Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins and Pumpkin Seeds

Healthy and delicious! When you use brown sugar, they get a more caramel-like flavour, but you can use all regular sugar if you prefer.

Ingredients:
water
½ cup raisins
¾ cup vegetable oil (or you can use butter)
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
3 cups oats
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup pumpkin seeds

Instructions:
1. Boil the water and put the raisins in it, so they plump up.
2. Mix the oil, sugars, cocoa, oats, flour, baking soda, and salt together.
3. Whisk the egg with the vanilla extract and add it to the mixture.
4. Add the raisins and some of their liquid (about ¼ to 1/3 cup, but you have to judge how moist the batter is).
5. Add the pumpkin seeds. Mix everything together.
6 . Drop by spoonfuls on a baking tray.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180 C.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This recipe makes enough frosting for the cupcakes I posted in the last recipe. You can double it for a larger number.

You can also replace the vanilla extract with mint or almond or any other flavour and/or you can add cocoa powder to it.

Ingredients:
55 g butter
½-1 tbsp milk or cream (cream makes it richer; it also works well with soy cream)
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar

Instructions:
1. In a mixer, mix the butter, cream, and vanilla extract together until pretty smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, about ¼ cup at a time. Mix well.
3. Taste and add more cream or vanilla if needed.
4. Frost the cupcakes (or cake) with the frosting.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe just makes 6 large cupcakes or a larger number of small ones. It’s easily doubled for a larger batch, but I like to make a small batch so I don’t eat them all. I’ll post a frosting recipe next.

Ingredients:
55 g butter
¼ cup cocoa
30 g chocolate
1 tbsp water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup yogurt

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter, cocoa, chocolate, and water together over low heat, stirring the whole time.
2. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda together, and then mix the dry ingredients in to the chocolate.
3. Whisk the egg and the vanilla together and then mix them and the yogurt in with the rest of the batter. Stir well.
4. Place in muffin cases. Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes (7 minutes for mini-cupcakes).

Happy Birthday, M!

Happy birthday to the world’s greatest, most beautiful, most intelligent, kindest, most thoughtful, most talented partner.

I feel incredibly lucky to have M in my life. Among many other things, she puts up with me and allows me to try out all my culinary creations on her. She makes every day a true joy.

I love you! Happy, happy birthday!

Aubergine Quiche

I like to play around with different quiches/pies/tarts. I like how you make one large one and then have enough food for several days. Since I first wrote this recipe, we’ve stopped using dairy at home because it seems that M feels better without it. So we’ve been trying out various soy “cheeses”. I’m not keen on them all, but many work pretty well in dishes such as quiches or omelettes. Do experiment and see what you like.

Ingredients:
1 portion cornmeal pastry (see previous recipe)
1 aubergine
1 handful cherry tomatoes
50 g spinach
1 tsp parsley
oil
1 tbsp honey
100 g cheese (you can use any type – I used up leftover blue cheese and cheddar)
3 eggs
200 ml milk or cream
pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the dough into an oven-safe dish.
2. Wash and dice the aubergine. Wash and halve the tomatoes. Fry the aubergine, tomatoes, spinach, and parsley in oil. After a few minutes, add the honey. Fry another 10 or so minutes.
3. Crumble or chop the cheese. Mix it with the eggs and milk or cream and season with pepper.
4. Put the vegetables on the pastry. Top with the egg mixture.
5. Bake at 180 C for 30-40 minutes.

Cornmeal Pastry

When making a pie/tart/quiche, you can change the flavour of the pastry by adding cornmeal (also known as polenta). This gives it a richer taste and grainier consistency.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
¾ cup flour
½ cup cornmeal
3 tbsp water

Instructions:
1. Cube the butter and blend it with the flour and cornmeal either by hand or in a food processor. Add the water.
2. Either put the pastry in the pan/dish and then in the refrigerator or else just wrap it in cling film and then put it in the fridge. Let rest for 20 or so minutes.

Salmon and Prawn Stew

This is another easy dish that you can use when cooking for those who eat fish and/or seafood. Other fish and types of seafood can be used, so play around with this.

Ingredients:
rice
water
olive oil
2 tsp parsley
about 200 g prawns
about 300 g salmon
3-5 tomatoes
1 stock cube
½ cup water
½ - ¾ cup cream or soy cream
black pepper
smoked paprika

Instructions:
1. Rinse the rice and boil it in the water for about 15 minutes.
2. Warm the olive oil in a sauce pan and add the parsley. If the prawns are frozen, add them to the pan now too.
3. Chop the salmon into small cubes and remove the skin. Wash and chop the tomatoes. Add the salmon and the tomatoes to the pan and if the prawns are fresh, put them in now too.
4. Add the stock cube and water and cream.
5. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
6. Season with pepper and paprika and serve over rice.

Rhubarb and Blackberry Crumble

As I write this, rhubarb is still in season. As it will be posted, however, that’s not really the case. But if you thought ahead, you might have frozen some excess rhubarb, or you can get some from the grocery store. A crumble will warm you up on a cold night.

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
¼ cup sugar (or more if needed)
1 container blackberries (about 150 g)
70 g butter, plus extra for the dish
1½ cup flour (or 1 cup flour and ½ cup oats)
6 tbsp sugar (I used soft brown, but demerera or castor or some combination thereof will work too)
1 tsp vanilla
cream or ice cream, to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Wash and slice the rhubarb. Toss it in the ¼ cup sugar.
2. Lightly butter an oven-safe dish. Put the rhubarb in it. Wash the blackberries and add them on top.
3. Dice the butter and mix it with the flour (or flour and oats), sugar, and vanilla. Put the crumble topping on the fruit.
4. Bake at 180 C for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown.
5. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Vegetarian Quote

For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. --Pythagoras

Green Stir-Fry

Green Stir-Fry

This can be endlessly varied, depending on what sort of veg or spices you have on hand. It’s fast for weekdays.

Ingredients:
1 leek
½ green garlic
1 courgette
½ cabbage
1 handful cherry tomatoes
oil
spice (curry paste, miso paste, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce, etc)
noodles (I like rice noodles)

Instructions:
1. Wash the vegetables and dice them.
2. Stir-fry them in the oil and add the spice of your choice. Mix well.
3. When it is all nearly cooked, add in the noodles. Stir-fry for a couple more minutes, then serve.

Dark Chocolate Pudding

This is pudding in American sense, not the British one, which means it is a creamy dish not unlike custard. You can use this recipe with milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate and you can freeze it to make ice cream, too.

Ingredients:
¼ cup sugar (I used brown)
3 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup double cream
2 cups milk
200 g dark chocolate

Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients but the dark chocolate in a sauce pan. Warm over low heat, stirring often, until well-blended.
2. Chop the dark chocolate and add it to the pan. Continue cooking and stirring until the chocolate has melted.
3. Place the mixture in a bowl in the fridge and leave to cool a few hours.
4. Serve with berries and/or cream.

Earl Gray-Poached Salmon

Yes, another fish recipe. Well, sometimes it can’t be helped; such are the compromises we must make. This is a fun, flavourful way to make fish – you poach it in tea. Served with vegetables, it’s a light meal.

Ingredients:
3 cups boiling water
2 Earl Gray tea bags (or other tea sort)
½ lemon
2 salmon fillets

Instructions:
1. Put the water in a saucepan and add the tea bags. Let steep for 5-10 minutes.
2. Wash the ½ lemon and slice it thinly. Add the slices to the tea.
3. Keep the skin on the salmon fillets but scrape any scales off it.
4. Remove the tea bags and add the salmon to the tea. Poach over low heat for about 10 minutes.

San Francisco

Over the summer, I was in San Francisco for work and I was thrilled to be in such a veggie-friendly and queer-friendly place. I was really spoiled for choice – at least on the food front I was; I certainly wasn’t looking for any other women when I’ve got the best at home.

Every restaurant I went into had a few vegetarian options on the menu, and not just the usual Portobello mushroom burger or stuffed red pepper (I must point out that I didn’t go to any steakhouses or anything like that, so I have no idea if they offer vegetarian options or not). There were also quite a few restaurants that were only vegetarian or even vegan. One I wanted to get to but didn’t have a chance to was called Greens. A woman on the plane was raving about it and I was sad that I never got there.

Golden Era was a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and my friend and I loved it. I often have trouble in Chinese restaurants because they seem to use pork products in a lot of dishes (don’t get me started on my trip to China, where I mostly ate white rice and cabbage), so this was a real treat. I loved not having to ask if any meat was used in the dishes.

We also went to Herbivore and it was so good that we want back another day. I especially loved the carrot cake. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, which was nice too.

The gourmet treat of the trip was dinner at Millennium, an upscale vegan restaurant. I was with a friend who claims to hate lentils but he gobbled up the delicious lentil spread served with the bread. He also loved the cornmeal cake he had for dessert, though he claimed not to like polenta (which is made from the same thing). I found the food to be thoughtful and flavourful and it was wonderful to sit in a fancy restaurant and enjoy all the things that come with classy eating and to know that all the dishes were cruelty-free.

But while the eating was generally good (don’t remind me of the meal I had at the garlic restaurant, which made me feel sick and stinky for days), other aspects of the trip were less pleasing. The gay neighbourhood, the Castro, had loads of gay men, but I saw few women. The gay bookshops were out of business (though other bookstores have gay shelves). The work event I went to was dreadful. Food makes up for a lot, though, so I definitely recommend San Francisco as a vegetarian destination.

My Cousin Chad’s Pasta

When I was last in my hometown, one of my two lovely cousins cooked a couple of vegetarian dishes. Let me point out that no one else in my family is a vegetarian and that my cousin is just 21. I think that will emphasise to you just how kind it was that he went to all the effort for me.

One night while everyone else was dispersed, Chad made me pesto pasta. It was so nice to sit with him and chat and eat food that he’d cooked especially for me. I immediately requested the recipe for the blog. And if you need any work done on websites, do use Chad’s excellent services.

Thanks for being such a great cousin, Chad!

Ingredients:
1 box of farfalle pasta (about 450 g)
water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp butter
1 jar traditional pesto (about 180 g)
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (about 240 g)
parmesan, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Instructions:
1. Boil the pasta in the water. This will take about 12 minutes. Strain the pasta, then put it back in the sauce pan.
2. Mince the garlic and add it, the butter, and the pesto to the pasta. Chop the tomatoes and add them.
3. Season with parmesan and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir everything together.

