on making rye breads, variations of Nordic and North European breads. Generally, these have a denser texture than white breads hence more suited to my previous non-rising results. While we like thin slices of rye bread, particularly with cheese and pickles, we were less appreciative for the apparent need of a power saw to cut them. We had effectively created a new type of building material.

Then I discovered this recipe in a book ‘all you knead is bread’ by Jane Mason. I have altered it slightly by adding pumpernickel and molasses for extra flavour but the texture is delightfully soft. You have to battle with a sticky dough and there is an overnight stage involved but what a reward awaits.

Vegan

Vegetarian

 Makes one small loaf, as in the photo

Ingredients

  • 325g strong white bread flour
  • 1 tsp. instant yeast
  • 125ml tepid water
  • ¾ tbsp. salt
  • 1 rounded tsp. molasses/black treacle (optional)
  • 1 tsp. pumpernickel seeds (optional)

 

  • for the scalded flour,
  • 50g rye flour (dark if possible)
  • 150ml boiling water

Method

Day 1:

  • Add rye flour to a bowl and pour over the boiling water
  • Mix to a paste, cover and leave overnight

Day2:

  • Dissolve molasses in the tepid water and whisk in the yeast.
  • Leave for 15 minutes
  • Meanwhile, retrieve the bowl of scalded rye paste and mix in all the other ingredients, including the dissolved molasses/yeast mixture.
  • When mixed, tip out onto your work surface and knead for 10 minutes. It will be very sticky so use a scraper to turn the dough.
  • Put the kneaded dough back into the bowl, cover and place in a warm place for 2 hours.
  • Pull the dough out onto a floured surface.
  • Flour your hands – this is one sticky dough! Gently stretch dough into a rectangular shape about 2cm thick then fold as you might fold a letter to go into an envelope – first fold about 2/3rds of the rectangle. Second fold taking the top right over the first fold and firming gently down.

Using a scraper to help lift this soft dough, place it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Flour the top and cover with a tea towel – or use cling film first and then a towel.

Allow to rise for an hour before uncovering and placing in an oven at 180C for 40 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and don’t be tempted to try it until it is cool! Delicious!

 

 

Tarka Dal

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Side Dishes
Vegan

Vegetarian

Gluten free

This is a recipe from Monisha Bharadwaj and is one that always delights as a component of a curry meal – a star in its own right.

Ingredients – for 2 as a main

  • 300gm red lentils
  • 2 tbs sunflower or olive oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • I large onion, sliced
  • 1 tbs tomato purée
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
  • thumb size piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • ½ tsp dried chillies
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • god pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • chopped coriander leaves (if available)

Method

  • Simmer lentils in a large pan of water for 20 mins and drain
  • Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds until they begin to pop. Add onion and fry, stirring until slightly crisp. Remove half the onions for use as topping later.
  • Add tomato purée, ginger, garlic, chilli and salt, heating and mixing through.
  • Add mixture to cooked lentils and warm through.
  • Serve in a bowl with the reserved fried onions piled on top, spinkled with coriander leaves.

This is great with plain boiled rice and a spoonful of yoghurt or naan bread but also makes a great side dish as part of a more elaborate meal.

Mushroom Miso Broth

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Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten free 

This is another modified Jamie Oliver recipe from his great new book ‘Superfoods’. I am a great Jamie fan and he makes a chicken and mushroom miso broth – which is delicious – but we found this simplified veggie version to be just as tasty. Curiously, I think the way the onions are cut into quarters is a key element in achieving a more authentic taste. No idea why.

I use large breakfast mushrooms here but you could experiment with a mix of mushrooms, adding rehydrated, porcini or wild mushrooms.

Ingredients for two people seeking a modest meal 

  • Sliced mushrooms – quantity to suit desired waist size, 300g is fine
  • 1 or two onions, depending on size – red if possible but white works too.
  • 1 tbsp Sesame oil
  • 1 x 5cm piece of ginger – peeled and cut into matchsticks
  • 1 heaped teaspoon miso paste
  • 800 m stock – water at a pinch
  • 1 good handful of curly kale – essential goodness
  • Basmati rice – wild rice might be better. 175g is about right

Method

  • Peal the onions and chop lengthways into quarters or eighths.
  • Heat the sesame oil in a medium pan and add the onions. Cook for a few minutes stirring occasionally.
  • Stir in the chopped mushrooms to coat with oil and continue frying gently.
  • Then add the ginger, miso paste and stock and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
  • This is the time to get your rice on. Plain boiled is best
  • Tear the kale into small pieces, removing any tough stalks and add to the broth, simmering for a further 5 minutes or so.

