This is a lively one; zesty, colourful and filled with spice. Ideal for a winter party, sure to brighten things up! Playing with hummus flavours is something I believe all vegans enjoy, absolutely nothing wrong with the classic, but hummus is one of the tastiest vehicles imaginable for fabulous flavours! Hummus is important!! It’s one of those things that we can all cook, and we all have our own take on, some prefer a little more tahini, some more garlic…..
This hummus is not only a great combination of flavours, it’s also filled with all we need at this time of year to keep us shining, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, citrus and of course tahini (we love it!) I have added a small amount of oil here and think its rich enough, but by all means, add more to make it a really rich treat. Just sub the water for oil.
I’ll be sharing some more festive recipes soon…..
The Bits – One medium bowlful, For 4-6 for dipping
500g chickpeas (cooked, drained and rinsed)
2 large carrots (roasted and chopped)
1 1/2 teas turmeric
1 teas ground cumin
1/2 teas cinnamon
4 tbs light tahini
2 tbs heaped ginger (finely diced or grated)
2 limes (juice)
50ml olive oil
50ml water
Salt
Do It
Add carrots, chickpeas, spices, lime juice, ginger, 1/2 teas salt and tahini to a blender and blitz for a while. As it’s going, pour in the water and oil. It is fine a little chunky, but blend for longer if you like a really smooth hummus. Taste and add salt if needed to really bring out those zingy flavours.
Foodie Fact
There is so many vibrant and healthy ingredients packed into this hummus, it’s difficult to know where to begin with this foodie fact. Shall we talk about turmeric? Why not! Turmeric is a colourful root, that looks a lot like ginger in it’s raw state. Most of us know that turmeric is an incredible ingredient from a nutritional point of view, here’s a quick low down. It full of beneficial bits and pieces, loads of iron, vitamin C, magnesium and good amounts of protein and fibre. I like to sneak turmeric into meals, smoothies etc whenever I can. Turmeric is also known as an anti-inflammatory and has been said to cure a whole host of ailments. It is also a very cool colour (which is important;)
I just felt like a sausage sandwich and these chestnut sausages from ‘Peace & Parsnips‘ are some of my favourite vegan bangers going. Teamed up with the Rye & Stout Loaf that I just posted and some home made ketchup (recipe is in the book;), made creamy with macadamias or cashews, you’ve got yourself a really top breakfast/ brunch.
I haven’t shared a recipe from the cookbook for a while and thought this one is arriving at an ideal time, a great way to start a chilly morning and these sausages freeze well, so you can make a stock for the freezer to last you through winter.
THE BIG QUESTION – WHAT’S ON THE XMAS MENU?!
I’ll be in Murcia, Spain for Christmas, a tough call, but someone’s got to do it! I’m spending time with family over there and no doubt Mum’s already thinking about Xmas lunch (as am I).
I think these sausages will be made over the festive period, there are huge mountains of local castana’s (chestnuts) down at the local food markets and after a quick roast in an oven, and especially when eaten straight from their shells, it’s one of my favourite tastes of Christmas.
I see Christmas as a great time to try out new things and I’m surprised how chestnuts can be neglected at this time of year, for me, they’re as essential as cranberry sauce or mince pies.
Do you already have one eye on your Xmas menu? It’s such a feast, a celebration of good food and drink, but I don’t think it necessarily needs to be really unhealthy. I’m looking at a balance between indulgence and food that makes us shine. Xmas doesn’t need to be an eating marathon that makes us feel sluggish and heavy all the way to February, I think we can get the best of both worlds. I know we can get the best of both worlds!!
Let us know what you have in mind for this Xmas and generally what’s inspiring you in the kitchen, it’s always awesome to hear from you in the comments below.
I love the winter walks in Snowdonia, especially on clear day like this:)
Here’s the intro from Peace & Parsnips:
“Chestnuts seem to have been a little neglected of late, and you rarely see the lonely chestnut roaster on the festive street corner these days. But chestnuts are so plentiful on our island, and can be used in a variety of dishes, both savoury and sweet. They come to life when paired with the robust and earthy sage, and will live with most herbs in harmony. I like to use them in sausages and burgers because they are quite starchy and help with the binding process, which can be a major failing in many vegan sausage and burger recipes. Most vegan sausages/burgers are best cooked straight from the freezer – they hold their shape better that way. The key with vegan sausages/burgers is to be gentle with them in the pan, and don’t mess with them unnecessarily. They just need a precise flip on occasion and they are perfectly happy. To make things easy, you may like to use pre-cooked chestnuts.”
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Chestnut, Millet & Sage Sausages with Homemade Ketchup
The Bits – For 15 small sausages
75g millet
250g cooked chestnuts
300g firm tofu (mashed with a fork)
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
a handful of toasted sunflower seeds
1 onion (grated)
3 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
2 tablespoons very finely chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons very finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 red chilli (deseeded and finely diced)
a large pinch of ground allspice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
150g very fine wholewheat or gluten-free breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon tamari or teaspoon sea salt
Vegetable oil (for frying)
To Serve
Homemade raw ketchup (or your favourite sauce)
Do It
To cook the millet, put it into a small pan and cover with 2cm of cold water. Bring to the boil, then pop a lid on, lower the temperature and leave to cook for 20 minutes. Fluff up with a fork – the millet should be soft and tender but quite sticky. This is perfectly normal. Allow to cool.
In a food processor, blitz your chestnuts to fine crumbs. Add half the tofu and pulse a few times until quite smooth. In a large bowl, mix the chestnuts and tofu with the rest of the ingredients apart from the vegetable oil. The mixture should be firm enough to form into sausages, slightly tacky to the touch. Check the seasoning and add more tamari or salt if needed.
Using dampened hands, form your sausages, making them look like big chipolatas. Roughly 15 will do, but you may prefer just a few longer ones instead. Place them on a plate and cover lightly with cling film, then pop into the fridge and chill them for 30 minutes. Put 1 tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan on a medium heat and fry your sausages for 5minutes, turning them regularly to get a good colour all over.
Serve with a big blob of homemade raw ketchup and some warm toast. And normally I’ll have a few green leaves for the plate. Sausage sandwich, anyone?
Foodie Fact
Chestnuts are best kept in the fridge and are the only nut to contain good levels of vitamin C. You’ll also find some of the vitamin B’s along with a decent amount of fibre and minerals, especially copper and manganese. Nut-wise, they are low in fats and are unusually starchy for a nut.
I’m trying to prove that you can eat salads in winter!! The sun is still shining! What a beautiful autumn we’ve had here in Wales. Here’s a seasonal salad with a seriously zesty and creamy sauce, a taste of autumn and early winter given a very Indonesian twist.
Some of the vegetables in Gado Gado can be served warm, which makes it idea for autumn, it is also so colourful and takes advantage of all those incredible veggies that are about at the minute.
Gado gado (or Lotek) is something you find all over Indonesia and basically means ‘mix-mix’, we travelled all over Indonesia last year and found that it changed most times we ate it. We’ve added roasted veggies instead of steamed/ boiled and some of our favourite, colourful local organic veg.
We use what is to hand for this salad, what is seasonal and looking great, with new potatoes and the thick peanut dressing, this seems to be the way things are done in Indonesia too. The veggies may change but the POW of the amazing sauce is a constant.
You can use any mix of veggies really, in Indonesia, potatoes always figure, with things like cabbage, jackfruit, bitter melon, corn, beansprouts, spinach, the list is long and tasty. It’s normally topped with something crispy, like fried rice crackers or deep fried shallots. We’ve kept it super healthy and gone for some toasted pumpkin seeds instead. Not traditional, but packed with nutrition and gorgeous flavour.
SULAWESI STYLE
I think our favourite Gado Gado was in a small town in the North of Sulawesi. One man was making it with such care at a warung (street food stand) and we ate it on the street on a little table with a group of lovely people, all giving us their top Gado Gado tips. It’s one of those dishes that is a real institution and everyone has their favourite quirk and twist with it. I love the way it’s so flexible and easy to make.
Gado Gado is a great option for a vegan traveller around Indonesia, its filling nutritious and will sometimes come with two of my Indonesia favourites; tempeh and tahu (tofu). They are everywhere, on each street corner, you’ll bump into a lump of tofu! We even visited a remote village that was all about tofu, check it out – Visiting Tofu Village – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
It’s fair to say that Indonesia captured our hearts, we loved travelling around and the people were amazingly friendly and hospitable. The food is also sensational and is one of those cuisines that hasn’t really taken off here in the UK, at least not like Thai or Vietnamese food. I would say that it’s a fascinating cuisine to explore and Gado Gado is at the very tip of an intensely tasty tree, and if you’re vegan, Indonesia will teach you all you need to know about making tofu and tempeh taste amazing (little tip, great sauces and marinades).
Recipe Notes
Gado Gado normally comes with the thick sauce poured over the dish, a very generous quantity normally. I like to see the lovely veggies and therefore drizzle the sauce on the base of the plate/ shallow bowl and then have some more around for people to drizzle on top.
We use cooked beans and roasted veggies here, you can serve them warm of cold. The contrast of raw veg and warm is nice and the sauce comes alive even more with a little heat.
If you can’t track down tamarind, just add a little more citrus.
Aduki beans are also really nice with this salad. We use beans to substitute tofu or tempeh when we don’t have any. Nice bit of protein!
Gado Gado – Indonesian Seasonal Salad with Kickin’ Zesty Peanut Sauce
The Bits – For 4
Salad
450g new potatoes (cooked and chopped)
300g mung or other beans (cooked)
4 big handfuls roasted veggies (we used golden and purple beetroot, squash and onion)
1/2 green pepper (sliced)
1/2 yellow pepper (sliced)
2 big handfuls red cabbage (finely sliced)
2 ripe tomatoes (diced)
1/2 cucumber (diced)
4 Brussels Sprouts (finely sliced)
Topping
½ bunch fresh coriander (leaves picked off) or mint leaves (sliced)
1 hot red chilli (finely sliced)
4 tbs toasted pumpkin seeds
Extra something crispy – fried wonton wrappers, cassava crisps. (Traditionally prawn crackers (krukuk) are used.)
Peanut Sauce
130g peanut butter (crunchy or smooth is fine)
3 tbs coconut cream (that’s the cream from a tin of coconut milk)
30-40g palm sugar or brown sugar
1 large clove garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp / 1 inch ginger or galangal (peeled and chopped)
1-2 red chillies
2 limes (juice)
2 tbs tamari
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
Salt (to taste)
2 tbsp water (more if needed to thin)
Do It
In a bowl or food processor (easier), mix/blitz the peanut sauce ingredients (except the lime) until a thick sauce forms, adding water if needed to thin it out.
Place sauce in a small saucepan and warm gently. Taste and season with salt if needed then stir the lime juice in. The sauce should be nice and smooth creamy and with a real lime zing.
Spoon the sauce around the outside of the base of a shallow bowl. Arrange all the other vegetables over the sauce however you like it, then sprinkle with all the other toppings, coriander, chillies and seeds and serve.
Foodie Fact
You may know that peanuts are really high in protein, but did you know they are very high in copper?! We need copper in our diet to to help us absorb iron and it also helps with red blood cells, nerves, bones and the immune system. Aren’t we amazing!! They are also a great source of healthy fats and even anti-oxidants.
Sulawesi is one of the most beautiful places we’ve been in the world.
If you’d like to read more about our Indonesian travels here’s a couple of posts:
We had this for breakfast! Might not be everyones bowl of morning happiness but Jane and I love curry for brekkie, a pleasant habit we picked up at train stations and little bus stops in India. We wanted the all-time classic ‘Chana Masala’, but we didn’t have chickpeas!? What’s going on there?!! I feel like I have failed our household. Still, it lead to this creation which I was so pleased with, I felt the urge to share and write and celebrate the beauty of a simple curry.
SPICY WAKE UP CALL
We were getting tired of the smoothies and bowls of nuts and fruits and things routine, we wanted some SPICE in our early, sleepy eyed life! When the grey tickles us, as it can at this time of year, we need to put some rainbow flavours and magic into our food. Spices are magic dust right?! Does any food have as much pizazz and down right tastiness as a deep and potent curry? It can enliven the senses. The sheer complexity of flavours mingling and merging, having a massive party all over your taste buds? This curry doesn’t have to be eaten for brekkie, but do let us know if you try. Ditch the fry up this Sunday AM and get spicy!!
I’ve been to India many times, it has become my second home. I love living a life of contrasts, living on a hill in middle of nowhere, slightly mossy, Wales, straight to the honking depths of down town Delhi, thats my kind of contrast. Mix things up. Keep things vibrant and interesting. For me, India is the country with everything going on within its borders, travel there is rich. I know I go on about the food all the time, but, it is incredible. Consistently. Mind boggling in variety. Like I’ve died and gone to a Dhaba.
Intensely orange – Pumpkin this time of year they be.
HIDDEN TREASURES (AND PICKLES)
If you’re looking for the best spices and Indian/ Pakistani/ Bangladeshi/ Nepalese etc ingredients, I recommend a regular visit to your local Asian shop/ supermarket. It’s where all the best ingredients will be hiding and normally for very reasonable prices. I find them a perfect location for spice worship. Eastern cooking treasure troves, designed for real food lovers to disappear into for days, reappearing with carfull’s of fantastic ingredients, pickles and inspiration.