Squash Couscous

This was a simple weeknight meal that was healthy and full of flavour. The tomatoes might seem a bit odd, but I had tomatoes to use, so I added them. It worked fine, but you can leave them out too.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
oil
1 courgette
1 tsp sugar
2 tomatoes
200 g couscous
water
¼ cup raisins
handful of pine nuts (about 30 g)
2 tbsp crème fraiche or yogurt, optional
salt
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash the butternut squash and coat it lightly with oil. Roast it in the oven at 200 C for about an hour, until the skin has browned. Leave aside to cool.
2. Wash and dice the courgette. Fry it in oil over low heat for about 8-10 minutes. Add the sugar so it caramelises.
3. Meanwhile, peel and de-seed the squash. Dice it into small pieces and add to the pan.
4. Wash and slice the tomatoes and add them as well. Continue to stir-fry.
5. Put the couscous in a pot. Boil the water and add it to the couscous. Leave it to stand, covered, for about 5 minutes.
6. Add the raisins and pine nuts to the squash.
7. For a more creamy couscous, add the crème fraiche or yogurt to pot and mix in well.
8. Season the squash with salt and black pepper to taste.
9. Serve the squash over the couscous.

Courgette Muffins

These taste quite healthy and are great for breakfast or as a snack with a cup of coffee or tea. To make them slightly less healthy, use all plain flour (no spelt) and up the amount of sugar a bit.

Ingredients:
1 medium courgette
2½ cups flour (I used 1 cup spelt and 1½ cups plain flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup sugar
1 dash salt
1 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup raisins

Instructions:
1. Grate the courgette and then squeeze it out or leave it to drip for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and salt together.
3. Blend in the eggs, oil, vanilla, and lemon juice.
4. Add the grated courgette and the raisins. Mix well.
5. Place about 2-3 tbsp batter into muffin cases.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 175 C.

Avocado Mousse

There is an ice cream shop not far from where I grew up that has many unusual types of ice cream. At least unusual to me – the owners are from the Philippines and they serve flavours that are typical of their homeland, such as yam and avocado. I really like those flavours and I began to realise that avocado in particular works well in both sweet and savoury dishes.

So when I saw this recipe for avocado mousse, I wanted to try it, although I adapted it to make it a bit sweeter and creamier. M was pleasantly surprised, as she had expected it to be disgusting, and we even served it to a friend who came over.

I think it could also work well to freeze this mousse and serve it as ice cream. Yum!

Ingredients:
2 avocados
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup sugar, plus 1 tbsp
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup milk
¾ cup double cream

Instructions:
1. Halve, peel and pit the avocados, and put the flesh into a food processor. Mix until soft, then add the lemon juice, the ½ cup of sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix again.
2. Add the milk and mix well.
3. Whip the double cream with the 1 tbsp of sugar and the other 1 tsp of vanilla until firm.
4. Fold the avocado mixture into the whipped cream.
5. Refrigerate for an hour or so and then serve.

Pasta with Beans and Peas

This is a simple pasta dish that was great at the height of summer with fresh produce.

If you eat seafood, you can add in some prawns as well. My M likes prawns, so I add them in sometimes for her.

Ingredients:
½ red onion
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
200 g runner beans
200 g sugar snap peas
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp tomato purée/paste
cream, to taste
200 g multigrain tagliatelle
water to cook the pasta in

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and fry it lightly in olive oil, then add the sugar to caramelise it.
2. Wash the runner beans and sugar snap peas and cut them as necessary. Add them to the onion, along with the coriander, tomato purée/paste and cream.
3. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in the water.
4. Serve the vegetable sauce over the pasta.

Avocado with Caviar

Avocado is so versatile and yet many people rarely use it except in guacamole or the occasional salad topping. I’ve had avocado ice cream that is amazing, for example, and I think it’s worth trying avocado in more sweet dishes as well as savoury ones.

I made a simple avocado starter the other day. M didn’t like the raw onion in it, so next time I’d caramelise it first, to soften the sharp oniony edge.

Ingredients:
2 avocados (1 avocado per person, or half an avocado if you’re serving this as a starter)
½ half red onion
200 ml sour cream or crème fraiche
60 g caviar (use fish roe if you eat fish or one of the vegetarian substitutes if not, such as the ones made from seaweed)

Instructions:
1. Half the avocados and remove the stones.
2. Dice the red onion. Mix it into the sour cream or crème fraiche and then mix in the caviar.
3. Fill the avocados with the creamy mixture.

Creamy Couscous

This is a creamy couscous with just a bite of flavour. I had some gravlax sauce on hand, which is mustard and dill, so I used that, but any mustard would work well (not dried mustard but mustard sauce).

Ingredients:
100 g couscous per person
water to cover the couscous
1-3 tbsp yogurt per 100 g
½ tsp – 1 tbsp mustard (or gravlax sauce, if you can get it)

Instructions:
1. Put the couscous in a sauce pan. Boil the water and pour it over the couscous. Cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix in the yogurt and mustard.
3. Serve with vegetables or other items.

Best LGBT Blogs

This list of the best LGBT blogs is a couple of years old now, but it’s still worth a look.

Pot Pie

Growing up in the US, I regularly had what we call “pot pie”. This is a pastry filled with vegetables and chicken or turkey. Once I became a vegetarian, I wanted something with the same sauce but without the poultry. So I made my own version, and I’ve successfully served it to people here in the UK, and they have complimented me on it.

Ingredients:
500 g puff pastry
1-3 carrots and/or parsnips, chopped into pieces
water or milk
1 celery stalk, chopped
1-2 cups frozen veggies
some chopped tofu, if desired
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
1 vegetable stock cube
salt
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pastry and make two pieces from it.
2. Peel and dice the carrots and/or parsnips, then cook the pieces over medium heat until slightly soft in water or milk to cover.
3. Wash and chop the celery. Add it and the other veggies. Cook briefly, until defrosted. Add the tofu if using it.
4. Add the flour, milk, stock cube, salt, and pepper. Cook a bit more over medium heat, stirring.
5. Put one crust on the bottom of a pan. Top it with the filling.
6. Add the other crust on top.
7. Bake for 30 min at 220 C, until golden.

Queer Quotes

I’ll be teaching some of Allen Ginsburg’s poetry this year and of course we’ll be discussing the relationship between his queerness and his creativity. I like this quote:

America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel. --Allen Ginsberg

I think we should all be putting our queer shoulders to the wheel!

Lentils and Vegetables

Ingredients:
1½ cups puy lentils
water
1 carrot
1 bag green beans
½ half cabbage or 1 head spring greens
3 tbsp cream or yogurt
seasoning (salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, etc – I actually seasoned it with truffle olive oil for a luxurious edge)
rice, if desired

Instructions:
1. Rinse the lentils and cover with water. Boil them over low heat for about 15 minutes.
2. Wash the veg. Peel and chop the carrot. De-string the beans. Chop the cabbage/greens.
3. Add the veg to the pot and add more water if needed. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Mix in the cream/yogurt. Season to taste.
5. Serve over rice if desired.

Gluten-Free Ricotta and Lemon Gnocchi

I wanted to make my ricotta gnocchi recipe gluten-free and add a bit more to it by using lemon, fresh mint, and pine nuts.

Ingredients:
250 g ricotta
2 eggs
1½ cups grated cheddar, plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 cup gluten-free flour
1 lemon
water for boiling
butter for frying
herbs (I use parsley and mint)
pine nuts

Instructions:
1. Mix the ricotta, eggs, cheddar, and flour into a smooth dough.
2. Grate the lemon peel into the dough and add the juice from half the lemon.
3. Boil the water. Make little lumps out of the dough and drop them into the water. They are ready when they’ve floated to the top.
4. Fry the gnocchi in the butter and herbs. Add the pine nuts towards the end.
4. Serve with a little extra cheddar on top.

Quiche with Feta, Artichokes, and Spring Greens

Quiche is heavy due to the eggs, cheese, and cream in it, but I try to lighten it up a bit with plenty of vegetables and fresh herbs. It’s not the healthiest of dishes, but it’s a nice treat once in awhile.

Ingredients:
pastry (500 g) (short crust or puff)
oil
1 onion
1-3 garlic cloves (depending on taste)
1 tsp herbs (I used mint this time, for variety)
1 tbsp mustard powder
300 g spring greens or spinach
200 g artichokes
50 g tomatoes (sun-dried or fresh, optional)
50 g mozzarella
50 g cheddar cheese
50 g feta cheese
300 ml milk or cream (single or double)
4 eggs
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pastry.
2. Light grease an oven-safe pie dish or casserole dish. Place the pastry in it and use a fork to make a few indentations in the pastry.
3. Pre-bake the pastry for about 5 minutes at 190 C.
4. Meanwhile, dice the onion and garlic. Fry them lightly in oil with the herbs and other mustard.
5. Wash and chop the greens and add them to the pot with the onion. Wilt for about 10 minutes over low heat.
6. Dice the artichokes and tomatoes (if using) and add them. Do the same with the cheese.
7. Beat the milk or cream with the eggs.
8. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.
9. Pour everything into the pastry.
10. Bake for about 45 minutes at 170 C.

Cauliflower Pilaf

This is a simple, healthy, flavourful pilaf rice dish. It is good enough to be the starring dish of the meal, but it can also be served as a side dish.

Ingredients:
2 onions
oil
100 g puy lentils
water
1 sweet potato
1 cauliflower
25 g coconut
2-4 tbsp green curry paste
onion seeds
100 g brown basmati rice
1 vegetable stock cube
yogurt

Instructions:
1. Chop the onions and fry them lightly in the oil in a large pan.
2. Rinse the lentils and boil them in water for about 20 minutes, then drain.
3. Peel and dice the sweet potato and chop the cauliflower. Add them, the coconut, the curry paste, and the onion seeds to the onions and fry for a few minutes.
4. Rinse the rice and add it to the pan along with the stock cube and enough water to cover everything.
5. Simmer until the water mostly boils away, adding the lentils towards the end.
6. Serve with yogurt.

