Planet Veggie

A few weeks ago I cycled past a house with a table bearing an array of vegetables and a box of eggs.  Next to these was a price list and a jar for money.  I didn’t have any money on me at the time but ever since going past this house, I’ve had a desperate urge to buy eggs from there but every time I cycled past (which was almost every day) there were no more eggs and I returned home disappointed.  I ran past there on Tuesday morning and THERE WERE EGGS THERE!  As I was running, I had no money on me but planned to go back later and hope that the eggs were still there.

They weren’t.

But yesterday when I cycled past, THERE WERE EGGS THERE and I had money on me and everything and so I threw caution to the wind and put all my eggs in one basket and put £1 in the jar and cycled home happily with my fresh out of a chicken’s bum eggs.  And so tonight I made a cheese, tomato and mushroom omelette.  And very nice it was too.

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 eggs
1 green chili, chopped
150g mushrooms, sliced
100g cheese, grated
1 tomato, sliced

Fry the mushrooms in some butter and set aside.
Beat the eggs with the green chili.
Heat some butter in a large frying pan.
Add the beaten egg.
Cook until nearly set.
Add the mushrooms, tomato and cheese over half of the omelette.
Fold over the uncovered half over the half with the mushrooms, etc. on.
Slide onto a plate.
Slice into two.
Serve with jacket wedges and peas.
If you’re a wuss like The Meat Eater, pick out the pieces of green chili and leave them on your plate.

Another one from Leith’s Vegetarian Bible tonight, although not a lazy one, as this dish took around an hour to make.

As well as blogging my dinner, I’ve somehow been talked into drawing it too.  My mountain mate David has started a Facebook group called Draw Your Dinner where people draw pictures of their dinner (or lunch) and post them for everyone to see.  It is strangely fun.  You can join the group here.

Now, back to my dinner.

There’s eggs in here somewhere

Eggs set and cheese melted, before going under the grill

And served up with jacket wedges, peas, broad beans and sweetcorn

Chilli-baked eggs (this recipe serves 4, but I halved it)

1 small red pepper

1 small green pepper

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 jalapeno chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/ teaspoon chilli powder

1 x 400g/14 oz can of chopped tomatoes

1 x 225g/8 oz can of chopped tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and freshly ground pepper

8 medium eggs

110g/4 oz Cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

1. Cut the red and green peppers in half and remove the stalks, pith and seeds.  Cut the flesh into small dice.
2. Heat the oil in a large, deep, non-stick frying pan with a lid.  Add the peppers and onion and fry over a low heat for 4-5 minutes until soft but not browned.  Add the garlic, chillies, cumin and chilli powder and fry for 1 minute.  Add the chopped tomatoes, Tabasco and oregano and simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Make 8 hollows in the sauce with the back of a wooden spoon and carefully break an egg into each one.  Crumble over the cheese, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until the eggs are set to your liking and the cheese has melted.  Meanwhile, preheat the grill to high.
4. Slide the frying pan under the grill and cook for 1 minute until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Another cookbook I don’t use that often is Leith’s Vegetarian Bible, although I don’t know why, as it’s great.  It has 1000 recipes arranged by vegetable type, so if you’re wondering what to with those leftover mushrooms, just turn to the mushroom section and this book will give you a load of options.  There are a few colour photographs but for a book this size (over 500 pages), if every recipe was photographed, it would take up an entire library and you’d need a winning lottery ticket.  Another quick and easy meal, this week’s theme seems to be laziness.

Artichoke hearts carbonara (serves 2)

1 x 400 g/14 oz can of artichoke hearts
340 g/12 oz tagliatelle or spaghetti
salt and freshly ground black pepper
25 g/1 oz butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 egg
3 tablespoons crème fraîche
50 g/2 oz vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Drain the artichokes and pat dry on kitchen paper.  Cut into quarters.  Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook for about 10 minutes until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a heavy frying pan, add the onion and fry over a low heat until softened.  Add the artichokes and garlic and fry for 2 further minutes.
3. Whisk together the egg, crème fraîche and half the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add to the pan with the artichokes and stir until hot but not boiling and very slightly thickened.
4. Drain the pasta thoroughly.  Return to the saucepan and stir in the artichoke sauce.  Season with salt and plenty of pepper.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and the parsley.