I say, take the afternoon off and have a good luck around, ask for help and guidance. For me they’re like a flavour library for a cook, sifting through the ingredients and always finding something new and interesting to take home and play with in the kitchen.
The curry powder we used here was recommended to us by an Indian man in one of my favourite Asian supermarkets in Newcastle. He wasn’t wrong, its brilliant, fiery and fragrant. Curry powder has a bit of a bad name, but its just the same as any spice mix like bharat, ras el hanout etc. If you buy a decent one, it works well. Of course, making your own is the holy grail of any spice enthusiast. But having the time and means to do that can be a challenge. This is a quick dish, so lets keep it simple.
This is no traditional curry, but its not far off. I’ve made this curry super easy for you, I’d love you to cook and enjoy it! With only two spice mixes, garam masala and curry powder, which most of you will have knocking about in your cupboards and a quick cooking time.
If you don’t have the spice mixes, just try making your own up using things like turmeric, cumin and coriander for the curry mix, adding a little cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom for the garam masala. Could be a very nice experiment! I add red lentils to thicken the sauce up and make things hearty and substantial. I used pumpkin, because its their ultra orange time of year, but use any vegetables you like here and a nice idea is stirring some greens in just before serving, a couple of handfuls of spinach leaves is cool.
In Nirvana, this is breakfast!
India, we miss you!x
Recipe Notes
I like the curry quite thin, more a thick daal than a chunky curry. Better for dipping warm chappatis into! The lentils will just keep sucking up the water, so just keep some warm water handy when cooking, preferably a recently boiled kettle (easier) and top up the water as you fancy.
Mash it up!! Your garlic and ginger and chilli as best you can, blending them or whacking them in a pestle and mortar is best. Releasing all their vibrant potential.
Leaving the curry to cool slighty, let it sit for 10 minutes with a lid on, will help the flavours to mix and mingle, get deep and meaningful.
I’ve gone easy on the chillies because Jane is anti-chilli, but you go wild if you like!
The lemon and coriander to finish are extras, but the lemon especially, will add a lovely citrus twist to the generally sweet curry, it also seems to re-vitalise the spices a little, bring the flavours to some kind of glorious crescendo!!!! Swadishtx
The chickpea chapatis in the photos are made by whisking some gram flour, water and salt together, until a double cream texture forms, and frying in a little oil. Simple, gluten-free, healthy, tasty…….
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Simple Black Bean & Pumpkin Curry Serving suggestion – eat outside, in a garden.
Simple Black Bean & Pumpkin Curry The Bits – For 2
1 small onion (sliced)
1/2 tbs cooking oil
3 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
1 inch ginger – roughly 1 heaped tbs (finely grated)
1/2-1 green chilli (finely diced)
250g black beans
75g red lentil – 1 big handful (washed)
200g squash/ pumpkin – 2 handfuls (diced)
300ml hot water
2 tomatoes (chopped and mashed)
1 heaped tbs tomato puree
1 teas salt
1 1/2 tbs curry powder
1 heaped tbs garam masala
Roughly 2 teas lemon juice
Handful chopped coriander (optional one for the coriander lovers out there)
Do It
In a large sauce pan, fry the onions until they are texture like sun (golden brown), then stir in your garlic, ginger and chilli, stir and fry for a minute and then add the lentils, beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, curry powder, squash, water and stir together. Bring to a boil.
Cook on a fast simmer for 10 minutes with a lid on, stirring occasionally to stop the lentils sticking to the bottom. Add your garam masala and cook for 5 minutes more. Stir in a little more water if its getting too thick.
Once the squash is nice and soft, stir in the lemon juice, check seasoning and serve. If you like coriander, sprinkle some chopped coriander over the dish. I like it with warm chapatis or chickpea chapatis, dip them in and enjoy! I also served it with some green mango pickle. One of my favs.
Foodie Fact
Pumpkin is full, full of good things. Especially this time of year when they’re bang on seasonal and hopefully quite local. Very orange, means goodness. Lots of vitamin A, one cup contains 200% of your daily need. You’ll be seeing in the dark in no time. It’s got loads of fibre and pumpkin is also said to keep our skin shining. Bananas are famous potassium sources, but pumpkin actually has considerably higher levels of potassium than bananas. Vitamin C, also in the mix somewhere, they’re just one of the best things we can eat at this time of year and throughout winter. Superstars!!
PS – Please don’t throw away the seeds, clean them off and roast them for a while in an oven. You will not regret the slightly time consuming picking orange gloop off them.
Surely one of the most delicious ways to warm up! A fruity little livener!! This is a simple method to preserve berries and produce some wonderful flavoured spirits to make winter cocktails.
It’s Halloween and we’re having a big fire and welcoming in the darker, wintery times with some luxury hot chocolate spiked with cherry brandy and some rich chocolate mousse (see recipe here) and drunken cherries. There’s a theme there!! Cherries and chocolate are a match made somewhere very, very nice.
I love an open fire at Halloween, staring into the flames I feel inspired and a real connection to the festival; from light to dark. It’s also just great to be outside at night in the winter, especially with a clear sky overhead and maybe a glass of cherry brandy warming your cockles!! Lighting fires at Halloween (or Samhain in Celtic Traditions) especially on higher ground is said to aid a souls way to heaven.
Samhain was a day set aside for fasting and reflection, but things have changed a little. Halloween is now a big party of course, all about feasting and treats. We’re well stocked for trick or treaters and I’m enjoying Rye flour at the minute, so loaves and cakes are on the way for tonight as well as plenty of squash/ pumpkin in a variety of forms. I might go for a good old school Soul Cake (like a spiced scone really)? We’ll see….
Beautiful Snowdonia – October is a spectacular month over here
North Wales has been sparkling of late in Autumn sunshine and crystal clear skies. I love this time of year up here, probably my favourite time in these hills. We’ve been out walking, exploring new corners of Snowdonia, there seems to be endless trails and paths that lead to new vistas, lakes and terrain. Soon it will be a bog-fest, many paths transformed into marshes. The walking is still incredible, but you need to get a little more semi-aquatic, and definitely, a whole lot muddier and chilled.
I’m not a huge fan of the dark, long nights, so tonight is a chance for me to celebrate the brighter times of year. October has been so beautiful and November is the turning point where the wet and grey rise up and take control. I’m always reminded of the villages I’ve visited in the high Himalayas, where they are snowed in for many months a year and spend the days with friends and family, drinking local chang (like a watered down moonshine), singing, dancing and telling stories. That’s their approach to living through a really arduous winter. I think we all need more singing, dancing and story telling in winter and lets face it, homemade cherry brandy is way better than chang (trust me)!!
You can use this method (technically it’s called ‘macerating’) to preserve and transform any berries really into something warming and delicious in the winter months. We love to make things like Sloe Gin, Blackberry Whiskey and whatever soft fruits we can get our hands on. I managed to get some tasty cherries a couple of months ago and now we are reaping the rewards! I love preserving the bounty of summer/ autumn and enjoying it in the depths of winter, it seems like such a gift to pop open a jar of jam or pickle and share in the joys of the brighter months. It makes winter slip by a little easier, some summertime sweetness.
Macerating cherries brings out some surprising flavours
Recipe Notes
Berries/ fruits like blackberries, strawberries, loganberries, sloe, plums, damsons, mulberries, blueberries will all be very nice in this recipe.
The longer you leave the fruit to macerate, the more the flavours will develop and change. Taste it regularly and drink it when you like it! It’s a fascinating process!!
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Drunken Cherries
The Bits – Makes enough for one medium kilner jar
700g cherries (pitted and cut in half)
½ bottle brandy
2 handfuls sugar (to taste)
Do It
Place the cherries in medium sized kilner jar, if you’re keeping for awhile, or any large sealable container if otherwise. Pour over the brandy and sprinkle the sugar over. Place a lid on and gently shake to combine the sugar. Now taste. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar. Seal and store in a cupboard.
These can be enjoyed after a few days but are better when left for a few weeks or longer. If there are any cherries sticking above the brandy, either add more brandy or a splash of water.
Use the cherries in desserts and drink the brandy as you like it. It’s nice when served warm, especially in hot chocolate.
This deep and rich chocolate mousse recipe is simple and decadent, always a good mix! This is a go to recipe for a quick and stunning dessert that no one can resist. Top with your favourite, colourful things and serve in cups/ glasses and you have a lovely looking dessert with minimum fuss.
A food processor is fine here, but a blender is probably better to get the mousse really smooth and shiny. I’ve been playing for a while with my vegan/ gluten-free biscotti recipe and it is getting there. I may well share it soon, I need another few more tasting sessions first! A bit of crunch is perfect with the mousse, scooping up the mousse with a biscotti is something outrageous!
Recipe Notes
You can also use silken tofu (drained) to make this mousse. Replace a similar quantity for the avocadoes or use a mixture of the two. Both will give a lovely plant-based creaminess.
I don’t like my mousse too sweet, you may need a little more sweetness, give it a taste before serving and add more maple syrup as needed. Use any sweetener you like, but I love the combo of maple syrup and dark chocolate.
Vegan Chocolate Mousse
To make sure you don’t waste a drop of your mousse, use a rubber spatula to scrape out your food processor/ blender.
Adding a large pinch of chilli powder is a nice idea here, takes it in a slightly Mexican direction which I love.
For your topping, think about contrasting colours and textures. Pistachios are perfect because they’re delicious, bright and GREEN. They always look great.
Don’t forget the little twist of salt, it really deepens the chocolate flavour.
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Rich Chocolate Mousse
The Bits – For 4-6
4 ripe avocados
1/2 cup cacao/ cocoa
3/4 cup almond/ other plant milk (unsweetened)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
Large pinch sea salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs coconut oil (melted, but cooled to room temperature)
Topping
Scattering of berries and toasted flaked almonds, sliced strawberry, amaretti biscuit, almond biscotti, pomegranate and pistachio…..whatever your favourite toppings are or what is to hand.
Do It
Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. This may take a few attempts of stopping the blender and scraping down the sides with a blender.
Refrigerate for a few hours to thicken or can be enjoyed straight away.
The dark chocolate mousse goes perfectly with something crispy and sweet, like a biscotti, wafer or amaretti biscuit.
Foodie Fact
Cacao is unrefined chocolate. Simple and stunningly healthy. It comes normally in powder form, but can also be found in cacao ‘nibs’. Cacao is full of anti-oxidants and as you may know, eating chocolate releases endorphins, makings us more happy, shiny people:)
Smoky Cashew & Black Bean Mole with Tofu Bacon (Vegan)
Mole sauce is such a Mexican classic! A full-on fiesta of flavours; spices, chilli, smoky chipotle, creamy black beans, chocolate and here I’ve added some cashew butter instead of the traditional peanuts.
These beans are quite a mouthful! Spicy, chilli, creamy with a tickle of lime at the end and when served with smoky tofu bacon and all your favourite Mexican condiments; salsa, avocado/ guac etc you’ve got a Mexican feast. There is a black bean & cacao recipe in Peace & Parsnips, this is a new twist on that really.
I was lucky to travel from the North to the South of Mexico by car a good few years ago. Zig zagging down Mexico I did munch the odd taco and was blown away by Mole! I’d never heard of it before and was mesmerised by the complexity of it, the stories of how it takes days to make (something to do with grinding and roasting all the ingredients). It seemed like such a legend! It is. Normally served as a treat during a massive, joyful party, which are common in Mexico, so much so that ‘Ir a un mole’ (Go to a mole) is used to say ‘Go to a wedding’.
Mole comes in all shades in Mexico, of which Mole Poblano is probably the most famous, the flavours of which, if not the techniques of cooking, my mole beans take after.
How many savoury dishes are enhanced and inspired by chocolate so effortlessly and deliciously? I have used Willie’s 100% Chulucanas Peruvian Cacao, bought by the block, you will find it in supermarkets and of course, on line. This is the best cacao I’ve ever tasted in the UK. Grated into this dish, it will be sublime! Adding richness and depth to the dish. However, other cacao and cocoas will be more than fine also. I’m thinking about experimenting with a cacao gravy for Christmas dinner. I’ll let you know how that goes.
I’ve streamlined the traditional recipe here big time, it’s normally quite involved and uses a whole cupboard of ingredients, spices and a whole gaggle of Mexican style chillies, which are totally awesome, but not always that easy to get hold of. Chipotle paste is a decent go to, I made my own Chipotle en Adobo recently, which is well worth it if you’re a Mexican food fan or just mad about things chilli and smoky.
The best black beans yet! Straight from Mexico City.
The real inspiration for this dish was Helga, a good friend of my sis’s, Laura. Helga is Mexican and sent these beans from Mexico City to be used especially for just such a dish. I’d also like to thank the cooks of the B.H.K Vegan Cooking Group on Facebook, who voted for a savoury dish this week. The delicious thing about this type of dark mole is that it skirts between sweet and savoury, with the addition of raisins here and a good amount of cocoa/ cacao. I must admit, I was a bit surprised when the savoury vote came in, I was sure it would be sweet all the way! I’d even got a recipe lined up and everything!!