Queer Quotes

“When someone asks me, “are gay rights civil rights?” my answer is always, “Of course, they are.” Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives: the right to equal treatment before the law. These are the rights shared by everyone. There is no one in the United States who does not, or should not, enjoy or share in enjoying these rights. Gay and lesbian rights are not special rights in any way. It isn’t “special” to be free from discrimination. It is an ordinary, universal entitlement of citizenship.” --NAACP National Chairman Julian Bond

Courgette, Mint, and Feta Pasta

With all the courgettes that summer brings (that’s zucchini for you Americans!), it’s worthwhile coming up with a variety of recipes to use them in. I like the way the vegetables tastes against the sharpness of feta cheese and the sweet hint of mint. This can be served warm or cold.

Ingredients:
1 courgette
olive oil
pasta
water
2 tbsp fresh mint
pine nuts
75 g feta cheese

Instructions:
1. Wash and slice the courgette. Brown it in olive oil.
2. Boil the pasta in the water.
3. Add the mint and the pine nuts to the courgette.
4. Drain the pasta and mix the courgette with it.
5. Crumble the feta cheese on top and serve.

Ratatouille

No, this is not a post about the Pixar film, cute though that was. Instead, this is the actual recipe for ratatouille, or at least ratatouille how I made it recently. It’s good on its own or over rice or with garlic bread. And if you have leftovers, they’re fantastic because the flavours have extra time to meld. I love the vegetal smell of aubergine and it works so well to combine it with other vegetables.

When I was out of town recently, M made this recipe a number of times. That suggests that it’s pretty tasty!

Ingredients:
1 onion
olive oil (you need quite a bit for this recipe, so don’t make this when you’ve just got dregs left in the bottle)
1 tsp sugar
1 aubergine
2 peppers (I used red and yellow to get a nice colour to the ratatouille)
1 courgette
2-3 tomatoes or a handful of cherry tomatoes
3-5 garlic cloves (depends on how garlicky you like it)
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and sauté it in olive oil in a large pot for about 5 minutes. Then add the sugar and sauté for a few more minutes.
2. Wash and chop the aubergine into small cubes and add it to the pot. Wash and dice the peppers and add them as well. Sauté for about 30 minutes.
3. Wash and slice the courgette and add it. After a few moments, wash, chop, and add the tomatoes. Thinly slice the garlic and add the pieces.
4. Thinly slice the garlic and add the pieces. Sauté another 10 or so minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Soba Noodles with Creamy Vegetable Sauce

Soba noodles can be made with buckwheat, which makes them high in fibre and gluten-free. They have a nutty, heavy flavour and an almost chewy consistency. I made a simple creamy vegetable sauce to serve over them.

Ingredients:
100 g vegetables (I used a combination of broccoli, cauliflower, broad beans, and spinach)
herbs and spices (I used parsley and garlic)
3-4 tbsp tomato puree
sun-dried tomatoes
100 ml cream
100 g soba noodles
water

Instructions:
1. If using frozen vegetables, defrost them. If fresh, wash and chop as needed and boil lightly.
2. Mix the herbs, spices, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, and cream into the vegetables and warm thoroughly.
3. Boil the soba noodles in the water for 5-8 minutes.
4. Serve the noodles with the vegetables on top.

Heartbeats

I went to see Heartbeats, a new queer film, a couple of months ago, and I was pretty impressed. The director, Xavier Dolan, is only in his early 20s and I thought he did a good job of making an artistic, engaging film. Okay, sometimes it was a bit overly artsy, as though he really, really, really wanted it to be beautiful and cool. But it was a really attractive film, so I didn’t begrudge him his flounces (or the fact that the character that he played was stronger and got more screen time than the female character).

Basically, I liked the story of the two friends who both fall for the same guy, and I liked the twist at the end (which I won’t spoil for you). The music Dolan included was great too. I especially enjoyed Bang Bang by Dalida.

This was one of the better LGBT films that I’ve seen in recent months, so I’d recommend it.

Goat Cheese Sauce

Someone brought M’s mum lemon pasta from Italy, so I wanted to make a simple sauce to go with the light noodles. This sauce can also be used on a pizza.

Ingredients:
1 tin/package crushed tomatoes
10 or so cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
100 g goat cheese
1 pinch sea salt
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Warm the crushed tomatoes over low heat. Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes and add them and the oil to the crushed tomatoes. Cook for 18-10 minutes.
2. Crumble in the goat cheese and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook another 5 or so minutes, stirring well, and then serve over pasta.

Tweet!

I’m now tweeting on Twitter, so check Veggie Dyke on Twitter.

Sweet Potato and Cabbage Hash

I found this recipe in the July issue of Vegetarian Living, but I’ve adjusted it to our tastes (I am not that fond of soy sauce and find it very salty) and I simply fried the eggs rather than baking them. I rarely cook with cabbage, so it was great to try this. I’ve now made a few more dishes with cabbage; I love when I expand my culinary repertoire.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
water
oil
1 onion
1 tsp sugar
½ savoy cabbage
4 eggs
black pepper
nigella seeds

Instructions:
1. Wash the potatoes and boil them in the water for about 12-15 minutes. Drain, peel, and dice them.
2. Warm the oil in a frying pan. Chop the onion and add it to the pan. After a few minutes, add the sugar and stir.
3. Wash and chop the cabbage and add it and the potatoes to the pan. Fry for about 10 minutes.
4. Push the cabbage and potatoes to the sides of the pan and crack the eggs into the middle. Fry them until just set.
5. Season with pepper and nigella and serve.

Light Lunch

Usually about once a week, I work from home. You might think this sounds ideal and that I loaf around on the sofa, but that’s actually not how the day goes. I work harder from home than I do from the office because there are in some ways fewer distractions. I don’t have meetings to attend, I don’t run into people every time I nip down the hallway to the loo, I don’t have students knocking on my door, and so on. Instead, I just sit at my computer and work (except for short breaks to make another cup of rooibos tea).

I certainly don’t take the time to make myself a big lunch. My staple lunches include matzoh topped with crunchy peanut butter and slices of banana or grilled cheese sandwiches. For the latter, I’ve lately been adding slices of Cheatin’ Meat for a little extra protein and I put the cheese and “meat” on hearty rye bread or whole-grain pita (such as Food Doctor’s cereal pita) before toasting or grilling it for a few minutes.

I end up with a fast, light, healthy lunch that doesn’t take time away from my work.

Corn Fritters

This is a savoury sort of pancakes that can be served for a light lunch or dinner. I served it with a tangle of watercress and the yellow of the fritters and the green of the watercress combined to make a nice summery look on the plate.

I’ve also sometimes added a tablespoonful of milled seeds (pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, etc) to the batter, because they’re healthy and add a nice full, nutty undertone.

When I served them, I accidentally called them critters. Let me tell you that critters are not appetising; if they were, I wouldn’t be a vegetarian, I guess. So make sure you get the name right when you serve them or you’ll end up with surprised and disgusted dinner guests.

Ingredients:
½ cup flour (I used whole wheat)
¼ cup cornmeal (polenta)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch smoked paprika
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tin corn
oil

Instructions:
1. Mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, salt, pepper, and paprika.
2. Blend in the milk and eggs, stirring to get rid of any lumps.
3. Mix in the corn.
4. Warm the oil in a frying pan and fry fritters a few at a time. Keep them warm in the oven until serving.

Protection

In some families, including mine, there’s this idea that if you’re gay, there are certain members of the family who can’t handle that fact. And so you are supposed to lie or at least omit facts and not worry people. In my case, this has to do with older and more conservative relatives.

So when M and I went on holiday recently, all I told some relatives was that I was going away with a friend. I don’t like lying and I don’t like downplaying M’s importance in my life. It all feels wrong. She’s my partner and she’s the woman I hope to be with for the rest of my days. Why should I be expected to hide that? I hate when my grandmother asks me if I’m dating anyone or if there’s anyone special in my life and I have to say no even though the truth is that there is someone very special in my life.

I guess some people worry that older relatives, such as grandparents, won’t get it and might find the news shocking. So we’re supposed to protect them. But I wonder who we’re really protecting. Are we protecting ourselves, because we don’t know how to broach the subject? Are we protecting our parents, because they don’t want our grandparents to think that they (i.e. our parents) didn’t know how to raise children and therefore ended up with gay ones? Are we genuinely protecting our grandparents because they’d find the thought of gay grandchildren so disturbing that they might disown us or even have heart attacks due to the shock? Is it some combination of all of these?

I suspect we’re doing ourselves a disservice but not being honest. We’re not allowing our grandparents (or whoever) to know who we really are or to be part of our lives. We’re missing out on a potentially stronger relationship with those who we are supposedly protecting. We’re denying them a chance to get to know our partners too.

If our parents’ generation thinks we shouldn’t tell our grandparents’ generation, then I for one will agree with what they think best. I’m not convinced by it, but maybe I’m following their advice because I want to protect myself and my relatives. Protection isn’t always the best thing, however.

Aubergine Stir-Fry

Aubergine is not the typical ingredient in a stir-fry, but it works well as a base for other flavours. Here, for example, I give it a slightly Asian taste with miso paste and udon noodles.

And I like to eat a spoonful of peanut butter while cooking for an extra shot of protein.

Ingredients:
1 large aubergine
salt
oil
1 package sugar snap peas
5-6 radishes
other veg as desired
1 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp yogurt
1 package udon noodles
chilli flakes

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the aubergine into small pieces. Salt the pieces lightly and then fry them in oil, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes.
2. Wash and add the sugar snap peas. Wash, slice, and add the radishes. Add any other veg. Stir-fry another 5-10 minutes, stirring often.
3. Add the miso, peanut butter, and yogurt. Mix well.
4. Add the noodles and stir-fry for another 2 or 3 minutes. Season with chilli flakes.

Lesbian Hair Styles

About a month ago, I got a haircut, and it reminded me of all the assumptions that go with lesbians and hair. The idea is that if you’re a real dyke, you must have short hair. Hmm.

I dated one woman who thought I was too femme and was sure I’d leave her for a man. One reason why she thought this was because I had shoulder-length hair. As it happened, I left her for another woman -- one who appreciated my longish curls.

