Its been a while since I have cooked with polenta. Its often Polenta Chips or my favourite Mexican style Tamale Pie , and then other times maybe a gluten free Polenta Pizza, or simply as polenta bites a sort of free-style rough gnocchi.
I wanted to be creative with this time round and decided to make a Savoury Polenta loaf studded with diced red, green and orange pepper. Then I remembered having picked up a vegan Black Pudding and decided to incorporate that into the loaf and this was the result.
It looks just like a gold churned butter slab or Mexican style cheese, but wait ....
Slowly slice into it and surprise.
D loved it and said I could even try these with the vegan chorizo I make at home. Or if you must other sausages would work too I am sure; or not, you can make this Savoury Mosaic loaf without the vegan black pudding. Just experiment that is what I do. Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not.
These are British style flapjacks enhanced with turmeric, apricot and mango pieces.
I don't have breakfast during the working week, so a banana, flapjack and coffee are what gets me to lunch on a working day and today was no different.
I make flapjacks all the time and vary them wit different dried fruit or fresh seasonal fruit. Recently its been strawberry flapjacks with strawberries from the garden, but I wanted to experiment a little.
Turmeric seems to be trendy at the moment, so I thought I would chuck a teaspoon into my flapjacks just for a change. Not only were the oats a golden autumn yellow, the turmeric also imparted its flavour and that was okay with me as I don't mind turmeric, but D was not overly keen on having these particular ones for his breakfast, saying that his preference was the other ones I usually make. He thought these were more suited for a snack.
These Turmeric Flapjacks are so easy to make vegan, just replace the butter with a vegan alternative. Just be careful not to overcook them or under cook them.
I didn't fancy making a cake or muffins with the strawberries coming from my garden and then I remembered strawberry spinach salads.
Well its been over 10 years I have been reading about Strawberry Spinach Salad in cookbooks, hearing about it from foodie friends and seeing it on blogosphere, yet never tried it until the the weekend and since Saturday we have had it three times. yes three times including today.
Of course, I had to make some of my own tweaks to the recipe that I eye-balled, the asparagus for a start.
A while back my sister in law had gifted me with a bottle of strawberry vinaigrette, its really easy to make at home, but nicer to be given one - makes a quick and easy recipe even easier. If you don't have either, you can easily substitute it with sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar, it will still taste good, just wont be as sweet.
It really was quite something special. The strawberries maintained their firmness, yet the outer softened a little taking on the zing from the vinaigrette. I'd even say it was quite delicious, hence the reason we have had it again and again. Only thing, the rest of the day we were feeling poppy seeds in between our teeth, so don't forget to floss before you go to bed at night.
