Good cake, Bad cake

My baking seems to be either wildly decadent or virtuously healthy. Earlier this week I baked a cake for my birthday that is so rich I consider it an extravagance. Then I couldn’t resist trying out a brownie recipe that took my fancy because it is low fat, gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, soy-free. I am sorry to report to dieters, celiacs, vegans and all other allergy sufferers, that the cake laden with butter, cream, nuts, eggs, chocolate, condensed milk, flour and sugar was easily the better cake!

This walnut fudge cake is a recipe that I wrote down years ago and finally made more recently. It was so good, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried it earlier. For the past few years I have made it for my birthday. Birthdays provide an excellent excuse for such indulgence. It is a cake for sharing and I am sending it to Bindiya for her My Favourite Things event which this month is focusing on baking cakes and muffins.

The cake batter tastes so good I could eat it without baking. But it tastes even better when it comes out of the oven. I don’t bother making sure it is cooked properly after baking it. In fact, I think it is better if it isn’t quite cooked. A small slice of this gooey fudgy nutty cake should be so soft it will collapse in your hand. It is so rich but I love it plain. Others seem to want it with cream, so I consider it a bonus that the recipe leaves me with leftover cream to serve it with. I also love having the remainder of a tin of condensed milk to use up in all sorts of wonderful recipes (grubs, condensed milk fudge sauce, mock turtle, etc).

It is a cake that tastes much better than it looks. It is the sort that cracks and sinks in the middle. When I placed the cake on the plate, E asked when I would ice it. My little niece Maddy, was reluctant to even try it without icing. She did try it but didn’t fancy it. In fact, even my little niece Ella who loves almost anything I bake, didn’t finish her piece. So I don’t think that this is a cake for kids. I think it might be due to the strong taste of all the walnuts.

The cake was the star of the afternoon tea I made for my birthday. I also made cheesy almond muffins (some with faces of poppy seed hair, olive eyes, sunflower seed noses and sundried tomato mouths), grubs, gluten free grubs, grapes, chilled apple green tea, and activist mommy’s beanie brownies.

Last year I tried the walnut fudge cake with gluten free flour and it was disappointing. Maybe that is why it tasted so good this year. This is why generally it is best to find new gluten free ways rather than just trying to remake old favourites (with the exception of grubs).

I was excited to find the beanie brownie recipe that seemed to be the gluten free cake I have been seeking – easy to make, using only basic pantry ingredients, no nuts and delicious. This recipe was so simple – just 400g kidney beans, 2 bananas, 3 tbsp oil, 4 tbsp cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla, ¾ cup sugar, in the blender and then baked for 30 minutes in a moderate oven. The cake batter tasted good and I was hopeful. But when cooked it tasted like a sweet bean paste with chocolate flavour – it was neither cakey or fudgy. My mum and my sister Susie tasted it and refused to take any home with them. The kids weren’t interested. I think I will throw the rest of it in the bin.

Where did it go wrong? It looked good – dark, glossy chocolatey. But it was quite flat and had a sort of slimy dampness about it. Was the 28 x 18 cm slice tray too big for the mixture? Were my beans wrong? I used kidney beans rather than black beans. I also used a standard 400g tin of beans because activist mommy didn’t give a measurement for a tin of beans. Should I have included some apple sauce like activist mommy did? Would it make a difference if I tried it with 3 eggs instead of banana? Did it need to be cooked longer?

I still have hope and will continue my quest. After all, Have Cake Will Travel has said they were a definite winner and her photo of her brownies looks so tempting. But it has made me appreciate that no matter how healthy you make your cake, the ultimate measure of whether a cake is good or bad is the taste! After all, if you were just after something nutritious, you would just make a salad!

Walnut Fudge Cake

¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar
150g butter or margarine
100g dark chocolate
½ cup condensed milk
200g (2 cups) walnuts, coarsely ground
¼ cup cream
¾ cup self raising flour
1 egg

Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Preheat oven to 170 C.

Place sugar, butter chocolate, condensed milk and walnuts in large bowl and melt on medium power in microwave (about 1½ minutes) or heat gently in saucepan til all is melted and thickens slightly. Remove from heat (it should be lukewarm still, if not you should cool it slightly) and add cream, flour and egg. Stir to combine.

Pour mixture into cake tin. Bake 40-45 minutes. Don’t worry if skewer not quite clean when you test it – it should be a little gooey inside. Cool in tin for 5- 10 minutes and turn onto a wire rack to cool. Serve in thin wedges with cream (if desired).

On the stereo:
A story to tell: Starbucks presents powerful songs from the coffee house: Various Artists

Gorgeous Grubs

Grubs have many aliases – biscuit snowballs, rumballs, truffles. But in my family we have always called them grubs. I don’t even know why. They are embarrassingly easy to make and even easier to eat. They are best eaten fresh and gooey at room temperature. They leave behind a trail of coconut and happiness.

My childhood was full of these grubs and I have made them regularly throughout my life – very few recipes I can say that of! They have been there at school camp, midnight feasts, cake stalls, birthday parties, funerals. These days, when I make them they make me think of children that have been part of my life. Even to make them in an empty kitchen fills the space with ghostly children’s footsteps and laughter.

Once I made them to fight a bout of home sickness while living in London. I was living with a snooty cat at the time. When I put out my plate of fresh grubs, he stretched himself out to lie over them. I yelled at the cat but still had to throw out the top row and many more – I probably should have thrown them all out but I was in desperate need of comfort. The cat, of course, knew exactly what he was doing. He looked very pleased with himself and I soon moved to flats where I was happier!

Last year when Wendy asked for idiot proof recipes for her school fete, I suggested she make grubs and she reported back that they turned out perfectly. This is a recipe to make when you are lacking energy and motivation, when you have kids helping in the kitchen, when you need to get together a plate of food in a hurry.

I can’t claim they are healthy but they taste so good. Sweet soft chocolatey balls of comfort and fun. I have previously experimented with gluten free grubs with little joy. I found some success with substituting ground almonds for marie biscuits. But grubs are kiddie food and nuts are unwelcome at kids parties these days, so I didn’t feel this was too useful. I have heard of people substituting rice cookies for marie biscuits. However, as my gluten free niece was among the kids I made them for this weekend, I decided to try just leaving out the biscuits and adding more coconut. This simple solution was surprisingly successful.

If you are not in Australia, Arnotts Marie biscuits are like rich tea biscuits in UK and plain cookies in USA. The recipe below is very flexible – I don’t use a recipe so it varies each time but just in case others haven’t come across it, I thought I should put some approximate measurements.

Mansi has asked for suggestions for simple but delicious recipes for a stress free game night. The last time I watched sport with a group around the television was when Geelong won the Grand Final last September, which was a happy moment. I don’t often watch sport but, when I do, I need simple comfort food. That is why I am sending some grubs through the ether to Mansi who has requested favourite simple and quick to make recipes for her Game Night Party. In the recipe, I have written a short method for those who just want to get on with it and watch the sport, and a long method for those (like me) who prefer to be talking about the food than concentrating on goals, wickets and volleys.

Grubs

1 x 400g tin of sweetened condensed milk
2-3 generous dessert spoons of cocoa, or as required
½ - 1 cup dessicated coconut, or as required
about ¾ of a 250g packet of marie biscuits (leave out for GF grubs)
Extra coconut to coat grubs

The short method:
Crush biscuits, mix all ingredients and roll walnut sized balls in coconut.

The long method:
Firstly, crush the biscuits. There are a number of ways to do this, many being good for releasing stress. The best ways are to either place them in a paper bag and bash them with a rolling pin or place them in a bowl and crush with a rolling pin, a glass or a tin of beans (but watch for flying crumbs if you try the latter!). Sometimes I use a rolling pin in a bowl to crush the larger pieces of biscuit after bashing them in a paper bag. They should be crumbs not powder. It is possible to grind them in a food processor but not advisable because it means the grubs lack texture. A friend once sat on the biscuits to crush them so it is really up to you what works!

Mix crushed biscuits, cocoa, coconut, and condensed milk in a medium mixing bowl. It will still be quite soft but stiff enough to make balls. You need to use a little judgement on how many crushed biscuits to include. If it is too soft, add another biscuit or two. Do not add the whole packet at once or you may find it is too dry. At this point it is good enough to eat, and always takes some self-control to roll it into balls rather than eating it. But the coconut coating does add a certain pleasing crunchiness.

Place extra coconut in a dessert bowl. You will probably need about a cup of coconut. Use a teaspoon to scoop out spoonfuls the size of walnuts. Roll into neat balls with your hands and toss in coconut to coat. By the end of this activity, you will find that the coconut has little bits of coconut covered mixture in it and your fingers are covered with mixture. If you have been dying to eat the mixture, this is your chance – eat it off your fingers.

Store in an airtight container for at least a few days if you can keep them that long. Some people keep them in the fridge but I like them soft and prefer keeping them out of the fridge.

Gluten Free Option:
If you are making some of these for those with a gluten free diet, mix the cocoa, coconut and condensed milk together first. Put some of this mixture aside and add more coconut to make a stiff mixture and then make balls to roll in coconut. Then add crushed biscuits to the remaining mixture, being careful not to add too many that it is really dry. Or just make them all gluten free with extra coconut and don’t add biscuits to any of the mixture.

On the stereo:
A Short Album about Love: The Divine Comedy

Simple Substantial Salads for One

Q. Why did the lettuce blush?
A. Because it saw the salad dressing!

Yes, that is right! I think lettuce and salad dressing are a joke. Well not quite, but they can get in the way of a good salad. Lettuce can swamp a salad and salad dressing can be fiddly to make, full of oil and sits around in my fridge way too long!

Mollie Katzen did a great 'Pep Talk for Wilter Salad Eaters' in The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. This is my pep talk to remind me and any other wilted salad eaters that salads can be both easy and substantial without crowding them with lettuce, rice, pasta or potatoes.

Making simple salads for lunch has been a bit of a project for me this summer. The only disclaimer I make is that I ate these salads straight after preparing them. However, without lettuce, which wilts as soon as you look at it, I think they would probably last a few hours or overnight. But I am yet to try taking such salads to work. I started thinking about salads on a 35 C day after having eaten two breakfasts, and needing something light for lunch. Then I started recording what I ate.

You can probably tell that I am not keen on lettuce. I have never grown to love trendy new lettuces. There are moments when I crave a crisp iceberg but not too often - they go soggy too easily, and I have read that they don’t have much in the way of nutritional value. I started experimenting with these quick and easy salads when I lost quite a bit of weight a few years ago and wanted to lighten my diet. Eating more vegetables helped, and the best way was in a simple side salad. I have periods of being what Jeffrey Steingarten calls a ‘salad glutton’, ie someone who eats salad more than twice a week in winter or four times a week in summer.

So below are records of my salads that I have been eating this summer, plus a few other salad ideas that I enjoyed and jotted down long before I was blogging. I have put lots of different combinations to demonstrate that it doesn’t really matter what you put in. But I realise they are still tailored to my personal taste – for example, I don’t put radish, fennel or bolied eggs in my salads. So you may need to experiment with what makes you happy. I have mostly loved these salads but there was one (not recorded) full of grated raw zucchini that was so awful I had to bin it.

Salad is a great way to use up bits and pieces from your fridge and fruit bowl. I love fruit in my salads for taste and to make sure I am getting enough fruit in my diet, especially on days when I feel less inclined to eat fruit. You can add any raw vegetables, leftover roast vegies, marinated or pickled vegetables (such as sun dried tomatoes or dill cucumbers), herbs, olives, seeds, beans, nuts, fruit, sprouts. For the dressing, it is easy to add a spoonful or two of cottage cheese, yoghurt, fruit juice, vinegar, tahini etc. And all you need is a chopping board, a sharp serrated knife, a bowl and a spoon (with the occasional grater, frypan or small mixing bowl for dressing).

These salads are mostly made to serve one person. Sometimes I eat it with a slice of bread or dry biscuits and dip (and it would be good with rice cakes or rice crackers if you are looking for something gluten free). It makes me feel much better than a sandwich and I feel less guilty having a piece of chocolate cake after such a salad (I never said my diet was perfect!). These salads would also easily serve two people as a side dish to accompany burgers, pizza or nutloaf. For other salad ideas, check out my index near the top of the right hand menu.

Crunchy Summer Salad I
Mix: 1 inch of cucumber, diced, 1 tomato, diced, 1/3 cup crunchy sprouts, few basil leaves, torn, ½ ripe pear, diced, ½ carrot, grated, juice of ¼ lemon, freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp linseeds (flax seeds)

Crunchy Summer Salad II
Mix: 1 inch of cucumber, diced, ½ tomato, diced, 1 mushroom, diced, 1 nectarine, diced, ¼ red pepper, diced, small handful chopped baby spinach, small handful snowpea sprouts, 1 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, juice of ½ lime.

Crunchy Summer Salad III
Mix: 1 diced tomato, 1 diced nectarine, 3 finely chopped stalks of asparagus, 6 sliced snowpeas, small handful of sliced baby spinach, small handful of snowpea sprouts, 1 inch of diced cucumber, 1 tbsp sliced black olives, juice of ¼ lemon, 1 tbsp yoghurt

Crunchy Summer Salad IV
Mix ½ diced tomato, few leaves basil, 6 sliced snowpeas, handful of sliced baby spinach, small handful snowpea sprouts, 1 inch diced cucumber, ¼ green capsicum diced, ½ large dill pickle diced, ½ carrot grated. Add 1 tsp tahini whisked with the juice of half an orange. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Crunchy Summer Salad V
Mix ¼ green pepper, diced, 1 diced roma tomato, 1 inch cucumber, diced, ½ stalk celery, diced, ¼ avocado, diced, small handful of green seedless grapes, small handful of roughly chopped spinach and rocket, 1 tbsp raspberry vinegar.

Fragrant Potato Salad
Dice and cook two medium potatoes. Mix with ½ red capsicum chopped, ½ green capsicum chopped, ¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes (drained of oil), 1 tbsp chopped chives, 1 tbsp chopped mint, finely grated lemon zest of ½ a small lemon, 1-2 tsp of wholegrain mustard, 2 tbsp yoghurt.

My Rabbity Salad (adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook)
Mix ½ carrot grated, ½ cup crunchy sprouts, ½ capsicum, diced, 1 small nectarine, diced, ¼ - ½ tsp capers, ½ large dill pickle, diced, ¼ cup cottage cheese, 1 tsp poppy seeds, juice of ¼ lemon, seasoning, few drops Tabasco sauce.

Blushing Rabbit Salad
Mix 1 beetroot, peeled and grated, 1 orange, peeled and finely chopped, 1 spring onion, finely sliced, 100ml cottage cheese, 1 tbsp hazelnuts, roughly chopped (or other nuts such as walnuts or pecans), 1 tbsp sultanas, 1 tsp pomegranate molasses (or balsamic vinegar). On top, place a handful each of snowpea sprouts and chopped baby spinach squeezed with lemon juice.

Other Good Salad Combinations:

- Tomato, nectarines, grated carrot, cucumber, snowpeas, shredded baby spinach, dill pickle, balsamic vinegar
- Mushroom sundried tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, snowpeas, shredded baby spinach, lemon juice
- Beans, tomato, cucumber, corn, shredded baby spinach, fetta, parsley, lemon juice
- Roast pumpkin, spinach, olives, capsicum, lemon, yoghurt, tahini
- Potato salad – potato, asparagus, olives, sundried tomatoes, baby spinach, lemon juice, yoghurt, garlic

On the Stereo:
Rough Trade post punk vol 1: various artists

Stuffed Pears - in the swag

As I mentioned in my previous post, it was Australia Day yesterday. It makes me ruminate on our national cuisine, and – more to the point – do we have one? Last year I wrote about our sweet foods. Even harder is thinking about national savoury foods. If I were to mark Australia Day I would need to find traditional savoury food. So what do we have?

Firstly I thought of the great Aussie barbecue. I have written before about a vegetarian at a bbq so I wont bore you again with hardluck stories. But isn’t it interesting that when we think bbq in Australia, blokes come to mind. I’m thinking Kel Knight and his sausages, Paul Hogan and his shrimp on the barbie, and Sam Kekovich carrying on like a lamb chop. We've all seen an Everyman charring the chops, downing a coldie and wearing his ridiculously humourous apron. One would think his missus was swanning about with nothing to do!