Mole!! Vegan!!! Por favor
Recipe Notes
I’ve added grated golden beetroot, red cabbage and red pepper to the plate, for crunch and colour. These kind of ingredients, along with carrots, cauliflower, savoy cabbage etc can all add the same crunch and colour to any dish. Brightens things up no end!
I’ve added some simple tomato salsa to the dish and sliced avocado. Lime, essential on, or in, most things Mexican and of course a god tickle of chilli! I also like serving this dish with some warm tacos/ tortillas.
These beans and bacon make the most perfect leftovers, serve cold on a summers day, wrapped up in a warm tortilla (I like the corn ones). When I say tortilla, I mean the soft ones, not the big nacho style ones that look like napkin holders.
The black kale/ cavolo nero, adds great texture to the beans. Savoy Cabbage or Spring Greens will also be delicious.
Chipotle paste?! No probs. Head down a supermarket and ask someone. It’s there.
I used the crumble method of cooking the tofu bacon in the pics. Both methods are really nice.
Lets MOLE!!!
(By the way, for those who are not too familiar with Mole, the e has a little dash over it, making it Mole as in Olé! Not the same as the small, lovely creature that terrorises lawns.)
So…..lets MOLE!!!!
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Black Bean and Cacao Mole with Smoky Bacon (Vegan)
The Bits – For 4
550g black beans (cooked)
2 big handfuls black kale/ cavolo nero (chopped into strips)
1 large onion (sliced)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
3 medium tomatoes (chopped)
2 tbs tomato puree
1 stick cinnamon
2 teas all spice
2 teas ground coriander
4 tbs raisins
2 tbs chipotles en adobo/ chipotle paste (how hot do you like it?!)
250ml water/ or bean cooking broth
2 tbs cocoa/ cacao
3-4 tbs cashew butter/ peanut butter
1-2 teas sea salt
1 lime (juice)
2 tbs cooking oil
Salt and pepper (for seasoning)
Garnish
2 handfuls coriander
1-2 chilli (finely sliced)
Vegan yoghurt/ sour cream/ creme fraiche
Lime wedges
Do It
In a large saucepan, warm the oil on medium heat, fry the onion for 12 minutes until caramelised and golden, add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the cinnamon stick, all spice, chipotle sauce, coriander, raisins, tomatoes and tomato puree and stir. Cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft, add the beans and water. Put a lid on it and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes.
Stir in the cashew butter, kale and cacao, cook for a further 10 minutes. The beans should be breaking down and going a little creamy. Now stir in the lime juice, season with salt and a good amount of pepper and serve straight away.
Serving ideas – Ideal with a crumble of tofu bacon, sour cream/ yoghurt and coriander. It makes a nice dip too. Take the cinnamon sticks out and pulse it a few times in a blender. Serve with nachos and guacamole.
Smoky Tofu Bacon
The Bits – Serves 6-8 as nibbles
450g firm tofu (cut into bite size pieces, cut thinly for sandwiches)
Marinade
3-4 teas smoked paprika (more if you like it really smokey!)
1/2 teas turmeric
1 1/2 teas maple syrup
1 teas nutritional yeast flakes
2 teas tamari/ g.f. soya sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs veg oil
Do It
Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Marinate in a fridge for a couple of hours or overnight is good.
Preheat a fan oven to 200oC and place tofu onto a lightly oiled baking tray. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Until nice and crisp.
Serve straight away but is also very nice served cold.
Use the leftover marinade to dip the tofu in or as a base for a dressing or even add to a stew/ soup to add a little flavour kick.
For the tofu bacon crumble – I mashed up the tofu, then marinated. Drained excess marinade and fried in a large frying pan on medium/ high heat with 2 tbs cooking oil until caramelised and crispy, roughly 8-10 minutes.
Vegan Black Bean Mole with all the gorgeous flavours of chocolate, chilli, spices and even cashew butter for extra richness.
Foodie Fact
Black beans are one of the best sources of protein out there. They are also one of the best sources of things called phytonutrients (basically, compounds in plants that do us loads of good). They’re a good source of iron, copper and plenty of fibre. They will help us to take care of our bones and heart, they even contain selenium, which is not found in many places in a plant-based diet. Overall, they are a very healthy and super tasty star!
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I couldn’t write about Mexico without sending my love and best wishes to all effected by the recent earthquake in and around Mexico City. If you’d like to help, here are details of an amazing charity, A Hand for Mexico, based in Mexico City and helping the people affected, as well as helping to re-build the city, focusing on shelters, schools and hospitals.
This is an ideal, quick and easy, curry at this time of year, using seasonal squash (one of my favs) plus British grown fava beans from Hodmedods and all the beautiful flavours of Thailand in a creamy and rich coconut sauce. It’s one of those dishes that most vegetables will love and mingle into, add whatever combos you love, I kept it simple here.
SQUASH SEASON
There are so many squashes around at this time of year, the one I used here was a Hokkaido Squash which is a great all-rounder for roasting, stew/ curries and grating or slicing into a salad. Hokkaido is lovely and sweet with a brilliant orange colour and is normally quite small, making it ideal stuffing size. You’ll also find loads of Acorns, Kabocha, Crown Prince (I love that one) and if you’re lucky, a Spaghetti Squash, which is well worth seeking out. When roasted and fluffed with a fork, it forms a spaghetti like texture.
A lot of people I meet don’t like squash, strange as that may sound to some of you. It’s normally down to the fact that pumpkin is so popular, the variety we carve strange faces into at Halloween (although we always used a giant swede – the vegetable that is). That type of pumpkin is a little watery and lacking in flavour, not great eatin’, I’d recommend any of the winter squashes way ahead of old scary pumpkin head.
RECIPE INSPIRATION VIA BANGKOK SUBURB
This recipe is based on one of our favourite places to eat in Bangkok, Lemon Farm Organic Restaurant near, well, it’s kind of popped in the middle of a mass of sprawling Bangkok-ness (Chatuchak). It’s an out of the way place if you’re a tourist, a mainly residential area where we had the pleasure of staying with the awesome Kessi for a few weeks. There was really very little to do, so Jane and I did a lot of cooking (using only a rice cooker and kettle) and made a little home on the 13th floor of a tower overlooking the sprawling, buzzing city of Bangkok.
Down the market – Bangkok ’16
This dish is modelled on something cooked for us by the amazing Buppha, head chef/ manager at Lemon Farm, which was a sweet, rich and coconut-y lentil dish from her hometown of Phuket in the South. I had never tried Thai lentils before and it really inspired me. She made it with red lentils and always shared her recipes generously, but I was normally trying to write them down in a little notebook whilst holding a plate of food and being jostled by crowd of hungry Lemon Tree punters. It got packed at office lunch time you see. So I free styled this recipe and used the best of what was to hand, but the taste is similar, reminders of good times for sure.
THAI-STYLE (EAT!)
Phuket is a foodie centre, which can be said for all parts of Thailand I’ve found, and the dishes there are distinctly chilli-fied! Pow!! Buppha used to wake up at 4am with her team of chefs to prepare the days array of dishes and was very passionate about all things cooking, many of the recipes had been handed down to her by her mother/ grandmother. The food was served buffet style, with a little noodle soup spot in the corner of an organic food shop. It was cheap, very varied, plentiful and many dishes were vegan friendly, using some tofu and lots of interesting veggies. Buppha just loved cooking with vegetables and they even had their own little vegetarian festival. A week of vegetarian cooking that falls between September and October most years, most Thai’s go veggie at that time. This years festival ended yesterday!
This one’s full of the flavours of Thailand!
VEGAN THAI TRAVEL
Thailand is of course a Buddhist country, but meat is very common in dishes, to the point that eating without planning in Bangkok and all over Thailand can be a challenge. This is just one of those things, the veg markets in Thailand are some of my favourite in the world. In fact the veg market in a little fishing town called Prachuap Kiri Khan is probably my favourite in the world (not to mention they have a vegan restaurant and a couple of vegetarian restaurants, plus an outdoor food market every night). These veggies just don’t seem to surface on restaurant menus though, but this is a gripe of mine all over the world (one you’ve probably heard before). It seems that most veggies are used in the home and meat is a ‘treat’ when people go out to eat. Having said that, Thai’s seem to eat out all the time, everyday, such is the abundance of street eats to be found. No country is like it, most streets have carts, wagons and tables vending all kinds of local delicacies. It’s almost impossible to keep up with what is going on and taste bud overload can occur.
Prachuap Kiri Khan is a small town, on the coast south of Bangkok, but we managed to stumble upon a vegan festival there!
Thailand is not the easiest country to travel around as a vegan, especially when you get off the tourist trail. English is not spoken generally and like I said, vegan options need to be sniffed out and the outrageous abundance of Thai street food is pretty much off the menu. Still, when you do find vegan hot spots, like the tourist friendly Chang Mai or one of the main tourist islands like Koh Samui, you’ve hit Thai food heaven. Thai food is very diverse, much more interesting than I imagined on my first visit. I was ignorant to the geographical differences in ingredients and flavours, styles and approaches. I should have known better really, as this is nothing new in the world of food, most countries have a similarly rich tapestry of dishes and produce as you wander around. Nowadays, when I return, that first Green Curry or Pad Thai Noodles is always a very special moment.
There is such a buzz to eating in Bangkok, eating out really means that, outside, huddled over a table near a main road, or near one of the hundreds of canals (think watery thoroughfare). Theres a bustle and energy to it all, loads of skill and panache in preparing and serving food and you can spend all night walking around, eating tiny delicious portions of things and just keep going until the early hours. It’s one of the highest forms of grazing, snacking at its best, Thai style!
Big Thanks to Hodmedods!
Just for being awesome really!! They have such an amazing array of British grown pulses and seeds, so many interesting things (to me), like Blue Peas, Carelina Seeds, Black Badger Peas, Fava Umami Paste, loads of ingredients that get me excited about cooking, trying new things. If you’re interested, they even do a Big Vegan Box!
Hodmedods were kind enough to send us some of their pulses and bits to cook with at our recent retreats and I think their fava beans are a cut above. Filled with amazing flavour, I love making Fave E Cicoria, a really simple Puglian bean dip. Making it with Hodmedods beans makes a huge difference to the flavour. The dish is simply made with cooked fava beans, garlic and a little olive oil. Doesn’t sound like much admittedly, but with those beans, it’s dynamite!! PS – Well done on winning the 2017 Best Food Producer at the BBC Food Awards. To celebrate they’re offering 15% discount on orders.
Recipe Notes
You can use any lentils you like, red lentils will take considerably less time to cook. Green/ brown lentils, dark green/ puy lentils will all work nicely. Mung beans are also very ace.
Not all coconut milk is equal. Check the cans, we’re looking for plenty of coconut content, if it’s around 50%, its going to be quite weak. Still nice, but not as creamy. We’ve been talking about the differences between Coconut Milk and Coconut Cream over on Facebook in the BHK Vegan Cooking Group. I like this dish really rich and really creamy.
Check that your Yellow Thai Curry Paste is vegan/ gluten-free. Thanks It normally is. The Green and Red Thai Curry pastes in most UK shops are not vegan.
Shop bought Thai curry paste can be high in salt, this effects our seasoning.
I didn’t have any coriander or fresh chilli, but that would have been the perfect addition to the topping of this dish.
Thai Yellow Curry with Squash & Fava Beans
Quick Thai Yellow Curry with Squash & Fava Beans
The Bits – For 4
250g fava beans
900ml water
5-6 kaffir lime leaves
1.5 inches ginger (finely chopped)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1-2 teas chilli flakes
½ head small savoy cabbage (sliced)
1 small hokkaido squash – 300g (peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks)
1 big handful desiccated coconut/ coconut flakes (toasted is nice)
1 can coconut milk
2 tbs coconut oil
4-5 tbs yellow curry paste (vegan)
1 tbs coconut/ brown sugar (optional sweetness)
Sea salt
Toppings (optional)
A little more desiccated coconut/ coconut flakes
1 red chilli (finely sliced)
1 handful coriander (fresh)
1/2 lime (cut into wedges/ slices)
The Bits
Do It
Wash and drain the fava beans. Cover with cold water in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-40 minutes, until soft. Add more hot water if needed.
While that’s going on, in a large frying pan, add the coconut oil, warm on medium high heat and add the onion and fry for 7 minutes until golden, then add the garlic and ginger, fry for 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk, chilli, desiccated coconut, lime leaves, squash and cabbage, bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the squash is soft. Stir in the yellow Thai paste, sugar and cooked fava beans (including cooking broth), warm through for a few minutes, adding a little hot water if needed. Check seasoning.
Serve with warm rice, more toasted coconut, lime wedges and sliced red chillies if you like it hot.
*To add a Thai flavour to your rice, why not add a few lime leaves and a handful of coconut when you start cooking it.*
Foodie Fact
You all probably know that I love my beans! But favas…..they’re almost a different league. PACKED with flavour and so, so good for us. Fava beans were dried and ground down to make bread traditionally in the UK, it was one of our major crops before we went wild for wheat and potatoes. There is a rich history of fava/ broad bean growing in the UK, but growing up, they always seems a little exotic, something from the Middle East maybe, not the Midlands.