So why don’t I have short hair like a “real” lesbian? First of all, I don’t buy into the idea that you have to look and dress a certain way to be part of a community. Many people seem to believe that uniformity in appearance creates a community, but I think shared beliefs and values works even better. To be a lesbian, for example, all that’s required is that you are a woman (however you define woman) who’s attracted to other women. You don’t need to cut off all your hair and wear flannel lumberjack shirts to prove that you’re a gay woman.

And personally, I look pretty silly with very short hair. I get a big Jewfro going on and my nose sticks out like a beak. A bird with a mass of curls on its head is not a good look.

My recent haircut was slightly shorter than I would have liked, to be honest. My hair is now chin-length rather than shoulder-length and I can’t pull it back into a ponytail. But it’ll grow. And M seems to like it. Incidentally, my sweetheart has short hair. And some friends of mine complained that she was a “typical lesbian” because of her hairstyle and her clothes.

Too lesbian, not lesbian enough. It’s hard to win in the lesbian community. Maybe if we stopped criticizing others more and just concentrated on ourselves and our own appearances, our lesbian community might be stronger. And it also might look a bit better – some of the hairstyles I’ve seen on dykes have been pretty bad, after all.

By the way, check out Lesbian Hair.

Cheesy Biscuits

These are really easy to make and they taste great on their own, as the bread for a sandwich, or with a salad or soup.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour (or spelt flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
115 g butter
¾ cup milk
½ cup cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Mix the flours, salt, and baking powder together.
2. Chop the butter into small pieces and add it to the flour. Mix.
3. Add the milk and shred the cheese then add it. Mix everything together.
4. Drop by spoonfuls or shape into small buns (or American-style biscuits) onto a baking tray.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 C until golden. Serve warm.

Stir-Fries

I’ve been making a lot of stir-fries lately. They’re healthy, fast, and easy to vary. Basically, I take a bunch of vegetables and lightly fry them in oil. If I’m using tofu, I dice that and add it now too (or sometimes I marinate it and bake it, then add it). Meanwhile, I cook rice (if I’m making it over rice). I use seasonings such as peanut butter, miso paste, curry paste, or chilli. If I’m using noodles, I add them in to the pan right towards the end. I often add an egg or two and scramble it for a minute, so it’s just cooked. Then I serve the vegetables either over the rice or with the noodles.

Dinner’s ready in 10 or 15 minutes. Does it get much easier than this?

Starring...Radish

When I was young, I wasn’t really exposed to radish, so the vegetable often seemed strange and inaccessible to me in some way. Luckily, I’ve given in to curiosity and begun using them.

They have a nice crispness and a slightly sharp, almost peppery flavour. They work in salads, of course – you just slice a few and toss them with lettuce, cucumber, celery, avocado, or whatever else you want in there. But I’ve also been pleasantly surprised to see how well suited radish is to stir-fries. I add a few slices towards the end of the cooking process so they retain their crunch and add a strong, biting undertone.

I’ve recently also gotten the idea of adding some radish to a loaf of bread. I can imagine the flavours working together. But I haven’t yet tried it out.

Ricotta and Lemon Whole-Wheat Pancakes

I do love to experiment with pancakes and since ricotta and lemon work so well together, that’s what I put in the recipe this time. It was a refreshing, fairly healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
½ cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour (or spelt flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1½ cups milk
¼ cup ricotta
zest from 1 lemon
juice from ½ lemon
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
oil
agave or honey to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter.
2. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
3. Add the yogurt, milk, eggs, and vanilla to the butter. Mix well.
4. Warm oil over medium heat in a frying pan.
5. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, then pour tablespoonfuls into the pan. Brown the pancakes on both sides.
6. Serve with agave or honey.

Pad Thai

Okay, so this isn’t completely traditional pad thai. So what? It’s close enough and it’s tasty!

Ingredients:
frozen vegetables (I used what I had on hand – about 200 g broccoli, 50 g corn, 50 g broad beans)
oil
1 block tofu (if desired)
lime leaves
2 tbsp peanut butter (or 50 g crushed peanuts)
2 eggs
300 g pad thai noodles
bean sprouts (I didn’t have them on hand this time, but I’ve often added them at the end)

Instructions:
1. Stir-fry the vegetables in the oil in a big frying pan or wok. Add the tofu (cut into cubes), if you’re using it, and the lime leaves.
2. When the vegetables have defrosted, mix in the peanut butter (or peanuts) and push the veg to one side. Break the eggs into the middle and stir them, so they scramble into pieces.
3. Add the noodles and cook for about 2 more minutes. Add the bean sprouts.
4. Serve.

200th Post

I’ve been posting on this blog since the beginning of October 2010, just over eight months ago, and this marks my 200th post. It’s amazing to think that I’ve made around 200 distinct recipes in that time. And it’s also exciting for me to think about all those wonderful months (and tasty dishes) I’ve shared with my fantastic partner, M.

I’ve been posting 5 or 6 times a week up until now, but I’ve been finding it hard to do, what with my full-time job and all (which is actually generally 60-80 hours a week), so I’ll probably start posting 2-3 times a week from now on. But as always, I hope to continue offering vegetarian meal suggestions for you to enjoy with your own friends and relatives, along with interesting quotes, reviews of books, films, and products, and references to other useful websites.

Thanks for reading this far!

Green and Red Couscous

Couscous is tiny pieces of semolina. It’s extremely fast to cook (you pour boiling water over it and leave it for 5-10 minutes) and it’s healthy and cheap. So I’ve been trying to make more dishes with couscous. Combine vegetables and protein and serve it over couscous, and you’ve got a meal in less than 20 minutes.

Ingredients:
about 150 g couscous
boiling water to cover the couscous
1 red pepper
oil
frozen peas (about 75 g)
1 handful cherry tomatoes (5-10)
1 handful radishes (3-5)
black pepper
creamy cheese such as Boursin, if desired

Instructions:
1. Put the couscous in a pot and pour the water over it. Place the lid on the pot and set aside for about 5 or so minutes.
2. Meanwhile, wash and dice the pepper. Fry it in oil.
3. Add the peas so they defrost.
4. Wash and dice the tomatoes and radishes. Add them to the pan. Season with black pepper.
5. If desired, mix creamy cheese into the couscous. Top the couscous with the vegetables, then serve.

Braised Lettuce

I was inspired by a recipe in the May issue of Delicious, but that recipe used bacon, which obviously I won’t cook with. So I adapted the recipe to vegetarian tastes and also used what I had around (onions rather than shallots, for example). I served it with the new Tesco vegetarian “chicken breast” for a simple meal. As with the Tesco “lamb” burger, I can’t say I thought the chicken was fantastic, but I like trying new meat-free products.

Ingredients:
2 onions
oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
200 ml water
black pepper
smoked paprika
2 little gem lettuces
cream

Instructions:
1. Dice the onions and fry them in the oil. Add the sugar after a few moments.
2. When the onions have caramelised, add the vegetable bouillon, stir, then add the water. Cook for a few moments, and season with pepper and paprika.
3. Wash and halve the little gems. Oil and oven-safe dish and place them in there.
4. Pour the onion mixture and the cream over the lettuce.
5. Cover the dish with aluminium foil. Bake for about 35 minutes at 180 C.

Stir-Fry with Udon Noodles

I’ve been making lots of stir-fries lately, because they’re so easy and healthy. I’ll post a few variations on them, but play around and see what combinations you like. You can also add an egg in at the end, for extra protein.

Ingredients:
1 red pepper
½ broccoli (or a container of tender-stem broccoli)
oil
1 container tofu
100 g sugar snap peas
1-2 tbsp miso paste
1-2 tbsp peanut butter
chilli flakes to taste
150 g udon noodles

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the pepper and broccoli. Stir-fry them in oil.
2. Dice the tofu and add it to the pan. Wash and add the snap peas.
3. Add the miso paste and peanut butter to the pan and stir well, so all the vegetables and tofu get some sauce. Season with chilli flakes according to how spicy you like it.
4. Add the udon noodles and stir-fry 2-3 minutes more, then serve.

Caramelised Potatoes and Broccoli

This is a tasty and simple side dish. I served it with Tesco’s new vegetarian “lamb” burgers, in a playful take on meat, potatoes, and veg. I can’t say I recommend Tesco’s burgers, because they left a strange aftertaste, but they were okay for a fast weeknight meal. I probably wouldn’t get them again.

Ingredients:
new potatoes (about 75 g)
oil
1 tbsp sugar
broccoli
salt
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash and dice the potatoes.
2. Fry them in oil, stirring often, until they brown slightly.
3. Sprinkle with sugar and stir. Fry another 5-10 minutes.
4. Wash and chop the broccoli and add it to the pan.
5. Season with salt and black pepper. Fry another 5 or so minutes, then serve.

Leek, Cheddar, and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

This is a very rich dish, so I wouldn’t make it too often. It’s loaded with eggs, cheese, and cream, which is what makes it tasty, but I can envision arteries getting clogged with each bite.

Yes, of course you can make your own pastry, but I bought it this time. Sometimes it’s just simpler to purchase the pastry. Shortcrust works better, I think, but I had puff pastry on hand and that was fine. In fact, M said she liked that it was a bit different.

Ingredients:
pastry (500 g) (short crust or puff)
oil
1 leek
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp lime leaves or basil or other herb
6 eggs
1 tbsp mustard powder
300 ml cream (single or double)
100 g sun-dried tomatoes
50 g mozzarella
100 g cheddar cheese
other vegetables (I had asparagus that I threw in, but next time I might use red pepper or spinach)
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pastry.
2. Light grease an oven-safe pie dish or casserole dish. Place the pastry in it and use a fork to make a few indentations in the pastry.
3. Pre-bake the pastry for about 5 minutes at 190 C.
4. Meanwhile, dice the leek. Fry it lightly in oil with the parsley and other herbs.
5. Beat the eggs with the mustard powder and cream.
6. Chop the tomatoes, cheese, and any other vegetables. Mix them into the eggs, add the leek, and season with black pepper.
7. Pour the egg mixture over the pastry.
8. Bake for about 45 minutes at 170 C.

Cornbread

This is a rather rich-tasting cornbread, so it could just as well be called corn cake. Eat it warm with some butter while having tea or coffee or serve it alongside soup or stew.

