New Oven Mitts in the Kitchen

In my kitchen I have new oven mitts, also known as oven gloves.  

The old ones needed replacing.  No guessing why I decided on this design: the vegetables indeed did play a part in its appeal.

I picked up this little pot of Balsamic Sea Salt to sprinkle over salads.

I was really and I mean really excited to find King oyster mushrooms and have been indulging on the over the past couple of weeks with lots of new dishes which I will share this month, including mock 'scallops' for a romantic St Dwynwen's Day (Welsh Valentines Day). 

I also spotted some so called rainbow carrots to add colour to some burnished brown stew like dishes.  

Black Eyed Pea and Courgette 'Crab' Cakes

Since making the Cincinnati Spaghetti from The Superfun Times: Vegan Holiday Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, I have been perusing the cookbook quite a bit of late.

Over the weekend, I made these vegan Black Eyed Pea and Courgette 'Crab' Cakes as I wanted to start using my tub of Old Bay Seasoning.  I made the recipe from scratch.  Soaking the black eyed peas overnight and cooking it the following day; and blitzing fresh breadcrumbs at home.

This is not a sponsored blog post - I bought this product to try

These vegan 'crab' cakes were nice, but they did not blow me away. I think I would prefer the Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from Vegan Brunch for more 'fishy' flakiness, as these ones were made with grated courgettes and seemed to impart an element of dampness to these savoury cakes.

Still nothing goes to waste in our home, they were all eaten with homemade Sriracha mayo.

Other Savoury Cake Recipes 

Fishless Japanese Sea Vegetable and Nori Cakes

Savoury Kale Cakes 

Purple and Green Cabbage Potato Cakes

Parsnip Potato cakes

Courgette Potato Cakes

wild Garlic Potato Cakes

Chestnuts and Crackers in December

Although the Christmas tree is up, its not looking overly festive in my kitchen yet.  I guess that will come with Christmas day and the festive holiday when we get to indulge and be thankful for what we have.

I have started making some bookmarked festive food in advance though, such as Johanna's Chocolate Salami and Chocolate Panforte. I have other festive recipes that I want to make, but yesterday I was hit with a stinky cold and a chesty cough. So you can imagine the last thing I wanted to do is be in the kitchen sneezing over things, instead I had resigned myself in front of the TV.

But I have found some energy to sit in front of my computer and share some new stuff in my kitchen. Let me start with a disclaimer, this is not a sponsored blog post - I say this because I seem to have amassed a number of Merchant Gourmet products in my kitchen...carry on reading and you will see. 

Firstly there are whole chestnuts.  Its the festive season and chestnuts are must in every home. 

Vegetarian Quorn 'Chicken' Vindaloo

I actually started writing this blog post when it was day four of snow.  It was when we had the extraordinary weather starting with a blast of cold from Siberia which was dubbed as 'The Beast from the East' then followed quickly by blizzards, strong winds, drifting snow and a storm.  This was then followed by a rare phenomenon of freezing rain.   The snow outside our front door was just over 3 foot high. I think this may be the worse I have seen it in my adult life and made more difficult because we live in the valleys.    Then we saw more snow this weekend which left us stuck at home as the roads were treacherous to drive on.  And apparently  that is not the end, as I have heard that Easter weekend welcomes a a cold Arctic blast from Scandinavia. I cannot wait for Spring to properly start. 

All I can say is Thank goodness for having dried goods and some stuff in our little freezer.  

This is not a sponsored blog post

Vindaloo is traditionally made with pork, but this version is substituted the chicken breasts with Quorn 'chicken' fillets .  In fact, I think its better to make this dish a day in advance, as the Quorn fillets became succulent by absorbing  and taking on some of the flavours from the sauce. 

The flavours in this vegetarian Vindaloo were interesting, and why would it not be with spices like star anise, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns and then white wine vinegar for piquancy.  It was also hot, but its not a volatile vindaloo - still  I have to confess the older I am becoming, my tolerance of chili is dwindling. Would it be terrible of me to admit, that my desire of chocolate is almost non existent, but that is another topic.

Disclaimer*: I have been using Quorn products well before blogs became PR and  monetary commodities.  This is not sponsored blog post, I have not been given this product free or paid by Quorn in any way.  
Adapted from this recipe.

September Finds In My Kitchen

Alas its September the month that slowly brings in the seasonal changes in both weather, fruit and vegetables and colours. 

I picked up this ceramic Hen Trivet from a Cats Protection charity event for £2.50.  

