My sister and her daughter (who's a vegan*) are coming over on Sunday for D's funeral, and I'd be grateful for any advice about easy, flavoursome things I could feed them on.
* most of the time; she'll eat fish rather than waste it, or if it's put in front of her, but I don't have the luxury excuse of not knowing she's a vegan ...
Jack Monroe's Cooking on a Bootstrap blog is a good resource, Piglet. She either is still, or for a while was, vegan; and many of her pre-vegan days recipes either are vegan or could easily be adapted. Some use the vegan substitute products like vegan cheese, but by no means all.
Piglet, I have two vegan friends who come out to see me from time to time without giving much warning. I have found that if I give them a vegan Thai green curry with a selection of vegetables (green beans, sugar snap peas, aubergine, onion, butternut, broccoli, cauliflower) with a good Thai green curry paste and coconut milk, served on sticky jasmine rice, they are usually happy and everyone can eat that. I sometimes put in lentils, chickpeas or tofu for more heartiness.
Ratatouille is quite easy to make, and can be served with crusty bread or a baked potato. Our d-I-l has PKU, and can't eat much protein, so is vegitarean/vegan.
We also do "chilli syn carne", a vegan chilli/curry.
Thanks, all. It may be that I won't have to feed them that often, as people have already started inviting us for meals, but I'd like to try and cook something for them myself.
A while back, I posted a recipe for potato curry, which I admittedly cheated with by using chicken stock, but veggie stock-cubes would be OK under the circumstances, wouldn't they?
I also thought about a sort-of ratatouille (but without the aubergines, as I really don't like them) that I could serve with pasta.
I bought a bottle of blackberry brandy on sale, thinking it would be a sweet after dinner drink. I hate it. Not much blackberry flavor and very strong alcohol punch on the tongue. Any suggestions how I might use it in cooking? I am thinking it might burn off the alcohol, and leave the blackberry flavor, or should I just pour it out as a bad, you get what you pay for mistake?
If there are occasions around Christmas when you need to provide a lot of punch, use it as a base instead of wine?
How about adding a splash of it to the filling for a blackberry pie or crumble? The baking should burn off most of the alcohol, and you might get a nice, more intense blackberry flavour.
Put it in a saucepan and reduce it to half. By that time all the alcohol should have burned off and the blackberry flavor intensified. If it still doesn't taste good enough to cook with, throw it out.
... I also thought about a sort-of ratatouille ...
Sort-of Ratatouille now made.
It was based on a recipe in the old Delia Smith books, but a little less complicated.
Olive oil
2 onions
1 red and 1 yellow pepper
2 green and 1 yellow courgette
4 chestnut mushrooms
(all chopped in chunks)
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
2 large and 2 smaller tomatoes, chopped in chunks
A couple of squirts of tomato puree
Salt, pepper, dried basil and herbes de Provence
Heat the oil in a casserole or Dutch oven and add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs. Cook gently for about 10 minutes while you chop the veggies.
Add the peppers and courgettes, stir, cover and cook gently for about half an hour.
Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and tomato puree, bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for a further 15-20 minutes.
It was still quite liquid when I'd finished; my plan is to cook some fusilli pasta just before we eat it, and add it and a little of the cooking water to the ratatouille to thicken it up a bit.
I had a really rather successful go at a mushroom risotto this evening:
About 4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
A splash of lemon juice (not too much)
A pinch of dried parsley
Butter and oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
About 1¾ cups veggie stock*
2 spring onions, chopped
½ cup arborio rice
A splash of white wine
Extra butter and a grating of Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
* I used a bought concentrate, because I happened to have it, but you could use chicken or beef stock.
Heat a knob of butter and a little oil in a frying pan, mix the mushrooms with a squirt of lemon juice in a bowl then add them to the pan with a little salt, pepper and parsley.
Add the chopped garlic and cook gently for a few minutes until the mushrooms start to release their juices and turn golden.
