The Preservation Society

Or my attempt at a zero waste life….

There are many things in this world I love and one of them is a bargain. One thing I hate is food waste. So when my local greengrocer had 1 kilo of strawberries for £1 and about 2 kilos of limes for £1 I was powerless to resist.

I made a strawberry mousse cake that started out life as an attempt at cheesecake, see previous post. I juiced lots of limes to make the fresh lime sodas I enjoyed so much on my recent trip to India, (salty, not sweet is the way to go here people). But I still had a lot of produce left.

The dilemma. What to do with it all? Answer, get preserving!

Strawberry and rose conserve

Chopped strawberries and dried rose petals

This is so easy! Chop your strawberries. For plain jam leave it at this. I decided to add a few dried rose petals and a few drops of rosewater. Add equal amounts of preserving sugar to strawberries and the juice of a lime or lemon. Heat very slowly in a preserving pan or large heavy bottomed saucepan until the sugar melts and then bring to a rolling boil.

Boil unitl setting point is reached, this will take maybe 20 minutes. You can test this either by using a sugar thermometer or place a saucer in the freezer at the start of cooking and spoon a small amount of the jam into the cold saucer and leave for a few minutes. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it set. If not keep cooking and try again after 10 minutes.

Once ready leave to cool a little then decant into sterilised jars. Now get making some scones…..

Preserved limes

Same concept as preserved lemons. Scrub the limes well and quarter. Into sterilised jars layer salt and limes packing tightly. Add any herbs and spices you wish. I added a bay leaf, some fennel seeds and a couple of cardamon pods to each jar. Top up the jars with lime juice and seal tightly. Store in a cupboard for around 4 weeks and use in the same way as preserved lemon.

I’ll let you know how they turned out in a few weeks.

Bye friends!

When recipes go wrong: Vegan Strawberry Mousse Cake

Look at these luscious pink beauties! Who can resist a bowl of ripe strawberries? Not me!

I’m a pretty good cook but it is true to say that I’m much better at savoury then sweet. Baking is my bete noir and I’ve had my fair share of disasters.

However, I’m nothing if not a trier, ( and those who know me will confirm that I am very trying indeed), so I decided to make a strawberry cheesecake from a recipe posted on Instagram. It looked amazing, the photography was gorgeous, there was a straightforward list of ingredients. What could go wrong? Lots.

Firstly, a conventional biscuit base. I chose Hobnobs and gingernuts whizzed together to make crumbs the bound together with melted vegan butter and put in a loose-bottomed cake tin. So far, so good and it tasted delicious.

Next, the filling. Fresh strawberries whizzed up and added to thick soya yoghurt, then a can of coconut milk.

Finally, the setting agent, agar agar cooked with a little plant milk which was supposed to set the whole thing. This my friends is where things started to go wrong. It went terribly clumpy. Nevertheless I whisked it all in and then mixed up a bit more and added that to ensure a good set, just for good measure! After several hours in the fridge, still liquid. After a night in the fridge, still liquid. So into the freezer it went. And out it came the next day, and boy was it frozen. Could have used it as a lethal weapon to cause blunt force trauma then eaten the evidence. Death by (failed) cheesecake.

So what started as a cheese cake has now turned into something that needs to be stored in the freezer then thawed for about 3 hours to make it edible and semi solid. I’m calling it a ‘mousse’ cake as it is fairly soft set. Still tasted good though!

Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat!

If you have a go at this I hope you have more success than me. Can’t win ’em all!

Bye friends and happy baking!

Sticky orange tofu noodle bowl.

Busy day? Me too. Need a bowl of food thats tasty and healthy yet still comforting? Me too. Need it to be ready quickly so you can flop on the sofa and watch TV for the rest of the evening? Me too. Love ramen? Me too.

Read on my friends for the easiest meal you’re going to make this week.

Sticky orange glazed tofu ramen bowl

Ideally, take a few minutes the previous evening to press and marinate the tofu overnight. If you don’t have time to do this don’t worry, it’s still good!

Serves 2 hungry people

1 block of firm tofu ideally pressed to remove excess liquid

3 oranges or mandarins, juiced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

Cornflour

Orange marmalade, approx 2 tablespoons

2 packets of instant noodles

Soy sauce to taste

Fresh veggies to garnish eg cucumber, bell peppers, spring onions

Fresh coriander

Black or white sesame seeds

Optional extras: sesame oil, pickled sushi ginger, sliced fresh red chilli

Slice or cube the pressed tofu and marinate in the citrus juice, garlic and ginger. Ideally overnight or as long as you can manage. Drain and reserve the liquid. Coat each tofu slice in cornflour and panfry on each side in a little oil. Once all the slices are fried and crispy set aside. To the same pan add the reserved liquid along with a couple of tablespoons of marmalade and a couple of teaspoons of cornflour dissolved in water -this will help thicken the sauce. Stir constantly until the marmalade is melted into the sauce. Add more liquid if required to get to your preferred consistency. Add the tofu slices back into the pan with the sauce and heat through.