What about the women? Naomi Watts shot to fame playing the teen girl who would prefer a roast lamb dinner than a date with Tom Cruise. We have great female cookbook writers in Australia like Margaret Fulton, Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander, Julie Stafford and the lovely vegetarian Vikki Leng. But what food is quintessentially Australian? What dish would they recommend for Australia Day? As with sweet food, it seems that there is no easy answer because so many of our traditions are bound up with all the nations from whence our population has migrated.

Growing up in Australia for me meant barbecued meat with garden salad, potato salad and buckets of tomato sauce; meat pies; roast dinners; chiko rolls and dim sims; corned beef; apricot chicken; tuna casserole; chow mien; and spag bol. I can’t remember any particular food we would have for Australia Day as a child but I do remember my parents buying green and gold plastic cups for a special lunch.

I no longer eat the meat I had to eat as a child. I can do a great vegetarian roast dinner and I have found excellent vegetarian dim sims at Northland shopping centre (for that nostalgic junkfood indulgence). But ask me about an Australian national dish and I am stumped.

So now I feel my cooking is more based on a British vegetarian cuisine than any Australian cuisine. Maybe the main legacy of my Australian heritage is the loose ties with our traditions that allow us to innovate, experiment and fuse cuisines, in a way that we might not if we had a cuisine to protect.

Dinner, rather than following any Australia Day traditions, was inspired by a challenge from Julia of the English blog, A Slice of Cherry Pie. She hosts In the Bag, an event which asks bloggers to cook a dish with nominated seasonal ingredients. This month is it pears, lemon and nuts. Pears aren’t really in season here but I thought I could do it, especially when I came across an intriguing recipe for pears stuffed with cheese and nuts in a 1970s cookbook by British writer, Marguerite Patten.

It is the sort of starter that I usually find more amusing than appetising. Many older vegetarian cookbooks are heavy with dairy and eggs, as if to prove that vegetarians can eat substantial meals. This attitude comes from a period before the wealth and abundance that we know today, a period when eating enough was more of a problem than eating too much. But it did fit the parameters set by Julia.

The stuffed pears were quite simple, although little things like cutting the core out of the pear took a little longer than I’d thought. I love pears au naturale and couldn’t quite bring myself to soak them in an oil and lemon mixture for 15 minutes before serving (and didn’t peel them either) – a squeeze of lemon juice was enough for me. But I am giving you the recipe as Marguerite intended it. I think if I was to make it again (and I would) that I might slice the pears rather than serving pear halves which looked good but were quite chunky. I served it for dinner with salad drizzled with an excellent raspberry vinaigrette. It was surprisingly pleasing!

Maybe it is fitting on Australia Day to eat food from our British heritage. There is a long tradition of doing so. I am not sure many people in Australia would be eating this sort of food today but I always imagine it was the height of sophistication in the 1970s. I like to imagine it might have been served as an appetiser by some of our national female icons of the era such as Margaret Whitlam, Lorraine Bayly and even Mrs Norm Everage before she became Dame Edna and an international superstar!

Stuffed Pears
(from Marguerite Patten, Vegetarian Cooking For You)
Serves 4

4 small pears or 2 large ones (I used packham pears)
2 tbsp salad oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Pinch sugar
150ml natural yoghurt
25 g walnuts (I used pecans)
175g cheddar cheese, grated (I used less than this)
50g sultanas (I used 2 tbsp)
Pinch cayenne or few drops Tabasco sauce
Shredded, lettuce, to serve (I used rocket and baby spinach)
Lemon or chives to garnish

Peel, halve and core the pears. Put into a dish. Blend oil, lemon juice, seasoning and a pinch of sugar. Pour over the pears and leave 15 minutes, turning once. (As said above I just halved and cored my pears and squeezed a bit of lemon juice over them.)

Mix the yoghurt, nuts, cheese, sultanas and cayenne or Tabasco sauce. Lift pears from dressing and arrange on a bed of lettuce leaves. Spoon yoghurt mixture over pears and garnish. Marguerite suggests a twisted lemon slice. I used black pepper and chives. Then I gave them another squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of raspberry vinaigrette (recipe below).

Raspberry Vinaigrette
(from Vikki Leng, Vegetarian Feasts)
Makes about ½ cup or 125ml

3 tbsp raspberry vinegar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 clove garlic, crushed

Place all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake to combine well.

On the Stereo:
Mojo Presents the Quiet Revolution – Various Artists

WBB: Tofu Scramble and Imposters

Imagine a foreigner coming to Australian shores and telling us how to be Australians. Oh, that’s right! That is what happened when the British invaded back in 1788. That’s what we commemorate on Australia Day which was yesterday!

For Australia Day I made us a special brunch. The night before I roasted vegetables and used some for a pasta meal. I was on track to make Café Flora’s Roasted Vegetable Tofu Scramble. The second part was to press the tofu for an hour in the fridge. This is the sort of instructions I expect from chefs who don’t cook in a home kitchen but some days obedience is the path of least resistance so I did as I was told. You can check out the pic of my tofu with a plate and three 400g tins on it (vegies are in the plastic container on the shelf above).

I can’t remember if I have made scrambled tofu before. I think I have but if I did it wasn’t memorable. So I wasn’t sure what to expect. I assume it originated to compensate for vegans being denied scrambled eggs, or (if you want to take the moral high ground) to show that there are better scrambles than eggs can offer. You might call it an imposter meal of soy posing as eggs.

This one was pretty good but it did need the vegetables to give flavour and light. I chose not to make Café Flora’s recommendation of ‘Fu Sauce’ which was quite Asian-style (tamari, mirin rice vinegar etc) and not something I can face first thing in the morning. I went for a more subtle flavouring more along the lines of Renee’s. I needed a good grinding of pepper over it. I probably could have also done with some soy sauce (so I have added it to the recipe). This might have improved the tofu which was a little on the bland side.

Don’t get me wrong. I love tofu. I can’t cope with it plain in a sandwich (as was once fed to me on a domestic flight with Ansett!) But it is so versatile and adds so much to many meals. In the Book of Tofu, it is said that East Asians call it the ‘meat of the fields’ or the ‘meat without a bone’. The authors also describe it as inexpensive, nutritious and the backbone of the meatless diet. I wouldn’t say it is the backbone of my diet but is one of the cogs that keep it going!

I find the idea of tofu scramble pleasing. I have never eaten scrambled eggs in my life. But being able to eat a scramble for brunch seems a way to feel a little normal. However, how would I know if it tastes anything like scrambled eggs. I asked E – an egg lover – what he thought. ‘I thought it was egg at first,’ he responded. That pleased me. And my reaction? All I can say is that it tasted good, but would egg-lovers really eat this sort of thing without vegies? But I guess for me to claim similarities to scrambled eggs is like Captain Arthur Phillip‘s soldiers telling the Aboriginal people how to live. It just aint my territory.

But that isn’t where my tales of imposters end. Perfect place to have Saturday morning brunch at home is in bed with the weekend newspapers which should land on your bed with a thud that speaks of papers stuffed with news, magazines and supplements. Yesterday was our first day ordering the paper to be delivered on weekends. My excitement turned to dismay as I rushed outside in the morning to pick up The Age, only to find they had sent the Hun. I was determined to eat while reading the newspaper so found some pieces from last weekend that I never got around to reading! Today we didn’t get any paper. So I am hoping next weekend the deliveries will finally yield a newspaper we can read over breakfast.

I am sending this to Rajitha at Hunger Pangs who is hosting Weekend Breakfast Blogging which was started by Nandita. This month the theme is soy and its by-products.

Roasted Vegetable Tofu Scramble
(adapted from Café Flora Cookbook)
Serves 2-3

2 cups of roasted diced vegetables (see Note)
250g firm tofu
2 tbsp chopped sun dried tomato
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Squeeze of lime or lemon juice
Tabasco sauce, to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
Seasoning, to taste
1 tomato, diced (for garnish)
Chives, finely chopped (for garnish)

Place tofu on a plate or bowl and place plate or chopping board on top of tofu. Weigh down with tins of beans or other to weigh up to 3 pounds. Place in fridge for an hour and then drain water off. This seems overwhelming but if I can do it so can you and it will give a drier scramble if you like that. But if you are pressed for time and/or energy, I think it would be fine to skip this step. Alternately, you can do it the night before (according to the recipe).

Crumble tofu with your fingers or a fork. Heat a large non-stick fry pan on medium high. Spray with oil. Place tofu in frypan and only stir frequently for about 5 minutes so it browns. Reduce heat to medium low and add vegetables for about 5 minutes til warm. Add sundried tomatoes, yeast flakes, lime or lemon juice and seasoning and stir for another minute to warm. Serve on top of toast or fried potatoes with tomato and chives sprinkled on top.

NOTE: I roasted vegetables in some olive oil and crushed garlic for about 20 minutes at 220 C. See my roasted vegetable pasta for more information. Suggested vegetables include: zucchini, eggplant, capsicums, pumpkin, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, carrot, beetroot, green beans, turnip, swede, fennel, mushrooms, asparagus. This can be done the day before you make the scramble.

On the stereo:
American Roots: a history of American folk music: Various Artists

In Praise of Cookbooks

Cookbooks become palimpsests, the original text overlaid with personal meanings and experiences, the spines broken by use and by the mass of extra matter forced between their pages.
Nicola Humble, Culinary pleasures: cookbooks and the transformation of British food

One of my summer projects has been to write up a list of my cookbooks. But I can’t post this list without a reflection on cookbooks. A few comments have stimulated my thoughts lately.

First there was Stephanie’s provocative comment on Elegant Sufficiency that it is just as easy to google a recipe idea as find it in her cookbooks, and that she doesn’t feel the need to purchase new cookbooks much these days. I understand what she is saying. I have my google days. But I also have days when I sit on the couch browsing through a stack of glossy cookbooks for a recipe I am seeking, or just for ideas. The suggestion that cookbooks might be obsolete seems as ludicrous to me as paperbacks being replaced by the online novels. Is there anyone who wants to sit in bed and read a novel off a laptop? Similarly, I prefer to have a cookbook open in front of me when I cook, rather than running back and forward to my laptop which keeps threatening to go to sleep.

Unlike Stephanie, I still see lots of cookbooks I want to purchase. I drool over new tantalising photos and inspiring ideas. But I am having a serious shelf crisis where my cookbooks are concerned and must be judicious in what I buy these days. That is the reason a lot of my cookbooks are vegetarian. While occasionally an omnivorous Nigella or a Nigel comes along who is so eloquent that I cannot resist their fine words, on the whole I cannot justify allocating precious space to meat recipes that I will never use. It isn’t just meat I avoid. A cookbook must be full of the sort of food I am likely to make – lots of different vegies in each dish, not too many eggs, and something a bit different to pique my interest.

So many new cookbooks have the same old recipes that I know I can find in a dozen of my cookbooks at home. When I first was cooking for myself, I needed the basics, but now I have these in all guises. Cookbooks are no longer about making sure I have something to cook. They are about inspiring and challenging me. So now I want something a bit quirky and esoteric. I want a new take on an old favourite. I want depth and personality. So where do I find them? Not necessarily in a glossy display case or on the sale table. My cookbooks have come to me as birthday presents, impulse purchases, gifts from people cleaning out cookbook collections, holiday souvenirs, recommendations by friends, and finds at secondhand bookshops.

The other comment which made me think recently was by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks who said how much she loves Rose Eliot cookbooks but finds them hard to find. It meant that when I saw the Rose Eliot Zodiac Cookbook in a second hand bookshop recently, I came home and googled it. I was surprised to find it is out of print. So I bought it. In fact, I was shocked at how many of her books are out of print. Heidi made me understand that you shouldn’t take some of these cookbooks for granted.

In fact I was looking for a book at Melbourne’s fantastic Books for Cooks the other week. (As an aside, this is an amazing place for the culinary bibliophile – two rooms crammed with every sort of foodie book you could imagine. Now this is a shop where I need to exercise great self-restraint!) I was surprised that the book was out of print, given that it came out in 2000. They go out of print quickly, I was told. While there, I bought a few older cookbooks and found that they really give a sense of a period in history. So I am starting to really appreciate my cookbooks and that they are part of a history, a tradition, a culture.

I have also had some cookbooks long enough now that they indeed are ‘overlaid with personal meanings and experiences’. Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs recently wrote about food being linked with her memories. Browsing through my cookbooks is a trip down memory lane. Certain recipes bring back meals, faces, places, events. The Australian Women’s Weekly Old-Fashioned Favourites is full of sweets (desserts) my mum used to bake in my childhood. Alison Holst, Mollie Katzen and Sarah Brown remind me of share house days. Rose Eliot is the writer I depended on when I lived in Edinburgh. Colin Spencer and Denis Cotter feed my current interest in food writing (and apologies for including a Nigel Slater library book in a photo but I can guarantee it will appear on my list of cookbooks imminently). These books are as full of nostalgia as old photo albums.

But unlike photo albums, my cookbooks also are full of unfulfilled desires, recipes I’ve lusted over many times and yet never cooked. I hope this list will encourage me to use all my cookbooks more fully. I have toyed with the idea of writing the most desirable recipes beside each title to remind me of recipes I must try. Maybe!

I have to make a disclaimer for the list not being quite as I had envisioned. There are times when attention to detail is a curse. I know where the list needs work but so far have lacked the energy. I have split the list into categories but they seem a little arbitrary. I also struggled with what I included and excluded, especially in the Food for Thought section. I tried to limit the list to books that included recipes I might follow, which is why Vic Sussman is in and Jeffrey Steingarten and Barbara Kingsolver are out. But this is all a work in progress and I hope it will develop.

Lastly, I am recognising that blogs are more than just a day by day record of what was cooked last night. I want this blog to be a resource for me, for family and friends, and for all my visitors. A list of cookbooks appeals to the curious curtain twitcher in me. But I hope this list will also be useful both for those who want to source vegetarian cookbooks and for those who want to see where I find recipes and inspiration.

On the stereo:
The Essential Klaus Schulze 72-93: Klaus Schulze

PPN #48 Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Every year I mean to celebrate Burns Night and it passes me by. The timing is always awkward. January means recovering from the festive season and then celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and Australia Day. So I didn’t make haggis as I intended but if you want to get into the spirit you can see Wendy’s photo of a haggis in the wild and Sophie’s photo of the famed McSween’s vegetarian haggis.

However, my dinner last night did have tenuous links to Scotland. It is a recipe I found while living in Edinburgh. It was an odd time in my culinary adventures. We rented a furnished flat which included a basic equipped kitchen, but we only had a bar fridge (no freezer!) and most of my cookbooks and lovely kitchen things were in boxes in Australia. So my cooking often had a necessary simplicity. Although, by the time I moved back home to Melbourne, I had acquired many kitchen implements and crockery.

Cooking in Scotland was made easier by the freebie magazines that abound in the UK. Many of the large supermarkets had free glossies with fine recipes, and Tescos did a vegetarian magazine which I would buy for a pittance. Plus I would find many great recipes in the newspapers and other foodie magazines.

I don’t remember which magazine I got this recipe from but it requires very little in the way of condiments and energy. It is a dish that I have made many times and always enjoyed. But I realised when I made it last night that I really only use the recipe as a guide. I am so lackadaisical with measurements that I have reproduced the original ingredients here but I encourage any interested reader to relax and innovate with this recipe.

While the recipe calls for just courgettes and peppers, I used lots of vegetables last night. I partly made it because I wanted roast vegetables to make brunch this morning. So I used lots of interesting vegies. My brother-in-law Steve, had given me a gorgeous variegated Thai eggplant, and I had found some cute miniature zucchinis (or courgettes). I also had onion, asparagus, red pepper, green pepper, mushroom and squash for lots of varied colours and flavours.

I am sending this recipe to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for this week’s Presto Pasta Night.