This dish is perfect for a Monday evening when you can’t be bothered to spend a lot of time cooking.  Quick, easy and delicious.  It’s taken from Hansa’s Indian Vegetarian Cookbook: Popular Recipes from Hansa’s Gujarati Restaurant which is a book I can’t say much about – except it has some pretty pictures – as this is the only dish I’ve tried from it so far.  But after tonight’s success, I’ll certainly be trying out some more dishes from it.

Ringan mattar (aubergine and pea curry)
Serves 4
Preparation time 20 minutes / cooking time 25 minutes

1 large aubergine (cut into chunky pieces)

3/4 lb (330gm) frozen peas

1 tsp ginger (crushed)

1 tsp garlic (crushed)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin and coriander powder

1 tsp red chillies

1 tin chopped tomatoes

5 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 pt (140 ml) water

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.  When the mustard seeds pop and turn grey, add the tomatoes and the rest of the spices.
2. Let the mixture simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the oil starts to separate from the mixture.
3. Add the aubergine chunks, peas and water and mix well.
4. Cover the pan and let it cook for 20-25 minutes on a low heat, stirring frequently.

I am truly a domestic goddess.  I know this because I make pizza from scratch, including the dough, and therefore this makes me a domestic goddess.  Even if I do make the dough in a bread machine.   And even though I can never roll the dough into a circle.

After you’ve rolled the dough into whatever shape you like (mine’s a kind of retarded Babapapa shape I think), cook the dough in the oven for a while until cooked (I don’t have accurate times, sorry, but I put it on about 200C for about 20 minutes I think).

You may be lucky and have an oven that evenly cooks stuff.  Unlike me (but I can blame The Meat Eater for that, as it’s his oven).

Add the toppings; my choice was tomato sauce (heat half a can of chopped tomatoes up until thickened, add basil/chili/curry powder; whatever seasonings you fancy), onions, spring onions, mushrooms, red chili, olives, mozzarella, cheddar and a bit of Redwoods Vegan Melting Mozzarella in one corner to see what it was like as I’d heard about it but had never seen it in London and I was in the Holland & Barrett recently in Ashford and they had a brilliant selection of veggie/vegan food that I haven’t tried before.

Here’s the corner with the vegan mozzarella (the grated bit).

Put in the oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling (or if you have a cr*p oven, give up after 20 minutes and stick it under the grill). And here’s the cooked pizza.

And here’s the cooked bit with the vegan cheese on.

And the verdict.  Yum.  The base was a bit soggy, like it usually is when I make it.  If anyone has any tips on how to stop the base going soggy, please let me know.  I thought cooking the base before and after would help with this, but obviously not.

And as for the vegan cheese.  Well, definitely not disgusting like most vegan cheese and when I tried a bit raw I was pleasantly surprised but on the pizza it was a bit tasteless, it had sort of melted but not like cheese, the texture was a bit gritty and strange and I’m not sure if I did one of my veganthon things again I’d bother with it but nicer than other vegan cheese I’ve tried.  Maybe I’ll give it a go on toast; it was probably a bit unfair comparing it literally side by side with normal cheese.

Pizza dough (Makes 1 large pizza)
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1.5 cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup water, plus
1 tablespoon water

Put the ingredients in your machine in the order listed, select the dough cycle and press start.  Takes about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Toppings
Tomato sauce (heat half a can of chopped tomatoes up)
Onions
Spring onions
Mushrooms
Red chili
Olives
Mozzarella
Cheddar

Tonight’s dinner was made from the brilliant Veganomicon.  I love this book.

This is the only vegan cookbook I’ve ever made anything nice out of, although a lot of the  ingredients are items I’d find difficult to get hold of in London, let alone in a small village in Kent.