A few weeks back we went to a Sunday Boot Market in Bristol.  A elderly womanknown as Grandma to the young girl who was sharing the stall with her was selling these truly vintage 1960s Carnaby Elizabethan tea set comprising of tea cups and saucers.  She shared she had purchased it from new and was selling it originally for £25.00, but was willing to let it go for £20.00.   I have always coveted them, the fact that they are all different and the flower pattern is so pretty. I just could not pass them by.  I gave D the batted eye lashes. He succumbed to my charm and said go on then... ..I adore them.

Some homegrown tomatoes

Red Cabbage Purple Potato Salad

Another easy recipe made with the red cabbage pesto.

This time stirred into some Welsh seasonal new potatoes and curly kale from the farmers market.  Delish!

I am sharing this Red Cabbage Purple Potato Salad with Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.  

Red Cabbage Purple Potato Salad
Makes a large bowl. 
Good for a buffet
Ingredients
250g new potatoes (Pembrokeshire Earlies from Blas Y Tir) cooked, drained and allowed to cool

Whole Fava Beans Stew with Peppers

August has brought us high winds and rain and a wanting for bowl food .

Have you ever had whole fava beans?  If whole fava beans had a personality, it would be the fictional character Fonzie from the American sitcom Happy Days biker in a leathery rugged jacket, all tough on the outside - but a sweetheart on the inside.  So here is my second recipe with whole fava beans still in their handsome jackets.  The last recipe I made with whole fava beans was Somalian Fava Beans and they were utterly delicious. 

Chilli Chocolate Salsa with Spice Herb Baked Potato Wedges and 'Meatballs'

A lot more cooler today, thank goodness - but I still didn't really want to be in the kitchen.  

I made something relatively simple: I baked these Spice Herb Baked Potato wedges in the oven. 

I was just going to serve them with some beans, but then changed my mind after finding some ready made veggie meatballs in the freezer.  To make my life easy, I decided to throw the vegetarian Quorn* 'meatballs' into the oven with the spice herb coated wedges.   

I would normally have Sriracha and D goes for brown sauce, but  I had already planned to serve these wedges with a  Salsa, but no ordinary tomato salsa.  No these potato wedges were going to be served with Chilli Chocolate Salsa.  I was prompted to make this recipe after finding a bar of Dark Chilli chocolate, so the whole meal ended up revolving around this.  Chilli Chocolate Salsa is an acquired taste.  It was devilishly rich.

This plate is further enhanced with salad greens from my garden.   

I am sharing this Chilli Chocolate Salsa with We Should Cocoa hosted by Tin and Thyme. The theme is Anything Goes. 

Iranian Style Quorn 'Chicken' Stew with Aubergines and Courgettes

The past few weeks or so, I have made a few Persian inspired dishes inspired mostly by Iranian  food bloggers, rather than from the spate of mainstream Middle Eastern cookbooks published recently in the UK.  It started as a means to find inspirational ways of using my spices such as Advieh, Baharat, Sumac, Za'atar and ingredients such as Maftoul and Freekeh, but like any curious cook I have been lured and enticed by other recipes.  

When I saw an Iranian style Koresh tweeted by The Persian Fusion,  I just knew I had to make a vegetarian variation of it.  Something about it had me salivating.  

Koresht/Khoresht/Ghalyeh are stews or curries in Persian cooking.  They should not be compared to South Asian curries popular in the Western world.  Persian stews and curries are  quite mild.  

I substituted the chicken breasts with Quorn 'chicken' fillets and adjusted the spices to taste and the tomato sauce accordingly.  It was important to make the tomato sauce thicker to carry the texture of  Quorn fillets which can be quite dry and tough to penetrate with flavours.  In fact, I think its better to make this dish a day in advance, as the Quorn fillets became succulent by absorbing  and taking on some of the flavours from the sauce and natural ochre colour from the turmeric. Disclaimer*: I have been using Quorn products well before starting this blog, therefore this is not sponsored #Quornivore blog post, I have not been given this product free or paid by Quorn in any way.  

As recommended we ate this vegetarian Iranian stew with rice.  I liked how both the courgettes and aubergines - both rather bland vegetable in my opinion melted wonderfully in the dish, giving the dish more substance and texture.  I would be more than happy to make this again.  

Thank you Persian Fusion.