Roasted Vegetable Pasta
Serves 4

- 2 courgettes and 1 pepper cut into sticks (or any vegetables you fancy roasting such as pumpkin, aubergine, asparagus, sweet potato, mushrooms)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 300g dried pasta shells
- 200ml low fat crème fraiche or yoghurt
- 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 85g cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 220 C. Place vegetables and garlic in a roasting tin. Drizzle with oil, season and toss to coat evenly. Roast for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown.

While vegetables are roasting, cook the pasta and drain. Return drained pasta to saucepan and stir in vegetables, crème fraiche (or yoghurt which is what I always use), mustard and cheese.

On the stereo:
Soundtrack to Priscilla Queen of the Desert: Various Artists

Deep purple juice

Days ago I was in one of the larger bookstores in town and found myself sitting on a stack of Gordon Ramsay cookbooks (at last I have found a use for them!) being offered samples of mango and passionfruit juice and browsing through a selection of tempting cookbooks. This was where I stumbled across this great recipe.

Now I have probably told you once too often that I come across recipes while browsing in stores but in my defence, I buy books in these stores too – I add to their profits rather than just treating them as a library. These recipes are merely found in the honest pursuit of a purchase.

Having justified myself, I can now tell you it was actually more a great idea than a recipe – just a great combination of fruits for a deep dark berry-laden fruit juice. I don’t have a juicing machine so it suited me that it is just a matter of giving it a burl in my food processor. It was so thick I felt a spoon could probably stand up in it but it was absolutely delicious – a combination of some of my favourite fruits. I tried to water it down with soda water but it doesn’t work – maybe some yoghurt or tofu might be nice but I didn’t fancy a creamy taste and would recommend sticking to the fruit.

However, be warned (especially if you are experiencing a Northern hemisphere winter) that this is a very seasonal drink. I meant to be patient and wait til I was at a market but then in a fit of whimsy I just bought the ingredients at the supermarket and I worked out it cost me about $12 to make this. But it cheered me up.

Not only does this juice satisfy and delight but I knew it must be good for me so I checked the fruits and found it was. Raspberries, blueberries and cherries were featured in Sweetnicks’ top 20 Antioxidant Rich Foods. This superjuice is likely to protect you from cancer, Alzheimer ’s disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, allergies, gout etc etc. And take a look at all the nutrients:

- blueberries - high in fibre, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and manganese.

- cherries - good source of dietary fibre and Vitamin C. They also contain a variety of vitamins and minerals including Vitamin A, Vitamin K, calcium and iron.

- red grapes - good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

- raspberries – rich in Vitamin C, manganese and dietary fibre. Also contains considerable amounts of B vitamins 1-3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron.

Finally, after a bike ride, it is a veritable treat to sit in the sun in the backyard, reading excerpts from Nigel Slater’s new book in the Observer Food Monthly (which my sister in Dublin sent to my mum) and drink this pleasing juice.

I am sending this recipe to Cate at Sweetnicks for her ARF/5 A Day Tuesday which encourages bloggers to share antioxidant rich recipes.

Deep Purple Juice
(from The Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook)
Serves 1-2

1 cup blueberries
1 cup pitted cherries
½ cup seedless red grapes
½ cup raspberries

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

On the stereo:
Apartment Life: Ivy

Raspberry Vinegar for Dummies

‘As garnet red as the stained-glass window behind the altar in St Stephen’s, the heady smell wafts up like wine’. What better way to start my yarning about raspberry vinegar than with this evocative description of glorious raspberry juice from Nigel Slater’s Toast!

Last summer I bought a bottle of raspberry vinegar at Abbotsford Convent’s Slow Food Market. It was fantastic and I loved drizzling it on salads. The sweet raspberry taste brought summer into our kitchen all year long. But this year I haven’t managed to go to the sorts of markets where they might sell it and I have a snowflake’s chance in hell of finding it in the supermarket. So, I thought, if Wendy can make it, so can I! And I did! It was a little intimidating so here are some copious notes for myself and for other novices.

I was interested in Wendy’s recipe but I wasn’t sure about lemon peel in it, not being a lemon lover. Then I saw another recipe that took my fancy because it had wine in it as well as vinegar. I scribbled down the recipe in a second hand bookshop while browsing and later I struggled to understand my hurried handwriting. So I kept Wendy’s recipe by my side for reassurance, and because she encourages shaking the raspberries in vinegar for fun! I also found a recipe in Vikki Leng’s Vegetarian Feasts to refer to.

Seeing the different recipes convinced me that the amount of vinegar and raspberries is up to individual fancy rather than having to follow strict guidelines. You could follow my recipe without the wine by reducing the amount of raspberries or increasing the vinegar, and not simmering the vinegar (eg Vikki used 1 punnet raspberries and 1 litre of vinegar).

I had almost enough vinegar but not quite enough so I looked for it in a local delicatessen. I was fascinated to see home made white wine vinegar. It was in an old beer bottle with ‘Home Made Wine Vinegar’ handwritten on a piece of masking tape and a cork in the top. Now, I know some people make their own raspberry vinegar and that is easy to understand. But I struggled to get my head around how you make your own white wine vinegar. I got blank looks when I asked in the shop so I checked Wikipedia which talked about acids, fermentation and vinegar eels. If I was more cynical, I might look more carefully at the word vinegar deriving from the Old French for ‘sour wine’. But, instead, I have visions of weird contraptions in some migrant’s backyard – a place covered with vine leaves and filled with noisy family get togethers.

The home made vinegar was quite sharp and Wiki says that better quality wine vinegars have a mature mellow flavour. I worried that my vinegar might not have been the best quality but then Wendy and Vikki Leng didn’t specify which vinegar to use so I felt reassured. And it felt fitting to be colluding with other home-based enterprises when embarking on my raspberry vinegar adventure.

Making raspberry vinegar was every bit as complex as I expected. I headed off to the Queen Vic Market to buy raspberries at a reasonable price. I bought some fruit juice in a wide necked bottle (which I decanted into another bottle) so I had a bottle I could easily pour in crushed raspberries– and secure the lid for lots of fun shaking it (thanks Wendy)! Vikki Leng suggested leaving it for 2 weeks which didn’t suit me as I had planned to make it so I could give it to my mum for her birthday, but it made me feel free to leave it for as many days as I needed. The instructions also said to leave it in a cool place which is difficult in a Melbourne summer so my only option seemed to be the fridge.

Then I came to straining it. I do not like straining – it is tedious and I hate having to throw out the remnants. So after stirring the raspberries in the sieve and then leaving them to drip for some time, I found that the only way to do it was to press the spoon down on the raspberries to squeeze out their juice (might be obvious to some but was a great discovery for me).

My recipe said to simmer 3 minutes which I didn’t see in other recipes and I presume it is to remove the alcohol from the wine. It resulted in a bit of scum which I skimmed off the top. Once I had done this I had to pour into my clean bottles, which sounds simple. But you need to be prepared. I suggest you have ‘sterilised’ bottles, a decent sized funnel and an apron – and a cloth to mop up any mess! (Also I wouldn’t recommend wearing light clothes but if you do, a pattern on them is useful to disguise stains – I speak from sorry experience!)

Now I was a little unsure about preparing the bottles. It seems that preserving is a dying art as it wasn’t easy to find advice in my cookbooks – finally I found something in a 1980s cookbook I recently found in a secondhand bookshop (Paul Southey ,1984, Gourmet Cooking with Meat: The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook ). He says to put jars for jams, jellies and preserve upside down on a baking sheet for 30 minutes at 130 C. I always worry when I have lids with plastic or rubber in this about what I do with them – probably a cork is the best option but how do you sterilise that. In the end I just washed and rinsed the bottles in hot water and am depending on the acidity of the vinegar to fight any germs! I poured in the hot liquid and put lids on immediately (as advised by Paul Southey). One more obvious comment: if the liquid is hot, is to make sure you leave a little room at the top of the bottle for it to expand when it cools. After I had finished I found that Nigella Lawson in How to be a Domestic Goddess also gives some helpful advice.

I had a little less than 3 x 250ml bottles. The vinegar is not sweet like the raspberry vinegar I bought last year but it does have a wonderful ruby red colour and smells of raspberries. I have given away two of the bottles to my mum and to Yarrow. I have used the vinegar a few times and no one has been rushed to hospital yet so this might be something I will do again! It has been an interesting adventure. But if I see raspberry vinegar on sale next summer I might be tempted to just buy a bottle.

Raspberry Vinegar
(from Patricia Mitchell in The Spirited Vegetarian)
Makes 2-3 cups

3 cups raspberries (3 punnets or 450g)
1 cup (250ml) white wine vinegar (or other vinegar)
¾ cup (175ml) medium sweet white wine

Crush the raspberries with a fork in a largish bowl (a shallow pasta bowl will do). Place in cool place for 1 to 14 days. I put mine in fridge. Shake occasionally if it makes you happy! Strain by pressing them in a sieve with the back of a spoon or straining through a muslin cloth and gathering the cloth to squeezing out the juice. Place in medium saucepan and simmer 3 minutes. If you strained through a sieve you now have the option of straining a second time, which will make the vinegar clearer – so it depends if you like cloudy or clear. Pour into clean (sterilised) bottle(s). It is now ready to use in salads, soups, cakes etc.

On the stereo:
Banter: a Candle Records Collection: Various Artists

HoTM #11: Chunky Beetroot Soup with Kidney Beans

When I think beetroot soup, I usually think borscht, Russian peasants, snow and heavy stodgy food. But finally I have made this soup recipe which I found in the magazine supplement of one of the British broadsheets during a visit 2 years ago. It comes from Antony Worrell Thompson. I think it is from his book called Antony Worrell Thompson's GI Diet but that is just a hunch not a fact.

This is a lovely light soup that is just right for summer – it left me satisfied without feeling stuffed. Which is ironic as this recipe reminds me of being in Scotland in winter, of sitting in my in-laws loungeroom in front of the gas fire perusing the weekend papers while eating Cadbury Mini Rolls. I can’t resist tearing a recipe out of any newspaper when it takes my fancy. This recipe travelled back home in my suitcase and was finally written into my notebook. It was well worth the effort.

Whether in summer or winter, I recommend this soup as a starter or main meal – we ate it with olive bread one night and pumpkin and cumin bread the next. It was quite watery but had a lovely subtle flavour. The ruby beetroot colour is bright enough for summer cheer and deep enough to warm in winter. It was even redder and tastier the next day. I have written in my notebook that it is low GI and has 189 calories and 1g of fat per serving. This has to be good for you.

I am sending this soup to Joanna of Joanna’s Food for the regular Heart of the Matter event which aims to promote food which is heart-healthy. The focus in January is on soups.

Chunky Beetroot Soup with Kidney Beans
(from Antony Worrell Thompson)
Serves 6-8

2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large turnip or swede, peeled and chopped
1 large parsnip, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
500g beetroot (about 2 large), peeled and chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp fresh thyme*
4 tsp vegetable stock powder (I used Massel, he used a salt reduced stock cube)
400g potatoes (about 3 medium), diced
200g cabbage (about ¼ large cabbage)
410g tin of kidney beans, drained
1 tsp freshly ground pepper (I used pepper berries)
1 tbsp raspberry vinegar
150g yoghurt to serve
Fresh chopped herbs to garnish (I used chives, he used dill)

* I was posh and made a bouquet garni from my garden because I am tired of taking thyme leaves off the twigs – so I tied together a few sticks of thyme, a sprig of parsley and a bay leave and put them in the soup while it simmered, then removed before serving.

Place first 9 ingredients into large stockpot with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add potatoes, cabbage, beans and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes til potatoes are tender. Stir in vinegar. Serve in large bowls with a dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkling of herbs.

On the Stereo:
Prism of Eternal Now: White Rainbow

Pea and Garlic Soup

"Garlick maketh a man wynke, drynke and stynke"
Thomas Nash, 16th Century poet

Garlic is well known for its pungent smell and ability to repel vampires (and the above quote makes me think it could explain strange men hanging around nightclubs like a bad smell!). Some people find the smell repugnant. I once shared a house with a woman who insisted on using a garlic crusher because she swore she hadn’t been able to find a boyfriend when she had chopped it by hand and the smell got into her fingers. I have always been of the belief that if everyone eats lots of garlic you don’t notice it so much. And surely it is hard to avoid eating a lot of it a lot of the time!

Colin Spencer revels in garlic – ‘the smell I inhale like perfume, the aroma on others breath is a sign of life and its celebration.’ Not surprising coming from a man who says he has happily peeled 200 garlic clove for garlic soup. One can only assume that he didn’t eat it alone in one sitting!

One of the things I love about garlic is the way its flavour changes depending on how you prepare it. Roasted garlic is one of the loveliest ways to eat it, and the easiest. So I liked the idea of green pea and roasted garlic soup which I noticed in a Nigel Slater book while browsing in a bookstore recently. He had got the idea from Nigella so I checked How to Eat when I got home and, lo and behold, she had a recipe for a pea and garlic crostini. I basically made this and added stock. It is so simple it is embarrassing – barely a knife stroke involved and there is lots of time to relax in the backyard while it cooks.

Nigella delights in the brilliant colours which she describes as having a ‘day-glo vibrancy’. The bright green is so lovely that it seems a shame to eat it, but eat it we did with much enjoyment. Roasting mellows the sharp edges and intensifies the flavour of the garlic leaving it with a sweet pungency that enhances the peas. Served with pumpkin scones, the soup made a simple but very satisfying supper.

I am sending this recipe to Sunita of Sunita’s World for her Think Spice event which is all about Garlic in January.

Pea and garlic soup
(adapted from Nigella Lawson)
serves 2 (as dinner with bread or scones)

1 head of garlic
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups frozen peas
2 cups stock
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Slice the top off the head of garlic so you have just nipped the top of all the cloves (or almost all of them). Place on a square of foil and drizzle with oil. Bring edges of foil together to make a bag that is sealed at the top with a twist. Roast in 200 C oven for about 30-40 minutes. (Nigella said 60 minutes but that was too long for me because the cloves were already starting to brown slightly by about 35-40 minutes.) Garlic cloves should be soft and easy to squeeze out of their skin. (Although, unless you have asbestos hands, you might want to cool it a little before squeezing cloves out.)

Place garlic cloves, peas and stock in small saucepan and bring to the boil. Use hand held blender to puree soup. Serve with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and black pepper.

On the Stereo:
Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music (promo sampler): Various Artists

Heavenly Truffles and Mysteries

I have read a lot of detective novels over the past few months. I have made some great discoveries including a new series by a crime writer, Kerry Greenwood. I have previously enjoyed her series about a 1920s flapper detective (Phryne Fisher) and now started on the series about present day baker-cum-detective (Corinna Chapman). The most recent book I read was Heavenly Pleasures. The title is also the name of a chocolate shop and Corinna must find out who is poisoning the chocolate delicacies – although there are messianic complexes, bombs, murders and lost kittens along the way!

I love a novel that lingers lovingly over food and then gives you the recipes at the end. But I want to share with you my favourite lines from the book. Corinna spends a lot of time thinking and talking about chocolates and muses, ‘How had a paste made of crushed cocoa-beans become so important? How had a bitter bean come to mean comfort, reconciliation and kindness?’

It does make you wonder how something so bitter has come to represent such sweet decadence in our lives, something that tastes so good that we don’t demand nutritional benefits from it. But on the weekend I made chocolate truffles that were vegan, gluten free and sugar free! Yet, I am sure Corinna would have melted with gooey delight at the taste.

I got the recipe from Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs, and thought it might be kids party food. I didn’t count on the sophisticated adult depths of flavour. I had to make some minor changes to suit my tastes (wattleseed in preference to coffee) and pantry (I couldn’t find agave despite Ricki’s encouragement so I strayed from the vegan ingredients into the land of honey). The truffles are almost raw food which is also beneficial and easy. A recipe that requires no saucepans or ovens in summer is very welcome indeed!

In the end, despite all the talk of nutrients and health benefits, it is the taste the really matters and these truffles were chock full of it. They are soft, creamy, rich and oh so delicious! I didn’t put them in the fridge, although by the time I had given some to Yarrow and taken some to my parents, there was no danger of them hanging around too long. The feedback was all good, although E found them quite rich.