I kept quiet about it being vegan to The Meat Eater until he’d told me (without prompting or being kicked under the table) how nice it was and how he liked the fact that although I had spilt a lot of curry powder all over the hob, there wasn’t too much curry powder taste to it (probably because I’d spilt it all over the hob…).

The original recipe calls for Seitan Cutlets but I swapped that for tofu.

Ingredients (serves 4)

½ pound fresh udon noodles or dried udon noodles

Curry roux sauce
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons sugar

Udon stir-fry
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin strips
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 hot red chili pepper, sliced very thinly (optional)
1 block of tofu, cubed
½ pound broccoli florets, sliced into bite-size chunks
¼ cup vegetable broth
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

Prepare the curry roux sauce

Combine the flour and 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture browns to the colour of rich caramel and smells toasty, about 10 minutes or less.  Stir in curry powder and garam masala, and cook for another minute while stirring constantly.  Switch to using a wire whisk, then pour in the vegetable broth in a steady stream.  Whisk in the sugar and cook the roux, stirring constantly, until a thick sauce forms, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

To prepare the stir-fry

Heat the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a large (at least 11-inch) non-stick frying pan or a wok and cook the sliced onion for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and translucent.  Add the ginger, red bell pepper, hot chili, and tofu, and stir-fry for another 5 minutes, until the pepper starts to soften.  Add the broccoli and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns bright green.

Add the udon noodles to the stir-fried vegetables, sprinkle with soy sauce and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

Whisk ¼ cup of the vegetable broth into the curry roux sauce in the saucepan.  Pour the sauce over the udon stir-fry and stir to coat everything completely with the sauce.  Stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the sauce is simmering and the noodles are warm.  Remove from the heat and serve.

Back to an old faithful cookbook tonight, the Good Housekeeping Step by Step Vegetarian Cookbook.  I’ve never made a bad meal out of it and it has the added bonus of every single dish in it being indexed at the beginning with a colour photograph, along with plenty of colour photographs in the main sections too.  It also gives you useful information such as calories, suitability for freezing and preparation and cooking time. 

I originally thought this was going to be a healthyish meal, but after seeing how much cheese and butter went into it, I’ve since changed my mind.  Especially as after conferring with The Meat Eater that if the recipe says it serves 2-4, does that mean we should eat all of it, he said yes, we should.  But I cycled 17.3 miles today so I don’t feel too much of a pig.  A small pig, maybe.

 Asparagus, broad bean and parmesan frittata (serves 2-4)
175 g (6 oz) small new potatoes
225 g (8 oz) asparagus spears
225 g (8 oz) frozen broad beans, thawed
6 eggs
Salt and pepper
50 g (2 oz) vegetarian Parmesan, freshly grated
45 ml (3 tbsp) chopped mixed herbs, such as parsley, oregano and thyme
50 g (2 oz) unsalted butter

1.  Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 15-20 minutes until tender.  Allow to cool, then slice thickly.
2. Meanwhile, trim the asparagus, removing any woody parts of the stems.  Place in a steamer over boiling water and cook for 12 minutes until tender.  Immediately plunge into cold water to set the colour and cool completely.
3. Slip the broad beans out of their waxy skins.  Drain the asparagus, pat dry, then cut into short lengths.  Mix with the broad beans.
4. Put the eggs in a bowl with a good pinch of salt, plenty of pepper and half of the vegetarian Parmesan cheese.  Beat well, then stir in the asparagus, broad beans and chopped herbs.
5. Melt 40 g butter in a 25 cm (10 inch) heavy-based non-stick frying pan.  When foaming, pour in the egg mixture.  Turn down the heat to as low as possible.  Cook for about 15 minutes, until the frittata is set but the top is still a little runny.
6. Scatter the cooked sliced potato over the frittata and sprinkle with the remaining vegetarian Parmesan cheese.  Dot with the rest of the butter.
7. Place under a hot grill until the cheese is golden and bubbling and the top is just set.  Slice the frittata onto a warmed plate and cut into wedges to serve.