Meanwhile cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Season with soy sauce and perhaps a little sesame oil.

Add the noodles to a large shallow bowl and top with your sticky orange tofu slices. Add some raw veggies at the side for extra freshness and crunch and garnish with coriander and sesame seeds.

Enjoy friends!

Squash, spinach and chickpea tagine

Like Moroccan food? Then you should love this. Fresh and healthy with the delicate spicing of cinnamon, just a touch of heat from harissa and the unmistakeable sourness of preserved lemon.

I’ve used butternut squash as the main vegetable here but you can adapt the recipe to use up whatever veggies you have to hand with potatoes, carrots and swede working particularly well. I make my own preserved lemons but they are easily available in supermarkets.

This is easy to make, lasts for days and will become part of your meal prep rotation. Serve with cous cous or rice for an easy main course or make as part of a fabulous Middle Eastern mezze spread for a special occasion.

Makes enough for about 4 servings.

1 onion diced

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

Cinnamon stick

Half a large butternut squash, peeled and cubed

3 large handfuls of spinach

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1 small or half a large preserved lemon, finely chopped

Water or veg stock

Harissa paste, 1 or 2 tablespoons

Salt and pepper to taste

The aroma of this will fill your kitchen…

In a large frying pan heat a little oil and gently fry the onion, harissa, garlic and ginger until soft and fragrant. Add the squash, preserved lemon and cinnamon stick. Cover with water or stock to just cover the squash and cook for around ten or 15 minutes until the squash is just soft.

Add in the chickpeas and spinach and heat through. Season to taste.

Serve in a bowl with rice or cous cous and some soya yoghurt with a swirl of harissa and garnish with fresh coriander if liked. Or scatter over dried rose petals if you are feeling particularly fancy!

Enjoy friends!

The Breakfast Club

Hello friends!

If you have stumbled across this post expecting a glowing tribute to the 1985 teen classic I’m afraid you’re about to be bitterly disappointed!

Instead I shall be discussing that other timeless classic – breakfast – with not a brat packer in sight.

Some call it the most important meal of the day. I don’t. I am you see essentially a very lazy person.

I will always, always, unwaveringly, without a shadow of a doubt choose an extra 10 minutes in bed over getting up to make breakfast on a weekday.

Give me a Saturday or a Sunday though my friends and it’s a whole different story, where breakfasts and brunches are to be savoured, bloody marys are to be drunk and coffee to be consumed in such vast quantities that your heart does that skippy beat thing.

The breakfast lovers dilemma: savoury or sweet?

Well its a darn good job there are two days to the weekend – you can do one of each!

Whats your favourite vegan weekend breakfast/brunch dish? Here are a few of mine.

Breakfast burrito

Take either a wheat or corn tortilla and spread with salsa, homemade is best if you have time. Of course you do, it’s the weekend right? Top with your favourite scrambled tofu recipe, some hot sauce and perhaps a dollop of vegan sour cream, grated vegan cheese, pickled jalapeños…..

One day I’m gonna master folding a burrito! That day is evidently still some time off.

Roll that baby up and devour!

The Great British Breakfast Fry Up

It used to be said that to eat well in Britain one should have breakfast three times a day. Ouch!

Happily our food culture is now much better, yet it remains a truth that the great British breakfast is a thing of beauty.

Here are my fry up commandments:

Thou shall not be too healthy. Lighten up and get your frying pan out, it’s the weekend.
Toast should be involved and that toast should be white.
Vegan bacon substitutes are best avoided.
Tomato ketchup is the condiment of choice. Brown sauce is not acceptable. Ever.
Sausages are an essential component. If there ain’t sausages, it ain’t breakfast.

Other that that I’m fairly relaxed! Scrambled tofu, hash browns, sautéed potatoes, potato scones, tomatoes, sautéed spinach, avocado all have their place. Preferably all on one very large plate. This is no time for moderation.

Things on toast

Generally, we’re talking sourdough here friends.

Top toppings:

Vegan butter, melted into the hot toast then a thin scraping of marmite
Baked beans topped with grated cheese that is melted under the grill
Mashed avocado with sriracha
Hoummus topped with kimchi
Sautéed spinach and cherry tomatoes
Mashed banana and cinnamon
Marmelade
PB and J

Rye sourdough with tapenade and sauerkraut

Pancakes and waffles

Stack ’em high and top ’em generously. Maple syrup is usually involved.

Blueberry pancakes with vegan lemon curd.

Waffles with blueberries, figs and maple syrup

Patisserie

Rejoice! Vegan croissants and pain au chocolat are now easily available. In this household they are served warm with black coffee and two middle aged vegans who should really know better talking in faux French accents.

