Vegetarian Foods Archive

I made this Green and Yellow Summer Vegetable Minestrone a couple of weeks back with homegrown golden yellow courgette and runner beans, though I have to admit the sweetcorn and peas both at the height of the season have come from the freezer.  I know shame on me, call myself a seasonal cook.  Anyway, this Minestrone was fresh and tasty. The courgettes had crunch, the runner beans imparted that faint beany flavour, the peas and sweetcorn were sweet and the broth light and fragrant from both fresh basil and min. But there is a but.... I was not convinced by the addition of rice, so maybe next time I would replace the rice by stirring in some baby pasta, but that is no criticism to the dish itself, it tasted alright and if presented wit it again, I would happily eat it especially on a breezy day like today.   I am sharing this post with Deb at Souper (Soup, Salad and Sammies) Sundays   and  Lisa's Kitchen.  and Jac at  Tinned Tomatoes. ...

Sausages - vegan, vegetarian or meat-based are not the easiest to photograph, unless of course you drown them in thick muddy gravy, but I couldn't be bothered to do that - so here are my Chestnut Bangers - exposed and naked! What's good about them though, my timing in making them - perfect for the Festive Season and for your vegetarian and/or vegan guests and even those who have a gluten intolerance.   I was inspired to make these Chestnut Bangers whilst flicking through Denis Cotters  For the Love of Food  and I was reminded of  Lucy's vegetarian breakfast sausages made with vacuum packed pre-cooked chestnuts,   tofu and cheddar cheese.   I also have a vegan recipe by  Rose Elliot from her Vegetarian Christmas  Cookbook.   Both recipes are straight-forward to make, I know this as I have made them both in the past, but I had an idea how to make a much more easier recipe relying on a couple of ingredients knocking around in my kitchen cup...

This was not what I had planned to make with the aubergines that have been  nestling at the bottom of the fridge for the past week or so, but I couldn't remember the recipe I had actually planned to make with them.  Do you have days like that?!  Pick up some avocados for something specific then can't remember why and end up just making guacamole with it! It didn't matter in the end as this Harissa Aubergine, Kale and Chickpeas dish was lovely.  We had it  early this afternoon after a lovely day in Cardiff where I spent quite a bit of hard earned cash today.  I picked up a gorgeous retro dress from a stall at St Mary's Market in the High Street, (the same place I got my Angry  Persian Aunties );  and a couple of pair of shoes from one of Cardiff's many Arcades, yes you read right, a couple of shoes and I am not even a shoe person.  Honestly they are both for work.  The past three months, and I am not kidding I have been going into work...

This yellow turmeric infused rice with butter beans is inspired by a family Pilau  - Savoury Rice recipe . I make a variation of this rice dish with whatever is in season or what I have to hand every other month.   As we are going away for a long weekend to my mother in laws, we have been raiding the fridge and vegetable basket, so there was not much in the way of fresh ingredients, other than some curly kale which I wish was from the garden.  I always have some dried beans, lentils and pulses so decided to make this dish last night when I put some butter beans to soak overnight. For ease, yes I admit I will sometimes opt for tinned beans and pulses such as kidney beans, sometimes chickpeas and pinto beans.  But there are some beans  that I will never ever buy tinned and would prefer cooking them from scratch.  Butter beans is one of those that I like soaking and simmering from scratch, as the ones from the tinned are awful and sometimes a congeale...

I know its spring and I should be sharing elegantly presented light green dishes with all manner of micro green garnish, instead I share an autumnal looking one.    This Curried Butter Bean dish hit the spot that evening when I came in from work feeling like a little fed up with stuff going on around me at work, but I don't want to talk about 'office politics' and favouritism.  No I want to talk about this naturally 'buttery' bean bowl that melts in the mouth with a hint of tomatoey spice and the kale is almost seaweed like.  This recipe can be more soup like if you add more stock or water to it, but I enjoyed the thickness of it wrapped up in a tortilla bundle like a big warm hug. I had some mushrooms left over from the Smoked Paprika Mushroom Loaf and threw them in, but its not necessary other than it gives this dish additional texture.    I am joining in for the first time with Butter Bean Curry recipe . 