Fava/ Broad Beans are rich in shiny things like Vitamin K, Thaimin, zinc, potassium and loads of other minerals. They are full of protein and have no saturated fat or cholesterol. They also contain good amounts of iron and folate (one of the vitamin B bunch), plus loads of fibre.
Most of the time, the simple things are the best. Like these muffins. They take a few minutes to make and I love the combination of banana, peanut and dates. It’s like these flavours were created for a muffin! This is a recipe that I keep going back to again and again, I’m really chuffed that I’ve finally got around to sharing it.
These muffins are loved by kids especially, I’ve seen some amazing reactions from kids when faced with these. They disappear quickly and I think the caramel is a real favourite. They are also pretty healthy, but kids are in no way put off by that, they just love them because they’re yum. I’ve found kids are a good jury for muffins, they are perfectly honest and normally have an interesting point or two to make.
I have used a little white flour here, but you could go fully wholemeal if you’re feeling that. Also, buckwheat flour is a lovely addition to these muffins, adds a real depth. The key here it to not over bake them, they will go dry quickly. Get them out when they are still soft in the middle, but a skewer comes out clean (a little stickiness is fine) and they will firm up when cooled.
The date caramel is so, so easy and can be used on all kinds of desserts and as a go to icing and filling, it’s just a superstar recipe with three ingredients only!! These muffins also make for a great, super quick breakfast option.
These muffins use such simple ingredients that almost anyone can jump in their kitchen right now and give them a go!
Recipe Notes
Get some nice big muffins cases here. Little cup cake cases won’t do. Preferably without frilly patterns on. I’m against frilly patterns in this case. I like plain brown or white, however Jane has talked me into a pink muffin case in the past.
If you’re feeling chocolaty, add a few tbs of cocoa/ cacao to the mix, the results are amazing!!
I like coconut oil, but normal vegetable oil is also fine.
Do It
Preheat oven to 180oC, place 10 muffin cases in your muffin tin.
Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl, mix in peanut butter, oil and sugar, then the flour, bicarb, cinnamon. Mix well until a lumpy batter form.
Spoon the mix into your muffin cases, so they’re ¾ full. Pop in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Leave the muffins to cool in the tin.
Caramel – Place all in a blender and blitz until smooth. This will take a few goes. Drizzle in more water to thin out to a spreadable consistency.
Spread your caramel over cooled muffins, sprinkle with peanuts and stick a banana chip on top for a final flourish!
Foodie Fact
Peanuts are nutritional powerhouses, like most nuts. A handle full a day is a great idea. Packed with minerals, antioxidants and protein, they are the ideal snack, rich in good fats and fibre. Peanut butter is a great way of adding peanut power to smoothies, dressings, curries/soups/stews. The hype is that nuts are fattening, but it has been shown that adding nuts to our diets can actually help us loss weight.
Jane and I have been enjoying them boiled, something we’d not tried until we went to China. Great added to a stir fry or tossed with a Chinese Style dressing in a salad.
This is a very simple recipe for vegan dulce de leche. I love the coconut flavour here, it adds something to the classic recipe. It’s a treat that keeps well in the fridge and is really versatile. I hear that in Puerto Rico they make DDL with coconut milk, so this might even be a traditional-ish recipe. Who knew!? I think this is very coconuty, so I’ve swapped the name to reflect this.
Up here in the North lands (UK) we need a touch of sweetness. The skies are dark grey and its one long drizzle-fest. Some call it summertime in these parts. Jane and I are creatures of the sunshine, it’s a bit of shock to the system really, but we know how it goes. Moving on from weather, how about something sticky, sweet and gorgeous. This recipe only has a few of ingredients and requires a long, slow simmer which transforms it into something incredible.
SWEET TRAVELS
I always associate Dulce de Leche with my travels in Central America many years ago, it was a regular source of sweetness and when things were limited menu wise, you always knew dessert was looking good!
I remember going camping in the volcanoes of Guatemala (may sound a bit Joseph Conrad, but there are loads of people doing it). Our guides were lovely guys and we had an incredible time watching the sun rise over a strip of active volcanoes as they blew ash, boulders and toxic gas up into the ether. For dinner, we had beans. Then came dessert. I peered into the pan bubbling over the fire to see a tin being boiled. I was intrigued and a bit uninspired by its potential tastiness. Turns out it was Dulce de Leche. A tin of condensed milk boiled for a while produces old school Dulce de Leche. But this recipe is easily as rich and moreish.
Like any much loved food, Dulce de Leche has quite a few variations and regional this and thats. In many parts of Latin America, its cooked right down, like a crumbly fudge. In Cuba they used curdled milk (which I’d like to veganize soon) and in Mexico they add vanilla to the mix. In Chile they make ‘manajar’ which has cannabis added, sure to liven up your morning toast. Variations are also traditionally made in France, Norway. Poland, Russia……it’s a worldwide craze!
Dulce de Leche is just milk slowly cooked with lots of sugar, the longer you cook it the more it caramelizes and gets more funky and deep in colour, sticky and lovely. It can do anything; on toast, as a filling or topping for cakes, stirred into smoothies, porridge or rice pudding. Really though, I’m a purist, straight out of the jar, onto a spoon.
There are a raft of recipes on line for vegan dulce de leche, I like the idea of using dates cooked with the coconut milk, but the results were not anywhere near as good as this recipe. I’m going to keep looking into that one though.
Recipe Notes
A thick bottomed sauce pan here is ideal. Otherwise, keep stirring and ensuring your bottom doesn’t burn.
Remember, the longer you cook it. the deeper the colour. I like this lighter version, but cook it longer if you fancy something deep. dark and super rich.
I add much less sugar than your average dulce de leche, I find it easily sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. Add more if you fancy.
If you feel like going a little Mexican, why not try adding 1/2 teas vanilla extract?
The Bits – One medium jarful
1 cans coconut milk
125g sugar
Large pinch sea salt
Leche Dulce de Coco
Do It
Place the bits in heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat on medium and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the milk to boil and bubble gently until reduced to roughly 250ml stirring often and the colour has darken to a deeper brown. This takes around 40-50 minutes. Take this as far as you like. The longer you cook, the sweeter and thicker it will become.
Pour into sterilised jars and leave to cool. Pop a lid on and keep in the fridge. Will keep for a week quite happily. If it separates, simply stir it.
‘Pappardelle with Almond & Artichoke Sauce, Purple Kale & White Asaparagus’ – Original recipe from ‘Peace & Parsnips’
I’m cooking this tonight, a really attractive summery pasta dish. I was reminded of it when it popped up on the Blue Zones website. I cook dishes like this often, especially when I’m over in Spain, where the artichokes and almonds are just out of this world!! Plus the lemons…..you cannot quite recreate the flavour of a lemon freshly picked from the tree which has enjoyed all that sparkling Med sunshine. But let’s try! If you cook this dish, wherever you are, half close you eyes and imagine that the bright sunshine is everywhere, the blue, blue ocean waves are crashing somewhere close by and there are trees filled with lemons just outside your window. Ahhhhh. That’s the right vibe for this one!
The Mediterranean diet is famous for being healthy, but its not just all the sea, sand and lemons. A healthy lifestyle is a little more complex than that it seems. I’m very interested in the idea that the way we live, not just the way we eat and drink, has a bearing on our health and wellbeing. For me, diet is one of the foundations to a healthy and happy body and mind, but there is much more to consider and appreciate.
BLUE ZONES
Blue zones refer to the communities around the world who live for the longest. There has been a lot of interest in the lifestyles of these people, why do they live so long? It seems that being social, staying active and from what I can see, maintaining a connection with nature, leads to longevity. There seems to be a strong sense of community in most of the ‘blue zones’ around the world, from Japan to Italy, and over to Costa Rica, people living more natural lives with good connections with each other, live longest. Sounds like a recipe for a good life to me.
I’ve always like the Irish proverb, ‘a light heart lives long.’ I can’t see stress doing us any good in the long run. When I see the people interviewed in these ‘Blue Zone’ cultures, they are generally chilled out. Most of this is common sense to many of us, but its the putting it into practice that can be the hard part. Takes a bit of discipline.
I’m always positive about change, our lifestyles will adapt depending on our priorities and convictions. The option for a peaceful and content life is always there, it may be hard, may seem impossible, but with little shifts and changes to the way we approach life, the things we prioritise on a daily basis, big changes can come. I know this, because it happened in my life. I went from quite a stressed life managing restaurants in London to helping to build a little beach bar in Spain, then took the real plunge and went for a very long walk in the Himalayas. My world view and perceptions changed considerably.
MINDFULNESS
A healthy approach is of course not just based around what we eat, but the way we think and feel. I recently watched this little cartoon about mindfulness, which is an excellent technique for developing a more conscious and connected approach to life that has been effective for millions of people. Mindfulness and meditation are two key practices that Jane and I use to maintain balance and harmony within ourselves and therefore within our relationship with each other and the world at large.
Mindfulness is like an anchor in a chaotic world, when our life seems to be out of control, it’s a safe place we can find empowerment and inspiration, peace and genuine relaxation. After all, a short period of mindfulness and meditation can have the restorative and re-energising effects of many hours sleeping. A relaxed mind is an effective mind and an effective mind allows us to navigate our way through life in an assured, calm and empowered manner.
I’d like to thank the Blue Zone site for sharing the recipe and reminding me about some of the aspects of my own lifestyle that were being neglected. I’m off for a long walk and then, dinner!
Recipe Notes
Peace and Parsnips was released in the USA recently, so you’ll notice the US style weights and measures below. The recipe contains a few ingredients, but is easy to put together and I like the artichoke and almond combo in the sauce, something a bit different. I think this is perfect for a treat summer meal and the last recipe I posted, Simple Seared Mushrooms with Pea Puree & Crushed Minty Peas would make a very nice starter. I love these kinds of dishes, simply prepared, just let the lovely produce at this time of year give their flavour and do the talking.
Have you tried salsify? Its a delicious, if a little obscure, ingredient. You can use salsify in this dish instead of the white asparagus, which is normally found jarred. I first made this dish in Spain, where there is no shortage of white asparagus. I like its subtle flavour and texture.
Pappardelle is one of my favourite pastas, great for a thick, creamy sauce that sticks to it nicely. You can of course use tagliatelle or something similar.
14 ounces (400g) pappardelle (or similar egg-free pasta)
a small handful of toasted almonds, finely chopped
a big handful of fresh parsley, chopped
a handful of watercress
Artichoke & Almond Sauce
5 tablespoons olive oil
a handful of almonds, soaked for 2 hours, skins removed if you have time
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
4 big handfuls of watercress leaves
14 ounces (390g) artichoke hearts
juice of ½ a lemon
Do It
For the Artichoke & Almond Sauce
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the almonds.
Sauté for 1 minute, then add the garlic and continue cooking for 2 minutes more.
Add the watercress leaves, cover the pan, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Place the contents of the frying pan in a food processor with the artichokes, lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and blend to a smooth purée. The sauce should be thick and shiny. Add water to thin it out if necessary.
Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan on medium and add the asparagus. Panfry for 6–8 minutes, until nicely caramelized. Add a glug of white wine, and when the liquid has evaporated, season and cover. Leave to sit.
Bring a big pan of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta for roughly 8 minutes, until al dente. Add the kale halfway through the cooking time. Drain well, keeping aside a little of the pasta water. Add the drained pasta and kale to the artichoke sauce and toss together, adding some of the pasta water if it is looking a bit dry.
Spoon into warm shallow bowls and top with crisscrossed asparagus and a sprinkling of toasted almonds and parsley. Garnish with the watercress and season with sea salt and black pepper.
Seared Mushrooms with Pea Puree & Minty Crushed Peas
We had this for dinner tonight and thought it was definitely good enough to share. So simple, light and flavourful. This is the kind of dish that is perfect for a long summer lunch/ dinner. Out in the garden, especially when you’ve a few courses planned. Ideally, a low maintenance starter is a great way to kick things off in the kitchen.
It’s a attractive looking plate and the mushrooms can be done anyway you prefer. Here I have put the easiest, but you could easily add a splash of sherry, like Pedro Ximenez, or balsamic vinegar, even a dash of good tamari, to the pan just before they’re done. The mushrooms will absorb the liquid and caramelise even better.
We had this in the garden with Dad, we’ve loved visiting Durham of late, such a beautiful county and have recently been up to Banborough castle and beach for a look around. It was a sunny day with stunning views, I love the castle, perched above the coastline. We built a massive sand dragon with seaweed for flames and mussel shell claws. I think we’re missing Wales! We’ll be back there soon. Dad lives in the countryside, not far from Yorkshire and we’ve loved walking around the local forests and fields. One a good day, the countryside just comes alive. I’m cooking quite a lot at the minute, so it’s great to get out in the fresh air and sunshine.
You can use those gorgeous King Oyster Mushrooms here, if you can find them. I happily settled for portobellos. I use frozen peas, but fresh peas would have been even more amazing. Grab a podder and go for it!!