Ingredients:
½ cup butter (about 115 g), plus extra for the tin
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup yogurt
2 eggs

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter.
2. Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and vanilla together.
3. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter and yogurt. Beat the eggs and add them.
4. Grease a loaf tin or other oven-safe dish and pour the batter in.
5. Bake at 175 C for around 35 minutes.

Salmon Hash

Okay, this is another pescatarian recipe rather than vegetarian, but such are the compromises one must make when living with a carnivore (luckily, a carnivore who rarely eats meat). This recipe is based on corned beef hash, which has potatoes and some sort of processed meat and fried eggs. Instead, I use salmon. And one time when I made this, I also added one flaked fillet of smoked mackerel, for an extra depth of flavour. I plan to try it with tofu at some point soon.

It’s a very fast and healthy weeknight dinner.

Ingredients:
300 g potatoes
oil
1 tsp sugar
300 g salmon
2 eggs
salt
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the potatoes. Fry them in oil for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they brown. Add the sugar and continue to brown and caramelise.
2. Chop the salmon into small pieces. Add it to the pan and cook for a few minutes, stirring and flipping as needed.
3. Move the potatoes and salmon to the side of the pan. Break the eggs into the middle and cook until just set.
4. Serve the eggs over the potatoes and salmon. Season with salt and pepper.

Better and Easier Hollandaise Sauce

I posted a recipe for hollandaise sauce before, but I’ve since improved and simplified it. It is unfortunately easy to curdle the eggs or to end up with a lumpy sauce, so using a blender or food processor fixes that. If you find that the eggs are curdling anyway, add a tiny bit of cold water and then blend again. I served it this time over vegetables.

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
½ tsp mustard
1 dash Tabasco
1 lemon
125 g butter

Instructions:
1. Mix the yolks, mustard, and Tabasco in a blender or food processor. Add the peel and juice from half a lemon (save the other half for another use). Mix again.
2. Melt the butter and add it to the blender or food processor a little bit at a time, mixing constantly.
3. Serve over vegetables or eggs.

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

This is a really moist, flavourful recipe. Lemon and ricotta go so well together and I decided to combine them into a light cake. You can also make the recipe into muffins or a bread shape. I got lots of compliments on it!

Ingredients:
170 g butter, plus extra for the tin
1 cup ricotta
½ cup yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 lemon
3 eggs

Instructions:
1. Cream the butter, ricotta, yogurt, and vanilla together.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.
3. Mix the moist and dry ingredients together well.
4. Grate the zest of the lemon into the mixture and add the juice of half the lemon.
5. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture. Grease the tin.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 180 C (or for 15 minutes if you make them as muffins).

Dykes with Veggies

While checking out the stats for my blog (they’ve gone up recently, thanks to a mention in Diva, which is the only magazine I’m aware of for lesbian and bi women in the UK), I noticed something interesting and a bit, um, worrying.

A number of people have Googled the phrase “dykes with veggies” and subsequently found this blog.

Fair enough, really. I’m a dyke who cooks vegetarian food, so there’s a certain amount of veggie-worship that takes place in Chez Veggie Dyke.

But I have a feeling that vegetarian recipes are not what these folks were looking for. I’m guessing they were hoping for some sexy pictures of “dykes” (probably straight women paid to pretend they’re gay) using carrots, cucumbers, aubergines, and other vegetables in place of dildos. I didn’t know there was a market for this kind of porn, but then again, there are all sorts of fetishes out there and the porn industry makes sure that there’s something for everyone.

Perhaps I should start posting pictures on this blog. But I suppose the pictures won’t satisfy those lusty Googlers even if the photos do indeed show dykes with veggies...

Starring...Celery

Poor celery, that much ignored vegetable. People rarely seem to give celery a starring role in any dish. Instead, it’s relegated to an extra bit of crunchiness in a salad, or else used as a snack by those on a diet. But actually, celery has quite a lovely little bite, and I like to keep it around to munch on or throw into a variety of dishes.

When I was a child, I remember being given “ants on a log” as a snack at school. This involves spreading celery with peanut butter and topping it with a few raisins. In my opinion, this is a still a tasty combination. I think celery and peanut butter work together well and it’s easy to imagine a peanut butter sandwich with a few pieces of celery on it.

My lovely M recently introduced me to celery and cream cheese as well. I was sceptical at first, but she converted me. Celery, of course, works well with dips, but then it’s usually served along with carrots, peppers, and other veg, just one out of many. So why not focus on celery and let it be the main player in a dish or snack?

Review of Silicone Bread ‘Tin’

I’d long wanted to try the silicone baking products, because I imagined they wouldn’t need much greasing and would release the products easily. So when M got me a silicone bread ‘tin’, I was excited. But then I tried it (for the olive and sun-dried bread I posted a couple of days ago), and it disappointed me.

The ‘tin’ was not that firm and it didn’t hold the form of the bread. I made a couple of loaves and both times, the rubbery walls of the mould bent outwards from the weight of the batter, which meant that the loaves looked a bit like squat mushrooms. They tasted fine, but I wasn’t impressed with the look. My sweetie thinks that if I put the silicone mould on a baking tray, that will help it keep the shape a bit better, so I might try that next.

The silicone did make it easy to get the bread out, however.

I was glad to try the silicone product, but it wasn’t quite up to my standards. I wonder if a different brand would be better or if smaller batches (such as for cookies or muffins) would suit silicone more, since the batter would be less heavy.

Broccoli Soup

Broccoli is the first vegetable I made for M and it’s probably the one I make her most often, as it’s her favourite. I made a flavourful broccoli soup (and it included my fave veg, spinach), which we ate with the sun-dried tomato bread I posted yesterday.



Ingredients:

1 onion

1 head broccoli

1 tbsp butter

2 tsp mustard

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

1 vegetable stock cube

1 cup spinach

100 g cheddar cheese

bread to serve with the soup



Instructions:

1. Chop the onion. Wash the broccoli and break it into florets.

2. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onion, broccoli, mustard, and salt.

3. After a few moments, add the water and the stock cube. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

4. Add the spinach. Cook another few minutes.

5. Blend the soup with a hand-mixer.

6. Chop the cheddar.

7. Return the soup to the stove and add the cheese.

8. Serve with bread.

Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Bread

Making bread is soothing; you can knead the dough by hand and work out any stresses you have. And it’s nice to watch the bread rise through the oven door – I find it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I served this one with soup.

Ingredients:
½ cup olives (about 75 g)
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes (about 75 g)
100 g cheddar cheese
3½ cups flour (I used 1½ cups spelt and 2 cups plain wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp herbs (I used mint, but oregano, chives, rosemary, and other herbs would work fine)
1 tsp nigella (onion seeds)
1¼ cup yogurt
3 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
butter or oil for the pan

Instructions:
1. Chop the olives, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese.
2. Blend the flour, baking powder, baking soda, mustard, salt, herbs, and nigella together.
3. Mix in the yogurt, olive oil, and eggs.
4. Mix in the olives, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese.
5. Grease the pan. Pour the batter in.
6. Bake for 40 minutes at 180 C.

Queer Films

A friend gave me and M a trial membership to Love Film and so we’ve been seeing some films. It’s been enjoyable and I think the service is really good – it’s much cheaper and more convenient than going to a place like Blockbuster, and you can keep the films as long as you want.

Anyway, we’ve been trying to see some LGBT films and one of the first ones was “I Can’t Even Think Straight”. I wouldn’t recommend this one; we both found the acting quite stiff and poor, although some of that may have been due to the less-than-realistic dialogue that plagued parts of the film. It’s about a wealthy Middle Eastern woman, Tala, who is in the midst of her fourth engagement. She meets an English woman of Indian ancestry, Leyla, and the predictable happens. They never really discuss their sexuality or what is happening to them; Tala feels she can’t break off yet another engagement and that she can’t be out in her family and society. Leyla manages to come out to her family (which causes some terrible acting from the woman who plays her mother) and finds another girlfriend.

I won’t tell you how it ends, but you can probably guess. I don’t know if we need lots of coming-out films; I’d rather see films about queers who are happily going about their lives. But I suppose this movie might still be useful or inspirational in some cultures.

We watched this with my mother when she was visiting and she thought the acting and storyline were so bad that she just sat next to us and read a book instead.

Asparagus and Spinach Pizza

Once you’ve made your dough and sauce (see the previous recipes), you can play around with toppings for your pizza. Because it’s been asparagus season, I used asparagus for my most recent pizza, but other toppings having included spinach, olives, and feta, tofu and broccoli, and fake meat products. Anything you’d order from a restaurant or buy at a grocery store you can make at home!

Ingredients:
1 portion pizza dough (see earlier recipe)
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for the tray/dish
1 portion pizza sauce (see previous recipe)
1 bunch asparagus
1 cup fresh spinach
1 package mozzarella cheese (about 200 g)
50 g cheddar cheese
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pizza dough and place it on an oiled pizza stone or a baking tray, or in an oiled oven-safe dish. Pre-bake at 180 C for 5 minutes.
2. Spread the sauce over the base.
3. Wash and chop the asparagus and spinach. Place it over the sauce.
4. Shred the cheeses and top the veg with the cheese. Sprinkle with olive oil and black pepper.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C.

Pizza Sauce

As with the last recipe (for pizza dough), there’s no real need to buy ready-made pizza sauce when it’s so easy to make it at home yourself. I like combining tinned tomatoes with sun-dried ones for a depth of flavour that many ready-made sauces don’t have. You can also vary which herbs and spices you use; basil, parsley, chilli, and garlic are all fairly traditional, but play around with others as well.

Ingredients:
1 tin peeled whole tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp basil
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
5-6 sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions:
1. Boil the tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, and sugar together over high heat, stirring often.
2. Chop the tomatoes. Add them to the sauce.
3. Continue to cook the sauce until it has reduced.

Pizza Dough

It’s quite easy to make pizza at home, so there’s no real need to order overpriced delivery or take-away pizzas (except on those occasions where you truly need a break from cooking). The fastest method is to use ready-made dough (you can use puff pastry dough for a sort of pizza tart), but it actually doesn’t take much more effort to make your own dough.