These truffles even had a mystery to be solved by the tasters. I would challenge anyone to guess they had soy sauce in them. And my problem of finding agave was solved over a coffee on the weekend – Yarrow has pointed me in the direction of the organic grocery on Lygon St in East Brunswick! Corinna Chapman would be pleased at all the detective work!

Wattleseed Cashew Truffles
(adapted from Diet Dessert and Dogs)

1 Tbsp wattleseed (or instant coffee)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. soy sauce (it adds depth of flavor)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp honey (or 3 tsp agave syrup)
1/2 cup cocoa (I used Dutch cocoa)
1/2 cup cashew nut butter
coconut, dried fruit or chopped nuts as desired to mix in or roll truffles in (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. It is a little stiff and you can do it in the food processor if you wish! Take teaspoons of mixture and roll into glossy balls. Roll truffles in coconut (or cocoa or chopped nuts etc). Store in airtight container. Ricki advises to keep in fridge for up to 10 days – if you can keep them that long! I left them out of fridge because I like them soft. Ricki made 15 balls, I made 23.

On the Stereo:
The Silent Breath of Emptiness: OrchestraMaxfieldParrish

Coconut Chai Cake

An advantage of blogs over cookbooks is that you see the reality not just the food stylist’s vision. I recently came across a great quote in Farmer John’s Vegetable Cookbook – overheard as many of the best quotes are – from someone saying that reading a recipe is like reading science fiction: when you get to the end you think that’s never going to happen. I sometimes feel that way reading cookbooks. I love the ideas and the photos but it just doesn’t seem like something I will ever make. Blogs are different.

Lots of blogs are about people cooking at home, making mistakes, eating the food, and talking about it. So it is fascinating when a recipe starts to do the round of blogs and you can see the different experiences people have had with it. Like the velveteen rabbit, it becomes real. It is happening. It is being eaten.

So with the coconut chai cake that I made today, which I discovered when Cindy baked it last year. She got it from Helios via Susan. Cindy made it for afternoon snacks, Helios made it when moving house, Susan made it for breakfast but said it smelled so good that she ended up eating some of it the night before the morning after! Then I wondered who else had made it and put the cake into my search engine. Lots more people – Nandita, Melbourne Larder, even Laura Rebecca (who made it despite rather than because it was vegan!)

There were lots of mixed reactions which felt like friendly advice to help me learn from others’ experiences. Cindy gave the excellent advice to drop the almond essence so I don’t have to feel guilty at not rushing out to buy another flavouring to cram into my pantry. Nandita used soy milk instead of apple sauce and chickpea flour instead of plain flour. Melbourne Larder used apple and pear puree and warned it was quite sweet.

So now my turn to add to the bloggy blethering: I made it yesterday because I had some teabags I was given for a present and remembered this recipe as a great way to use them. The kitchen smelled wonderfully spicy as it came out of the oven – the chai teabags even made the bin smell fragrant. The cake was aromatic, moist and a little stodgy. I was glad I reduced the sugar a little as it was quite sweet enough for me.

The cake is vegan and has very little oil or fat in it – not surprising since it originated at Susan’s Fat Free Vegan blog. I found the cake nice but nothing special. E liked it a lot more because it is less rich than a lot of my lovely chocolate cakes. I thought it might taste better with a bit of butter and E fancied some cream with it – which may not be in the spirit of Susan’s blog. However, I think I will be making it again because it will be a wholesome way of filling me up during long afternoons at work.

I took some cake down to my parents’ place today. When I gave my mum a piece she said the smell reminded her of something. I realised what it was when I gave my dad a piece. ‘You’ll like it,’ I told him as I realised why we found the smell familiar, ‘it is a bit like honey roll.’

Honey roll is a type of swiss roll. It is a sweet sponge cake rolled up with a honeyed cream inside it, like what we call a jam roll (and Americans call a jelly roll). I have had a few discussions with my dad about it because he worries it is an endangered species. He thinks it is the perfect morsel to follow a sandwich at lunchtime but has had trouble finding it. Strangely enough, he also thinks it gets better as it ages. So maybe it is being sold less because there are too many homes around Melbourne where people have honey roll maturing at the back of their pantries!

I am glad to report that dad has located the elusive honey roll so all is well with the world. But maybe if it disappears altogether, he could be comforted by this coconut chai cake. After all, I think it gets better for sitting overnight!

Coconut chai cake
(from Fat Free Vegan via Where’s the Beef?)

2 chai tea bags
⅓ cup rolled oats
1 cup wholemeal flour
½ cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup raw sugar
⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce (or stewed apple – see Note)
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used raspberry vinegar )
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup dessicated coconut, with 2 tablespoons reserved

Brew the chai teabags in 1 cup of hot water, and let the water cool with the teabags left in. (it took me about 90 minutes). If you are making your own stewed apples (see Note) now is a good time to do it.

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a round 20cm cake tin.

Place all ingredients (except reserved coconut) iIn a medium-sized mixing bowl and mix well. Spoon into prepared cake tin. Bake for 25 35 minutes. (It took me about 30 minutes.) It is done when a skewer comes out cleanly. Cool in tin 5-10 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Note on Applesauce: I never have applesauce around my house and never see it in the shops although I am sure I could find it. But when I was growing up my mum was always making stewed apples for desserts, so this seems more natural to me. For this recipe I peeled, cored and finely sliced a medium sized Granny Smith apple and cooked it on low in 1 cup of water for about 30 minutes til apples, stirring frequently. It is cooked when most of the water has evaporated and it can be mushed up with the back of a spoon to make a puree. But I only added the water gradually so in future I might add more water first thing and find I need a little less water and time. The applesauce directions I could find on the web suggested to me I should add cinnamon for true applesauce but I just was generous with cinnamon in the cake.

On the stereo:
Suite Elégiaque: Newtopia Project

Nigel’s bulghur supper

I recently bought Nigel Slater’s biography Toast and now I am hooked on this man’s words. Toast is a beautifully written memoir, telling the story of his life through his encounters with food. He evokes a time when curries and pasta were frightfully exotic in a 1960s Britain of roast dinners and rice pudding. He reminds us just how food gets entwined with our emotional experiences and comes to mean so much more than just nutrients. He fondly remembers baking jam tarts with his mother in a warm kitchen, being fed wibbly wobbly jelly when he was ill, and eating apples ‘with snow white flesh’ straight from the tree in the backyard. Despite his mother’s dislike of cooking, her food still represents nurture and when she dies, no amount of perfect cakes and pies baked by his new stepmother can compensate.

Last year Lucy directed me to the wonders of Nigel with her comment that the Kitchen Diaries (his book on a year of cooking in his kitchen) does what every blogger aspires to do. She is so right. I want to write like Nigel. But failing that I can cook some of his meals.

I have borrowed the Kitchen Diaries from the library but I know I am going to buy it so I haven’t attempted to find time to read it. But of course I have flicked through the recipes – firstly to check there are enough vegetarian recipes for me, and secondly to check that he has not jumped ship from and learned to like eggs. I am happy to find only one egg meal – a Spanish omelette. He still shares with me the dislike of eggs that ‘rules out a hundred quick suppers.’ Here is someone who understands how I feel about eggs. Not so with meat. The Kitchen Diaries has a reasonable amount of meat-free recipes but I really desire it for the elegant prose. However, I fear I will not buy many of his other cookbooks because a quick browse in the shops makes me feel they are too full of meat recipes to justify room on my overflowing shelves (but maybe I will buy his more discursive Eating for England despite his lack of understanding of nutroasts).

As an aside, I enjoy the whole cult of cookbook celebrities who churn out thoughtful and beautiful cookbooks, but our Nigellas and Jamies are so carnivorous. I’d buy more of their books if they weren’t so intent on eating so much meat. I dream of the day that we give the same reverence and devotion to some of the great vegetarian cookbook writers like Mollie Katzen and Rose Elliot!

But Nigel still inspires me to embrace good food and simple dishes. Reading his books is like sitting around a kitchen table with a friend sharing ideas. I found a wonderful quote in his book, Appetite, in which he encourages readers to ‘understand that both our ingredients and our hunger are variables that should not, cannot, be subjected to a set of formulas laid down in tablets of stone. I want you to break the rules. I want you to follow your appetite.' As a cook who often strays from the recipes, I heave a sigh of relief to hear him rejoicing in the recipes being living evolving creations rather than a copyrighted possession.

I was at the Queen Victoria Market last week and was enticed by a glossy stack of purple aubergines. E does not like aubergines so I buy them a little less than I might. I spend a lot of time trying to convince him that it is all about how they are cooked – when they are good they are very very good but when they are bad they are inedible. I found a recipe in the Kitchen Diaries for Bulghur Wheat with Aubergines and Mint. I decided to try it and if I liked it I would buy the book. Oh yes! I am buying the book!

Nigel says that this is a supper by itself and I can see why. The bulghur wheat is soft, the aubergine is melting, the tomatoes burst with flavour, and the mint and lemon lift the dish into a heavenly realm. The only thing I didn’t like was the huge amount of olive oil. Often I reduce such amounts but followed Nigel’s instructions and I suspect that frying the onions and aubergines in a sea of olive oil was among the reasons it tasted so good. So I will make it again, although possibly with a bit less oil.

I served it with some cucumber and green capsicum, and a simple creamy pumpkin dip on bread. I have given the recipe for the dip below as it is one that I come back to again and again when I want something different from the usual hummus and guacamole. But as Nigel suggests, the bulghur dish would make a fine simple supper all on its lonesome.

Bulghur Wheat with Aubergines and Mint
(adapted from Nigel Slater)
Serves 2-4

6 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
1 bay leaf
2 smallish aubergines, chopped in chunks
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup bulghur wheat
2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock
4-5 tomatoes
3 tbsp nuts (I used hazelnuts and cashews, Nigel used pinenuts)
15-20 leave mint, chopped
juice of half a lemon, or to taste

Warm oil in a large frypan or saucepan. Add onion and bayleaf for a couple of minutes (the onion doesn’t need to cook well as it will continue cooking with the aubergine). Then add the aubergine and toss well to coat with oil. Fry over medium heat for about 15 minutes or til aubergine is soft and golden. Add garlic in last couple of minutes of frying aubergines. Add bulghur wheat and stock. Cook a further 15-20 minute (Nigel says to bring to boil and simmer til wheat is nutty, but the wheat soaked up the stock and wasn’t in any state to simmer but it cooked ok). Stir through nuts, mint, lemon juice and check seasoning.

Creamy pumpkin dip
(from Vikki Leng, Vegetarian Feasts)

1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 tbsp white miso
Few drops Tabasco sauce (or 1 finely chopped mild chilli)
Freshly ground black pepper
125g cream cheese or tofu
1-2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Blend all ingredients in the blender except chives which should be stirred in later. If you are using cream cheese you could alternatively just mix by hand.

On the Stereo:
Happy Blues: Michael Donato and Guillaume Bouchard

WHB Beetroot Gnocchi with Pea Pesto

The celery’s in the salad
The mint is in the punch
But I’m in the freezer til Sunday’s lunch
I’m a green pea, freeze freeze
I’m a green pea, freeze freeze
I’m a green pea, wont you thaw my frozen heart!
From: I’m a Green Pea by John Shortis

This is the story of my vision of a riot of colours! You’ll see below why I started to think of this above song from my childhood. My story started with Nupur’s list of links to bloggers’ best of 2007 posts. Firstly it took me to Haalo’s best of 2007 with her amazing gnocchi made of purple congo potatoes. She even served it with peas which made me think of Holler’s amazing green pea pesto. But chances of me finding purple potatoes at the same time I fancied making gnocchi were slim. Then I saw Stef’s best of 2007 which included brilliant coloured beetroot gnocchi (as well as amazing meatloaf cupcakes that I’d love to try with nutloaf!). Stef described her gnocchi as bright pink but I think mine was a deep enough pink to be purple. Hey, I was the little girl who liked purple not pink, and the student who loved purple and green because they were worn by feminist heroines. These were my colours!

I don’t really like the idea of cooking dumplings in water – it seems unnatural to put dough or batter in water – the stuff is too delicate to survive such cruelty and seems unlikely to come out in one piece! It is little comfort that people have been doing it for centuries. But when I have the chance to cook something of such great colours, I throw caution to the wind. I think I have made boiled gnocchi before but most gnocchi I have made in the past has been baked. Beetroot is easily available so I thought I would have a go at Stef’s recipe.

Well, I wont say it was quick or easy. Stef warned that more flour was needed than the recipe required – I put in two and half times the recipe’s suggested cup of flour and still found the dough hard to work with. Possibly I still needed to mix in more. But with a lot of flour on my hands, the knife and the board, I was able to tame the sticky beast sufficiently to form the little dumplings.

It was a good night for E to ring to say he’d be home a bit later. When he got home the kitchen was still a mess of flour and rows of purple dumplings. I think it took me half an hour to roll the dough into little balls and make fork prints on them. I finally got them whirling in the boiling water and turned my attention to throwing the ingredients for the pesto into the food processor. As I started blending it, I wondered if I should have defrosted the peas. The resulting pea pesto sorbet gave me my answer. (‘I’m a green pea, wont you thaw my frozen heart’!) Nothing a quick defrost on low in the microwave couldn’t fix. Microwaving pesto is probably not at all traditional but I am not sure if beetroot gnocchi is either.

We sit down to eat our purple and green feast. The Grim Eater pushes at a wee gnocchi with his fork and asks what the purple blobs are. Pearls before swine! But we both enjoyed it.

The gnocchi was a bit bland, as gnocchi can be. Might have been improved if I’d remembered to add the salt. The pesto also needed a bit more seasoning and I found adding a bit of garlic gave it the bite to balance the sweetness of the peas. But I liked the combination. The chunky and nutty texture of the pesto worked well with the soft gnocchi pillows.

I had been keen to make Holler’s wonderful pea pesto and I will definitely be making it again. It stays a vibrant green in the fridge, unlike traditional pesto, and feels mores substantial for use as a spread or dip. And according to the George Mateljan Foundation, Green Peas are high in vitamins K1, C, B1 and B6, and also a good source of folate and iron so they will be good for your bones, your heart and boost your energy levels.

However, E said that the purple colour of the gnocchi seemed unnatural so I fear when I next attempt gnocchi it wont be such an exciting colour. But if I find some purple congo potatoes when I fancy making gnocchi – if fate is kind enough to present me with the opportunity – then E will have to put up with more purple blobs!

I am sending this to Rinku at Cooking in Westchester who is this week’s host of Weekend Herb Blogging, which was started by Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Beetroot Gnocchi
From Iron Stef
Serves 8 as first-course or 4 as main-course

3 small beetroots (to make up ¾ cup when grated)
375ml fresh ricotta cheese
1 egg
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2½ cups flour, or more if needed, plus extra for handling dough
Additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Trim beetroots, wrap in foil and roast in 230 C oven for about an hour or until tender. When cooked, cool for at lest 15 minutes and then rub skins off.

Grate beetroot to make up ¾ cups. (I had half a beetroot over and cut it into chunks and scattered on gnocchi when I served it.) Add ricotta, egg, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix in flour gradually til the dough comes together in a ball. As I commented above, my dough was still very sticky so I was unsure if I needed more flour but I was able to flour the board and my hands and make it into a plump sausage that I could slice with a floured knife.

Haalo suggests making gnocchi the size of fingernails but I think my dough was too sticky for such elegance so mine was a lot larger! Both Haalo and Stef used the tines of a fork pressed into the dough to make lovely looking gnocchi (by balancing the gnocchi on a finger so there was a finger dent on the other side). I found the dough very sticky for such decorative touches but I could press a floured fork each side which made mine look like floured lumps of gnocchi but when cooked you could see the indentations. (Stef says you should dip each dumpling in a bowl of flour but I didn’t find this easy to do.)

Gnocchi should be transferred to a floured baking sheet after you have made the fork indentations (waiting for the hot water like lambs to the slaughter!)