Banborough beach, Durham – it’s a bit freezing in the North East
The Bits – For 2 as starter
3-4 Large Portobello Mushrooms (cut into thick slices)
1 tbs olive oil
Mint puree
125g garden peas
2 small spring onions (finely sliced)
2 tbs olive oil
100ml boiling water
Crushed Peas
200g garden peas
8 mint leaves
200ml water
1 tbs olive oil
2 pinches sea salt
1 pinch black pepper
Garnish
Fresh mint, pea shoots or even edible flowers
Light and simple summer dish
Do It
Pea Puree
In a small sauce pan on medium heat, add the oil and sweat the onions with a pinch of salt and pepper for 5 minutes. When they are soft, add the peas and boiling water, turn the heat to high. Put a lid on and boil for 3 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and set aside.
Crushed Peas
In a small frying pan on high heat, add the peas, water and mint, boil for 2 of minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain again and in a small bowl, crush the peas with a fork, mix in the oil, salt and pepper.
Mushrooms
Cut the mushroom into 1/2 inch slices.
Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat, and sear the mushrooms for 1-2 minutes on each side. They should be golden brown and tender. Now pour in the pedro ximenez/ balsamic and cook until it has evaporated, another 30 seconds to minute, flipping the mushrooms to coat them.
Heat your pea puree back up.
On a warm plate, spoon on the pea puree, place the mushrooms nicely on the puree, scatter with the crushed peas and herbs. Garnish with herbs or pea shoots, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Welcome, to the land of falafel! This was my favourite wrap, but it’s hard to tell.
I had a falafel recently in Newcastle which was less than incredible. The falafel was only discernible from the bread by a shift in colour, in fact, it was actually drier than the thick, stale bread. Both were only slightly more appetising than the rough paper they were wrapped in. It had no sauce whatsoever. Bit of iceberg lettuce. ‘What’s going on!!’
A Turkish man made it for me, which made it even more hard to deal with. But then the dawning came, there are no falafels in Turkey. Why should he have known his way around this potential exquisite combination of simple deliciousness. (I might add, this place does the best veg kofta and mezze’s in the North East.) It’s like asking a Geordie to make the perfect momo……. Sometimes, to truly understand something, we’ve got to go back to the source(ish).
Having not long returned from Lebanon, this entire experience was a taste bud trauma. I decided to go home and look at my travel pictures, remind myself about the real deal, sate my hunger by the sheer tastiness of my memories of wandering around Lebanon, from falafel shop to falafel kiosk. I got so excited, and into it, I wrote this.
Never short of a pickle in Tripoli. The perfect, salty and crunchy accompaniment to any wrap. I liked the violently pink cauliflower ones.
I had just over a week in Lebanon, it’s not a massive country, but it is well stuffed with chickpeas. People love them, as do I. Hummus, Mshbaha (creamy – recipe here), Fattet (stew) or even just a straight up bowl of warm chickpeas in their broth with a pile of flatbread and liberal sprinklings of intense cumin.
What I saw from my little Lebanese window was that no country worships the chickpea like Lebanon. So mashing it up and deep frying it sounded like a great idea I’m sure. I stand close to my assertion that anything deep fried, crispy and light, will taste great. There is something primal when we bite into it and get the CRUNCH. Even though, most of us now feel it naughty to munch on these deep fried globes of happiness, we still get a kick out of them. You can bake them for slightly healthier results, but when in Beirut…..
Monster falafels taking over the city (a poster)
Falafels, bar the frying bit, are actually highly nutritious. Packed with fibre, complex carbs and protein, they even have loads of minerals, high in iron for example and don’t get me started on the manganese content. Through the roof!! When you lather them in tahini, veggies, fresh herbs and a wholesome wrap, we doing alright there. In so many ways.
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF FALAFEL
Are you new to falafels? Have you been living in very big, deep, dark cave? )If so, welcome. They’re deep fried dough balls really.) Less exotic and sounding less appetising, but essentially, honest. It is normally made with chickpea or fava bean (see my recipe for Egyptian falafels here) or sometimes both. Add to that some herbs and spices and a normally healthy fistful of breadcrumbs and we’re getting there. The best dishes, the ones we eat and enjoy most often, are normally simple. No falafel is an island, it needs it’s gang of accompaniments to shine (see below for the perfect crew).
Falafel Sayhoun wrap (action shot) – famous throughout Lebanon and it was nice. Not number 1 though.
Strangely, falafel actually means ‘pepper’ (plural of) which somehow means ‘little balls’. In Egyptian Arabic it means, ‘a little bit of food’. It is popular across the Middle East, and now the world. Originally (possibly) it was the Coptic Christians in Egypt who came up with falafels to keep them sated during Lent. I’d just like to say that I live in Wales, halfway up a mountain and feel ill-equipped to deal with a full-on falafel debate. I just know that they’re not from Wales.
I like a bit of this on my wrap, sprinkle of Sumac. Contentious I know, but gives it a nice citrus twang.
It has been said that the Pharoahs enjoyed nibbling falafels, but this is hard to prove, but nice to imagine. Pyramids, falafel wrap stands…… In fact, you’ll find McFalafels in McDonalds all over Egypt. Make of that what you will.
Some of the guys working in the falafel wrap joints are like an F1 pit crew. Your falafel is ordered, with special requirements taken note of (almost everyone has their own little wrap quirk) and wrapped in such a rush of energy and precision, sprinkle and roll. It’s exhilarating. These folk know their moves! It goes; whack, whack, sprinkle, scatter, squirt, another scatter, roll, wrap, wrap, twist, launch at customer. A fine art I’d say. Not just the flavour going on here, its the buzz of watching a master at work.
FALAFEL GEEK CORNER
The current world record falafel wrap was 74.75 kgs, made in Amman, Jordan. How they fried it, is interesting to think about. When I checked out ‘world largest falafel ball’, here is what I got (350 lites of vegetable oil and fed 600 people!!):
You can eat falafels for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I’m not recommending it as a balanced diet, but if you’re in Beirut, it seems like a great idea. As we can see, not all falafels are created equal, there are a few rules that I gleaned from friendly Lebanese cooks and falafel aficionados, here are their teachings,
The decor in Falafel Sayhoun, a Beirut institution. The falafel were heavy on the black pepper I thought.
THE DREAM FALAFEL WRAP (LEBANESE EDITION)
Is light on bread, a pitta cut in half thickness wise. Some pickles (pink turnip is nice), some tarator (basic tahini sauce), a few squashed falafels, tomato and lettuce, fresh mint, sometimes parsley, served with some long green pickled chillies. That’s basically it! Simple as and normally quite small. Generally costing around £1.
One of my favourite falafel was eaten beside Baalbek (see this ‘I Ate Lebanon’ post) and served by Ali, the ‘King of Falafels’. A well named man. He was a super star. Baalbek is close to the border with Syria and my journey took a few minibuses, the last one filled with Lebanese army, to get there. Zero tourists, I had the place to myself, the carvings of Cleopatra and the well preserved temple to Dionysus were real treats. After walking around in the baking sun, this falafel was well needed.
What makes the perfect falafel wrap?
So a recap, in Lebanon, this is the low down on the perfect falafel wrap:
Thin flat bread, most are cut in half.
Not massive, 3-4 falafels, 12 inches long. A snack.
Light and crisp falafels
Pickles. Check out those intense pink turnip pickles!!
A little tomato and lettuce.
A good spoonful of creamy tahini sauce
Mint leaves, always fresh mint leaves.
Served with pickled green chillies (just a little spicy)
That’s it! Simply amazing!!
BEST FALAFEL WRAP IN LEBANON….
Ali was pipped by, I’m not sure I should even mention this out loud. Can you keep a secret? (Whisper)…..There is a place, just up the road from Falafel Sayhoun, near the souks of Beirut……sorry…I’ve said enough. Friends in Beirut would never forgive me, if you’re planning a visit, get in touch and I’ll give you the directions. There is no sign or door, it’s that good! (Whisper over).
Meet Ali, the self-styled ‘King of Falafels’. A fitting name. Balbeek high street.
There is something perfectly balanced about it, a falafel wrap or mezze plate gives a sweep of nutritional boosts and most of all, it’s delicious and ticks all the boxes in and around our palate.
Some things will never get old and maybe just keep getting better! As the world seems to get increasingly complex, simple pleasures are all the more important. I felt so lucky to be able to enjoy one of my favourite street feasts with some awesome people in a country that is head over heels for food.
Souks of Tripoli, packed with potential falafel wrap ingredients. Maybe some roasted cauliflower would be nice in there?
Falafel lovers footnote:
Of course, Lebanon is not the only country where you can feast of falalels! What’s your favourite place for falafels?……
Kathmandu’s finest – this was our Christmas lunch last year. Not traditional, but tasty. Addition of chips was appreciated. All wrapped in a fresh naan. Christmas lunch 2016, Nepal – just out of a ten day silent Vipassana meditation retreat. What better way to celebrate! Giant falafels!!
Loved this lunch in an Armenian Restaurant plus live music/ bohemian-style hang out. Mahummara – think a dip, but much more, walnuts flavoured with pomegranate molasses (there’s a recipe in ‘Peace & Parsnips’) and fried courgettes with crisp onions and creamy tahini sauce. Plus massive pot of rose and mint tea. If you read a book here, they gave you a free drink!! I was one of the only people not wearing a Trilby.
I am very lucky to travel so much in my life. It’s basically called ‘not having kids’ according to many of my friends. The freedom to jump around the world and feast like a happy herbivore.
I’d always wanted to eat my way around Lebanon and learn more about this incredible country. I took the opportunity to stop in Beirut, as I headed back West from India earlier in the year. I had a unique experience, flying to Ethiopia before heading up into the Middle East. The views of Ethiopia from the plane window left me wanting to see more, and maybe a bit closer.
I was not disappointed by Lebanon in anyway, it’s a small country with a big heart and packs in some incredible sites and flavours for the curious and slightly intrepid traveller sort. There are fascinating places here which see very little tourism. But let’s start with the food….
Msabaha – I liked it so much, I did a recipe for it on the BHK. See here.
MEZZA – LEBANON ON A (LITTLE) PLATE
Mezza (mezze/ tapas in the Middle East) was my main fuel for belly and tastebuds. Wow! Mezza in Lebanon made tables groan and filled me with a rainbow of colours and flavours.
Things like Baba Ganoush (Baba Ganouj sometimes), radiant salads, Ful (gorgeous, soft and rich fava beans), loads of pickled veggies, of course, gallons of creamy, sumptuous hummus (I’m not going over the top there), and falafels. Falafels, then falafels and more falafels. I ate piles of those delicious crispy lumps. Mainly in a wrap. I could have done a falafel recipe, but truth is, there no different to the gazillion that are out there now. They are light and cripsy and in one of Lebanon’s most famous falafel places, Falafel Sayhoun, they are heavy on the black pepper. A bit of a surprise. I’ll write more about falafels soon.
I’m a vegan, falafels make up a large part of my dining out diet. Therefore, I probably eat as many falafels per year as your average Lebanese person. I was in good company.
Ful – Tasty breakfast, fava beans flavoured with a little spice and great olive oil. You are never more than a metre away from a pile of flatbread in Lebanon.
EATING LEBANON
My style is cheap. What to do! I love to travel which means that expensive restaurants are off the menu. I’m fine with that. I seek the best food in the street, down alleys, from little windows and stands, in peoples homes and local restaurants. Basically, the food everyone is eating. the culinary pulse of a place. Cutting edge is great, but I like to go straight to the heart first. I’m very rarely disappointed. I have no interest in decor if the food is bang on.
What we have here are a selection of vegan Lebanese staples. There is one vegan/ vegetarian restaurant in Beirut, but really, the Lebanese cuisine is vegan friendly, there’s a falafel joint on every corner and thats just the beginning. You’ll pick up a fresh juice without any problems, juice bars are all over the place. Plus, there are loads of shops selling nuts, seeds and Turkish delight (normally vegan). Ideal travel snacks when you’re wandering around in search of interesting nooks of cities and towns. Maybe you’re a hiker? Perfect.
One difficulty about ordering/ writing about Lebanese food is that it’s such a diverse place, with bags of culture/ influences, the names and spellings for many dishes seem quite fluid. But here goes, many of which are lifted from scribbles in my notebook.
One of the main mosques, Mohammad Al-Amin, in central Beirut.
WHAT I ATE – VEGAN LEBANON
Where to begin? Stuffed vine leaves. Mujadara (rice and lentils – recipe in ‘Peace & Parsnips‘) normally with a tomato sauce, Manouche (see below – like a massive, thin pancake, stuffed with punchy za’atar and loads of olive oil, although fillings vary). What else……sumac was there……..
This nice woman made me a Manouche many mornings. Interesting technique, rolled super thin, big flat glove type thing, slapped on a dome shaped hot plate. Leave to bubble and brown. Enjoyed with fresh juice and coffee. The finished Manouche (Manakish)
I really enjoyed the veggie version of Fasoulya Hammanieh, a really rich bean stew which loved warm flat bread. The chickpea is a hero in these parts. I ordered an interesting sounding dish one night and what turned up was just a bowl of chickpeas in their cooking broth with a pinch of cumin on top. Basic, but was really tasty. The cumin, wow, potent stuff.