Ingredients:
1½ cups flour
1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp agave or honey
½ tsp salt
1 1/3 cup warm water

Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Knead until smooth on a lightly floured surface.
3. Cover and leave to rise for an hour. Then use for the pizza of your choice.

Miso Tofu Stir-Fry

I work long hours and though I enjoy cooking, I don’t always have time to make a gourmet meal. That’s where dishes such as stir-fries or grains/rice/pasta and veg come in. They’re quick and simple to make, you can vary them according to what you have at home, and they’re healthy and tasty. I like to try different vegetable combinations and different spices, so this time I used miso, red pepper, and asparagus, and I found that they worked well together and also looked pretty. Of course, I livened mine up with extra Tabasco sauce.

Ingredients:
1 package tofu
miso paste (about 1 tbsp, but it depends on how salty you want it)
brown basmati rice
water
1 onion
oil
vegetables (I used red pepper and asparagus)
yogurt

Instructions:
1. Drain as much of the water from the tofu as you can. Spread miso paste on the tofu and place it in an oven-safe dish. Roast it for 10-15 minutes at 180 C.
2. Set the rice to boil in the water.
3. Dice the onion and fry it lightly in the oil. Chop the other vegetables and add them to the pan. Stir-fry for about 10 minutes.
4. Dice the tofu and add it to the pan as well. Stir-fry for 5-10 minutes.
5. Serve the tofu and vegetables over rice, accompanied by yogurt.

Lemongrass Panna Cotta

Satisfied with my vanilla panna cotta, I decided to experiment further. M preferred the vanilla flavour, but I liked the gentle lemony touch of this one. I served it with strawberries, but I think this would work well with blueberries.

Ingredients:
1 cup double cream (or ½ cup milk and ½ cup cream)
2 small pieces lemongrass (about 1-2 cm worth)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp Vegeset

Instructions:
1. Mix everything together and warm it over low heat until just boiling.
2. Remove the lemongrass pieces.
3. Pour into ramekins and refrigerate.
4. Serve with berries and/or cream.

Queer Quotes

Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group. We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say “common struggle” because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination. -- Coretta Scott King

Vanilla Panna Cotta

Panna cotta always sounds so appetizing. But I never order it off a menu (except at a vegetarian restaurant), because it nearly always has gelatine in it. And I will not eat gelatine (I know some vegetarians who make an exception for products such as gummy candies or marshmallows, but I will not).

But the other day, I found Vegeset. It works like gelatine, except it’s vegetarian. Hurray! The first thing I made with it was panna cotta. I served it with fresh strawberries.

Ingredients:
1 cup double cream (or ½ cup milk and ½ cup cream)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (for a more luxurious dessert one day, I’ll make this with a vanilla pod)
½ tsp Vegeset
berries and/or cream to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Mix everything together and warm it over low heat until just boiling.
2. Pour into ramekins and refrigerate.
3. Serve with berries and/or cream.

New Potatoes and Asparagus Chutney

We stopped at a stand out in the country to buy some fresh asparagus. There was also some asparagus chutney for sale. I’d never heard of that before and I asked the woman working there what one would use asparagus chutney for. Her English wasn’t good and she shrugged. “Uh, I don’t know. Potatoes,” was her response.

Well, M and I took her at her word. We got some lovely Jersey new potatoes and boiled them up. We had them with butter and asparagus chutney. It sounds like an odd combination, but it actually works! The asparagus chutney is quite mild, with a faint mustard kick, and it didn’t overwhelm the delicate Jersey potatoes.

Ingredients:
new potatoes
water
butter
salt, if desired
asparagus chutney

Instructions:
1. Boil the potatoes in the water.
2. Drain the potatoes and serve with butter, salt, and asparagus chutney.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I’m still experimenting with rhubarb. Strawberry and rhubarb together is always a winning combination and here I mixed the fruits into a filling for a pie. As I was making this, I accidentally took the wrong spice out of the cupboard and managed to sprinkle onion seeds rather than cinnamon on the fruit. I had to go through and pick out as many of the seeds I could. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get all the onion seeds out (I did get most of them however), but the people I served the pie to didn’t notice. They praised the pie and its lovely filling! Still, I don’t recommend the use of nigella in strawberry rhubarb pie!

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
400 g strawberries
1 cup sugar (I used ¾ cup white sugar and ¼ cup demerera sugar, to add an extra rich, almost caramel tone)
½ cup flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 portion sweet pastry dough (see previous recipe)

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Wash, hull, and halve the strawberries (quarter large ones).
2. Toss the rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar, flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Leave to sit for 30 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs and pour over the fruit.
4. Roll out the pastry. Spread some of it in the bottom of a pie dish (or another oven-safe dish).
5. Blind-bake the pastry for 5-7 minutes at 160 C.
6. Pour the fruit into the pastry.
7. Cut the rest of the pastry into strips and layer them over the pastry in pretty pattern.
8. Bake the pie for 30-40 minutes at 160 C.

Sweet Pastry Dough

It’s healthier to make your own dough rather than to buy pre-made dough at the store, and it’s not that difficult or time-consuming either. You can play around with flavourings; instead of the vanilla here, for example, you could use mint extract or orange peel or mint or any of a number of other things.

Ingredients:
2½ cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
225 g butter
1 egg
¼ cup ice water

Instructions:
1. Mix the flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
2. Cube the butter and add it. Mix until crumbly.
3. Add the egg and water. Blend well.
4. Let rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before you use it.

Matzoh Brei

This is a traditional Jewish dish, served at Passover. During Passover, you’re not supposed to eat any leavened bread, so matzoh is the carb of choice. Matzoh is a very large cracker and it’s just made of wheat and water. I was very surprised when I found that it was available in the biscuit/cracker aisle of most major British supermarkets; it’s not labelled as Jewish or kept in a special ethnic section, the way it is in the US.

Jews get very creative with matzoh during Passover and one standard item is matzoh brei, which is best described as being like scrambled eggs.

You can have this as a savoury dish, topped with some lemon juice, or have it sweet, like French toast, with cinnamon and sugar and maple syrup. Some people like it with jam or even ice cream too. It can be for any meal of the day and you can vary it according to taste and what you have in the cupboard.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of matzoh
warm water
½ cup milk
4 eggs
salt
pepper
vegetable oil or butter

Instructions:
1. Break up the matzoh into small pieces. Soak it in a little warm water and the milk.
2. Mix it with the eggs and season as desire.
3. Warm the vegetable oil or butter in a frying pan. Brown the matzoh mixture in it on both sides.
4. Serve with the seasonings or sauces as desired.

Queer Quotes

Besides the quotes on vegetarianism, I thought I could do a few queer quotes too. This one I found on http://twitter.com/#!/quotablyqueer

For a long time I thought I wanted to be a nun. Then I realized that what I really wanted to be was a lesbian. --Mabel Maney

Asparagus Tart

I used to think I disliked asparagus. That might be because I was used to having it covered in cheese sauce and there wasn’t anything inspiring about that. Last year, however, my sweetheart got me to try to some local asparagus and then I was converted. I was so excited when asparagus season started this spring and I’ve been making a number of different asparagus recipes so I can make the most of this wonderful veg.

I really enjoy cooking seasonally – it make sense for all sorts of reasons, of course, but also I find that it inspires creativity. It’s as though you’re writing a haiku or a sonnet rather than in free verse; you’re putting limits on yourself, but sometimes that helps you create something you wouldn’t have otherwise done.

Ingredients:
ready-made puff pastry
2 onions
3-5 garlic cloves
oil
1 tsp sugar
100 g goat cheese
2 bunches asparagus

Instructions:
1. Roll out the puff pastry and place it in an oven-safe dish. Bake for 5 minutes at 160 C.
2. Dice the onions and garlic cloves and lightly brown them in oil. Add the sugar after a few minutes. Then put the onions over the puff pastry.
3. Slice or crumble the goat cheese over the onions.
4. Wash the asparagus and trim off the woody bits. Place the asparagus over the cheese.
5. Bake for about 12 minutes at 160 C.

Hair Treatment

This is a different sort of recipe – rather than being something to eat, it’s one you can use as a beauty treatment. I have coarse, thick hair and it gets dry easily. So this adds some extra moisture and shine. And it’s kind of fun to do, too.

Ingredients:
1 egg white
½ cup yogurt

Instructions:
1. Mix the egg white and yogurt together.
2. Rub into your hair.
3. Let sit for 20-30 minutes.
4. Wash out thoroughly.

Spinach Cannelloni

This is such an easy dish, but it looks elegant and impresses people. I love the combination of spinach and ricotta cheese (you can also use cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese). When I have people over who prefer to have fish meals, I add some smoked salmon for them. If you do that, mix it in with the spinach.

Ingredients:
2 cups double cream
1 cup tomato paste, or more to taste
2 cups ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
2 cups fresh spinach or 1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted
salt
pepper
about 12 cannelloni noodles (4 cannelloni per person), uncooked
butter or oil for the dish
2-4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
sundried tomatoes in oil, optional

Instructions:
1. Heat the cream in a saucepan over low heat. Add the tomato paste, warm, and mix thoroughly.
2. Chop the salmon and mix with the ricotta or cottage cheese and the spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Stuff the noodles with the salmon and cheese mixture.
4. Place the filled noodles in a shallow, greased pan. Pour the tomato cream sauce evenly over them and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
5. Bake the noodles for about 20 or 25 minutes at 180 C.
6. Chop up a few sundried tomatoes into small pieces and sprinkle on top of the cooked noodles (alternatively, add some to the cheese mixture before putting it in the noodles).
7. Serve and enjoy!

Rhubarb Crumble

It’s still rhubarb season, so I’m trying out all sorts of recipes with it. My guinea pig M doesn’t seem to mind!

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
1 clementine (or half an orange)
¼ cup sugar
an additional ¼ cup sugar
¾ cup oats
¼ cup flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp butter
1 egg
cream or ice cream, to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Chop the rhubarb and spread it in a pan. Juice the clementine or orange over it and sprinkle with the first ¼ cup sugar. Bake at 190 C for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix the other ¼ cup sugar with the oats, flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Crumble the butter in and beat the egg and then add it as well. The mixture should be a bit crumbly.
3. Top the rhubarb with the oat mixture.
4. Bake at 190 C for 30-40 minutes. Serve with cream or ice cream, as desired.