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and reduce to a simmer (I didn’t salt mine but maybe it would help). Drop batches of gnocchi in water (I only did about 10 at a time). They are cooked when they begin swirling to the surface and can be transferred with a slotted spoon to a serving plate. (Stef transferred hers to a saucepan of rosemary infused butter as this was the sauce she served hers with.)

Serve with pea pesto (below), fresh black pepper and extra freshly grated parmesan cheese. The first night I also served some roasted pumpkin and the second just did some tomato and cucumber on the side!

NOTE: Stef says that gnocchi dough can be made a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge, and that the gnocchi/dumplings can be made 6 hours ahead. I actually only cooked half my batch and put the other half in the fridge til the next night. It seemed to work ok but despite liberal sprinkling with flour they stuck to each other a bit so maybe layers of baking paper between gnocchi would be a better way to store them in fridge (or even freezer).

Pea Pesto
From Holler at Tinned Tomatoes

225g/8oz frozen peas (thawed)
1 large handful fresh basil
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tbsp cashew nuts (I used ¼ cup)
1 tbsp soft cream cheese (I used 40g)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
salt & freshly ground black pepper

I have to quote Holler on this one because she says it so perfectly: ‘Basically just blitz it all in a food processor and voila, the most volumptous green sauce!’ I agree with Holler that is it that easy and that tasty.

On the stereo:
Black Magic Woman: Santana

You say biscuits, I say scones!

It’s not that long ago I was musing on the cultural differences in the international (English-speaking) world of blogging. But here I am again finding myself slightly bamboozled, albeit in a pleasant way!

I made some soup this week, which was most delicious. I had a yen to bake some ‘biscuits’ that I had seen on Lisa’s Kitchen. They interested me, as sometimes I want to bake something quick and savoury that can become part of dinner. As I started following the recipe, I began to question my assumption that we were talking about the same thing when Lisa and I referred to biscuits. It didn’t take me too long to find out we weren’t.

It has struck me previously that what Americans refer to as biscuits is more like what we in Australia and the UK call a scone. As usual, I have gone to Wikipedia to check out what is a biscuit. Apparently the word comes from Latin (via Middle French) and means twice baked. So in UK/Australia it makes sense that a biscuit is hard baked product. How this translated into its softer scone-like cousin, I am not sure. But the other difference is that in the USA biscuits means predominately savoury scones and the sweet version is referred to as shortcake (which clears up another misunderstanding of mine – I always thought shortcake was more like shortbread!).

So now I think I’ve got it! I say biscuit when Americans say cookie (ie sweet), I say dry biscuit when Americans say crackers (ie savoury), I say scone when Americans say biscuit, and when my scones become sweet (and usually topped with sweet stuff like fruit and jam) Americans say shortcake. When I say dry biscuit, the Brits say water biscuits or cream crackers (it took me a long time in the UK to realise these biscuits weren’t filled with cream!). But I am still not sure about digestive biscuits in the UK – I think they are just at the plain end of Australian biscuits. All I can tell you is that chocolate digestives taste good and were often my best friend while travelling in the UK (but in Australia we would call them chocolate wheatens). How confusing is that!

Lisa, you are messing with my head but your ‘biscuits’ were delicious, simple and a fine accompaniment to our soup. Plus you provided much fodder for dinner table conversation – picture me picking up one of these and asking E if it was a scone or a biscuit. Definitely a scone, we decided, after careful consideration. Not a traditional scone dough that you roll out and cut into round circles but still a scone in our countries!

As if my head wasn’t spinning enough, I also found the soup wasn’t as I expected. It had cashew nut butter in it and I was thinking nutty soup rather than creamy soup. I should have known about this too because I have been interested in lots of recipes using cashew nuts to make them creamy. Cashew nut butter adds a sweet creaminess to soups that is quite different from adding peanut butter. I increased the vegetables and found it was still quite rich so we only needed small servings. This also tasted really good. Dinner was a pleasant surprise indeed!

Olive Oil Parmesan Scones
From Lisa’s Kitchen
Makes 12-15 scones

1¾ cups self raising white flour*
½ teaspoon of sea salt
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of milk
¼ - ½ cup of parmesan cheese
* I was out of baking powder so I used self raising flour but you could use 1¾ cups plain white flour and 1 tbsp baking powder which is what Lisa used.

Line a baking tray with baking paper or grease tray lightly. Put flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil, milk and cheese. Stir until just combined. Drop the dough onto prepared baking tray using a dessert spoon (or generous tablespoonfuls ). Bake in a preheated 230 C oven for 12 - 17 minutes or until lightly browned. Taste good served with soup or spread with jam, peanut butter or promite!

Curried Cashew Vegetable Soup
(adapted from Nava Atlas’ Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons)
Serves 4 (with scones or salad accompanying it)

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely diced
3 cups water, or as required
½ cup cashew butter
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp curry powder, or to taste
½ tsp ground cumin
pinch of nutmeg
½ tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
juice of ½ an orange (approx ¼ cup)
3 cups steamed green vegetables (I used broccolini, asparagus, zucchini)
seasoning
cashews and spring onions for garnish (optional)

Heat oil over low heat in a medium to large saucepan. Fry onion, celery and garlic til soft. If it starts to stick tip some water in (or you can use more oil which is what Nava Atlas did). Nava also pureed this mixture but I didn’t bother and prefer the chunkiness for this soup – of course it is also the path of least resistance!

Whisk the cashew butter and remaining water in a small bowl, by gradually adding the water. Add to onion mixture. Add spices and juices. Simmer for 5-15 minutes. (Nava says 15 minutes but I don’t think it needs so much time and I found mine was getting quite thick.) Add more water if getting too thick. Stir in steamed vegetables and serve with garnishes of spring onions and cashews.

On the stereo:
1998 – the album [Melody Maker freebie]: various artists

Scrumptious Sugarfree Slice

Some days I feel I could live without sugar. I love chocolate and fruit and spices in cakes and biscuits but I don’t need them to be too sweet. So I was excited to make a slice this week that is sugarfree, egg free, dairyfree, butter/oil free and could easily be converted to gluten free (by substituting GF flakes for the oats) or nut free (by substituting seeds for the nuts).

The recipe comes from Kathryn on Limes and Lycopene. She adapted a recipe from Cassie at Veggie Meal Plans. Both Cassie and Kathryn said they were eating it for breakfast. I laughed at the idea of slice for breakfast because I don’t eat sweet baking for breakfast (as a rule). But these are so good that I have indeed found myself eating one for breakfast the last few days. As Kathryn says, they really fill you up.

This slice is much less sweet than a lot of food I bake but the jewels of dried fruit give a pleasing tartness, as well as colour. The tahini, nuts and seeds all contribute to a nutty flavour and great chewy texture. I loved it. And the lack of sugar gives me the perfect opportunity to share one of my favourite paragraphs from all my cookbooks. It comes from Helen Stephens who wrote the Australian Family Vegetarian Cookbook:

Most drug users, alcoholics and habitual criminals would not be where they are today if it were not for sugar. Sugar should be banned as a food and developed into an alternative to petrol for fuelling our cars!

Strong stuff! I think Helen Stephens would approve of this slice. I don’t think she would approve of E’s response to it. He said the slice was not really his thing and then he returned to his stash of chocolate covered sultanas and jelly dinosaurs. The Grim Eater had spoken! But I don’t care. This slice is so good I don’t even want to share it.

Fruit, nut and tahini breakfast slice
From Veggie Meal Plans via Limes & Lycopene
Makes 16 squares

½ cup dried dates, chopped
½ cup water
½ cup tahini
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup soy flour (or other flour)
1 teaspoon mixed spice
⅓ cup mixed nuts, chopped – I used pecans & hazelnuts
⅓ cup raw seeds – I used sunflower seeds
1⅓ cup mixed dried fruit – I used sultanas, apricots and strawberries

Grease and line a 22 x 22cm square cake tin.

Place ½ cup water and diced dates to a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook about 2 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dates are soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed. (Mixture will be thick.) Allow to cool.

While date mixture is cooling, chop nuts and dried fruit as required and place remaining ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. I took my time using scissors to cup up the apricots and strawberries so that the dates were cool enough by the time I had finished. Stir tahini into date mixture. Spoon date and tahini mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well. (NB I thought it would be too dry because the date mixture was so stiff, but by the time everything was mixed it was a nice thick consistency.)

Spoon batter into the prepared cake tin. Press mixture into tin. I found it easiest to use my hands to do this because it kept sticking to the back of the spoon. Bake at 180 C for 15-20 minutes. Cool in the tin. You can cut into squares when warm or cold. It tastes excellent warm!

On the Stereo:
Songs from the South: Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits: Paul Kelly

WCC Colourful Carrot Loaf & Asparagus Sauce

It was an inauspicious start to dinner. My garlic crusher broke. The gas oven flame went out and so the oven wasn’t preheated. Then, as the slice went in the oven, I realised I had forgot to add salt. Never mind, I thought, at least I have green sauce and green salad. Green in the colour of hope and cannot fail to cheer me up!

I have made both Alison Holst’s carrot and mushroom loaf and Anne Marshall’s asparagus sauce before. It is a comfort to know they work but also a frustration as my brain grows soggy with too many recipes. I thought the loaf was another one and got a wee bit confused when it didn’t taste as I expected. I also put a little extra salt in the sauce despite knowing from previous times that asparagus is a delicate flavour and doesn’t need much salt.

Minor hiccups aside, it was a delicious weekend dinner. The slice was a little sweeter for the lack of salt but still had lots of flavour. It is a very moist slice. I baked it in a 22 x 22cm square tin rather than a loaf tin and still found it a little soggy but I think it is the nature of the slice rather like zucchini slice, which was a standard in my childhood (lots of grated zucchini, cheese, eggs and a bit of flour).

Most importantly, the meal had bright cheerful colours when served with a simple salad of baby spinach, snowpea sprouts, nectarines, red capsicum, cucumber and lemon juice. And the second night I didn’t have enough sauce left for the both of us so I served E’s with leftover bottled pasta sauce. I took great delight in the sight of my slice with green sauce beside his with red sauce.

Alison suggests serving it with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables to impress conservative eaters. It seems a bit boring to me but I know there are lots of people who like this sort of thing so maybe it would appeal to them. Give me a colourful salad any day! And because I am not the only one who loves my veggies, I am sending this to Sarah at I Like to Cook who is hosting this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge. The theme in January is Veggin' Out.

Carrot and Mushroom Loaf
(from Alison Holst’s Meals without Meat)
Serves 4

2 tbsp oil or butter (I only used 1)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used basil, thyme and chives)
½ tsp salt
black pepper
3 cups (400g) grated carrot (about 3 medium carrots)
½ cup dry breadcrumbs
½ cup grated cheese
½ cup milk
2 eggs
2tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp grated cheese
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Paprika

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a loaf tin (I used a 22 x 22cm square tin).

Heat oil or butter in large frypan. Fry onion and garlic on low heat until onion soft (about 3 minutes). Add mushrooms and continue to cook until softened (about 5 minutes).

Transfer onion and mushroom mixture to a medium mixing bowl and add herbs, seasoning, carrot, breadcrumbs, cheese, milk and eggs. Mix well. Pour into prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, cheese, seeds and paprika.

Bake for 60 minutes. Alison says to cover with foil after 30 minutes but I didn’t as I like a nice crisp golden brown topping and my oven isn’t very fierce. She also says it is done with it feels firm in the middle but I just looked at the topping!

Asparagus Sauce
(from Anne Marshall’s Complete Vegetarian Cookbook)
Serves 3-4

375g asparagus (or a 340g can asparagus)
½ cup (125ml) vegetable stock
pepper
salt (use sparingly)
2 tbsp yoghurt

If you are using fresh asparagus (I have never used tinned and am not sure it would be as green and lovely, but I guess it is an option) trim and chop asparagus. Steam or microwave til tender. Puree in food processor with stock and seasoning to taste. This is the exciting moment when it looks a brilliant green like the fields of Ireland. Pour into small saucepan and mix in yoghurt. Heat gently over low heat.

On the stereo:
Under the Covers 1: 60s Pop Primer - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs

Challenging Cashew Choc Chip Cookies

Baking gluten free cookies is a challenge I am enjoying embracing. Before Christmas there was a huge list of GF cookie recipes on Ginger Lemon Girl. A few days ago, I finally made a batch of cookies from the list - Ricki’s cashew choc chip cookies which were both gluten free and vegan. When I saw these on Diet, Dessert and Dogs, I was immediately intrigued by the unusual combination of ingredients. Cashews are probably my favourite nuts and I love cashew nut butter, although I don't buy it often.

Having just made an impulse purchase of cashew nut butter, I was pleased to find that I had almost all the ingredients in my kitchen. The only one I lacked was coconut butter which I am yet to embrace. The recipe was fairly easy and appealed because it only made 10 cookies. (My last batch of choc chip cookies made dozens and, over a month later, I am still nibbling my way through the swag of them in my freezer!).

These cookies smelt wonderfully sweet and spicy as they came out of the oven. The texture was so creamy when warm that I thought maybe it was just warm cookie dough. But as they cooled they become more crumb-like inside. Hot or cold they were very crumbly to touch (I think they would have collapsed if I had tried to take them off the tray before they cooled) but they held together well enough when cool – I did wonder if the coconut butter would have made a difference. The cardamom was quite strong and I thought maybe just a pinch next time and perhaps some orange zest might get the taste right for me. Overall I was really pleased with this recipe.

This sort of recipe makes me stop and think how much I have changed in my baking habits. When I was a child making chocolate crackles, grubs, anzac biscuits and honey joys, the idea of such biscuits would have seemed so fanciful. We never even made choc chip cookies. Now I feel I have such weird and wonderful ingredients that recipes like Ricki’s don’t scare me.

Since gluten free food has become an issue for my family last year, I have been determined to cook gluten free food that anyone can make without having to run to the nearest health food store and arm themselves with a box of unpronounceable ingredients that seem more like alien foods in sci fi movies. When I became vegetarian I wanted to prove anyone could (and often did) eat yummy vegetarian food. It was both a challenge and a voyage of wonderful discoveries. Gluten free cooking appeals to me in a similar way. But I am finding that, just as I don’t flinch at cooking with tofu, tempeh, and tahini these days, that gluten free cooking is revealing to me a whole host of exciting new tastes and textures.

So, it seems that one person’s comfort zone is another’s worst nightmare. I think what I am trying to say is that these cookies may seem overwhelmingly foreign in ingredients and taste for some people. It saddens me to think that I can’t please everyone. But fortunately our comfort zones can be a place of change. I love learning just how many different styles, ingredients and tastes are available for my enjoyment in the world of cooking. And I know that I wouldn’t be exposed to so many of them without the wonderful world of blogging. Roll on the next challenge!

Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from Diet Dessert and Dogs)
Makes 8-10

⅔ cup (scant) cashew butter (at room temperature)
1 Tbsp organic coconut butter, melted (I used margarine)
1 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ cup ground flax seeds
⅛ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp baking soda
pinch sea salt
¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, mix the cashew butter, coconut butter, and tahini until smooth. Add the maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. It makes quite a stiff but soft batter.

Place spoonfuls of batter on a greased or lined baking tray. Wet your palms to smooth and slightly flatten each cookie - this is Ricki’s advice – I didn’t do it and found that, once baked, mine looked exactly the shape they were when I dropped them on the baking tray, so next time I will follow her advice. Ricki also says they will spread slightly but mine didn’t.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Allow to cool completely before removing from baking tray. They will be too crumbly and soft to remove when hot but will firm up as they cool.

On the stereo:
Everything Must Go: Manic Street Preachers

Wendy’s Apple Green Tea

It is much much too hot when the mecury hits 41ºC. It burns tender leaves, dries the earth and leads to backyard disasters:

- One poor wee lime tree suffering from the scorching sun in our backyard.

- One beach umbrella propped in the hole in our outdoor table to shade the lime tree.

- One gust of wind blows umbrella, table and chairs across the yard.

That was the scene that greeted me upon returning from a hot day out when the trams were slow, the tram drivers grumpy, and the air-conditioned cafes a godsend!