It goes without saying that the hummus is incredible, creamy and rich. I wrote about hummus recently. The tahini is also, as expected, next level plant-based creaminess. You might know by now, and I not shy to say, tahini is probably my favourite thing in the world. Taking a fried courgette/ aubergine and introducing it to a light tahini sauce is a beautiful act.
I did not manage to find any veggie Kibbeh, which was a shame, but there was enough to keep me occupied. I enjoyed Makdous, bigger aubergine pickles stuffed with nuts. Shades a pickled onion. Batata Harra were a constant source of yum, baked or fried potatoes with a spicy, more-ish coating. Spoon them in with hummus and pickle and again, we’re going somewhere nice for a while.
If you are Lebanese, or just know, what is the difference between Baba Ganouj and Mutabal? Smoking?
You can eat awesome food late in Lebanon. Shakshuka (which was basically chips with tomato sauce and herbs, surprising), creamy rich hummus and a Lebanese beer.
LEBANON LOVES FOOD (AND DRINK)!
Lebanese people LOVE eating and many Lebanese dishes can be traced back thousands of years. If it ain’t broke….. Most restaurants and houses I visited had large groups of people sat around lots of dishes of food, drinking sometimes beer, wine or coffee and taking their time. Maybe its the Mediterranean that does this to us. Slows things down, makes us enjoy the good things in life a little more.
Lebanese beer and wine is very good quality, I didn’t know much about it before, but some of the central valleys in Lebanon are making great wines and not too expensive. Arak is popular, an aniseed alcohol which can also be good quality, but is normally proper rocket fuel.
When you drink, you eat. I like that. In the little, bespoke style bars of Beirut, I regularly got a little tray or bowl of something with my drink. A nice touch, especially when you see the price of the drinks!!
Tabouleh, you probably know. Lots of herbs, chopped. Lebanon does amazing roast, spicy potatoes. Who knew?! These sesame flatbreads were really quite special. Fatoush is another delicious Lebanese salad, normally with a nice pomegranate molasses flavour dressing and crispy, flatbread croutons.
LEBANESE COFFEE
Tea and coffee are not such a big deal in Lebanon. At least in public. Unlike Egypt and Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries I’ve visited, there are not many tea shops or cafes. I was told that people tend to drink tea in their homes and Lebanese coffee (Ahweh) is served in the Greek/ Balkan etc style of finely ground (Turkish grind), boiled in a little vessel and served in small, espresso size cups. It’s robust. The resulting coffee is strong, sometimes flavoured with things like cardamom, and leaves that tell-tale sludge at the bottom of your cup.
Sesame flatbread bakery – Tripoli. That’s all they do, hundreds, thousands of steaming sesame flatbreads. You know they’ll be good!! Come out the oven puffed up like golden balloons. I loved everything I ate in Tripoli, but this was challenging. Sharab Al-‘Eriq Sous is made by continuously pouring water through a bag filled with a licourice mix producing a potent licourice concoction. Wakes the taste buds up and makes you pull funny faces.
DESSERT
I didn’t actually sample many Lebanese desserts. Most were dairy based and I was happy with the ubiquitous fruit, I was also normally stuffed from the meals and all that flatbread. Halva, the nutty types, are normally vegan, but I find them overly sweet. I like a little nibble though and it is delicious. Of course, the tahini variety is a favourite.
Pastes, spices and herbs. I love these stalls. Bought some Za’atar here and some nice dried apricots, to be made into a refreshing drinks. Amar-el-Deen, sometimes with a little twist of rosewater. Perfect in the summertime. I’d never heard of it before and went to a world food store in Newcastle yesterday and found the exact same packet!!
BEIRUT
Is set on the Mediterranean coast and was not long ago, a cosmopolitan city influenced by the French, attracting tourists from around the world with stunning architecture. It is one of the oldest cities on earth. Beirut has had it’s problems, you probably know all about them. Basically destroyed by the recent civil war it is a city being rebuilt, pockets of nightlife, galleries, museums are springing up amidst the ongoing problems. In parts of Beirut, you could be in places like soho, tiny bars and lots of well heeled trendy sorts hanging out drinking cocktails. I stayed in a wonderful hostel in the centre of a well-to-do corner of the city, plush in parts, a place teeming with offices, restaurants and the occasional hummer.
The Saifi Urban Gardens band. Twice a week, everyone dances, but everynight there’s a party.
The hostel has a sprawling, open air restaurants downstairs, serving excellent, inexpensive food, with regular live Arabic bands. It was a buzzing place, never dull and the staff were incredible. Saifi Urban Gardens.
Beirut is good for a couple of days looking around and then serves best as a base for travelling around Lebanon, only a few hours on a bus will take you to any corner of the country. Most people staying at the hostel, which is a real hub, were students of Arabic. They did not seem to travel around much, citing tensions and security issues, but most local people just said “Go for it, all is cool.” So I did and was rewarded with many memorable experiences.
Street Art – Beirut
A RANDOM VEGAN POKE
Mar Mikael and Gemmayze are where the richer, trendy sorts hang out and there is a thriving bar and cafe culture in these areas, not to mention a diverse restaurant scene. Over the road from my hostel, I bumped into a chef who showed me around his new restaurant, the theme is Poke (pronounced with an accent on the ‘e’, like ‘Ole!’). Have you heard of it? A concept he picked up in Hawaii, mainly seafood and veggies in a bowl. Food that looks outrageously beautiful and he made me a special plant-based bowl. It was dark, no pic. It was interesting to be eating Hawaiian in Beirut.
Poke, Buddha bowls, whatever you want to call them, a very nice way of presenting a variety of foods and punchy flavours. Don’t mix things up, keep them separate and appreciate each ingredients qualities. I think it makes a nice change. If you’re not familiar with these things, you’re probably not on Pinterest/ Instagram (like me).
One of the coolest people I met. Kid DJ in the old quarter of Byblos. Playing Arabic dance music turned up to 11 for no one in particular. For the love of it!
Of course, being a vegan traveller you right off the majority of most menus when you move around. But in Lebanon, what is left is so delicious and generally varied, that you would not dream of feeling left out of the moveable feast. I lower my expectations and am normally just happy to get fed. In Lebanon, I revised that, and realised that most Lebanese people love their veggies and pulses.
Lebanese cuisine is well up there with my favourites, being vegan, it’s even a little healthy, all that hummus, tahini, vivid pickles, fresh juices and normally wholemeal flatbread.
Beirut – no beaches, mainly little rock outcrops where people sun bath and chill. This is from the promenade known as ‘Corniche’. Here, you could be anywhere in the Med, as people come out to exercise and stroll with poodles around dawn and sunset.
Lebanon left a big impression more to come soon……The Perfect Falafel and more travel stories On The Road in Lebanon.
Here’s part two of our Italian vegan feast, a whole heaving table of vegan delights perfect for a summer celebration. The idea is that they’re quick and easy to get together and show-off the incredible produce we get when the sun comes out to play.
These are the flavours of summer and I think Italy is one of my favourite countries to eat, wander and marvel. I’ve never visited big cities I must add, but the chilled life in the Italian countryside is my kind of vibe. Simplicity and balancing flavours are just second nature to the cooks and magnificence is never far from my taste buds. Italy is a vegan travellers dream, in fact, any travellers dream. I agree with the old school maxim, ‘don’t mess with the produce, just let them shine!’ (I might have just made that up).
EATING ITALIA (JUST THE PLANTS GRAZIE MILLE!)
I’ve done a load of travelling in the past year and was lucky to tour around the south of Italy again; Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, just the names alone have my mouth watering. The south of Italy has so many vegan choices, traditionally, veggie food down there is very popular. It was a poorer part of the country where people couldn’t always afford meat and dairy, so they got creative with the plants. My kind of place! I love the parmesan they make with basically just fried breadcrumbs. Great texture and crunch. I also love the ever present mushrooms.
Every restaurant has a range of vegetable dishes, generally simply prepared, sauteed quickly or char grilled. There is of course, the classic Marinara pizza. Just tomato sauce and maybe the occasional basil leaf, but the quality of the base is regularly sensational. There is Arrabiata and its varietals, huge bowls of fresh pasta with a rich tomato sauce and knock out olive oil. Occasionally a basil leaf. The tomato foccacia is dreamy, melts in the mouth and I haven’t even mentioned the Antipasto. Jeez. Huge, elaborate displays of preserved flavour explosions. All kinds and colours of olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, aubergines, peppers, you know the score but really, if you haven’t nibbled one standing in a Puglian market post espresso, you haven’t really tasted the true antipasto. The pizza/ pasta dishes mentioned normally weigh in at 5-6 euros in a nice restaurant. Not bad eh!
I think the markets in the south of Italy are my favourite places for sniffing out fresh produce and generally, just to hang out. I spend quality time admiring the creations on display. Did I mention the sorbet, no need to miss out on the evening gelato ritual, the sorbet is normally incredible. Really, incredible.
Have you ever eaten a peach in Italy!!? That’s a whole other level and blog post I feel. Even the plums are a wake up call generally to the potential of fruit and veg. The sweetness. In Britain, we’re doing out best really. Great apples and potatoes.
One of our favourite little restaurants, in a cave overlooking the Amalfi Coast.
Italy has a reputation of being an expensive place to travel, not for me. There is also a growing vegan movement and even in small towns, I found vegan restaurants, salad bars, kebab shops. It’s become quite trendy, restaurants advertise vegan options via flashing lights or blackboards.
Basically, all lovers of food and the simpler, finer things in life cannot help but fall in love with rural Italy. Is that right? Have you been? What can I look forward to in the North? The tastebuds boggle.
Back to our humble little feast with an Italian flava.
See the first post here for the Pepper, Basil & Cashew Cream Cheese Tart, Rosemary Roast Potatoes, Tomato & Balsamic Salad and Italian Style Dressing recipes.
The Bits – For 6-8 as part of the Italian Feast
Aubergine Antipasto
2 large aubergines (peeled)
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
4 tbs olive oil
Large pinch salt
Dried oregano
1 handful sun dried tomatoes (chopped)
——————–
Roast your aubergine in the oven, 200oc, 25 minutes, until cooked and a little caramelised. Toss gently with the other ingredients. Leave to cool and pop in the fridge. Can be done in advance.
Roast Squash & Wholegrain Pasta Salad
Roast Squash & Wholegrain Pasta Salad
8 handfuls wholegrain penne
5 tbs vegan mayo
3 handfuls squash (small cubes)
1 bulb of garlic
1 large handful sun dried tomatoes (chopped)
1 handful parsley (chopped)
1/2 lemon (juice)
Salt and pepper
——————
Cook your pasta. Drain and leave to cool a little.
Roast the squash and garlic for 30 minutes in 200oC fan oven with a little oil and salt and pepper, take the garlic out after 20 minutes. Peel the garlic cloves and mash with a fork, stir into the mayo.
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently together. Season with salt and pepper.
This dish is nice served warm, but also good cold.
White Bean Puree (Vegan)
White Bean Puree
450g white beans
4 tbs olive oil
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 teas sea salt
Parsley
Garnish
Whole beans
Olive oil
————————-
Place all in a blender and blitz until smooth. Check seasoning.
Serve ideally with a drizzle of olive oil and a handful of whole beans on top and maybe chopped soft herbs (basil, parsley) or dried oregano.
Serve dishes with
Large bowl of mixed salad leaves
Bowl of Olives
Olive oil/ Balsamic
Vegan cheese, like cashew cream, vegan parmesan.
Fresh Foccacia/ Ciabatta/ Any nice bread really
Extra bowl of dried oregano and mild chilli flakes
A bottle of something nice
Sunshine + smiles
Rosemary Focaccia
That’s it! Enjoy the feast. If you get to try it all out, or even just a few of the dishes, let us know in the comments below. We love to hear about your kitchen adventures.
We love sharing with you our favourite recipes! Here’s a whole feasts worth!! If I had time, I’d blog every night. I think good recipes are best shared. Let’s cook!
The post was originally so long, I’ve had to split it into two. But don’t be overawed, the recipes are straightforward.
The simple and delicious flavours of Italy make the most out of our summer produce. When the sun comes out, we start getting tasty tomatoes, peppers, and the flavours of the Mediterranean can be found locally in the UK for a short window. I love it! This is a feast designed for a party or entertaining guests/ people you hopefully like, when you want a table filled with a wide range of dishes, not too complicated food that compliments each other. For me, Italian food goes perfectly with a sunny afternoon and a bottle of something amazing.
THE ITALIAN CONNECTION
The reason for this meal was our relatives visiting from Italy, they live near Lake Como. Jane and I love Italy, one of our favourite places on this big rock, but we’ve never been North. Can’t believe we’ve got family living in Italy and we haven’t been to see them. Shame on us. Since coming back to the UK we’ve been loving kitchen time and trying out ideas from our travels. I guess the tart is like a pizza, but with a puff pastry base. When I’m busy, I like working with puff pastry, it’s far too easy. I’ve just discovered pre-rolled puff pastry. Wow! That is pure laziness and brilliance at the same time. Whack it on a tray, bake, job done.
When preparing a menu, we need to think about textures and flavours, how they mingle and benefit from each other. I find writing menu’s really enjoyable and a great challenge.