Meanwhile, make up the stock in a saucepan over a low heat.
Tip the mushrooms back into the bowl, add a little more butter to the pan and add the chopped spring onions and the rice, stirring it round to coat it in butter. Add the wine, turn the heat up to medium and stir until the wine's all absorbed.
Return the mushrooms to the pan, and add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring and letting the stock get absorbed before adding any more.
Once all the stock is in (it should take about 20 minutes, by which time the rice will be cooked, but still have a little bite), add a little more butter and a grating of Parmesan and serve.
Oooh! Mushroom risotto is just delicious - in fact in our place it has always been the go-to comfort food when children were ill, especially with bad tripes, because it requires little effort to eat, give sustenance without being in any way heavy, and has nothing offensive to upset a delicate constitution.
Piglet, that mushroom risotto sounds wonderful. I sometimes splash in a little bottled truffle oil right at the end because (for those who love truffles) it has a luxurious aroma.
I've never really discovered the wonders of truffle oil - I rather like the idea, but it would be a lot of expense to go to if I found I didn't like the taste.
The chances of not liking the taste are very low, very low indeed. If you're not taken with it, you can always use up the bottle by having a dash or 2 of it with the balance olive oil. That combination is great for searing beef or venison. We seem to have trouble getting straight truffle oil to a high enough temperature to sear the meat properly.
Oh dear, Stercus Tauri! Thank you for being the guinea pig for that particular experiment. I will take your words to heart and share with you that sloppy joe omelets are a big 'no'.
I am personally not fond of the taste of truffle. There was a bar in the CBD which used to (and may still) serve hot chips with grated truffle on. I assume they thought it was luxurious, whereas what it actually was, was a waste of good hot chips.
I've never really discovered the wonders of truffle oil - I rather like the idea, but it would be a lot of expense to go to if I found I didn't like the taste.
Um, yes, you're right. I once served up a dish of wild mushrooms anointed with (costly) truffle oil to a friend who said, 'What is that odd smell of sweaty old socks?' and hated the taste.
I bought a small jar of truffle oil. I put a dash on eggs. I could not tell by the smell or taste if it had perhaps gone bad. Never tried truffle anything again.
It is heading toward fruitcake time again. I remember my mother making the cake at this time of the year, wrapping it in cheese cloth, soaking it with brandy, My question is she also put cut up apples in the tin. Anyone know why she might have done that?
It is heading toward fruitcake time again. I remember my mother making the cake at this time of the year, wrapping it in cheese cloth, soaking it with brandy, My question is she also put cut up apples in the tin. Anyone know why she might have done that?
As I'm heading off to Scotland tomorrow for 5 weeks, I did a fridge/larder-clearing exercise this evening, and I think it was worth sharing.
Olive oil and butter
1 large clove garlic, chopped
10 large cooked prawns, defrosted, shelled and cut in chunks
4 large-ish cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
Salt, pepper and basil
5 small tomatoes, cored and chopped
A squirt of tomato puree
A little cream
Saffron rice:
½ cup Basmati rice
A good pinch of saffron threads
Salt, oil
1 cup boiling water
Get the rice going: heat a little oil in a saucepan and add the rice, stirring it around to get it nicely coated in oil. Add the saffron and a pinch of salt, then pour in the water, bring it back to the boil, stir and turn down to a simmer. Cover tightly, and set a timer for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil and butter over a medium heat and add the mushrooms, garlic and seasonings. Cook gently, stirring occasionally while you chop the tomatoes.
Add the tomatoes, prawns and tomato puree to the mushrooms, stir and bring to a simmer. Allow to bubble gently, stir in the cream and it'll be ready when the timer goes off for the rice.
If your tomatoes aren't very juicy, you might want to add a splash of water or wine to the mixture.
Comments
* most of the time; she'll eat fish rather than waste it, or if it's put in front of her, but I don't have the luxury excuse of not knowing she's a vegan ...