I found another cooling comfort in the Apple Green Tea which Wendy made in June (during her Scottish summer). I have never been one for making fancy schmancy drinks. The most I usually mix my drinks is to combine juice and soda water! But I got some green tea bags in a Christmas giftpack and came across Wendy’s enticing chilled drink. Simple, refreshing and healthy. The first time I tried it, there was too much lemon for me. The second time I added mint and reduced the lemon. Perfect!

- Perfect to showcase my cool cactus glasses.

- Perfect way to greet E when he came home hot and sweaty from work.

- Perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Chilled Apple Green Tea
(adapted from A Wee Bit of Cooking)

650ml boiling water
2 green tea bags
5-6 mint leaves
350ml apple juice
1 tsp lemon juice
iceblocks to serve

Use scissors to finely cut mint leaves into a medium sized jug. Add tea bags and boiling water to jug. Steep for ten minutes. Remove tea bags. Add apple juice and lemon juice. Place in refridgerator til chilled. (I put mine in at 11 and when I got home at 5ish it was pleasantly chilled.) Serve with a few iceblocks in a glass. If you are feeling creative you could also garnish with apple slices, lemon slices and/or mint leaves.

On the Stereo:
The Best Prog Rock Album in the World … Ever! – Various Artists

GF delights and fairy bites

We had a family bbq on the weekend at my brother Andy’s place and I said I would make a cake because we were celebrating two birthdays (Erica’s and Dean’s) and my parents’ wedding anniversary. My family caters for me at bbqs but I like to contribute and to take the opportunity to try out new things. So I also made a tex-mex salad and some gluten free muffins. I managed to make all these in the morning before we saw my family at lunchtime because the previous day was so hot (37 C) I couldn’t bear to turn on the oven.

Since my 3 year old niece, Grace, was diagnosed as a celiac, I have been trying to find something I could bake for her. But she does not have a sweet tooth. Every gluten free cake or cookie I have made does not interest Grace but is eaten in delight by her sister, Ella. So I decided to try these savoury muffins which I saw Heidi post on 101 Cookbooks. Heidi got it from the wonderful Rose Elliot, and inspired Kalyn, while Pille had another version. So it seems that this is a popular recipe of the moment.

I did a plain version of these, having seen too many kids turn up their nose at some funny taste or bits. Heidi added ¼ cup each of sundried tomatoes and fresh basil which I would like to try another time. She also suggests enticing alternatives such as pesto, olives, potatoes and rosemary. I also did them in mini-muffin tins because small is attractive to kids (and minimises waste). As I filled the first pan I wondered at no oil and double-checked the recipe only to find I had not put in the water. I put the water and a tsp of oil for the second pan of muffins and, frankly, there wasn’t much difference.

Heidi warns that these aren’t like normal muffins but are more like a quiche or “souffle's heartier, denser, more portable cousin”. When hot they were a bit quiche-like for me but cold they took on a denser texture. You wont often hear me say this but I thought these were better cold than fresh out of the oven. Having said that, I really liked them and so did my family.

Grace screwed up her nose as usual but, surprisingly, came around to trying the muffins. Finally she began to take tiny fairy-sized bites. She is a wee fairy, and with her sisters (Maddy and Ella), cast many spells with her paper fairy wand and even used the fairy mobile phone to ring Elf the Cake Baker. I even heard that after I left she had another muffin!

The chocolate cake was easy and delicious. I just melted and mixed the ingredients and this was out of the oven by 8.30am. No separating eggs and beating egg whites was required. The recipe made a small flat cake which looked a little stingy for a big family group. But it was so rich that small slices were adequate. It was a little undercooked in the middle when I took it out but I didn’t worry as I quite like a gooey chocolatey centre. Everyone loved this cake – even the kids! It is the sort of cake that would go well with a dollop of cream and a swirl of raspberry coulis.

The salad is one I had made before – I wasn’t quite sure I had the dressing exactly right but it is one that is substantial enough to not need much accompaniment. It is from an Australian food magazine but I’m not sure which one. We served it with the corn chips crumbled on top which was interesting texture but had to be done just before serving – when left sitting for a bit the chips went soggy and were much less appetising. On the way home, I was pleased that Ewan said he liked the salad because that was dinner as well - accompanied by vegetarian sausages.

Tex Mex Salad
(serves 6-8 says the recipe, I would say it serves a crowd!)

400g tin of corn kernels, drained
200-300g tin of kidney beans, drained
3 tomatoes diced (about 3 cups)
1 cup green spring onions (about 2-3), finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley or coriander, chopped
2-3 outer leaves of iceberg lettuce, finely sliced
1 avocado, chopped (optional)
100-150g plain corn chips, to serve*

Dressing:
juice of two limes
1 green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 garlic clove, crushed
¾ cup olive oil (I didn’t use)
seasoning (I used ½ tsp salt and pepper mixture)

* If you want salad to be gluten free, make sure the corn chips are gluten free – most plain ones are because they are just corn, salt and oil. I used low-salt ones which was fine.

Place salad vegetables in large salad bowl. Make salad dressing by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl. Add to salad and toss to coat with dressing. This can be prepared hours beforehand (but you should wait til serving before adding avocado). When ready to serve crumble corn chips over salad.

Cheesy almond muffins
(Adapted from Rose Elliot’s Supercook as featured in 101 Cookbooks)
Makes 20-24 mini muffins

1 cup plain cottage cheese
½ cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
¼ cup soy flour*
1 cup (100g) ground almonds**
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water (optional)
Extra grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling (approx ¼ cup)

* Heidi suggests using plain white wheat flour, or you could use a gluten free flour mix
**for nut free version, try substituting ½ cup flax seed meal and ½ cup ground pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 200 C degrees. If not using silicone mini-muffin moulds, line muffin pan(s) with paper liners. I find the silicone moulds don’t even need greasing.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Then spoon the mixture into muffin pans (each muffin cup should be about ¾ full). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes (or 30-35 minutes if you use regular muffin pans) until golden brown. Leave 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack. Serve warm for eggy quiche taste and cold if you like it less eggy!

One Bowl Flourless Chocolate Cake
(From Chris Silker at http://www.celiac.com/)

125g (4 ounces) dark chocolate,chopped (I used Lindt 70%)
125g (½ cup) butter or margarine
¾ cup castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (I used dutch cocoa)

Preheat oven to 190 C. Grease and line an 18 or 20 cm round cake tin.

Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and melt in the microwave (should be no more than 1 ½ minutes – less if the weather is so hot that the chocolate is already starting to melt). Give a good stir after a minute in the microwave as it will continue melting after coming out of microwave – if needed return for another 15-30 seconds.Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs and mix well. Sift cocoa onto mix and stir until just mixed.

Spoon into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. When I put a skewer in the middle of the cake after 25 minutes, it was not quite clean, but I took the cake out anyway. This sort of cake is even more delicious if it is a little gooey in the middle (actually you could probably just eat the mixture without baking because it tastes so good). Sit in pan 5 minutes and turn onto a wire rack to cool.

On the stereo:
The Best of: The Pogues

Mole and the global village

I was pleased to see there is a chili cook-off at running with tweezers. It seems like a great idea to gather up a list of chili recipes. But it got me wondering about that question, what’s in a name (would a rose smell as sweet etc etc).

When I was growing up we called it chilli con carne but since I have become a vegetarian, this always seems an inappropriate name. Recently I came across the perfect alternative, chilli non carne (which I have made with both bulgar and apricots). But I have noticed that in the USA it is often called chilli.

I learnt about these cultural differences the hard way on a visit to New York. We were grabbing a quick meal in Manhattan before we headed to the airport to fly home. I ordered nachos with chilli, guacamole and sour cream. When it arrived I was shocked to discover it was full of minced meat. A lot of nachos in Melbourne come with a plain vegetarian tomato chilli sauce and this was what I expected. I knew that the airport would be full of queues for greasy unappetising food (and don’t get me started on airplane food!) So I apologised for my lack of understanding and ask for a vegetarian version.

Hence, my wincing every time I see ‘chili’ used to describe what I call a chilli con carne. It just seems foreign. Which made me think about all the global differences that I come across in the world of recipes. So many different terminologies. Aubergine or eggplant, pepper or capsicum, spring onions or scallions, silverbeet or chard? It took me a while to realise that what is ‘broiling’ in the USA is ‘grilling’ in Australia. And I don’t have accurate enough scales to cope with the UK’s metric measurements rather than cup measurements. It is a great achievement that the international (English-speaking) food blogging community gets along so well, despite all the differences.

All this musing is partly my explanation for why I am so inept at Mexican cooking and terminology. I am still a bit confused about the difference between a chilli non carne and a mole – is the latter a subset of the former or are they seen as totally different? I made an excellent pumpkin and silverbeet mole from Denis Cotter recently and was eager to try more. I found an interesting one in Isa Chandra-Moskowitz’s Vegan with a Vengeance, called Chili sin Carne al Mole. Maybe that answers my question about terminology.

But the recipe has been one of the catalysts for me to think about cultural differences. It calls for pinto beans. I couldn’t see them on the supermarket shelves. But when I checked Wikipedia I found that pinto beans are ‘the most common bean in the United States and northwestern Mexico’. It seemed a bit silly for me to be traipsing around Melbourne in search of this mottled bean when anyone in the States can pick it up anywhere, so I decided to stick with our common kidney bean (and then when I found I only had one tin I decided to use the borlotti beans too).

The chilli non carne was excellent despite regional and taste differences. I am not as brave as Isa. I used less chilli powder (she used 2 tablespoons as well as a jalapeno chilli!), less molasses and less olive oil. I was opportunistic and put in bay leaves that were dying on my bay plant due to the recent heatwave, and a pinch of cardamom leftover when I ground some for cookies. I don’t like satan (oops, I mean seitan!) so I substituted tempeh.

Isa’s partner in cooking warns that ‘the consistency is more like a very chunky, thick soup than your usual stew-like chili’. Indeed at the end it did look like a intensely dark meaty soup, more like what I ate as a child than what I usually eat. I found it a bit weird that isn’t full of vegetables that I would normally add. I served it with Dench Bakery’s dense olive and rosemary bread, grated cheese, yoghurt and a simple salad that had elements of the salsa I originally intended to make (tomatoes, cucumber, grated carrot, lime zest, lime juice, salt and chilli flakes). The chilli non carne was spicy and strongly flavoured. Alone it would have been too intense, but with the salad and yoghurt mixed through, it was fantastic. A keeper!

Isa’s Chili sin Carne al Mole
(adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance)
serves 6-8

¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium red chilli, finely chopped
300g tempeh, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cumin
Pinch of ground cardamom (optional)
2 x 400g tins of diced tomatoes
½ tsp chilli paste
3 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp molasses
2 x 400g tins of pinto beans (I used mix of kidney beans and borlotti beans)
2 cups vegetable stock (or less)
3 bay leaves (optional)

Heat oil in large saucepan. Fry onion and chilli for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add tempeh, red capsicum and garlic and cook 8-10 minutes over medium heat until onions are soft, stirring regularly. Add cinnamon, cumin and cardamom and cook another minute, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Isa recommends that you let it stand at least 20 minutes before serving (overnight is better apparently). Remove bay leaves before serving.

On the stereo:
The best of Emerson, Lake and Palmer: ELP

My Cookbook List

I love looking at others' cookbooks so I thought you might like a look at mine. If you want to know more, you might like to read my reflections on cookbooks and also more information on some of my favourite cookbooks.

Please consider this list a work in progress.

Australian Vegetarian

n/a (1989) Food of the Earth: a cookbook from the friends of the earth food campaign, Friends of The Earth, Australia, pp 1-87

n/a (2004) Vegie food: from vegies on the side to the main event, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-399

Anne Marshall (1993) The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, Lansdowne, Australia, pp 1-304

Anne Wilson (1998) Fast Vegetarian, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Australian Women's Weekly (1998) Almost Vegetarian, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-128

Australian Women's Weekly (1990) Vegetarian Cooking, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-128

Australian Women's Weekly (2002) Vegetarian stirfries (make it tonight), ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Home Style Library (1996) Vegetarian cooking with flair, JB Fairfax Press, Australia, pp 1-96

Kurma Dasa (1998) Cooking with Kurma: More Great Vegetarian Dishes, Chakra Press, Australia, pp 1-243

Sanitarium (2003) Healthy Fast Food: Creative Vegetarian Cooking, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Simon & Alison Holst (1990) Meals without Meat: Vegetarian Recipes, CJ Publishing, Australia, pp 1-120

Sue East (1988) The Carob Tree: a collection of deliciously easy vegetarian recipes, n/a, Australia, pp 1-128

Vicki Jackson & Antoinette Waters (c 1995) Squirrels Best of One and Two Vegetarian Cookbooks, Diana Mitchell, Australia, pp 1-199

Vikki Leng (1994) Vegetarian Feasts: over 750 simple and delicious recipes for everyday meals and special occasions, Angus & Robertson, Australia, pp 1-352


British Vegetarian

BBC Good Food Magazine (2004) 101 Veggie Dishes: tried and tested recipes, BBC Worldwide, UK, pp 1-210

Henderson's (2002) Henderson's Whoefood Cookbook: revealed at last - secrets of Edinburgh's celebrated Salad Table Restaurant, Northern Books, UK, pp 1-80

Joanne Farrow (2000) 30 minutes Vegetarian, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-125

Judy Ridgeway (1996) The quick after-work winter vegetarian cookbook, Judy Piatkus, UK, pp 1-154

Marguerite Patten (1968) Meals without Meat: 500 recipes, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-94

Marguerite Patten (1978) Vegetarian Cooking for You: new and imaginative recipes for meals without meat, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-96

Paul Southey (1984) Gourmet Cooking with Meat: The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, Marshall Cavendish Books, UK, pp 1-224

Richard Cawley (c 1988) Green Feasts: memorable meat-free meals, Conran Octopus, UK, pp 1-127

Rose Elliot (1986) The new vegetarian cookbook, Guild Publishing, UK, pp 1-144

Rose Elliot (1996) Vegetarian Cookery: major new edition with over 300 inspired recipes, HarperCollins, UK, pp 1-352

Sarah Brown (1984) Vegetarian Cookbook, Dorling Kindersley, UK, pp 1-240

Sarah Brown (1988) Vegetarian Cookery, Dorling Kindersley, UK, pp 1-144

Sonya Richmond (1965) International Vegetarian Cookery, Collins, UK, pp 1-192

Susie Ward (1991) The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, Tiger Books International, UK, pp 1-224

Ted Smart (1991) The book of vegetarian cooking, Salamander Books, UK, pp 1-96


American Vegetarian

Bloodroot Collective (1993) The Perennial Political: 3rd feminist vegetarian cookbook, Sanguinaria Publishing, USA, pp 1-254

Carol Geddes (1997) Something for everyone: 150 main dish recipes for families that include vegetarians and meat eaters, Macmillan, USA, pp 1-267

Catherine Geier with Carol Brown (2005) Café Flora, HP Books, USA, pp 1-257

Joyce McKinnell (1968) Vegetarian Gourmet Cookbook: Nature's WAy to Good Health, Wilshire Book Company, USA, pp 1-199

Mollie Katzen (1982) Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Ten Speed Press, USA, pp 1-307

Mollie Katzen (1992) New Moosewood Cookbook, Ten Speed Press, USA, pp 1-237

Mollie Katzen (1988) Still Life with Menu cookbook: 50 new meatless menus with original art by the author of moosewood cookbook and the enchanted broccoli forest, Ten Speed Press, USA, pp 1-350

Moosewood Collective (1987) New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant (new edition), Ten Speed Press, USA, pp 1-302


Vegan

Amanda Sweet (1987) The Vegan Health Plan: a practical guide to healthy living, Arlington Books, UK, pp 1-302

Isa Chandra Moskowitz (2005) Vegan with a Vengeance: over 150 delicious cheap animal-free recipes that rock, Marlowe & Company, USA, pp 1-258

Leah Leneman (1992) The Tofu Cookbook, Thorsons, UK, pp 1-127

Leah Leneman (1989) The Single Vegan, Thorsons, UK, pp 1-127


Health conscious

Australian Women's Weekly (2005) Detox: four detox plans + more than 100 delicious fresh recipes, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-120