So friends, thats my low down on just a few of my favourite weekend breakfasts. Happy eating!

Minimising food waste with stuffed potato pancakes

If like me you reach the end of the week with an assortment of odds and sods and slightly limp veggies lurking in the fridge then this could be the recipe for you. This is my continuing project this week, Operation Clearout, to empty my fridge of perishables before going on holiday. No foodwaste in this house, no siree.

A base of mashed potato, (what’s not to love?), with a savoury filling and fried to golden perfection.

Stuff these pancakes with whatever takes your fancy and spice accordingly. Go Indian with peas, onion, chilli and garam masala? How about Italian with courgette, aubergine and tomato with fresh basil and oregano? Down Mexico way with black beans, corn and chilli perhaps?

Savoury stuffed potato pancakes

No set ingredients or quantities, use what you’ve got, you know what to do!

It starts with a pot of mashed potatoes…..

Take cooled mashed potatoes, I used 2 large baking potatoes, season with salt and pepper and add some plain flour until you have quite a stiff dough.

Now prepare your filling. Here I have used half a red onion, a few sorry looking mushrooms, garlic and parsley. Saute them all together for 10 minutes or so. Season to taste. Add some grated vegan cheese.

Now comes the messy part! Take a potato ball and flatten out in the palm of your hand. Put a spoonful of filling in the centre and then carefully wrap the rest of the potato ‘dough’ over and around to make a ball again. Flatten your potato ball into a pancake shape.

Shallow fry to golden, crispy perfection.

Here I’ve served them with mince stuffed cabbage rolls, (see previous post), with vegan sour cream.

Enjoy friends!

Stuffed cabbage rolls and an easy soup

Hello friends!

I had a big cook last weekend and made far too much of a delicious bulgur wheat salad with shredded Brussels sprouts and pomegranate seeds and a large pot of veggie mince – which a week later I’m still ploughing through! One day I will learn not to make too much ( and stop buying a cheeky pizza midweek instead of using what’s in the fridge). So I’ve been adapting the taste of this vast cauldron slightly by adjusting the spicing to make it match what I’ve been cooking through the week. So, chillies and hot sauce to go with my loaded nachos; basil, oregano and sun-dried tomatoes for spaghetti bolognaise.

I’m eventually getting to the end and have made stuffed cabbage rolls for the first time to use up the last of it and damn are they tasty!

Off on holiday in 4 days so the rest of this week is dedicated to Operation Clearout and use up all the perishables in the fridge as I’m still on my no food waste kick. First up – broccoli and cheese soup. It’s a winner!

Stuffed cabbage rolls

This is more an assembly of ingredients than a proper recipe, but for what it’s worth here’s how I did it!

Makes 4 rolls

1 jar pickled cabbage leaves or use blanched white or green cabbage, 8 leaves

2 cups savoury soya mince, use leftovers or make from scratch with your favourite veggies and herbs and spices

1 cup of tomato sauce, homemade or from a jar

Use 2 cabbage leaves per roll. Spread out the cabbage leaves and place a quarter of the mince mixture into the centre. Wrap the cabbages leaves around the filling to make a secure parcel. Repeat with the rest of the cabbage and filling to make 4 good size rolls. Spread half a cup of tomato sauce on the base of a baking dish, place the cabbage rolls on top and then cover with the rest of the sauce. Bake at 180 degrees for around half and hour until thoroughly heated through.

Variations: add in cooked rice to the mince for a more substantial filling. Finely chop leftover pickled cabbage and add to the mince. A big dollop of vegan sour cream on top would go nicely.

Once bake, served with herbed sour cream and bulgar wheat salad

Cheesy peasy broccoli soup

When you have a head of broccoli hanging around that’s looking past its best and a couple of odds and ends of cheese that need using up then this is the soup for you! I used a mixture of cheddar style and spicy jalapeño style cheese.

Makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 large head of broccoli

1 large brown onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of vegetable stock

2 cups of plant milk

Half a cup of nutritional yeast

Half a cup of vegan cheese of choice

Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the oil in a large pot and gently sauté the onion and garlic for a few minutes until soft.

Prepare the broccoli. Cut into small florets. Don’t waste the stalks, chop these up finely as well and add to the onions. add in the stock and plant milk and bring to a simmer. Add in the cheese and keep at a gentle simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the broccoli is soft. Season to taste then add in the nutritional yeast last, so as not to destroy all those lovely B vitamins!

My vegetable dodging partner went back for seconds so it must be good.

Enjoy friends!

So Nacho

Hello friends!

I firmly believe there are few finer things in life than getting stuck into a large bowl of loaded nachos. Crunchy! Spicy! Cheesy! Salsa-y! You get my drift, they are finger lickin’ good. Cutlery strictly forbidden. These MUST be eaten with your fingers. It’s the law.