Serve and enjoy

 

Meat option

If you want to include chicken, use skinless boneless thighs/breasts and cook in the sesame oil before adding the mushrooms. With this meat option, chicken stock would add even more flavour.

Crunchy Coleslaw ‘Lite’

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Texture in food is, I think, just as important as taste. This coleslaw has both crunch and taste. Because it uses a yoghurt mayonnaise it is super healthy too.

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This is a great side-dish for a range of foods but we love it with baked potatoes , or even beans on toast

Vegetarian

Gluten free

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Ingredients

I have not shown quantities here as how much you make really depends on what you are going to do with it. As a guide, one slice of cabbage with one medium carrot and ¼ of a smallish white onion, makes enough slaw for two.

 

For the slaw:

Red cabbage – slice across the cabbage and chop the ‘disc’

Carrot – coarsely grated

White onion -1/4, finely chopped

 

For the mayo, use the proportions of:

2 tbsp organic natural yoghurt

½ tsp English mustard – for gluten free, make this with mustard powder and water

Lemon juice – ½ lemon, squeezed

1 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

 

method:

Simplicity itself – mix the chopped veg. Whisk the mayo ingredients with a fork, pour over and mix with the veg.

 

Spelt roman bread

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Taking it’s name from the type of bread favoured by the roman army, this is based on a Doves Farm recipe. I have modified the method rather than the ingredients, making it the simplest of loaves to make. The quantities I use are for one small loaf. If only all bread was this simple!

 Vegetarian

Ingredients

250g Wholemeal spelt flour – I used Dove Farm Organic

¼ tsp salt

1 level tsp Alison’s dried active yeast

½ tbsp. runny honey

200ml warm water

½ tbsp. olive oil

 Method

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Carefully measure the water, whisking in the dried yeast and oil. Pour into the flour and knead well until it feels smooth and pliable. If it is a bit sticky some flour on the surface will help

Leave the dough in a bowl covered with a cloth, in a draught free place, to double       in size (about an hour).

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough firmly for several minutes.

Shape the dough and put it into a 500g/1lb bread tin lined with baking parchment.or place it on an oiled baking sheet.

Cover and leave dough to rise for about 25 minutes in a warm place.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C fan for 30 minutes.

1386

This was really good and exactly as the Doves Farm photos showed. Seems as if the Romans knew a thing or two!

Feijoada – Black beans, squash, peppers with rice and a fresh salsa

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This is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe from his ‘Superfoods’ book. It is a great book, by the way, although not everything in it works. His gluten free seedy loaf, for example, looked good when we made it but was inedible.

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This recipe, however, works well with a few adaptations along the way. We left out the okra, for example. We have never tried black beans before we saw Jamie’s TV ‘Superfoods’ programme. We were surprised to get cartons of organic black beans in our Sainsbury’s Local!

Vegetarian

Vegan version leaves out yoghurt

Ingredients – based on a meal for 2

  • ½ a smallish butternut squash , (600g)
  • olive oil
  • 1 level teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 level teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 2 small mixed-colour peppers
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 fresh or dried bay leaves
  • 1 x 400 g tin/pack of black beans
  • tablespoon natural yoghurt
  • fresh chilli to taste or use chilli flakes
  • 1 bunch of fresh coriander , (30g)
  • balsamic vinegar

for the salsa

  • 1 ripe tomato
  • 1 lime – lemon works well too
  • Serve with…
  • rice for 2. Jamie used wild rice. I used basmati with cumin seeds (see savoury rice)

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

  • Halve and deseed the squash , chop into 3cm chunks. I prefer to remove the rind but then I am fussy.In a large roasting tray, toss it with olive oil, the ground coriander, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
  • Deseed the peppers and cut into 3cm chunks. In a separate tray, toss and massage them with olive oil and the smoked paprika.
  • Place both trays in the oven for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile….

  • Roughly chop the onion, retaining a quarter to finely chop for the salsa
  • Add dash of oil to a pan and add the roughly chopped portion of oinon.
  • After 5 mins simmering, add a splash of water.
  • Crush in the garlic, add the bay leaves and a good splash of balsamic vinegar. Slow cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.
  • Tip in the beans, juice and all, then half-fill empty tin with water, swirl and pour into the pan. Simmer until the time is up on the squash and peppers, then stir both into the pan. Simmer for 20 mins until the feijoada is dark and delicious, loosening with an extra splash of water, if needed. Remove bay leaves.
  • Cook rice

To make a quick salsa….

  • Finely chop tomato and some coriander leaves with as much chilli as you like. Place in a bowl and add the reserved finely chopped onion.
  • Toss with the lime/lemon juice and season

Serve Feijoada with the rice and salsa, a spoonful of yoghurt and a sprinkling of the remaining coriander leaves.