Australian Women's Weekly (1999) Vegetarian (Healthy Eating), ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-64
Australian Women's Weekly (c 2005) Vegie food: low fat and delicious: lose weight and feel fantastic, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-120

Jennie Brand-Miller, Kaye Foster-Powell & Kate Marsh with Philippa Sandall (2006) The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook: 80 delicious recipes for vegetarians and vegans, Hodder Australia, Australia, pp 1-185

Julie Stafford (2000) Vegetarian Cookbook: easy vegetarian cooking, low in fat, full in favour, Penguin Books, Australia, pp 1-163

Linda Haynes (1999) The Vegetarian Lunchbasket: over 225 easy lowfat nutricious recipes for the quality-conscious family on the go, New World Library, USA, pp 1-205

Nadine Abenseur (1999) Cranks Light: 100 recipes for vitality and health, Seven Dials, UK, pp 1-160

Weightwatchers (c 2004) Pure Taste 2003: 150 delicious recipes, Text Pacific Publishing, Australia, pp 1-146

Weightwatchers (2001) Simply Vegetarian: over 50 vegetarian diet savers that you'll love, Pacific Client Publishing, Australia, pp 1-81


Allergy Sensitive

Barbara Cousins (2000) Vegetarian Cooking Without: Recipes free from added gluten, sugar, yeast, dairy products, meat, fish, saturated fat, Thorsons, UK, pp 1-220

Helen Stephens (1986) That Australian Family Vegetarian Cookbook: Quick-and-Easy, Kid-Tempting, Sugarless and Eggless Wholefood Vegetarian Meals with Plenty of Non-Dairy, Non-Wheaten Recipes, Hyland House, Australian, pp 1-130

Louise Blair (2007) Great Gluten Free Baking: over 80 delicious cakes and bakes, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-144

Ricki Heller (2009) Sweet Freedom: Desserts you'll love without wheat, eggs, dairy or refined sugar, Trafford Publishing, Canada, pp 1-168


Baking and sweet foods

n/a (2004) The essential dessert cookbook, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-304

Australian Women's Weekly (c 1989) Cakes & Slices Cookbook, ACP Books, UK, pp 1-128

Australian Women's Weekly (1988) Children's Birthday Cake Book, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-128

Australian Women's Weekly (1996) Muffins, Scones & Breads, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-128

Australian Women's Weekly (2007) Old Fashioned Favourites: desserts, cakes, biscuits, slices, ACP Books, Australia, pp 1-118

Caroline Jeremy (2003) Green & Black's Chocoloate Recipes: from the cacao pod to muffins, mousses & moles, Kyle Cathie Ltd, UK, pp 1-192

Christine Ingram & Jennie Shapter (2003) The complete book of bread & bread machines, Hermes House, UK, pp 1-512

Christopher & Jill Conil (1986) The Wholegrain Oven, W Foulsham & Co, UK, pp 1-126

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (2007) The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cook's Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets, Fair Winds Press, USA, pp 1-288

Diana Linfoot (1992) More muffin magic: new creative & healthy recipes, n/a, Australia, pp 1-67

Family Circle (2000) The new muffin cookbook, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Gail Wagman (2006) Cupcakes Galore, MQ Publications, USA, pp 1-192

Gwen Steege (1988) The search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, Random House, USA, pp 1-140

Konneman (1991) Muffins, Scones & Teacakes (confident cooking), Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Marcel Desaulniers (1992) Death by Chocolate: the last word on a consuming passion, Beaut Books, Australia, USA, pp 1-143

Nigella Lawson (2000) How to be a Domestic Goddess, Chatto & Windus, UK, pp 1-374


Vegetarian Themes

n/a (2003) Juices & Smoothies: over 200 delicious drinks for health & vitality, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-128

Emanuela Stucchi (1996) Italian Vegetarian Cookery, Pavillion Books, UK, pp 1-160

Family Circle (2000) Asian Vegetarian, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Janice Cook Migliaccio (1983) Follow Your Heart's Vegetarian soup cookbook, Woodbridge Press, USA, pp 1-127

Kay Canter & Daphne Swann (1985) Entertaining with Cranks, JM Dent & Sons, UK, pp 1-160

Nava Atlas (2006) Vegetarian Soups for all seasons, bountiful vegan soups and stews for every time of year, Amberwood Press, USA, pp 1-168

Rose Elliot (2000) Vegetarian Christmas, Thorsons, UK, pp 1-184

Rose Elliot (1999) Vegetarian Pasta: 150 mouthwatering dishes from the expert, HarperCollins, UK, pp 1-144

Rose Elliot (1989) The Zodiac Cookbook: fabulous recipes for every star sign, Hamlyn, UK, pp 1-144

Sonia Allison & Victoria Lloyd-Davies (1992) Vegetarian Cooking in the Microwave: over 200 vegetarian dishes for your microwave, HarperCollins, UK, pp 1-192

Susan Geiskopf-Hadler (2005) The Complete Vegetarian Barbecue Book: over 150 delicious recipes plus tips and techniques, Apple Press, UK, pp 1-224


Omnivore

n/a (c 1950s?) Australian Cookery of Today Illustrated, Australia, pp 1-512

n/a (c1940?) Green and Gold Cookery Book: Containing many good and proved recipes (9th edition), RM Osborne Ltd, Australia, pp 1-231

Australian Women's Weekly (1980s?) Best Ever Recipes, ACP, Australia, pp 1
-128
AustralianFamily Circle (1999) Dips & Dippers, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Family Circle (1994) Sensational Vegetable Recipes, Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-111

John Hinde (2005) The Little Book of Potatoes, John Hinde Ltd, Ireland, pp 1-45

Konneman (1989) Exciting new ways with vegetables (confident cooking), Murdoch Books, Australia, pp 1-64

Madhur Jaffrey (1987) A Taste of India, Pan Books, UK, pp 1-211

Marguerite Patten and Betty Dunleavy (1968) Entertaining at Home, Hamlyn, London/Sydney, 1-544

Nigellla Lawson (1998) How to Eat, Chatto & Windus, UK, pp 1-526

Peter Russell-Clarke (c 1989) Family Cookbook: 100 delicious recipes, Kraft, Australia, pp 1-64


Food for Thought

Colin Spencer (2006) The Vegetable Book: a detailed guide to identifying, using and cooking over 100 vegetables, Octopus Publishing, UK, pp 1-336

Denis Cotter (2007) Wild Garlic, Gooseberries… and Me: a chef’s stories and recipes from the land, HarperCollins, Ireland, pp 1-319

Jane Grigson (1983) Fruit Book, Penguin Books, UK, pp 1-508

Mark Crick (2006) Kafka's Soup: a complete history of world literature, Wakefield Press, Australia, pp 1-92

Nigel Slater (2005) the kitchen diaries, The Fourth Estate, UK, pp 1- 395

Vic Sussman (1978) The Vegetarian Alternative: A guide to a healthful and humane diet, Rodale Press, USA, pp 1-286

William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi (1982) The Book of Tofu: food for mankind, Ballantine Books, USA, pp 1-618

William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi (1979) The Book of Miso: food for mankind, Ballantine Books, USA, pp 1-433

PPN#45 Creamy Vodka Pasta Sauce

I have never liked cream much. When I was little everyone in the family had cream on desserts except me. I have been in restaurants where I have asked them to return my cake to the kitchen after drowning it in cream (only because I initially asked for no cream). And I have never liked the idea of creamy pasta sauces.

The problem is that occasionally there is a recipe (such as my recent condensed milk fudge sauce) that has to have cream. So I buy a tub of cream and hope the E will find something to eat it on. Sometimes he doesn’t and I have cream that needs to be used against all inclinations.

With half a tub of cream in mind, I was pleased to find a recipe on Sweetnicks blog while surfing the net. The vodka in the recipe interested me enough to want to try it. I have used vodka in pasta sauce before earlier last year to great effect.

It was quick to make. But this sort of recipe makes me a little flustered when I feel it has to be served straight away, so I took time preparing ingredients and also got a little flummoxed with timing the pasta and the sauce. But the results were excellent. It reminds me why we love the word creamy! It is comforting and very tasty.

I liked this recipe because it is forgiving of my modifications. The original recipe had a lot more butter and served 4, but my lackadaisical fiddling with measurements worked well. I did wonder how much different it would be to caramelise the onions in a lot of butter as in the original recipe. But I have to buy spring onions in a bunch and I need opportunities to use them up. I think they probably made the sauce a bit lighter which is fine in summer. I couldn’t really taste the chillis so would add a little more than the half a mild chilli next time.

I served it with a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, sprouts and lemon juice. We also had some of Wendy’s Apple Green Tea which was a bit lemony but was a nice refreshing summer drink. Both the pasta sauce and the drink are on my list of recipes to repeat! The sauce is being sent to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Nights.

Creamy Vodka Pasta Sauce
(adapted from John Zaccaro Jr.'s Penne with Vodka Sauce)
Serves 2

1 tsp butter
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 cup vodka (I used raspberry vodka)
½ - 1 green chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
1 tablespoons tomato paste
100ml cream
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in medium frypan. Add spring onions and fry for 1 minute over medium low heat. Add vodka and chilli and simmer for a further 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Turn heat to low and add remaining cream, cheese and parsley. Stir well and heat thoroughly. NB this is not a sauce that thickens! Add to pasta and toss through. (I used fettuccine, Sweetnicks used 1 pound of penne for four people.)

On the Stereo:
Twenty Jazz Funk Greats: Throbbing Gristle

WHB Vegetable Stories and Potato Salad Glory

I had this recipe in my head because it seemed a good way to use up what was in the fridge on a hot night in summer. This seems a case of osmosis where I have read and followed so many interesting potato salad recipes that I can now do my own experiments. I made it with my (most probably misguided) idea of Eastern European cuisine. It wasn’t the prettiest of meals but it tasted fantastic.

The dressing was one of the best I have made – creamy, a little sour and it had the pleasing but subtle bitterness of hot mustard. The potatoes went more orange than pink when I boiled them in the company of beetroots and carrots. The vegetables were sweet, the pickles were sour, the capers bitter, the seeds had crunch and the dressing finished it off perfectly. I also served up some tomato and cucumber tossed in a little balsamic vinegar and bread.

When we sat down to dinner with salads and bread, E was the Grim Eater and asked, ‘is that all?’ He is an old fashioned boy who thinks salad is something on the side of the plate. But this was the main event. He was pleasantly surprised. Although he disproved of Brown’s dense dark rye bread which he said needed to be cut with a chainsaw. I couldn’t disagree it was a task to slice it but loved its sourness and the caramel of the rye which complemented the salad.

That’s the food. Now here is the challenge I set myself. I have four wonderful books in my house at present that focus on vegetables – not just the recipes but their stories. You can tell by the titles that these are authors who like to write. Lately I have been fascinated by the histories and anecdotes about vegetables. I confess that these interest me more than the gardening and nutritional information but I am slowly learning. Here are the books (from my bookshelf and the library) and below is a list of the vegetables and something interesting about each:

-- Denis Cotter (2007) Wild Garlic, Gooseberries… and Me: a chef’s stories and recipes from the land, Ireland
-- Colin Spencer (1995, reprinted 2006) The Vegetable Book: a detailed guide to identifying, using and cooking over 100 vegetables, UK
-- Farmer John Peterson and Angel Organics (2006) Farmer John’s Vegetable Cookbook: the Real Dirt on Vegetables: Seasonal Recipes and Stories from a Community Supported Farm, USA
-- Andrea Cheeseman, (2005) The Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook – Harvest of Home-grown Vegetables, USA

Potatoes – Farmer John quotes Rudolph Steiner as saying that it is no coincidence that the rise in world-wide materialism correlates with the increase in consumption of the potato. What does he mean? Is it solely about potatoes leaving the New World to colonise the Western world? Does this have anything to do with the rise in the use of potatoes for chips and crisps which Cotter calls the potato’s ‘packaged offspring’? Or is it the startling revelation from Spencer that our friend Mr Potato Head is actually one of the notorious nightshade family? I’ll leave the answer up to you!

Beetroots – Cheeseman notes that throughout history the leaves of the beet have been more prized than the root. She talks about the Greeks offering beet greens to the god Apollo on a silver platter at the temple of Delphi and the stored beet roots feeding the families of northern and eastern Europe during long freezing winters. Russian healers claimed that beets could cure tuberculosis, scurvy and toothache while some Russian women used beet pigment to rouge their cheeks and keep away mosquitos. In more recent times, Cotter comments, ironically beetroot has been preserved to bring ‘a ray of summer sunshine to the winter table’ but in his childhood (and mine) pickled beetroots were eaten in summer with salad.

Carrots – Cheeseman tells the lovely story about how carrots originally came in many different colours – purple, black, white, yellow, green, red. Then the Dutch crossbred orange and red carrots to make orange carrots because they were ruled by the House of Orange. These became all the rage. Farmer John has some lovely esoteric notes including the one about the policeman refusing the offer of a carrot because ‘I can’t take a carrot while I’m on duty’. Which begs the question: is a carrot a bribe or an offensive weapon or something else?

Green Peas – Spencer talks about early sightings of peas – in a tomb in Thebes in Ancient Egypt, in a Greek play written in the Fifth Century BC, and at the French court of Louis XIV in 1695. But Cheeseman had the best story about peas in Norse legends. Apparently they said that peas were sent to earth by Thor in the talons of dragons to fill up the water wells of unworthy humans. Fortunately some of the not-so-nice peas escaped to flourish into the nourishing plants that we know and love today. The Norsemen dedicated their plant to Thor and vowed to only eat peas on Thor’s Day (Thursday). My mother thought one day of the week was not enough and I ate them much more in my childhood.

Spring Onions – This vegetable gets the least coverage in my vegetable books, because its big sister gets all the attention and no one knows quite what to call this slim young’un. Spencer is illuminating. He explains that these are merely young onions which are harvested before the green shoots die off. They are also known as scallions, named after the ancient Palestine port of Ascalon (which incidentally is near that modern Israeli city Ashkelon which I visited occasionally when I lived on kibbutz). The onion family is an old one that has featured in the bible, the pyramid carvings and Mesopotamia. But while it was loved by many, there were those who avoid onions. Some Egyptians believed they incited lust, the Roman gourmet, Apicius (AD230) probably associated them with diets of the poor, and in India the Brahmins were thought to avoid onions, possibly because they were allied with the cooking of meat.

I will finish with a quote from Colin Spencer’s book which I bought this week and am loving. His words could apply to all food and go some way to articulating why I enjoy the world of food blogging so much:

‘Every vegetable has a history. … All have a tale to tell; all have incidents in their lives which reflect on humankind, on what we thought and felt, exposing our vanity and aspirations, our most intimate personal habits and beliefs, as revealing as any archaeological remains.’

Fascinating stuff! I am sending this post to Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen who is hosting the first Weekend Herb Blogging event of the year, and I hope her readers will enjoy some of these tales.

Eastern European Potato Salad
(made with inspiration from the Moosewood Cookbook)
Serves 2 as a main meal

3 medium Potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium Beetroot, peeled and diced
1 medium Carrot peeled and diced
1 cup frozen Peas
1 Spring Onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp Capers
1 large Dill Cucumber Pickle, diced
1 tbsp Sunflower Seeds, toasted
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds, toasted
½ packed cup Parsley, chopped

Dressing:
100ml Yoghurt
2 (generous) tsp Mayonnaise
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
½ tsp dried Dill (or use fresh if you have it)
¼ tsp Mustard Powder
1 small Garlic Clove, finely chopped
Pinch Salt
Generous grind of Black Pepper

Place potatoes, beetroot and carrot in medium-large saucepan with 1-2 cups of water. Cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes til soft. Add peas to saucepan a couple of minutes before they are finished (or if you forget just add when finished, and they will cook enough in the heat of the vegetables.) Drain and place in a large salad bowl. Add spring onion, capers and pickle. Add most of the parsley and seeds but reserve some for garnish.

To prepare dressing, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Toss through salad ingredients and garnish with reserved parsley and seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature with pumpernickel or dark rye bread.