It is of course slightly ridiculous to try to post a recipe for these – you simply load them up with whatever takes your fancy. Like dressing on a blustery day, the key is layering. A layer of crunchy chips with dollops of lovely toppings then another layer of chips with more toppings, building a delicious maize based construction of edible beauty as you go.

Loaded vegan nachos

Adjust your quantities to the number of people you are feeding/ level of greed

Tortilla chips, plain or flavoured depending on personal preference

Vegan chilli, soya based or bean based

Salsa, jarred or homemade – your favourite one

Vegan sour cream

Grated vegan cheese eg cheddar style or pepperjack style

Sweetcorn kernals

Sliced pickled jalapeños from a jar

Diced fresh tomatoes

Diced red onion

Diced avocado

Sriracha chilli sauce

First, a layer of tortilla chips in the bottom of your bowl. Dollop spoonfuls of chilli and salsa. Repeat.

Just keep piling it in, its not rocket science people

Now start to add in the other goodies. A sprinkle of sweetcrorn, a soft blanket of cheese…..

Time to top off! Big cooling dollops of sour cream interspersed with those firey green devils that are jalapeños. Finally, an obscene amount of sriracha. Head down, stuck in, the messier the better.

Enjoy friends!

Coconut Rice Pudding

What do you need to warm you up after a long walk on a cold winters day? A comforting rice pudding of course!

This version uses coconut milk for extra richness, the warm fragrance of cardamom and the freshness of mango for the promise of warm sunnier days to come.

Coconut rice pudding with mango and cardamom

Half a cup of short grain rice ( I used arborio)

1 can of coconut milk

2 tablespoons golden caster suger

3 cardamom pods

1 very ripe mango, half sliced and half puréed

Add the rice, coconut milk, cardamom pods and sugar to a pan, bring to the boil and simmer on a gentle heat until the rice is cooked. It may take around 25 minutes. Once the rice is soft remove the cardamom and discard these. Put the rice into bowls and swirl through somemango puree then top with sliced mango.

Enjoy friends!

Cooking the books

My name is Carol-Ann and I am a cook book addict. Don’t judge me.

I know I have far more books than I could possibly need. I know I lie in bed reading them rather than cooking from them. I know my bookshelves are groaning and full. But I just cannot help myself, whenever I see a shiny new book with gorgeous photography and delicious recipes, I swear I can actually hear it calling out to me ‘buy me, you know you want me’ and friends I am weak!

I have made a resolution this year to try to actually go through my collection and start cooking from those I have hitherto only gazed at or scratched the surface of.

I’m starting with Honey and Co. I’m lucky enough to have a signed copy of this book having met the authors at an event at The School of Artisan Food a couple of years ago. They were lovely people and this book is packed full of lovely recipes from the Middle East. Its not a vegan book but there are loads of plant based recipes and plenty others that are easily adapted.

I have made muhamra (also called muhammara in other recipes) which I told you about 2 posts back.

This spicy dip is delicious. I had it with bread and baked pita chips. It would also be great with raw carrot, celery or red or green peppers. So yummy. The pomegranate molasses give it a delicious swwet and sour note.

The reason I started this little project with Honey and Co is because of this:

I bought a quince last week and realised I had no idea what to do with it other than make quince jam or paste. Honey and Co to the rescue with a delicious savoury recipe. Meatballs with a sweet, sour and spicy sauce. I veganised it by using veggie meatballs and made a few tweaks to the sauce recipe. Here’s how I made it.

Vegan Meatballs with a sweet, sour and spicy sauce

Vegan meatballs of your choice, I used two packs of Marks and Spencer Plant Kitchen. The texture of them was a little soft. Sainsbury’s frozen vegan meatballs would work really well here, these are the ones I will use next time I make this.

1 quince, core and seeds removed. Peel kept on. Chopped into large chunks

1 whole garlic bulb, cloves finely chopped

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil

5 tablespoons of tomato purée

1 tablespoon of harissa

1 lemon, strips of skin peeled off and the fruit juiced

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Half a cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

750ml water or veggie stock

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the garlic. Your kitchen will smell amazing! Add the lemon peel, bay leaves, tomato purée and harissa along with the cinnamon stick and the smoked paprika and fry for a few moments. Add the lemon juice and cooked for a few minutes more before adding the quince and stock.

Allow the sauce to bubble away for a good half an hour and in the meantime cook your vegan meatballs. After half an hour add your cooked meatballs to the sauce and quince mixture and let it bubble away gently for another half an hour. Season to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley if liked.

I served this with steamed white rice cooked with mace and garnished with pomegranate seeds.

This recipe was exactly what it claimed to be: sweet, sour and spicy. It had quite an unusal taste with the fruit in the sauce but was delicious.

Meatballs and quince in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce with rice

Enjoy friends! Until next time.