Break

I’ll be taking a short break from posting for the next week, so in the meantime, happy cooking and happy eating!

Quotes on Vegetarianism

We all love animals. Why do we call some "pets" and others "dinner?"

--k.d. lang

(This quote nicely combines the veggie and the dyke!)

Chickpea Dumplings

This is another one that was inspired by a recipe in Vegetarian Living. It was simple and healthy, but I think next time it needs even more oomph.

Ingredients:
2 onions
oil
1 tbsp coriander
2 tsp mint
2 tins or packages chickpeas
1¼ cups oats
1 egg
1 package tomato passata
50 g soy beans
1 tsp horseradish

Instructions:
1. Dice the onions and fry them in oil with the herbs.
2. Mix them in a food processor with the chickpeas, then mix in the oats and egg.
3. Shape the chickpea mixture into balls and fry in oil.
4. Meanwhile, warm the passata, soy beans, and horseradish together.
5. After frying the dumplings for a few minutes on each side, bake them in the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes at 200 C.
6. Serve the dumplings topped with the tomato sauce.

Tofu Cutlets with Potatoes and Vegetables

This recipe is so simple that it’s almost silly to write it, but I jokingly referred to it as the vegetarian’s meat and potatoes. Try serving it to dedicated carnivores and see if you convince them that going meat-free doesn’t mean going hungry or having to skip flavourful meals.

Ingredients:
1 courgette
tofu cutlets
oil
yogurt
new potatoes
water
garlic baguette
butter

Instructions:
1. Slice the courgette. Fry the cutlets and courgette pieces in oil, then add yogurt.
2. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in water and toast/bake the garlic baguette.
3. Serve the cutlets, vegetables, and potatoes along with slices of baguette.

Red Vegetable Curry

M pronounced this “very, very lovely”, which I think means it’s a winner of a dish. It’s simple and healthy and it’s really easy to vary according to your tastes and what’s in season.

Ingredients:
oil
red curry paste
1 tin coconut milk
vegetables (I used purple sprouting broccoli and asparagus, because they were in season)
tofu or other protein
lime leaves
Thai sticky rice
water

Instructions:
1. Warm the oil and add 1 tbsp each of curry paste and coconut milk. Warm so the paste releases its fragrance.
2. Add the vegetables, a few lime leaves, and the tofu, and stir fry.
3. Meanwhile, boil the sticky rice according to directions in the water. I use half the amount of water and half coconut milk.
4. Add more curry paste according to taste (I usually use 3-4 tbsp, as M doesn’t like it too spicy) and the rest of the coconut milk to the vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.
5. Serve the vegetables over the sticky rice.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Lush, creamy chocolate mousse, covering juicy strawberries – this is such a delicious treat. Okay, so it’s unhealthy. So what? Sometimes you need something special, and this is it.

I like it for dessert after a light lunch or dinner. Or, even better, I could lick it off my beautiful and wonderful partner. Yum indeed!

Ingredients:
180 g dark chocolate
2 tbsp hot coffee or water
1½ tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
300 ml double cream
1-4 tbsp sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)

Instructions:
1. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it over low hit with the coffee or water and vanilla, stirring often.
2. Let the chocolate cool, then mix the egg yolks in (note that there are raw egg yolks in this recipe, so use caution and common sense when eating or serving the mousse).
3. Whip the cream with the sugar.
4. Gently fold the chocolate into the cream. Chill for 30 or more minutes, then serve with fruit or biscuits, cream or ice cream, or a beautiful woman, or just on its own.

Avgolemono Soup with Tofu

I already posted my recipe for avgolemono soup, but when I had the flu one night after work, I wanted that soup, just a bit heartier. So I added tofu. Thus, here is my version of avgolemono soup with tofu.

Ingredients:
75 g rice (I used brown basmati)
water
2 onions
olive oil
200 g tofu
1 vegetable stock cube
1 lemon
3 eggs

Instructions:
1. Cook the rice in the water in a soup pot, according to directions.
2. Chop the onions and then fry them lightly in the oil in a frying pan. Dice the tofu and fry it too.
3. When the rice is almost ready, add the onions and tofu, along with the stock cube. Add another ½ l of water.
4. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pot.
5. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Then pour them into the soup, stirring the whole time. Do not let them boil.
6. Serve.

Broccoli, Courgette, and Tofu Tart

This was inspired by a recipe in Vegetarian Living. I made the pastry gluten-free and I added a bit of heat with curry paste.

Ingredients:
75 g butter
¾ cup flour (I used gluten-free)
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 dash salt
1 egg
1 onion
oil
1 courgette
½ package tofu
broccoli (I used tender-stem)
1 tbsp red curry paste (or chilli flakes)
½ cup yogurt
2 eggs
75 g blue cheese

Instructions:
1. Cube the butter and blend it with the flour until crumbly. Add the pumpkin seeds and salt and egg.
2. Chill the pastry for about 10 minutes then place it in an oven-safe dish (I just use my fingers to smooth it into all the corners and up the walls – it looks homey, which isn’t a bad thing). Bake it for about 7 minutes at 160 C.
3. Meanwhile, dice the onion and brown it in some oil. Slice the courgette into rounds and add it. Dice the tofu and chop the broccoli and add them as well.
4. Continue stir-frying, then add the curry paste and the yogurt and mix everything together.
5. In a bowl, beat the eggs and add some of the cheese.
6. Put the filling into the pastry and top with the rest of the cheese. Pour the eggs on top.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 190 C.

Quotes on Vegetarianism

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.
--Paul McCartney

Stuffed Aubergine

I’ve never been a great fan of peppers (perhaps because I remember the green peppers my mother used to stuff with rice and ground meat, and which she used to leave for me and my father when she was going out of town for work), but I am trying to use them in recipes more these days. I think it’s important to challenge yourself and expand your tastes, so I frequently try new ingredients or new recipes. In this case, I used a red pepper as part of the stuffing for an aubergine and I was quite pleased with the results.

Ingredients:
1 aubergine
oil
1 red pepper
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp parsley
2 tsp sugar
balsamic vinegar
pumpkin seeds
nigella (onion seeds)
black pepper
2 tbsp yogurt

Instructions:
1. Wash and halve the aubergine, then rub it in oil. Wrap it in aluminium foil and roast it for 30 minutes at 200 C.
2. Meanwhile, slice the pepper, onion, and garlic and fry the pieces in a little oil with the parsley and sugar. After 10 minutes, season with the vinegar, seeds, pepper, and yogurt.
3. Take the aubergine out of the oven and scoop the flesh out, leaving the shell intact. Chop the flesh and add it to the pepper mixture. Stir and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Fill the aubergine skins with the stuffing and bake for another 5-10 minutes, then serve.

Gender Roles

Sometimes I joke that M and I are the stereotypical butch and femme. I do the cooking and she does all the DIY and anything that requires tools (other than kitchen tools, that is, and I won’t say a word about tools that can be used in bed). I wear skirts and dresses and high-heeled shoes to work fairly often, while she’s more likely to be in cargo trousers and sensible shoes. I have long hair and she has short hair. Etc.

But really that doesn’t say much about who we are, individually or as a couple. And I get annoyed when people wonder which of us “is the man” or when someone says that if we ever got married, clearly I’d wear a dress and she’d wear a suit. It just seems silly to me. Who decided what it means to be masculine/butch or feminine/femme anyway? Why does using a hammer make someone manly while boiling some pasta makes someone womanly?

I don’t like the idea that gay couples have one butch and one femme. Yes, I know some lesbians say they like their boys to be girls, or their girls to be boys, but that’s not how I am. I don’t want to imitate heterosexual relationships and I don’t want to feel like my behaviour has to challenge the hetero norm either (but if it does happen to challenge hets, that’s good). I am just attracted to a particular woman and I’m happy to play a variety of roles in our relationship. (Although I must admit that my beloved is in some ways a soft butch and ever since I met her, I’ve had found myself admiring other soft butch women. But that doesn’t mean I feel like I need to be with one or that I have to mould myself accordingly!)

But then we get to the issue of cooking. I’m told that cooking is very femme and thus I must “be the woman” if I do most of the cooking. I can point out, incidentally, that many well-known chefs are male, so I guess in our society, we feel like men can be professionals, but it’s women who have to do the cooking at home.

So am I the woman, because I cook most of our meals? Am I the femme who needs a big butch woman to protect her? Do I feel pressured to cook because of the gender roles in our society?

No, I don’t think so. I’m just someone who likes to cook and to feed her sweetheart. Luckily, my sweetheart doesn’t enjoy cooking, so we’re able to divide our labour at home fairly evenly. She has other skills and other hobbies. So I’ll happily stand at the stove and stir. That I do that doesn’t say anything much about my gender identity or about my role in our relationship.

Rhubarb Muffins

For the last week of the semester, I wanted to bake something for my students. Rhubarb is in season, so I decided to make simple rhubarb muffins. They went over well in class.

Ingredients:
75 g butter
½ cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt
2½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp yogurt
2 eggs
rhubarb compote (about ¾ of it)

Instructions:
1. Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in the cinnamon, salt, flour, and baking soda.
2. Add the yogurt. Beat the eggs and add them too.
3. Finally, add in the rhubarb compote. Put the batter into muffin tins or cups (filling each tin about halfway up).
4. Bake 180 C for 15 minutes.

Spring Pasta

Now that the clocks have changed, the days are getting longer and brighter. People want to eat lighter, greener food. I love the look of a bunch of greens on top of rice or pasta; its very appearance feels fresh. For this recipe, I used lots of frozen veg, but in the next few weeks, I’ll able to replace the items with fresh veg (either using the same vegetables but in their fresh variants, or else using whatever the store has in stock, such as asparagus or sprouting broccoli). It’s an easy recipe to vary depending on what you have on hand. I used lime and parsley to give the pasta a little zest and the herbs, too, can be varied.

Ingredients:
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
oil
50 g soy beans
50 g peas
50 g broad beans
pasta (about 50-70 g per person)
water
1 tbsp parsley
a few lime leaves for a gentle kick
¼ cup cream (single is fine, but go for double if you’re in the mood for extra richness)

Instructions:
1. Chop the onions and garlic cloves and brown them lightly in oil.
2. Add the veg and stir. Cook for another 7 or so minutes, until the peas and beans are defrosted and warm. Meanwhile, starting boiling the pasta in the water.
3. Season the vegetables with parsley and lime and add the cream.
4. Cook another few minutes, then serve the vegetables over the pasta.

