Planet Veggie

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.

I seem to be having themed meals recently.  The week before last was Italian (home made pizza, sweet potato & mushroom lasagne, mushroom & asparagus pasta); last week was Mexican (white bean chili, spicy bean enchiladas) and now this week seems to be taking on a Quorn theme as on Monday we had Quorn chicken style tikka masala and tonight’s offering was Quorn beef style teriyaki.  And very nice it was too.

Ingredients (serves 2)
300g Beef Style Quorn Pieces
75ml groundnut oil
50ml soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
½ an orange, juice and zest
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
125g dried egg noodles
½ red pepper, thinly sliced
50g mushrooms, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, sliced diagonally into 1cm pieces
½ lemon juice
2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

Method

1. Place the Quorn pieces into a bowl and add 50ml of the groundnut oil, the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, orange juice and zest and rice wine vinegar.  Leave to marinate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
2. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, drain and set aside.
3. Place a wok over a medium heat and add the remaining 25ml of groundnut oil.  Add the Quorn and marinade and cook for a few minutes.  Add the red pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the mushroom and spring onion and cook for 2 minutes more.
4. Add the lemon juice and coriander.
5. Add the drained noodles and combine in the wok with the other ingredients.

As much as I love cheese, after last week’s cheese-covered meals, I go through my cookbooks looking for an appetising cheese-less recipe and I pick up The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook that I haven’t used for years and I see this recipe and think ok, that looks healthy, it’s got beans in it and it even tells you not to peel the potatoes which appeals to a lazy slob like me and so I give it a go and here it is without its potato hat

and here it is covered in potato, not cheese

and after it’d been cooked and plated

and it was delicious and easily veganised by swapping butter for vegan margarine.

Sweet and sour mixed bean hot-pot (serves 6)
Ingredients
450 g/1 lb unpeeled potatoes
15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil
40 g/1½ oz / 3 tbsp butter
40 g/1½ oz plain wholemeal flour
300 ml/½ pint passata
150 ml/¼ pink unsweetened apple juice
60 ml/4 tbsp each light soft brown sugar, tomato ketchup, dry sherry, cider vinegar and light soy sauce
400 g/14 oz can butter beans
400 g/14 oz can flageolet beans
400 g/14 oz can chick peas
175 g/6 oz green beans, chopped and blanched
225 g/8 oz shallots, sliced and blanched
225 g/8 oz mushrooms, sliced
15 ml/1 tbsp each chopped fresh thyme and marjoram
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs of fresh herbs, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.  Thinly slice the potatoes and par-boil them for 4 minutes.  Drain the potatoes thoroughly, toss them in the oil so they are lightly coated all over and set aside.
2. Place the butter, flour, passata, apple juice, sugar, tomato ketchup, sherry, vinegar and soy sauce in a saucepan.  Heat gently, whisking continuously, until the sauce comes to the boil and thickens.  Simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring.
3. Rinse and drain the beans and chickpeas and add to the sauce with all the remaining ingredients, except the herb garnish.  Mix well.
4. Spoon the bean mixture into a casserole.
5. Arrange the potato slices over the top, overlapping them slightly and completely covering the bean mixture.
6. Cover the casserole with foil and bake for about 1 hour, until the potaotes are cooked and tender.  Remove the foil for the last 20 minutes of the cooking time, to lighly brown the potatoes.  Serve garnished with fresh herb sprigs.