I follow this up with fresh fruit.
We also do "chilli syn carne", a vegan chilli/curry.
Top dressings: roasted veg: tofu (esp if diced, rolled in cornflour and fried): lentil dahl: nuts: mushrooms.
A while back, I posted a recipe for potato curry, which I admittedly cheated with by using chicken stock, but veggie stock-cubes would be OK under the circumstances, wouldn't they?
I also thought about a sort-of ratatouille (but without the aubergines, as I really don't like them) that I could serve with pasta.
If there are occasions around Christmas when you need to provide a lot of punch, use it as a base instead of wine?
It was based on a recipe in the old Delia Smith books, but a little less complicated.
Olive oil
2 onions
1 red and 1 yellow pepper
2 green and 1 yellow courgette
4 chestnut mushrooms
(all chopped in chunks)
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
2 large and 2 smaller tomatoes, chopped in chunks
A couple of squirts of tomato puree
Salt, pepper, dried basil and herbes de Provence
Heat the oil in a casserole or Dutch oven and add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs. Cook gently for about 10 minutes while you chop the veggies.
Add the peppers and courgettes, stir, cover and cook gently for about half an hour.
Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and tomato puree, bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for a further 15-20 minutes.
It was still quite liquid when I'd finished; my plan is to cook some fusilli pasta just before we eat it, and add it and a little of the cooking water to the ratatouille to thicken it up a bit.
About 4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
A splash of lemon juice (not too much)
A pinch of dried parsley
Butter and oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
About 1¾ cups veggie stock*
2 spring onions, chopped
½ cup arborio rice
A splash of white wine
Extra butter and a grating of Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
* I used a bought concentrate, because I happened to have it, but you could use chicken or beef stock.
Heat a knob of butter and a little oil in a frying pan, mix the mushrooms with a squirt of lemon juice in a bowl then add them to the pan with a little salt, pepper and parsley.
Add the chopped garlic and cook gently for a few minutes until the mushrooms start to release their juices and turn golden.
Meanwhile, make up the stock in a saucepan over a low heat.
Tip the mushrooms back into the bowl, add a little more butter to the pan and add the chopped spring onions and the rice, stirring it round to coat it in butter. Add the wine, turn the heat up to medium and stir until the wine's all absorbed.
Return the mushrooms to the pan, and add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring and letting the stock get absorbed before adding any more.
Once all the stock is in (it should take about 20 minutes, by which time the rice will be cooked, but still have a little bite), add a little more butter and a grating of Parmesan and serve.
Kittyville, Aldi sells tiny jars of truffle salt. Mainly in winter, I think. A small pinch goes a long way in a casserole or on eggs.
Um, yes, you're right. I once served up a dish of wild mushrooms anointed with (costly) truffle oil to a friend who said, 'What is that odd smell of sweaty old socks?' and hated the taste.
To make sure the cake is very moist.
Olive oil and butter
1 large clove garlic, chopped
10 large cooked prawns, defrosted, shelled and cut in chunks
4 large-ish cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
Salt, pepper and basil
5 small tomatoes, cored and chopped
A squirt of tomato puree
A little cream
Saffron rice:
½ cup Basmati rice
A good pinch of saffron threads
Salt, oil
1 cup boiling water
Get the rice going: heat a little oil in a saucepan and add the rice, stirring it around to get it nicely coated in oil. Add the saffron and a pinch of salt, then pour in the water, bring it back to the boil, stir and turn down to a simmer. Cover tightly, and set a timer for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil and butter over a medium heat and add the mushrooms, garlic and seasonings. Cook gently, stirring occasionally while you chop the tomatoes.
Add the tomatoes, prawns and tomato puree to the mushrooms, stir and bring to a simmer. Allow to bubble gently, stir in the cream and it'll be ready when the timer goes off for the rice.
If your tomatoes aren't very juicy, you might want to add a splash of water or wine to the mixture.
Serve straight away.