Queer Lit

In this, the second post on queer lit, I want to refer to a classic of the field, Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness. It was published in 1928 and was one of the first unapologetically out novels that was read by both queers and straights. For its historical importance, we must salute it.

It’s an easy read, because it’s well-written and it’s easy to sympathise with Stephen Gordon, the main character. She (yes, despite the name, Stephen is female) has a privileged upbringing, pampered by her loving father although she can’t quite form a connection with her chilly mother, and as she enters adulthood, Stephen gradually realises that she is an “invert” (which is how people used to refer to homosexuals).

I won’t spoil the book by telling you what happens next. However, I can point out that many early queer texts (and even some queer books today) tend to end in one of the following ways: the invert dies (by suicide or an accident), the invert goes straight (and generally has a better sex life and a brighter future because of it), the invert is put into a mental hospital, or the invert relinquishes (or is forced to relinquish) the love of his/her life in order to release the beloved from the pain of being queer. Alas, Hall’s novel falls into the unhappy camp. We can’t forget that that reflects the time period, though.

Despite that, I’d recommend it. It has influenced generations of gays (especially lesbians) and generations of queer writers. Hall was brave to write about a lesbian during a time when that wasn’t generally an acceptable topic for serious literature.

Sweet, Gluten-Free Crepes, or Swedish Pancakes

It had been a rough day at work and I was not in a good mood. The only thing that would cheer me up would be a tasty dinner that also didn’t require too much effort. Pancakes it was, but not savoury pancakes. No, only sweet pancakes would do.

So I made a batch of gluten-free crepes, basing my recipe on the standard sort of thin pancakes often referred to as Swedish. M went to the store and got fresh strawberries and cream. I whipped the cream with a touch of vanilla and sugar and we topped the pancakes with layers of that delicious Dalfour strawberry jam (which has no added sugar, so it’s much healthier than other jams), fresh strawberries, and whipped cream. It was delightful and soothing and made me think of summer. It certainly helped my day end on a high note.

Ingredients:
1 cup gluten-free flour
half a teaspoon salt
2 ¼ cups milk or cream, or some combination of the two
3 eggs
vanilla to taste
sugar to taste
2 tbsp butter
butter or oil to fry in
jam, cream, and/or fruit to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add half the milk/cream and blend/whip until smooth. Add the rest of the milk/cream. Then whip in the eggs.
2. Add vanilla and sugar to taste.
3. Melt the butter and add it. Blend everything one last time.
4. Then, in the frying pan, melt a bit more butter or warm the oil to fry the pancakes in.
5. Pour in ¼ or so cup batter into the frying pan and spread it out.
6. Then make pancakes as usual, turning when they are firm and brown on the bottom side, etc.
7. Serve with jam, cream, and/or fruit.

Spelt Pasta with Vegetable Sauce

After giving a talk in a nearby town, I stopped at a nearby posh grocery store. There, I found lots of miniature vegetables, which I guess people think are cuter and perhaps taste sweeter. A package of baby leeks was on sale, so I grabbed it. At home, I made a light, spring-like pasta sauce with the leeks and I included a bunch of asparagus M got at a local farm stand the other day. The dinner was very healthy (except for the fatty cheddar cheese, I guess) and M pronounced it “lovely”.

Ingredients:
5 baby leeks or 1 large one
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
5-8 cherry tomatoes
150 g spelt pasta
water
1 handful black olives
2 containers crushed tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus
cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the leek/s. Fry them lightly in olive oil and add the sugar.
2. Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the leek/s.
3. Set the pasta to boil in the water.
4. Meanwhile, halve the olives and add them and the tomatoes to the leek/s.
5. When the pasta is almost done, add the asparagus to the pot. Boil for two more minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus together.
6. Add the sauce to the pasta. Grate cheddar cheese over and serve.

Gluten-Free Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese

On a recent night, comfort food was what was on order. So I went for a simple vegetable and cheese dish, gluten-free in an attempt to help our health, and with a hint of mustard for extra kick.

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower
½ half broccoli
50 g butter
1/3 cup gluten-free flour
3 tsp mustard
½ cup cream
2 cups milk
120 g cheddar cheese, or other mature cheese, grated or chopped
1 tsp parsley
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash the cauliflower and broccoli, and break them into florets. Then boil them for about 10 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir until mixed.
3. Add the mustard, milk, and cream. Stir.
4. Add about 80 g of the cheese and stir until it is a thick sauce.
5. Season with parsley and pepper.
6. Place the cauliflower and broccoli in one layer at the bottom of an oven-safe dish. Pour the sauce over it.
7. Top with the rest of the cheese.
8. Bake for 30 minutes at 200.

Pseudo-falafel

I like crispy falafel with a full taste or chickpeas. The best I ever had was in Israel, but alas I can’t head to the Middle East every time I get a falafel craving, so I came up with this simple recipe, which is call pseudo-falafel. Real falafel has tahini, but that’s not something I usually or often have on hand, so that’s why these are pseudo. I served them over rice and with watercress and garlic cheese, but any combination of greens and yogurt or creamy cheese will work fine. It’s not the Middle East, but it’s as close as I can get here.

Ingredients:
1 carton chickpeas (about 230 g)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
rice
water
watercress
yogurt or garlic cheese

Instructions:
1. Drain the chickpeas. Blend with the spices, baking powder, lemon juice, and oil with a hand blender until smooth, with some chunky bits left.
2. Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes at 200 C.
3. Cook the rice in the water and add the watercress when the rice is nearly done.
4. Serve the rice topped with falafels and yogurt or garlic cheese.

New York Times DIY Cookbook

This new DIY cookbook from the New York Times has “small kitchen projects that any cook can tackle” and is easy to follow.

Rhubarb Cake

This is a really moist and light cake that is perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. It’s not too sweet, which is how I prefer my desserts, but you can easily increase the amount of sugar, if you prefer. M said it was the best cake I ever made, which is high praise indeed. I’m going to make it for a friend’s birthday dinner as well, because he doesn’t like chocolate and really likes rhubarb, so even if rhubarb cake is not traditional for birthdays, there’s no reason to always follow tradition.

Ingredients:

125 g butter, plus extra for the tin
1 cup sugar
2½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup yogurt or sour cream
¼ cup milk
1 egg
1 portion rhubarb compote (see previous recipe)
sour cream, yogurt, whipped cream, or ice cream

Instructions:
1. Butter the cake tin. Cube the 125 g of butter and put it into the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Add the yogurt, milk, and egg, and mix well.
3. Add about ¾ of the rhubarb compote and mix it into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 40 minutes at 180 C.
5. Serve topped with the rest of the compote and sour cream, yogurt, whipped cream, or ice cream.

Rhubarb Compote

Hurray! It’s rhubarb season. I love the long and beautiful blushing pink stalks and I plan to spend the next weeks trying out a variety of recipes that use them. The first thing I made this year was a rhubarb compote. It can be served with yogurt or cream or ice cream, or you can use it in the rhubarb cake recipe I’ll post next.

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
1 clementine or orange
1 vanilla pod
5 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Put it into a pan.
2. Juice the clementine or orange into the pan. Halve the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Add them and the halves to the pan as well.
3. Add the sugar. Stir everything together.
4. Cook over low heat for about 10 or so minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove the vanilla pod and serve the compote.

Lentils and Pine Nuts

We bought a big container of puy lentils, so I’ve been trying to come up with different things to do with them. They are my favourite sort of lentil and I love how they retain a bit of crunch even after you’ve cooked them for awhile, so they don’t become a shapeless mush. This recipe can be served as a salad or a side dish. As a salad, you could place the lentils over rocket/rucola leaves or another type of green or lettuce.

Ingredients:
1 cup puy lentils
water
75 g pine nuts
mint or parsley
yogurt
olive oil
lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Wash the lentils and boil them in the water for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
2. Add the pine nuts, herbs, yogurt, olive oil, and lemon juice to taste.
3. Serve warm or chilled.

Queer Lit

Much of the emphasis here at Veggie Dyke has been on the veggie part, i.e. I’ve posted lots of vegetarian recipes. While cooking and baking are major parts of my life, they aren’t everything. Literature is my other great love (in terms of career/hobbies; M is, obviously, my great romantic love). So I thought I would occasionally post about queer texts I’ve read; I spend a huge amount of my time reading, teaching, and researching literature, which means I know quite a few texts in what we might call the queer canon.

I’ll start with a book I’ve already mentioned once here, Alison Bechdel’s The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. When I was first exposed to her comics, back in my days as an undergrad at a women’s college, I found them a bit threatening, probably because I was pretty closeted (I had girlfriends, but only ones who weren’t from my school, and I was careful about who knew about them). It was hard to fathom that there were women who lived happy and healthy out lives. I think, to be honest, I was jealous, just as I was jealous of all the women who marched off to the Rainbow Alliance meetings every week or who openly held their girlfriends’ hands on campus.

But here I am, over a decade later (that’s a frightening thought), with the most fantastic partner imaginable and a fairly happy and healthy out life of my own. So I’m in a better place to appreciate Bechdel’s work. I love the fact that her long-running comic is so diverse, although a more cynical person might accuse her of ticking lots of boxes (there are characters from everywhere on the LGBT spectrum, Jews, Muslims, Christians, a variety of socioeconomic classes, many different jobs, there’s a character with a disability, there are different sorts of relationships and families, lots of personality types, etc). Many people can see themselves in Bechdel’s work.

The drawing is well done (naturally), the writing is sometimes funny and sometimes moving and sometimes pedestrian, reflecting the realities of life (although Mo’s political rants do get a bit tiresome), and the story lines are interesting, even if they do move rather fast at times (but that’s probably how it has to be in comics). It’s fascinating to read The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For and notice how prescient Bechdel has been about world events and how her work has reflected the zeitgeist so well, even as it’s been firmly situated in the queer community.

I definitely recommend this book and in fact I plan to use it in my teaching next year. It is worth watching out for Bechdel’s work; you’ll be glad you did.