If you can, present the dishes on large plates or shallow bowls. Spread things out, make them look lovely.
Recipe Notes
This is going to take a few hours to get together. Its a weekend special.
Gluten-free – Just use gluten-free pastry/ pasta for the tart and your favourite gluten free bread.
Additional deliciousness – this tart is awesome with some prated vegan parmesan sprinkle over at the end. Violife do a parmesan which is scarily like the real thing Jane and I were amazed by it, you could smell the pong upstairs and in the garden. Just like the other stuff. Potent. There must be some kind of genius going on there. Vegan parmesan!! Whatever next. Exciting times in the foody world powered by plants.
(You’ll notice a couple of dishes are missing from the picture above, you’ll find a Chocolate Cake recipe here the Peanut Butter Scones may appear soon.)
The Bits – For 6-8 Light Meal
Pepper, Basil and Cashew Cream Cheese Tart (Vegan)
Pepper, Basil & Cashew Cheese Tart
1 pack puff pastry
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 garlic
salt and pepper
3 peppers – different colours looks nice (sliced)
2 onions (thickly sliced)
2 handfuls squash (chopped into cubes)
Cashew Cheese
1 cup cashews
1/2 lemon (juice)
3 tbs nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 garlic clove
Large pinch dried oregano
1 handful fresh basil leaves
Dried oregano
3 tbs plant milk (for brushing)
—————-
Preheat fan oven 200oc.
Place the peppers, onions and squash on a large baking tray, season with salt and pepper, use two if squashed, and roast for 25-30 minutes.
In a sauce pan, add tomatoes, garlic, season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, until a thick sauce forms.
Roll out your puff pastry thin on a piece of lightly floured greaseproof paper. Brush with milk. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Leave to cool slightly.
Spread a layer of tomato sauce over tart, scatter onions, peppers, squash, sprinkle with oregano, black pepper.
Brush the edges of the tart with plant milk, bake for 15 minutes. Can be served hot or cold.
Place all the cheese ingredients in a blender and blits until smooth.
To serve, blob on cashew cheese and tear over some basil leaves.
Mix together in a bowl and tear your basil leaves over.
Roast Rosemary Potatoes
Roasted New Potatoes & Rosemary
New potatoes (par boiled)
Few sprigs of Rosemary
Salt
2 roasted garlic bulbs
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Take your par boiled potatoes, toss them in the rosemary, salt and oil, roast in the oven for 30 minutes. (200oC) until crispy and golden, turning them once.
Serve warm.
Italian Style Dressing
8 tbs olive oil
3 tbs white wine vinegar
2 small garlic cloves (crushed)
3 tbs chopped parsley
1/2 teas dried oregano
1/2 small lemon (juice)
Large pinch dried red pepper
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Whisk all together in a bowl or shake together in a jar. Check seasoning.
Buon appetito!
This is only half of the recipes, check out the Italian Vegan Summer Feast (pt 2) post for more.
Better than hummus!? Or at least equal! Regardless, an awesome, quick and easy summer dish to be eaten alone with warm bread, maybe a salad and then take it the whole way and make it part of a summer feast. Tables filled with lovely dishes one of my favourite sights, especially in the garden with a shining topping of sunshine. Come on sunshine!!
BEIRUT BITES
I ate this mainly for breakfast on a recent trip to Beirut. Warm, with crisp tomatoes and pepper, plus fresh, thin pitta bread, it set me up for days traveling around the fascinating country of Lebanon. It’s a simple dish and can be ready in minutes.
Msabaha (some spell it Mussabaha, Msabbacha, Mschabeca, Messabbeha but in Lebanon I saw Msabaha, I hope that makes some sense) is a great twist on hummus, containing most of the same ingredients. This is a really creamy, more-ish way of serving chickpeas, perfect as a picnic mezza.
I was sharing a table with a friendly American one morning and I recommended the Msabaha, he exclaimed “THIS IS THE NEW HUMMUS MAN!!” I’m not sure about that. I don’t think it really matters. It’s just Msabaha. And it’s just amazing.
CHICKPEA LOVIN’
The Lebanese love, I mean love, their chickpeas. I excitedly ordered a dish in a bar/ restaurants (there are loads of excellent bars and restaurants in Beirut, especially in and around Gemmayzeh.) What showed up was basically a bowl of chickpeas, dusted with cumin and a splash of olive oil. It was delicious, but still, just a bowl of chickpeas straight up.
The main challenge with travelling for me is re-creating the dishes that I loved once I arrive back home. It can be a thankless task, we cannot recreate the chickpeas here, for some reason, they taste so much better in the Med/ Middle East. Also the veg, the cucumbers and tomatoes in Lebanon were a constant sensation. We can’t replicate their fertile soil and sun. But we can try and we can get close.
THE BEST SOUVENIRS ARE RECIPES!
The funny-ish thing about travelling is we go away and sample all of these delicious delicacies and local people are unfazed by the adulation. It’s like a tourist wandering into a Gregg’s and getting worked up about a pasty. These kind of dishes are what everyone eats, they’re the working persons food, cheap, delicious, plentiful and ever present. In Britain, I think things like good chips and mushy peas, or a cheese and pickle sandwich (now back on the menu with vegan cheddar), or maybe even the perfect shepherd-less or apple pie are our equivalent of hummus, falafels, baklava and the like. Simple food that everyone loves! My best souvenirs are always recipes like these and delicious memories.
Basically, don’t go there!! In Lebanon, hummus recipes are precise and it can be a point for debate. I’ve encountered this in other countries, many little variation, some say add ice and blend, others say only use a hand masher, some say painstakingly remove the jacket from each individual chickpea.
Most people I spoke to in Beirut said keep it simple. No garlic, no spices. Just lemon, salt and a little olive oil. The hummus we eat in the UK, especially those pale imitations in the supermarkets, are nothing like those in Lebanon and Egypt. Their hummus is super creamy and perfectly balanced, also, the olive oil is normally very fruity.
In Lebanon, the folk I spoke to would never put cumin in hummus and many would not dream of garlic. No, no, no, nooooo! “Garlic!! Are you crazy Britishman!!” Direct quotes from a falafel stand in Beirut.
I think it’s about balance and knowing what your dream tahini tastes like and the texture you want. Some like it a little rough, some smooth. I like mine with a little more tahini. But anyway….back to Msabaha……
Remember this though, tahini alone, mixed with water, a little garlic and salt, makes for an incredible sauce for many, many dishes. Can be called Tarator. I love tahini, we should all be eating it at least twice a day in my humble opinion. More at weekends. Have you ever mixed tahini with jam/ molasses/ something sweet and spread it on warm toast or drizzled it over things like porridge or muesli? You’ve got to try it!! It’s a breakfast based revelation.
I love the simplicity of Msabaha, so easy to get very wrong and incredible when mastered. I’m no master, but this is a decent effort I reckon. If you’re from Lebanon, please try it and send me your kind and not-too-harsh feedback. Chokran!!
Beirut has a few ‘beaches’. Thin strips of sand. This man was enjoying himself with his sound system and hookah (water pipe)
Recipe Notes
If you like a thicker sauce, stir in a few spoonfuls of hummus. This is perfectly acceptable behaviour.
I ate this with hummus, so I didn’t make it really saucy. Feel free to add more sauce.
Cook the chickpeas until they’re nice and soft, melt in the mouth!
I prefer soaked and cooked chickpeas, better flavour, but tinned will be fine.
I think this dish is best served warm.
I like cumin, so I put it in.
A nice twist on hummus! Mussabaha, Msabbacha, Mschabeca, Messabbeha, whatever you call it, it tastes amazing!!
The Bits – Enough for 4-6 as a mezze
550g chickpeas (cooked) – 2 tins
1 teas ground cumin
6 tbs light tahini
1/2 lemon (juice)
5 tbs water (more if needed)
1 small clove garlic (crushed)
Salt
Toppings
Sprinkle of paprika
2 cloves crushed garlic (optional but nice)
1/2 handful chopped parsley (use the soft stems also)
Big glug of extra virgin olive oil
Salad
1 green pepper
1/2 cucumber
2 tomatoes (all sliced)
Fresh mint leaves (I used basil)
Do It
Cook your chickpeas, as you like, and drain.
When still warm. Stir the tahini, water, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and salt together, adding the water gradually to make a thin sauce. If you didn’t cook your chickpeas with bicarb of soda, use the chickpea cooking broth instead of water. You can make the sauce in advance if you like.
Gently stir the sauce into the warm chickpeas. Top with parsley, paprika and crushed garlic and serve with warm flatbreads and crisp, chopped salad.
The incredible Baalbek, Roman and Persian monument, on the border with Syria. One of the most incredible historical sites I’ve visited. Well preserved and totally empty.
Foodie Fact
Tahini! Why we love it so, other than it tastes awesome.
Tahini is one the best sources of calcium out there, it keeps your skin and muscles healthy, high in vitamin E and many of the B’s, helps with detoxing, full of minerals like magnesium, potassium, iron and more, a great source of protein (even better than nuts), it is highly alkaline, it is high in unsaturated fats and therefore can help with weightloss.
This recipe captures the scent, fragrance and wild essence from your garden rose into a syrup so gorgeous and simple you’ll want to keep making it over and over.
In the UK we’re blessed with many herbs and flowers that give food such an extra special unique taste. Elderflower season has come and gone, and this year’s cordial is now frozen into ice cubes for coolers dressings and cakes to be enjoyed well into the summer.
Over the years I’ve been fascinated by cooking with wild-plants that I find in the hedgerows and gardens near wherever I’m living. For some people it is a way of life and the ultimate expression of seasonality.
In America last year I was fortunate enough to meet a herbalist who made her own herbal vinegars, flower coolers, infusions and tinctures. When I tasted for the first time in my life a vinegar made of yellow dock that was so punchy fragrant and utterly indescribably bittersweet, it added such an unique flavour to our roasted vegetable dish, and added so many health benefits I vowed I would make it some day… but right now the roses are in bloom.
This recipe is so utterly simple and delicious it will put the magic of summer into whatever piece of toast, pancake, yoghurt or waffle you drizzle it over. It makes a lovely icing for a cake. Full of sugar, just like jam, this doesn’t pretend to be healthy. But as a vegan sweetener or jam equivalent, rose petal syrup can be used in moderation, made in small quantities and appreciated for what it is. I feel it’s a valuable and gorgeous addition to your cupboard.
CHINESE ROSE
Recently when we were in China, travelling in the South in Yunnan, we came across a rose delicacy that blew me away and got me very interested in learning more about cooking with roses. It was a Moon Cake, a ceremonial and local delicacy, made with a flaking light pastry filled with chunky rose jam. Served warm and fresh out of a linen-lined basket by a crinkly faced apple-cheeked local. We stood there blissfully at the stall (despite it being close to a main road for passing trade) immersed in rose-heaven…a taste so blissful I want to go all the way back to China just to taste it again, it blew my mind!
Rose sweeties…
Ever since Lee and I volunteered on an organic lavender and rose farm in Turkey in 2014, I became fascinated with the colossal copper vats where literally tons of freshly harvested rose petals would be made into essential oil. All around Turkey, roses featured highly in every market place in the form of soaps, tea, jams, sweets, and as rose-water, traditionally used by woman and men as a hand spray to lightly scent the skin after a meal.
“What is the scent of the Rose? The breath of reason and intelligence, a sweet guide on the way to the eternal kingdom.” Rumi
The Damask rose is as revered in Turkish society today as it was in the Ottoman times for it’s edible petals and delicious scent. Imagine a scene at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul in the Ottoman times where sultans sip rose sherbet in their thrones, Ottoman woman laze around in rose-scented baths applying oils and creams to their skins. Roses, known as ‘The flower of Heaven’ were a symbol of divine beauty and were used extensively in spiritual ceremonies. Medicines, syrups and sweets made from roses were and still are used every day. It’s all very romantic.
If it’s good enough for a sultan it’s good enough for us too, right?
This recipe was requested by a friend of the BHK, super Simon over at the Heart Kitchen.
Here’s the recipe!
Enjoy, Jane:)
The bits
1 cup of caster sugar
Half a cup of water
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 cups of freshly picked rose petals
Do it
Shake the rose petals well outside after picking to free the tiny insects. Warm the sugar, water and lemon juice on a low heat until it’s dissolved into a thick syrup. Add the rose petals and stir them in the sugar solution for about 5 minutes or so, then take off the heat and keep stirring for another ten, until the rose petals have gone see-through and the syrup has changed colour.
Strain the syrup through muslin into a jar.
Serve
This is one of the world’s most delicious drizzles to be enjoyed with pancakes, toast, waffles, ice creams, cocktails, in tea and even in salad dressings!
Articles referenced in this post are here and here
Photograph of Sultan was originally taken by Nurhan Atasoy.
Elderflower & Pistachio Muffins with Lemon Curd and loads of Vegan Buttercream
It was Jane’s birthday recently and she loves elderflowers, lemon, mashed potato (that is not a typo) and CAKE, so I thought I’d combine them all. The cake was lovely but I liked the idea of making the recipe into muffins filled with the curd. So you cut into them and get a nice surprise. For me, elderflower is one of the tastes of summer in the UK and it’s been a bumper year. We’ve been making many vats of cordial and can’t wait for the elderberry bonza!