Maqluba - Middle Eastern Upside Down Savoury Rice Cake

All week,  except for Friday much to do with the EU Referendum I have been trying to raise some awareness of Refugee Week through Cooking A Dish from Another Country .  Refugee Week  in the United Kingdom is an event that promotes positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness. The theme for Refugee Week  2016 was Welcome.  

Today I will share another Middle Eastern dish called Maqluba. .

Over the years, I've seen various versions of Maqlub.   Maqluba is a Palestinian dish popular throughout the Middle East.  Once the dish is cooked, the cooking pot is turned  upside down and removed to reveal  the edible crown beneath.  

I have no doubt that Maqluba takes centre stage on the table at Middle Eastern family feasts, especially now when many Muslims across the world are taking part in the holy time in the Islamic calendar of Ramadan and this may be part of the Iftar meal - breaking of the fast.  I do however wonder how the Syrian asylum seekers  in the Calais Jungle in France are coping at this trying and testing time.  There is an initiative called The Refugee Community Kitchen which has seen a group of compassionate people band together to help the refugees living in the camps of Europe.  The Refugee Community Kitchen have come together to create a kitchen to feed people to sustain them and their children.  I hope we can all play a small part here and donate a little.

Maqluba is often made with meat, but I have adapted a meat version from Libyan Food and Kitchen of Palestine. into a version, suitable not just for vegetarians but also vegans.  This one is made with aubergines and cauliflower.

I have to admit, I was expecting it to collapse on removing the pot, but it remained perfectly intact. I was really pleased to even slice it perfectly too.  Feel free to sprinkle with toasted pine-nuts, almonds or herbs.  
Other posts related to Refugee Week
Eritrean Zigni and Berbere
Middle Eastern Kibbeh
Somalian Fava Beans 
Syrian Cauliflower Zahra Mnazalet
Zimbabwean Butternut Squash

Somalian Shahan Ful (Fava Beans in Xawash Tomato Sauce)

Refugee Week is a continuation of World Refugee Day and marks a collective acknowledgement across the world to raise awareness  of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers across the world.   

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 colleagues and some of my readers.

Today I will share a vegetarian Somalian dish, that also happens to be vegan.  It is Shahan Faul, Ful Sahan.  This is a bean dish that is also very common in Eritrea, Ethiopian and Sudan.  But before I share the recipe, you may be interested to know that Somali's have been in the U.K for over a century, arriving here as merchant seamen and settling in port cities like Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff.  However, it was in the 1990s following famine and further conflict in the region in 2011 that many Somalis began to arrive in the UK after being granted with a refugee status.  

A refugee is "a person who owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of 'race', religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it" 

The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. 

So back to the recipe...when I originally asked a Somalian colleague in my workplace could he give or suggest to me a vegetarian recipe that I could cook at home and he immediately put his hand to his mouth and tried to contain the roar in his laughter - we are big meat eaters.  

This is true, Somali cuisine is meat orientated.  Vegetarianism is quite rare.  Vegetables appear to largely be side dishes, or a combination of meat and vegetables.  By the way, you may be interested to know that in Somalia pasta features quite a bit a part of their cuisine. This arrived with the Italians n the 1880s and sweet dishes came with the Arabs.

Anyway, after musing at my question he mentioned this fava bean dish and here it is a bronze gold bowl of loveliness.  Ful Sahan is often served with anjara, injera bread or Sabaayad which is made with a sourdough starter, but we had it with chewy brown rice.  The slow cooking of the sauce intensified the flavour and made the beans soft inside, but still retaining its wholesome shape.  I totally loved it and could have just easily eaten this from a bowl.  I am sharing this with My Legume Love Affair #96 hosted by Lisa's Kitchen;  and No Croutons Required.

Roses, Reflections and Ramblings

First the roses in the garden are blooming and giving off their most magnificent scent.  Its the first year we have so many roses, but its not dramatic enough yet, I think they will be even fantastic come next year, but they are such natural mood enhancers that they make me smile and warm my soul.  I am hoping the weekend weather remains kind with its sunshine and dryness, as I am hoping to go to the garden centre and pick up some vegetables to put into the ground that I have weeded and dug over.

vegan Summer Vegetable Sushi Rolls

Since going to the Cheltenham VegFest and Bristol Vegfest where D had the vegan Sushi Roll options both times, he has been hinting to me big time to make some veggie sushi at home. The last time I made sushi was when we lived in Scotland and way before I started this blog in 2009. I had got the knack of perfectly hand rolling sushi too and was making them almost on a monthly basis then. Anyway, he had planted the idea in my head that I also ended up wanting some sushi too.  

