Celia Brooks SuperVeg and Baked Mexican Eggs

Yesterday, I spent much of it in the garden greenhouse up-potting vegetable plants, whilst D made wigwam frames for climbing beans and peas.  I have said it before and I will say it again that we are very fortunate to have a garden in these challenging times, as many people do not have this outdoor green space.

I will share progress in the vegetable garden plot tomorrow, today I want to share what I made for brunch a few weeks back with what I had in the house - Baked Mexican Eggs. 

We don't normally have a cooked breakfast during the working week, often only munching on a oatmeal flapjack.  Cooked vegetarian breakfast is reserved for weekends, but since the lockdown and working from the safety of our homes, we have been having breakfast, or rather brunch quite a lot.  

The recipe for these Baked Mexican Eggs comes from Celia Brooks, but don't ask me which cookbook - I can't remember as I have all 9 of them - Yes, I am a fan. I think it may be Entertaining Vegetarians also called Vegetarian Party Food. 

The eggs are baked into a tortilla, beneath the egg either harissa or chipotles in adobo is smeared. The cracked egg is then topped with grated cheese and spring onions, with a little dusting of paprika.  These are really good and I recommend them.

Those of you who read my blog, may remember the name Celia Brooks.  She is one of my favourite vegetarian food writers and chefs. I have featured many of her recipes on my blog over the years from Rhubarb Lentil Curry  and Avocado Soup with Tortilla Cheese Topping .  See bottom of blog post for further recipes.

Her last cookbook is called SuperVeg:  Over 100 Recipes Celebrating the Joy and Power of the 25 Healthiest Vegetables on the Planet.

Assorted Vegetable Tempura

I've made tempura before, many times - but the one and only time it has featured on my blog was in my first proper year of blogging 2009.  I like to try recipes from cookbooks on my shelf, but there are some books I return to more than others.  

I had originally planned to make peixinhos da horta which I saw Sarah Beattie tweet and found in her cookbook Meat Free Any Day , but after eating out at a vegan Japanese restaurant in Shrewsbury recently, D made me change my mind as he wanted us to make the most of the vegetables we had in the house, as well as those coming from the garden and suggested tempura instead,  so I plucked for her tempura recipe instead.  Sarah's tempura is made with asparagus, mine are made with  Assorted vegetables.

From the garden we have: green beans and courgettes, the yellow and green variety; and from the vegetable basket: cauliflower, red onion and some mild green chilies known as Padron.  

Delicious.

Since I was gifted Meat Free Any Day it is one of my most thumbed and well used cookbooks as it features food that you really want to eat and can easily make at home.  

I wrote about Sarah Beattie and her cookbooks before, so if you are interested please see here, as well as some of the recipes I made from the cookbook including:
Leek and Brie Rostiflette
Parsnip Tamarind Curry
Tandoori Butterflied Aubergine
Winter Vegetable Tagine   

And now I have Tempura to share. Please do check out Sarah Beatties Facebook Page too.

I am sharing this Beth's Weekend Cooking.  Gosh its been a while since I joined in.  This week it is being hosted by Deb who blogs over at Kahakai Kitchen.

The Vegetarians Library: Sarah Beattie 'Meat Free Any Day'

I became acquainted with the rather beautiful and stunning Sarah Beattie in Glasgow.  I accidentally bumped into her in an Oxfam Bookshop on Byres Road, Glasgow - well not literally of course but I like to think so.  I found her first cookbook Neither Fish Nor Fowl: Meat Free Eating for Pleasure (1993) on the shelf and was charmed by the innovative recipes, the elegant presentation.  This was a stylish, sophisticated  and sumptuous vegetarian cookbook with recipes ahead of its time like Beetroot and Cranberry Consomme, Raspberry Soup, Avocado Soup, Stuffed Nasturtium Salad and that's just for starters.  It was a pioneering cookbook in my eyes, as it was the first vegetarian dinner party cookbook I came across that moved away from  the wholemeal way of cooking.  It also has Asparagus Eclairs and Chestnut Souffles and Raspberry Brulee and so so much more .   I have over the years adapted some of her recipes, such as Curried Peach Tartlets and Garlic and Shallot Risotto,

Her second cookbook The Table of Content: A Vegetarian Dinner Party Book for All Seasons (1995) is just as amazing... 'from the simplest vegetables to the more esoteric delights of borscht poached uszki with smetana...' but it is her most recent cookbook Meat Free Any Day (2014) which I received for Christmas from my husband that I have cooked from the most recently, as its foods that is calling to me.   

Meat Free Any Day is not like those glossy hardback coffee table cookbooks, that you will flick through but rarely cook from.  This is one cookbook you will use if its real proper food that you really want to eat.

Sarah Beattie was shortlisted for 2015 and 2013 Guild Food Writers' Awards Cookery Journalist of the Year.  Some of you may also know Sarah Beattie, she was a regular contributor to The Vegetarian Magazine until  a few months ago, Why Vegetarian  Living Magazine why?  