You know I rarely bake a ‘normal’ cake, I just can’t handle the sugar overload, but this was a birthday so I let rip. You know the BHK, we live on the edge!!! I tend to freestyle with baking which freaks many people out. I see how it goes. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but generally, sticking to some rules and with a little experience, things turn out well. It also leads to new ideas/ creation. Which is what fuels me in the kitchen. After all, go back a few years and tell people you’re putting mashed potato in a cake and a few bushy eyebrows would have been raised I’m sure. In fact, they probably still are. I like to befriend these bushy eyebrows and I know that when they taste these muffins, they’ll be smiling
I used seived spelt flour here which worked well and had read about mashed potato as a binder years ago. Someone told me about a mashed potato cake and I thought, thats the kind of creative twist that gets me going. I finally got to try it out and it worked a treat. Jane’s parents really loved them, so baking with mashed potato will be played with even more in the BHK. It is light and does help bind the cake together.
Us vegans use a lot of mashed things in our cakes, squash, pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, bananas, I think potato is as good as any and the flavour is suitably bland for a binding agent. Some people have challenged me about using such binders and saying it will make the cake taste bizarre, I would think about it this way. A non-vegan cake is normally filled with a load of scrambled egg! That seems like it will mess with flavour more than a little mashed spud. It’s just something new, thats all.
Can you guess what the secret filling is?
Vegan lemon curd is nice. It’s not exactly, bang on, like the other stuff, but it’s getting there and benefits from being so easy to make. Adding the elderflower cordial to it makes it better for me. You can keep any leftovers in the fridge and it’s, of course, pretty dang good on toast.
The buttercream was a birthday pressie to Jane really (not the only one I might add!) Icing sugar and me don’t see eye to eye. It reminds me of church fares as a child and the cakes were always sickly sweet bits of icing with some sponge hanging off. Or those flapjacks made with buckets of golden syrup and hard raisins. I think my favourites were top hats made with marshmallows and chocolate with a smartie on top, but you didn’t need to bake them. Or rice crispies, they were great.
Basically, this buttercream is old school and no one would be able to tell the difference. There are some decent new margarine type things coming out, Pure is a good staple choice, plus Suma and Biona always deliver good products. I just read that ‘I Can’t Belive It’s Not Butter’ have just released a ‘ICBINB It’s Vegan!’ brand, which is slightly confusing but raised a smile. It is made with ‘real’ ingredients. One thing that has shocked me in a nice way is the range of vegan ingredients and products in the supermarkets, what a difference a year makes (we’ve been travelling here, there and everywhere fyi).
This recipe over at Wall Flower Kitchen was a particular inspiration. Judging by this experiment, I would use seived spelt flour again, we know that its a good option from a health point of view but I love the flavour.
Our new newsletter comes out on Friday, the first one in nearly six years so don’t miss it!! We’ll be celebrating summer with hand-picked recipes, light, simple and full of sun. Sign up HERE.
Filled with lovely vegan lemon curd
Recipe Notes
I have toned down the sugar here, but I think it’s a perfect quantity. Not too sweet. The icing makes up for that. We tried the muffins without the icing and they’re ok with a cuppa, but you’re not going to fool any birthday person that they’re not lacking something.
All elderflower cordials are not made equal, especially if you are making your own. The cordial we used was quite strong. See recipe at the bottom.
You can use chopped almonds as a topping here, I just like the colour of the pistachios.
Best check that your lemon is unwaxed before using the zest. If it’s waxed, and you’re just juicing, don’t worry, it will still be nice and lemony.
As you know, all ovens are different. If your oven is fierce, check them after 16 minutes.
Elderflower & Pistachio Muffins
The Bits – For 12 muffins
Dry
300g spelt flour (sieved)
100g ground almonds
2 teas baking powder
1 teas bicarb of soda
Wet
200g sugar
200ml almond milk
150g mashed potato
2 teas vanilla extract
3 tbs elderflower cordial
80ml sunflower oil
12 large muffin cases
Vanilla Buttercream
15g vegan margarine/ butter
150g icing sugar
1/2 teas vanilla extract
2 tbs plant based milk
2 tbs elderflower cordial
Vegan Lemon & Elderflower Curd
1 large lemon (zest and juice)
4 tbsp corn flour(starch)
40ml plant-based milk
3 tbsp brown rice syrup or sweetner of choice
1 teas turmeric powder
3 tbsp elderflower cordial
1 handful pistachios (finely chopped or pulsed in a blender a couple of times)
Fresh elderflowers (for nice decoration)
Eat in gardens, with sunshine and tea;)
Do It
Vegan Lemon Curd
Make the curd in advance, 1 hour before is ideal. Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. In a small saucepan, bring the curd to a gentle boil, whisking as it warms. When it reaches boiling, take off the heat and whisk well until smooth. If you leave it, expect the curd to go clumpy. Once it is nice and smooth, decant into a container and leave to cool.
Muffin Mix
Add the ground almonds to a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour, bicarb and baking powder.
In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients, including the sugar.
Stir the wet into the dry mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Line your muffin tray with muffin cases.
Using a dessert spoon, spoon enough mix into the muffin cases to fill around 2/3 of the case. Using a teaspoon, spoon roughly 1 1/2 tbs of curd into the centre of the case. Making the curd into a round shape before doing this helps. Now top the muffins off with the rest of the muffin mix. Don’t overfill the cases, they will rise when baked, fill them until a few millimetres from the top.
Bake 18-20 mins 180oC fan oven. Test with a skewer and look for any wet dough, the curd inside will make it slightly more difficult to tell.
Buttercream
Place the margarine/ butter in a bowl and whisk until creamy, gradually add the icing sugar, whisking together until you have a thick consistency. Add the elderflower and milk, whisk again, adding more icing sugar if needed, until fluffy. It should be thick and spreadable and takes a little work. If you’re not into whisking, you can use a food processor. Place in the fridge to thicken up even more.
Allow the muffins to cool on a wire rack and then spoon on the buttecream, spread with the back of a spoon, sprinkle over pistachios, top with elderflowers.
Foodie Fact
Edible Flowers
We don’t eat enough flowers do we!? Flowers make any bowl, plate and especially salads even more beautiful.
Summer flowers that we can eat include nasturtium, calendula, borage, broad bean flowers, chicory, chives, snap dragon, sunflower, tulip, viola, violets, wild primrose, wild garlic, coriander, cornflower, dahlia, gladioli, daisy, chives, honeysuckle, pansy, rose, sage, courgette flowers. Quite a list and that’s nowhere near all of them. Flowers are on the menu!
Flowers like this generally have a light flavour, it’s more about the vibrant look really. Don’t just wander out and eat any flower though, many are not good for us, some poisonous.
Elderflower
Elderflower is said to have anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, it is also said to lower blood sugar and boosts the immune system. You can also gargle (not coridal) with elderflower, which is quite nice.
Find out how to make our favourite Elderflower Cordial and Elderflower Champagne. Elderflowers are so abundant at this time of year its a shame not to;) One thing I haven’t tried is Elderflower Tempura which sounds delicious. Anyone tasted it?
As ever, if you bake these muffins, we’d love to hear your comments and chat below.
PS – We very rarely get any freebies and have no sponsorship etc, we do this because we love it! If we mention products, it’s only because we like them and want to share. If we get free stuff etc, we would tell you.
A giant jackfruit, found dangling by a restaurant in Goa which cooked up an amazing jack and coco curry
Everyone is loving Jackfruit at the minute, all those pulled jack fruit sandwiches and have you tried jackfruit ice cream? It’s incredible! But how much do we know about this strange fruit? Don’t let the spikes put you off, this is a super fruit in every way!! I’m lucky on my global wanders to have tried many varieties of jackfruit and different dishes. I’ve never met a jackfruit dish I didn’t like!
Here are 10 facts about this strange, spiky and wonderful fruit:
1) Jackfruit, the yellow bit we eat, is actually called an ‘aril’. It’s a flower and we eat the edible petals. One jackfruit contains hundreds of flowers and one tree can grow 250 fruits per year.
2) Jackfruit seeds are edible and healthy most people roast them. You can also boil them up and make a lovely attempt at hummus. Comes highly recommended.
3) It is said to smell and taste like a cross between very ripe bananas and pineapple, with a twist of apple and mango. It’s a confused fruit! I think that’s quite accurate but there is definitely a custardy, juicy fruit gum-ness there too.
4) There are many varities of jackfruit, some are pithy inside and some are very sweet and tender.
5) In Indonesia, they make chips out of jackfruit, called Kripik. You can buy them and eat them like crisps.
6) Jackfruit seeds, when roasted, taste like brazil nut crossed with a chestnut. You can boil, bake and roast them. They can also be ground into a flour.
7) Using jackfruit as a meat substitute is nothing new. In Thailand it’s sought after by vegetarians and historically called ‘gacch patha’ (tree mutton!)
8) In Indonesia, the wood of the jackfruit tree is used to maked the famous ‘gamelan’ drums. Popular in Bali (see video below). The leaves are also fed to cattle, but also make a nice alternative to other greens.
9) Every part of the jackfruit tree is medicinally beneficial, the bark, leaves, pulp, skin and roots. It is also antibacterial and anitviral.
10) Jackfruit is the heavyweight of all fruits, growing to four feet long and weighing in at over 35kgs. That’s a lot of burger right there!
Cooking wise, the main attraction to Jackfruit for me is the interesting texture, when unripe, nothing else gives that stringy, chewiness when cooked. It is meat-like and an ideal plant-based dish to serve meat eaters. Also the flavour is totally unique, in fact, Jackfruit is a very strange fruit indeed, like nothing else. As the world goes meat free (it’s happening!) we’ll be increasingly familiar with Jack. It’s going mainstream! Great news as the production of meat is one of THE main causes of global warming.
Delicious Indonesian jackfruit dish ‘Gudeg’ – actually being served at breakfast
I’ve been in Goa for a while and jackfruit grows everywhere. Jackfruit has been hailed as a ‘future food’, due to the fact that it grows so easy and is high in nutrition. It requires minimal fuss and pruning. One jackfruit can feed many and some say it will help to ease the issue of global hunger/ food security.
For me, the country who does jackfruit the best is Indonesia. I’ve never been to a country where it is used so frequently. Almost every meal I had in a proper place had at least one dish using jackfruit. The dish ‘Gudeg’ is a stand out staple. Of course, it makes for a great dessert. It’s a very useful plant, although I have been warned that in places like Brazil, it can be invasive. This is probably not such a problem in rural Wales as it will only grow in warm places.
Fairly standard Indonesian lunch! You have jackfruit and it’s leaves here, plus tofu and tempeh. Woah!
I also tried a ‘Pulled Jackfruit Burger’ in quite a cool little place in Yogayakarta, Indonesia. This is a contemporary twist on things and its great. You’ve probably tried one yourself? I’ll be cooking it when I get back to the UK for sure. Unfortunately, up here in the Himalayas, it’s not a Jackfruit zone. Great organic veggies though.
You can eat ripe Jackfruit raw, I love it like that, but they have to be ripe. It’s also interesting when it pops up in a salad. Jackfruit originated in India and in the South you can find people selling it as a street snack and, of course, in parts of India it’s made into a curry. I know they sometimes make candies/ sweets out of the juice.
Jackfruit is easily confused with the pungent freak that is Durian (see below). Popular in South East Asia and banned from public transport there (it reeks like something gone way rotten and wrong). Durian is an acquired taste and once (or if) you can get over the stink, has an incredible flavour. When I did the TV show ‘Meat vs Veg’ I was tasked with wandering around the streets of London, trying to get people to try it. Some did and liked it, but most just looked sickened! Again, something totally unique. Go to Thailand, try it out. The Thai’s adore the stuff. Durian looks different, bigger spikes and doesn’t grow as large.
Pulled BBQ Jackfruit Burger, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Nutrition wise, for something quite starchy, its got lots to offer. It’s low in calories with good levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin B6 (which is quite rare). Its also a reasonable source of minerals and a good source of carbohydrates, fats, protein and has plenty of fibre. The seeds have plenty of vitamin A.
Although it’s not exactly local (and you know we love our local produce) I guess there is little difference tucking into a pineapple or mango. Jackfruit is a treat and when you look at the quite high prices in the UK, this makes it even more so. I think for a every now and again, taste of something different, you can’t beat Jack!
You can buy jackfruit canned in most countries and if you buy a whole jackfruit, be warned, they can be a trick customer. They ooze a white sticky liquid when cut into and it takes ages to pick out the little fruits, seperate the seeds etc. It is well worth it, the texture of a fresh jackfruit is different from the tinned.
Have you tried Jackfruit? How did you cook it? It seems like a fresh and new ingredient in the UK and beyond that everyone is falling for. We love it!
To avoid confusion, this is Durian. Bigger spikes. You normally smell it before you see it. Evidence of its putrid odour. Banned on public transport in Thailand and other countries. Phew!
Finally, some fascinating and hypnotic ‘Gamelan‘ music from Indonesia:
Summer roses…
beach house kitchen 