Vegusto

Many vegan cheeses are made with soya, and since M can’t eat that, we’ve had to look further afield for alternatives. Cheezly’s no-soya cheese was okay, but it went mouldy within three days, which is way too fast.

We’ve discovered <a href="http://www.vegusto.co.uk/shop/">Vegusto</a>. It is the nicest vegan cheese we’ve found. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive, but it is worth it. We order a bunch at one time so we don’t have to keep paying for delivery and then we freeze it. It’s actually much easier to grate onto pasta or other dishes if it’s been frozen, we found.

Their cheese sauce is nice as well and we’ve tried various “burgers” and “meats” as well, which were tasty. In short, we’re impressed!

Pizza Toppings

We’ve been making lots of tasty vegan pizzas lately.

We’ve fallen for Vegusto (more on that in the next post), so we’ve used their “hotsami” and melting cheese as toppings on pizza.

One of our favourites is with mushrooms, corn, olives and spinach.

Basically, any combination of vegetables will work fairly well (courgette gets a bit slimy, though).

Just roll out the dough, spread with sauce, add the toppings, then bake for 15-25 minutes at 200 C. Yum!

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp agave or sugar

1 tin tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Warm some olive oil in a saucepan.

2. Peel and dice the onion and garlic and cook them in the oil. Add the agave or sugar so they caramelise. Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes. Continue to cook, stirring now and then, for 5-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

Pizza Dough 2

With M not being able to eat dairy, one thing we have missed is pizza. So we decided to make a nice vegan pizza one relaxing weekend. Here is our pizza dough recipe.

Ingredients:

350 g bread flour (we used 250 g white and 150 g brown, for a nice flavour)

2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp fast-action dried yeast

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

200 ml lukewarm water (about 1 cup)

cornmeal/polenta, optional

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together well.

2. Place in a warm spot to rise for about 1-2 hours.

3. Knead on an oiled surface and shape into a pizza.

4. Sprinkle with cornmeal for a little extra crunch (or roll out the dough on top of the cornmeal). Then top and bake as desired.

Vegan Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:

360 g flour

about 200 g Cookeen

1 pinch salt

4-6 tbsp cold water

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, spread, and salt together until it comes together like breadcrumbs.

2. Add the water as needed. Chill the dough, covered, in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

3. Roll out and use as needed.

Chocolate Almond Cake

My mother sent me a recipe and I am not sure where it was from, but this is my version of it. I made just a half portion (i.e. half of what is here) the first time, as it is so rich.

The recipe suggested this method of baking, but next time I will try it without the water bath.

Ingredients:

340 g dark chocolate

½ cup oil or ¾ cup butter plus extra for the tin

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup coffee

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup ground almonds (or hazelnuts, or other nut)

6 eggs

hot water

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate with the oil or butter, vanilla, and coffee.

2. Add in the sugar, salt, and nuts. Stir well.

3. Whisk the eggs and add them in.

4. Grease a cake tin and put the batter in it. Then put the cake tin in a roasting pan and add the water. Loosely cover the tin with foil.

5. Bake at 170 C for 40-90 minutes (depending on if you have made a full portion or a half portion).

Bagels

You can’t get good bagels in the city where I live, so we have to make them ourselves!

Ingredients:

4½ cups flour (I used plain white, but you can mix in wholemeal too)

1 package dried yeast (7 g)

2-3 tbsp sugar (or some combination of sugar and honey), plus 1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp oil

1½ cups warm water, plus more water for boiling

1 egg

sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion seeds, garlic, oats, etc

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, yeast, 2-3 tbsp sugar, salt, oil, and water together well.

2. Leave in a warm place to rise 30-60 minutes.

3. Then knead and divide into 12 pieces. Put a hole in the middle of each. Leave to rise another 20-30 minutes.

4. Bring water to a boil with the 1 tbsp sugar. Boil 4 bagels at a time in a large saucepan for 7-8 minutes, turning over halfway through.

5. Brush egg over the bagels. Top with seeds, garlic, oats, or other things, or leave plain.

6. Bake for 15-25 minutes at 190 C.

Chestnut Pie

When we had a friend visit us from another city for a day, we went to one of the vegetarian restaurants in town. That day’s special was chestnut pie and it was very hearty and filling, which was great considering how cold it was. We each ordered that and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I decided to make something similar at home. This was my first attempt, but I plan to try other chestnut pies, sweet and savoury, in the future.

Ingredients:

200 g chestnuts (vacuum-sealed or tinned)

1-2 onions

oil

1 vegetable stock cube

other herbs/spices, as desired (I used some rosemary, cinnamon, and a hint of mint)

about 300 g vegetables of your choice (I used mushrooms and a courgette)

water (about 1 cup)

1 package puff pastry (500 g)

Instructions:

1. Grind the chestnuts or else dice them into small pieces.

2. Chop the onion/s and fry the pieces lightly in oil a saucepan. Add the stock cube and the other herbs/spices.

3. Chop the vegetables and add them to the pan. Fry for a few moments and then add the water and boil for 5-10 minutes over low heat.

4. Add the chestnuts.

5. Roll out the puff pastry and separate it into two pieces (one will be the lid, so it should be smaller).

6. Oil an oven-safe dish and line with puff pastry. Fill with the chestnut mixture and put the lid on top.

7. Bake at 200 C for 20-35 minutes.

Fish Chowder

This is a dish that’s really easy to vary. Use different types of fish or vegetables. I might make it if we have fish-eaters over for dinner.

Ingredients:

100 g (or more) potatoes (I used Jerusalem artichokes once for a very different flavour and it turned out well, with a hint of sweetness)

olive oil

1 vegetable stock cube

2 stalks of celery

1 cup other vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, onions, whatever you like)

water (about 3 cups)

2 fish fillets (haddock, cod, salmon) and/or 1 bag frozen prawns (about 300 g)

smoked salmon (about 50 g)

milk (about 1 cup; I used rice milk)

herbs (mint, thyme, tarragon, parsley)

paprika and/or black pepper

Instructions:

1. Scrub and/or peel the potatoes (or Jerusalem artichokes), rub with oil, then roast for 20-30 minutes at 200 C.

2. Put about 1 tbsp of oil in a large pot and add the stock cube. Warm gently.

3. Wash and chop the celery and other vegetables. Add them to the pot and fry lightly.

4. Boil the water and add it.

5. Remove the bones and skin from the fish and break the fillets into pieces. Add the fish (and/or prawns) to the pot. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

6. Add the potatoes (or Jerusalem artichokes) and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

7. Break/cut the pieces of smoked salmon and add it and the milk, herbs, and paprika and/or pepper. Cook for another 5 or so minutes.

8. Stir and serve.