Finally, I managed to find all the the essential ingredients in the Welsh valleys:  Sushi Nori  - Seaweed paper, Sushi Rice, Rice Wine vinegar, Wasabi paste and pickled ginger and was ready to get my fingers sticky and get rolling.  This weekend whilst most of my neighbours were having sizzling BBQ's, we had light veggie Summer vegetable sushi rolls served elegantly on my special deep blue sushi plate.  

I learned how to make veggie sushi with my American best friend Leah (an exchange student) when we were both at the University of Glasgow in the mid 1990s.  Years later, she sent me this book on making Sushi, although it was not a vegetarian cookbook, it introduced me to other sushi rolling techniques like Inside Out sushi and other variations, this is when I became aware - sushi did not always have to be made with just fish or seafood either and vegetable variations were just as delicious.  

Well I have to admit, I am a little out of practise as the first couple I rolled out were not packed generously enough; and trust D to take a picture of the one that was not the prettiest or plumpest either. These sharp sweet vinegared dressed sushi rice rolls filled with bright summer coloured raw vegetables tasted wonderful though and it brought back flashes of good memories of giggling with Leah in our student accommodation. 

I love serving my vegan sushi rolls  with pink ginger, tamari or soy sauce and wasabi.  I also served it alongside some soft slithers of avocado, though if you wish, you could also incorporate this into the sushi itself.  

Pointed Red Ramiro Pepper and Black Bean Chilli Bowl

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I made this Red Ramiro Pepper and Black Bean Chilli last weekend when I had my nephews over to help me and D in the garden.  

I picked up some waxy lipstick red Ramiro peppers.  I prefer these elongated ones to the more traditional bell peppers. sometimes I find them tasting water logged.  I cook with the Pointy Ramiro Peppers quite often, but sadly have not featured them much on my blog.  The last time I think was when I started my blog in 2009 and I made a Coconut Rice and Roast Red Pepper Salad; and a Stuffed version with  feta, mint and pine kernels. 

Anyway, this bowl of chilli was proper red.  Red from the Ramiro Peppers, Red from the fresh red chillies; and red from a few dried chilli flakes (and tomatoes!).  

Smoky Maple Black Badgers Peas Chilli

Is it a coincidence that I should stumble upon the lovely Sarah Beattie photograph with Hodmedod's Black Badger Peas for Masaledar recipe, on her  twitter account of course not - Great minds think alike.

So why was it a coincidence?!  Well that very same day I had made a Smoky Black Badgers Peas Chilli. 

Black Badger Peas are also known as Carlin Peas or Maple Peas.  These brown peas remind me of Indian Black Chickpeas aka Kala Cholay though the flavour is very different.  They are not soft like butter beans or well cooked butter beans, but more robust and nutty.  I absolutely loved them. I can see exactly why Sarah Beattie used it in Masaladal recipe featured in this month Vegetarian Living Magazine which of course I had to go out and buy.  I don't buy many magazines anymore for various reasons, but I did so because I love Sarah Beattie's writing and recipes; and her most of her cookbooks - all vegetarian.

My recipe is essentially a vegetarian chilli but with some authentic Mexican flavours: chile chipotle powder and epazote.  Yum The smokyness comes from the chile chipotle powder and it hits you immediately. This recipe makes a huge pot and it lasted us 4 days.  We had it with rice, as enchilladas (D's favourite), straight out from the bowl doused in soured cream and grated cheese and lastly some even with nachos as I am not overly keen on the tacos you get in the UK. Delicious, indeed. 

Super Loaded Sweet Potato Jackets

I was inspired to make these after I saw a fellow blogger make a vegetarian version of Shepherds Pie Jacket Potatoes with perhaps the most perfect piped mashed potato swirl topping I've ever seen.  She admitted the idea wasn't original and it was because there were a lack of vegetarian versions of Jacket Potatoes stuffed with  vegetarian Shepherdesss Pie filling, so she created her own.  I decided to do something similar, this time with Sweet Potatoes. 

I was pretentiously going to call these Super Loaded Sweet Potato Jackets - Rasta Jackets because of the Rastafari colours: Red (from the pepper) is for blood, green (from the coriander) is for the earth and gold (from the sweet potato and sweetcorn) is for the sun, but I wasn't completely swayed by the idea.  

