Vegetarian Foods Archive

I do love the vibrant green spiral coiled vegetable known as  Romanesco Cauliflower .  I  look forward to having it at least once a year, but when I do the question that often arises is 'What to do with it?' - without damaging its beautiful pointy cone shaped heads always baffles me in the culinary sense. First I decided to simply blanch the the florets, ready to be tossed into a salad of some sort, but once I had drained the florets and set them aside to cool and dry off,  I found myself changing my mind.  Instead I went ahead and made another galette, throwing in some black sesame seeds, not just into the galette pastry, but also the topping to contrast with the white studs of feta cheese cubes. What you cannot see, is beneath the Romanesco cauliflower and feta cheese there is also some caramelised onions, without it this galette would have been quite dry.  I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens challenge and   The Pastry Callenge ...

I've been a long time fan of Cranks - The cookbooks  an I am a member of the  Vegetarian Society,  so you can imagine my delight when I learned that Cranks have officially been Approved by the Vegetarian Society, a UK brand as longstanding and veggie obsessed as Cranks are and to celebrate this new partnership, as well as raise awareness of vegetarianism and veganism this season, I thought I would create an old fashioned Vegetarian Hand Raised (moulded by hand) Pie made with hot water crust pastry. There have been some negativity around vegetarian classics like nut roasts, and traditional vegetarian fare in favour of fancy named grains, pretentious jazzed up salads dressed up with exotic sauces and festive green shake smoothies topped with cranberries.  I note this snobbish attitude often comes from those that are neither vegetarian or vegan, but lifestyle foodies who jump on the bandwagon of the next foodie gimmick or fashionable grain.  Please don't get m...

You will find many variations of vegetarian and v egan Shepherds Pie here, but I've never featured a Cottage Pie on my blog, not sure why as I have made them many times - perhaps its because it doesn't really look that pretty to photograph. So what is the difference between a Shepherds Pie and a Cottage Pie.  Traditionally a Shepherd Pie made with minced lamb and Cottage Pie with chunks of beef, but for vegetarians and vegans this is often substituted with minced mushrooms or a mock meat substitute.  Here is my version of a vegetarian Cottage Pie made with the addition of Welsh leeks which give it a little sweetness and topped with seaweed - Welsh Laverbread mash.  I was prompted to make a Welsh version of Cottage pie when I saw a Scottish twist on a Cottage Pie.  I am sure you will find a Irish version and with respect, we all know there is no shortage of English variations of the humble Cottage Pie. For those of you who read my blog will know that...

I made this Sarson Ka Saag, Potato, Paneer and Pea Pie filling during British Pie Week (7th - 13th March 2016)  and then lost Internet connection for five days so could not share the recipe with you then.   I don't want to be pedantic, but many people make a mistake of thinking Spinach is Saag.  It is not and sadly many people of South Asian heritage continue to perpetuate this.  Why I am not sure, perhaps because they don't know their greens!  So let me tell you,  Saag is mustard greens and Palak is Spinach.  See Aloo Saag Pies .  We have similar ingredients, but our approach to making the filling is different.  She uses tamarind.  I don't but if you want you could dollop a tablespoon or two of sweet mango chutney, but its not essential.  I used tinned Sarson Ka Saag.  there is no way I will ever attempt making saag from scratch at home.   THIS blog link if you wish to learn more.  Saag is a dish I used to re...