What some of you may not know is that Sarah Beattie was also Food and Drink/Radio Times Mastercook 1990 and Masterchef of the North in 1991. I mean how many vegetarian cooks and chefs win high profile cookery competitions these days, hardly any.  She has loads to be proud about and lots she can boast about,but she never has and never will. Sarah Beattie is a RARE and REAL talent and I am saddened that she is somewhat overlooked in todays Vegetarian and Vegan world (not by me though, never by me).   I feel somewhat an affinity to Sarah Beattie and want to praise her more, but instead will direct you to this honest and heartfelt article by Michael Gray, he may be biased as he is her husband, but I am not related in any way and echo every word he writes as I have come to love Sarah's passion and creativity for good food through her books and more recently social media - check out Sarah Beatties Facebook Page. 

Here are some recipes that I have made from  Meat Free Any Day, many more to come.  

 Tandoori Butterflied Aubergine

Parsnip Tamarind Curry

Winter Vegetable Tagine

Leek and Brie Rostiflette

Once again, please do check out Sarah Beatties Facebook Page too.   I am linking this with Cooking Countdown hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking Foray.  

New Urban Farmer

A few months ago, Celia Brooks Brown one of A2Ks earlier followers tweeted on Twitter asking for people to help test some recipes for her upcoming cookery book. Of course as someone who does not subscribe to twitter I missed out on hearing about this opportunity. I have most of Celia Brooks Brown, so you can imagine why I would have been tempted to test one of her new recipes. In the past I have been inspired by recipes in her cookbooks. I cooked an Ethiopian meal two years ago - all of the recipes including injera made from scratch came from her World Vegetarian Classics and not too long ago I made her spicy tofu biltong.

Then I read a bit more about fellow bloggers testing Celia Brooks Brown new recipes and though a little late, this is what prompted me to contact Celia and volunteer my services too. She responded warmly, ‘the more testers the merrier’.

I wanted to cook something with the vegetables, salad leaves and herbs growing on my own plot, so opted for Chard and sorrel kuku (pronounced kookoo). Kuku is a Persian egg dish similar to the Arabic eggah or the Italian frittata. It is filled with vegetables or herbs. It can be eaten warm or cold for packed lunches or picnics.

About a fortnight ago, after work I did make the 'Chard and sorrel kuku' dish, of course it was lovely, the sorrel had a sharp hit of citrus and the juiciness of the plump sultanas gave the right sweetness. So why is it not on my blog you may ask, well my dear readers. The photo I took in the evening, well… it honestly was too, too dark, it looked shiny and yellow, rather than lush green with specks of gold. I thought it would be unfair to show the dish in ‘bad light’ literally, so I decided not to show it at all, but if you are interested in the sound of this recipe, then Celia’s book New Urban Farmer will be out in March 2010. To my knowledge it is a monthly guide to making the most of an allotment, small garden or simply a few pots or window boxes, bringing home grown seasonal produce in to the kitchen aka allotment 2 kitchen. And if you can’t wait Celia also has a column in the times called New Urban Farmer. Celia is so generous she is always tweeting and giving away surplus vegetables from her plot to those living near her North London allotment plot. I had read someone got to take home a load of her asparagus early in the year. How envious was I?

Irish vegetarian food: is it an oxymoron?

With St Patricks Day not far away, my thoughts are turning to food, that is Irish vegetarian food of course. I have been to Ireland a few times, to be more specific Belfast, and it was all work related. I was fortunate one of the days to go and have a wander through the city centre and I came across Avoca, not a vegetarian place but very enticing indeed. The three places in Ireland that I would really like to go and eat at someday are Blazing Salads, Cornucopia in Dublin and Cafe Paradiso in Cork.

I do applaud Irish vegetarian chefs especially Denis Cotter of whom I am a huge and grateful fan. I know many vegetarians and cooks alike found his last book Wild Garlic a little too specialist, especially in relation to ingredients. For example, where can I get sea kale, Russian red spinach or sweet dumpling squash from? But for me its not an issue. If feeling ambitious, I can either grow some of these vegetables at my plot; or more realistically substitute them with something similar. I love Denis Cotters approach to vegetables and food. For me he and Nadine Abensur are vegetarian chefs that truly inspire me to cook food that is both creative and delicious to eat.

But back to the question is Irish vegetarian food is an oxymoron? Well lets delve a little deeper. What Irish vegetarian cuisine is there that is not meat based? The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is champ, boxty potato cakes, colconnan and soda bread. But these are not vegetarian meals in themselves; rather these are accompaniments to a main meal. I do think Irish food is very similar to Welsh and Scottish cuisine, being largely based on meat. Even the soups whether its leek or potato seem always to be made with either chicken or beef stock.

It is only in the last 10 years that there has been a revival in Traditional Welsh vegetarian cuisine with the comeback of the Glamorgan sausage. In Scotland, there is now the infamous Vegetarian haggis which is just as popular as the original meat based. But from Ireland what do we have? I know there are many meat dishes that have over the years become vegified, and its no different in Ireland with the Irish Stew becoming vegified. But in relation to traditional Irish vegetarian cuisine what is there? Please help me out here as I would really like to know. Please feel free to leave me feedback on this in order that I might pay homage to St Patricks and dish up more than champ and Irish whiskey coffee on the day.