There is also some facon bacon in these sweet potatoes.  I thought the sweetness would be overpowering, so decided to stir in some chopped facon bacon that imparted a subtle smokyness.  The coriander also  toned the sweetness adding that distinct herby zing.  And finally, a good drizzle of Blodyn Aur Rapeseed chilli oil which was warming.  I have been enjoying this oil, dousing it on whatever I think needs a little injection of warmth.  And then served with mixed salad leaves, sliced red onion and chopped cherry tomatoes.

Luxurious Vegan 'Vish Fish' Pie with Sea Vegetables, Spaghetti Seaweed, Smoked Tofu

This is perhaps the most luxurious vegan fish = Vish pie you will ever set eyes upon or eat, if you choose to make it.  

I made this rather La-Vish/lavish Vegan Ocean Pie over the weekend.  D wasn't feel too good, so we didn't venture far at all.  I decided to play with some new ingredients and incorporate them into this experimental Pie.  This vegan 'Fish' Pie is packed with vegetables, smoked tofu, sea vegetables, spaghetti seaweed and sea flakes to give it that natural taste of the sea.    

Unlike the other vegetarian and vegan pies featured on my blog, this one is made with lots of unusual ingredients and has a lot of processes before it reaches the plate, but its all worth it. One of the other things I wanted to do was cut the tofu to resemble little fishies, click here to see my Tofu Fish, but couldn't find my cutter, but I did get round to using my new EZ Tofu Press (see below).

I feel for D, he eats mostly vegetarian meals because of me. The only meat he will eat is fish, but its not often.  Its only if we ever go out to eat or on holidays overseas, he will order a fish or seafood meal, but even then its quite rare.   He doesn't moan, but I know sometimes he hankers for some Fish Supper Fridays.  So I made this with him in mind.  I was a little unsure if he would accept this meal, but he has always been gracious and accepted whatever I have put on the table for him to eat.  He thought the ingredients mimicked the flavours of a Fish pie well.  Lots of textures and flavours from the vegetables, seaweed and liquid smoked tofu.  

The cream sauce was delicious enhanced by the nutritional yeast.  The only thing that muddied the creamy sauce was the chestnut mushrooms, if I could have found oyster mushrooms locally, I would have thrown them into the pan, but its a small aesthetic thing, it did not impact on the dish as a whole. To finish off it was topped of with mashed potatoes that were doused with Green Nori flakes and then put into the oven to bake.

Welsh Rarebit Laverbread Scones

The Welsh Laverbread Diaries continue...

These Welsh Rarebit Laverbread Scones were with a capital A - Amazing.  D scoffed down two and would have easily gone for a third had I not given him the beady eye.  

The mustard seeds give it pop and warmth, the Welsh laverbread a little colour and saltiness. and of course the cheddar cheese metled on top gives it that golden Blonde hue, gorgeous just on the cusp of almost burnt, but not quite.  To give the scones additional oomf, I've used both self raising flour and baking powder, but you can just leave out the baking powder if you wish.  Most of my recipes are easy to veganize, and this one is no different, just make a vegan savoury scone, then add vegan alternative non dairy milk and cheese.

As I said earlier, D loved these.  We had finished of the remaining  scones in the following coming day, but gave them about 30 second in the nuker (microwave)  for a bit of warmth, but they are at their best on the day.

The lovely Louise from Months of Edible Celebrations wrote a fantastic insightful piece on Welsh Rarebit - Chasing the Rabbit  that may interest those of you  interested in the origins of the Rarebit.  Follow this link.   

And if your looking for more Welsh Laverbread inspiration, see the links below.
Welsh Laverbread Pies
Welsh Woman's Laverbread Caviar
Welsh Laverbread Suet Pudding with Mushrooms and Puy Lentils
Glorified Laverbread Cakes aka Welsh Welsh Vegetarian Burger with Caerphilly Cheese
Welsh cottage Pie with Laverbread Mash
Welsh
Laverbread, Samphire and Seaweed Quiche with Perl Las Cheese

Little Welsh Nibbles In My Kitchen

With today being St David's Day, I thought I would share some Welsh things and Welsh nibbles in my kitchen. 

 I treated myself to a cute new Welsh mug, this has found its way to the office. 

I've showcased this chopping board before on my blog, but I couldn't resist sharing it again.  It reads in Welsh 'Homemade Bread made with Love'.  It was given to me as a gift from my nephew many years ago and I still treasure it, no bread or bread knife has ever been near it. 

This is a novelty dish wash scrubby in the shape of a Welsh daffodil.