One of the aims of  Refugee Week  is to promote positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness.    The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is  Welcome.    As my blog is a vegetarian food blog  my Simple Act  is to  Cook A Dish from Another Country  and try and raise some awareness that way among some of my readers. Today I will share a vegetarian Zimbabwean Butternut Squash recipe.   But before I share the recipe, I would like to shine a little light on Zimbabwe.  Since 2000, the scale of state violence, the political instability and economic deprivation  in Zimbabwe has seen the UK receive refugees from there.  A refugee is someone whose asylum application has been successful and who is allowed to stay in another country having proved they would face persecution in their homeland. Zimbabwe's human rights record under Robert Mugab...

This is a vegan take on 'Beef' Carpaccio.  The beef is replaced with floppy slithers of roasted balsamic beetroot. I know this plate looks sparse, but this is a starter - a light teaser before you are served your main meal. As well as the sharp tangy velvet slices of beetroot, on the plate you will also find fronds of green pickings from the greenhouse.  Gosh, I do wonder why I don't make more of an effort to grow salad greens, they are just so much more tastier and punchier than those you pick up from the supermarket. And capers, roughly chopped for piquancy.  Enjoy.  I am sharing this with  Healthy Vegan Fridays  hosted by the beautiful  Rock My Vegan  Socks and  V Nutrition   Roasted Balsamic Beetroot Carpaccio with Capers and Rocket Serves 4 Ingredients 400grams Plain or Balsamic roasted beetroot, thinly sliced with a mandolin Lots of Salad greens, good mixture 4 tablespoons rapeseed or good extra virgin olive ...

Cauliflower 'Couscous' or Cauliflower 'Rice' seems all the rage right now, but it appeared on humble blog in 2009 thanks to the vegetarian chef and cookbook author Rose Elliot.  But even then the real credit goes to one of the worlds famous chefs Ferran Adria and The Food at El Bulli Gourmet Restaurant.     Early this year, I  was chatting to a fellow blogger, and we both mused how some food bloggers are acting that its their creation l ike  baking  a jacket potato, putting vegetables into cakes or making vegan ice-cream from frozen bananas,  never acknowledging or crediting origins or inspiration.  After all most recipes originate from somewhere, we all  - even I do it - put our twist on it, adapt it, enhance it, increase this ingredient, decrease that ingredient and so forth,   but its not often original.    Well Ferran Adria created and introduced foodies and popularized what we now call Cauliflow...

This vegan Halloween Orange Lentil Pasta with Red Devil Pumpkin Sauce was made a few days ago, when surprisingly I had some energy in me when I got home from work to cook. I had baked the fresh pumpkin in the oven the evening before, so all I had to do was scoop out the slushy orangy pulp for the Red Devil Pumpkin Sauce; and cook a packet of Profusion Red lentil Fussili pasta that's been in my kitchen cupboards for a few months.  Every time I laid eyes on it, I knew it was destined for a Halloween Pasta Bake. I served the Orange Lentil Pasta smothered in Red Devil Pumpkin Sauce and served it with homemade vegan Chorizo sausages  which are laid out here coming out of the ceramic pumpkins mouth like puke, but that is optional.   Even though presented it looks quite impressive for a Halloween dinner table, I have to admit, I was not overly keen on it.  Perhaps it was the powdery nature of the pasta that also lost its vibrant orange colour upon cooking; ...

This is  not a cake 'cake' with a sponge, and its not a cheesecake though on first glance that is how it appears. This is a Butternut, Mango and Orange Marigold Layer Cake,  which I have also pretentiously dubbed as Sunrise Cake. The bottom is an almond crust, the middle Mango and butternut Squash filling is infused with Mango sweetness and then the topping finished off with a zingy zesty orange  jelly made with  agar agar  and then finished off with a light scattering of dried marigold flower petals - all depicting colours of the Sunrise.  I was impressed with myself, though I have to admit the rice paper butterflies actually look a little out of place, here or maybe dare I say it tacky - I did like the scattering of the dried marigold petals. This is not a very sweet cake, needs a squirt of (soya) cream to cut the richness of the butternut mango filling and the sharp twang from the orange topping.  Its also a very big cake, you can slice i...