On the Stereo:
Journey into Light: various artists

Summer salsa and quesadillas

I can never have too much green – unless I am cutting up green chillis! Not too much chilli for me, please. I don't want the burn to override every other flavour and I even dislike chopping them after one too many occasions when I have rubbed my eyes with chilli fingers. But occasionally it seems worthwhile. This week I was pleasantly surprised when I made a peach and pineapple salsa. The sweet fruit and spicy chilli were perfect partners. Plus, the salsa looked and tasted like summer.

I served the salsa with Mushroom and Cheese Quesadillas, and vibrant red salad. The first two recipes were adapted from the Complete Vegetarian Barbecue Book by Susan Geiskopf-Hadler. Unfortunately, I don’t have a barbecue. I know a few carnivores who think vegetarians have no need for a barbecue but as Jeanne showed with her Waiter There's Something in My Meatless BBQ list, there are so many good vego recipes for the bbq. (But I don’t know if I could invite the family around for a vegetarian bbq.) I did wonder if my quesadilla experience might have been easier if I could just toss them on the bbq. Maybe one day...

I loved the mushroom quesadillas. They were absolutely delicious but making them was a bit of a headache. However, they gave me an opportunity to use the new ridged pan that I got for Christmas from my sister, Susie. I used corn tortillas that I found in the supermarket and they were recalcitrant wee beasts – they kept curling up when I placed quesadillas on the frypan before I flipped them, they cracked when I tried to fold them in half and they were hard to flip over. I can’t blame it all on the corn tortillas – flour tortillas might have acted the same – and usually I do quesadillas under the grill. More relationship building is needed between me and my new pan – and it will happen!

The other recipe was inspired by another Christmas present – Henderson’s Wholefood Cookbook – from Helena, my sister in law in Scotland. The subtitle is ‘revealed at last – secrets of Edinburgh’s celebrated Salad Table Restaurant’. It is a great wee book. When I lived in Edinburgh I loved the wholesome yumminess of Hendersons vegetarian café, takeaway and restaurant, so it is exciting to have their cookbook. They have a recipe for Beetroot and Mustard Dressing that gave some inspiration for my third salad.

Finally, it was not only a delicious meal, that even got the thumbs up from E (a.k.a. the Grim Eater!) despite some discussion on what is a salsa. (According to Wikipedia, salsa is Italian or Spanish for sauce and usually refers to a Mexican spicy sauce, which can be also used as a dip. But I think this salsa is more like a salad. Hmmm!) It also made for great leftovers. The quesadillas were great cold for lunch with some salad the next day, and I think the mushrooms tasted even better for sitting overnight. We also finished off the salads for dinner the following night with some pasta and tomato pasta sauce, grated cheese, and a simple salad of tomato, cucumber, red capsicum, lemon juice and basil. So many fresh easy salads - I felt like I was at Hendersons helping myself from their salad bar!

Mushroom and Cheese Burritos
(adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Barbecue Book)
Serves 3 (with salad for a main meal)

1 medium onion, sliced
¼ tsp salt
½ cup (125ml) vegetable stock
225g button mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 medium chilli, seeded and finely chopped (I used ½ tsp mild paprika)
1 tbsp dry sherry (I used medium dry)
¾ cup parsley, chopped
6 medium corn tortillas
1 cup grated cheese (I used mix of tilba vintage and parmesan)

Place onion and salt in large frypan with a little of the stock and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms, chilli (or paprika), cumin and remaining stock. Stir and then place lid on frypan. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. (I checked midway through and found it took me a little less than 10 minutes). If there is any liquid left, the recipe says to cook til dry. Remove from heat and stir in sherry and parsley.

Heat barbecue or frypan to medium high (I did mine on high). Now this is where I diverged from the recipe. Presumably on the barbecue there is lots of room to put all the tortillas out but I had to do mine a few at a time, which was not good for my patience.

Before putting on barbecue/frypan, put a little cheese, some mushrooms and then a little more cheese. (If, like me, you don’t read the recipe, a layer of cheese and a layer of mushroom will work anyway). Fold tortilla in half and place on bbq for about 8 minutes, turning once during that period. Again it didn’t work for me – I timed it and it took about 8 minutes on one side (on high heat) and 5 minutes after I flipped it (maybe a bit too long – they were quite crunchy). I also had problems with tortillas curling up at the edges and at one stage put a glass jar on them to hold them down. And I had problems flipping them too because I didn’t fold over some quesadillas, but did as circles which were too big to flip. Yes, I have much to learn. But they tasted so good, I will be doing it again - maybe it will get easier. Serve with salsa and salad (see below)

Peach and Pineapple Salsa
(adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Barbecue Book)
Serves 4

2 peaches*, diced
¼ fresh pineapple**, skinned and diced
½ green capsicum, diced
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 largish green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp red wine vinegar
small handful of basil, chopped

*The recipe says to peel the peach but I couldn't bear to mutilate such lovely nutritious skin.
**I think you could probably use drained tinned unsweetened pineapple if you don’t have fresh.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Leave at room temperature for an hour before serving to allow flavours to blend. This can be made the day before and kept in the fridge.

Beet red salad
Serves 4

1 beetroot, peeled and grated
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tomato, quartered and thinly sliced
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
Seasoning, to taste

Place vegetables in a salad bowl. Whisk together the vinegar, olive oil and mustard. Pour dressing in with the vegetables and toss to mix well. Season as required. Can be made the previous night and kept in the fridge.

On the stereo:
Shamal: Gong

Blog Index and Notes

To help navigate my blog, I have created an index by category, which is regularly updated. All recipes are vegetarian. See the end of the list for Notes. You can also find more information about the ingredients at Kitchen Notes, Ingredients and Substitutions or go to Index by Ingredients (which is less complete than this index) to search in an alternative way.

Categories:
Starters/Light Meals, Vegetables on the Side, Dips, Soups, Salads, Pasta/Noodles/Risotto, Oven Bakes, Nutroasts/Loaves/Burgers, Pastry/Pies/Tarts, Stews/Stovetop, Chilli Non Carnes/Tacos, Curries, Desserts, Baking with Yeast, Savoury Baking without Yeast, Sweet Baking: Cakes/Brownies, Muffins/Little Cakes, Slices, Biscuits/Cookies, Other Sweet Treats, Novelty Birthday Cakes, Sauces/Condiments, Drinks, Breakfasts, Eating Out - Melbourne City, Eating Out - Melbourne's Suburbs, Eating Out - Outside Melbourne, Markets and other Outings, Reflections

Starters/Light Meals
Antipasto Polenta (gf)
Carrot and potato fritters
Corn pancakes and salsa
Falafel wrap with beetroot and kale
Fantastic Falafels (v)
Gyoza with mushrooms and lime leaves (v)
Liz O'Brien's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
Mock Fish (gf, v)
Mushroom and cheese quesadillas (gf)
Polenta Quinoa Sticks with Rhubarb Sauce (gf, v)
Pudla (chickpea pancakes) with green peas (gf, v)
Rice Paper Rolls (gf, v)
Salad Sandwich (with cheese)
Salad Sandwich (vegan)
Sephardic spinach filo cigars
Soy bombs (v)
Stuffed Pears (gf)
Tatties and Neeps Rosti (gf, v)
Tomatoes stuffed with Guacamole (gf, v)
Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
Welsh Rarebit with Leeks

Vegetables on the Side
Broccoli with brie and breadcrumbs
Brussels sprouts with Cointreau (gf, v)
Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower Rice (gf, v)
Dukkah roasted eggplant and beetroot (gf, v)
Grilled miso asparagus (gf, v)
Mashed Potato with Olives (gf)
Mashed Vegetables with Promite (gf, v)
Mixed Asian Mushrooms with Dashi (gf, v)
Neeps and tatties latkes (v)
Orange Veggies (gf, v)
Potato gratin with nutmeg and cloves (gf)
Potato parsley stars (gf, v)
Roast Potato and Pumpkin (gf, v)
Rumbledethumps (gf, v)
Rumi Carrots with Dukkah and Tahini (gf, v)
Sicilian Drowned Broccoli (gf)
Silverbeet Gratin
Silverbeet with Tahini (gf, v)
Tangy Silverbeet (gf, v)

Dips
Berry Good Guacamole (gf, v)
Broccomole (gf, v)
Carrot and Tofu Pâté (gf, v)
Creamy pumpkin dip (gf, v)
Finnish green bean paté (gf)
Hummus (gf, v)
Lentil and Walnut Pate (gf, v)
Moroccan Carrot and Feta Dip (gf)
Muhammara (gf, v)
Pea, mint and bean dip (gf)
Pea Pesto (gf)
Roasted pumpkin and garlic hummus (gf, v)
Smoky sweet potato and bean dip (gf, v)
Spicy Carrot and Bean Dip (gf, v)
Vegan cheesy sandwich spread (gf, v)

Soups
Baked Bean Soup (gf, v)
Black bean soup wih avocado (gf, v)
Borscht (gf)
Broccoli parsnip and lentil soup (v, gf)
Broccoli, zucchini and blue cheese soup (gf)
Carrot Miso Soup (gf, v)
Celeriac, potato and watercress soup (gf)
Chinese-style tofu, vegetable and noodle soup (v)
Cheesy Potato and Mushroom Soup with Greens (gf)
Chestnut, parsnip and orange soup (gf)
Chunky Beetroot Soup with Kidney Beans (gf)
Cool Green Spring Soup (gf, v)
Cream of broccoli soup
Creamy celery soup (gf, v)
Creamy lentil and vegetable soup (gf)
Curried apple soup (gf)
Curried Cashew Vegetable Soup (gf, v)
Curried Cauliflower, Spinach and Peanut Soup (gf, v)
Easy Noodle Soup (gf, v)
Fennel, lentil and rice soup (gf, v)
Four-Grain Tomato Soup (gf, v)
Fresh green pea soup (gf)
Frugal Freezer Stock (gf, v)
Fruity Cauli Chowder (gf)
German Lentil Soup with Veggie Frankfurters (v)
Lentil and Chestnut Soup (gf, v)
Light Vegetable Stock (gf, v)
Mexican Rice Soup (gf, v)

Miso soup with tofu, vegetables and noodles (v)
Mulligatawny (gf, v)
Mushroom Sherry Stew (v)
Nettle and silverbeet soup (gf, v)
Nigel’s leek and potato soup (gf)
No Tears Onion Soup - turkish style
Orange Vegetable Soup (gf, v)
Pea and Garlic Soup (gf)
Potato, bean and kale soup (gf, v)

Potato and corn chowder with basil and mustard (gf)
Pumpkin, Corn and Wild Rice Chowder (gf, v)
Pumpkin soup (and suggested variations) (gf, v)
Pumpkin and Tofu Laksa (v)
Quinoa, Cabbage and Corn Soup (gf, v)
Red lentil and preserved lemon soup (gf, v)
Roasted vegetable taco soup (gf, v)
Scottish Vegetable and Barley Soup (v)
Shitake and star anise split pea soup (gf, v)
Silverbeet pumpkin and rice soup (gf, v)
Split Pea Soup (gf, v)
St Patrick's soup (v)
Spring Risotto Soup (gf, v)
Spring vegetable and lentil chowder (gf, v)
Tomato Lentil Soup (gf)
Vegetable and Stale Bread Soup (v)
Wanton Dumplings in Ginger Broth (v)

Salads
Asparagus, artichoke and wild rice salad (gf, v)
Asparagus, capsicum and rocket salad (gf, v)
Autumnal Roasted Vegetable and Fig Salad (gf, v)
Avocado, Pear and Pecan salad (gf)
Beet red salad (gf, v)
Beetroot and apple salad with crimson dressing (gf)
Beetroot and pomegranate tabbouleh (v)
Bread, Dukkah and Salad Platter
Bill’s Broccoli Rice Salad (gf, v)
Carrot with Lime and Mint (gf, v)
Cauliflower, cranberry, feta and walnut salad (gf)
Cauliflower and sesame salad (gf, v)
Celery, Watercress and Cauliflower Salad (gf, v)
Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Sun-dried Tomatoes (gf, v)
Cranberry and mustard coleslaw (gf, v)
Dill pickle potato salad (gf, v)
Eastern European Potato Salad (gf)
Fennel and raspberry salad (gf, v)
Green Bean and Broccoli Tabbouleh (v)
Green on green salad (broad bean, peas and rocket) (gf, v)
Lemony Mediterranean Salad
Lentil Salad with Haloumi and Asparagus (gf)
Macedonian eggplant salad (gf, v)
Marinated Tomato Salad (gf, v)
Orange, Berry and Green Salad (gf, v)
Peach and pineapple salsa (gf, v)
Peasant potato salad (gf)
Pesto Pasta Salad
Pumpkin, pomegranate and orange salad with spiced walnuts
Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon Dressing (gf, v)
'Raw' mock fried rice (cauliflower salad) (gf, v)
Roasted beetroot and haloumi salad (gf)
Simple salad suggestions (gf, v)
Spicy peanut and lime coleslaw (gf, v)
Spinach and strawberry salad with pomegranate vinaigrette (gf, v)
Strawberry and Cucumber Salsa (gf, v)
Tabouli (parsley and tomato) (v)
Tambo salad with preserved lemon and capers (gf, v)
Tex Mex Salad (gf, v)
Thai Style Salad with Noodles (gf, v)
White bean and vegetable salad with a splash of red (gf, v)
Winter Ravioli Salad
Winter Roasts Vegetable Salad (gf)

Pasta/Noodles/Risotto
Asparagus, Mint and Lemon Risotto (gf)
Baked gnocchi with radicchio, gorgonzola and walnuts
Beetroot Gnocchi with Pea Pesto
Beetroot risotto with chocolate and walnuts (gf)
Broad Bean Pesto (gf)
Cavolo Nero and Chickpea Pasta
Creamy pumpkin macaroni cheese
Creamy Spinach Walnut Pasta
Creamy Vodka Pasta Sauce
Easy Noodle Soup (gf, v)
Genovese-style pappardelle
Green lasagne with broccoli and rocket pesto
Jarlsberg tempeh casserole
Macaroni cheese
Neofolk Buckwheat Pasta Bake (gf)
Painless pasta
Pasta with mint and parmesan
Pasta with spinach, chickpeas and facon
Potato and Pasta Bake
Pumpkin and Pecorino Pasta Sauce
Pumpkin, Apple and Sage Risotto (gf, v)
Pumpkin, tomato and spinach pasta sauce/salad (v)
Quick and spicy noodles (gf, v)
Red Russian Pasta (v)
Roasted Asparagus, Tomato and Caper Pasta (v)
Roasted Vegetable Pasta
Russian lite macaroni cheese
Sauceless Garden Lasagne
Silverbeet and ravioli stew
Soy bombs and tomato sauce on top of spaghetti (v)
Spinach capsicum and feta pasta
Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprouts and Feta Risotto (gf)
Vegetarian Bolognaise
Vegetarian Lasagne

Oven Bakes
Autumn Pumpkin and Millet Bake (gf, v)
Baked Beans (gf, v)
Baked Blushing dumplings
Baked Eggplants with Cashews
Baked Feta with Tomatoes (gf)
Baked Potatoes with beans and pesto (gf)
Banana and Spinach au Gratin
Beetroot Koftas in Carrot Sauce (gf)
Broccoli roulade with tomato sauce
Chickpea broccoli casserole (v)
Great Stew of Darkness (gf, v)
Gruyere profiteroles with pea sauce
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (gf)
Fantastic Falafels (v)
Leek and tomato crumble (v)
Mediterranean Rice Slice (gf, v)
Mediterranean stuffed peppers (gf, v)
Nicki’s Nana’s Chulent (v)
Polenta cups with green pea puree (gf, v)
Pumpkin and quinoa tagine (gf)
Pumpkin and Sausage Roast (v)
Shepherd’s Pie with Pesto (gf)
Soft Polenta with Tomato Sauce (gf)
Spinach, Cauliflower and Fennel Gratin (v)
Swinging Pancake Stack
Turnip, Mushroom and Pecan Galettes (gf)
Under the Doona Veggie Crumble
Vegetarian Cassoulet

Nutroasts/Loaves/Burgers/Snags
Beggars Burgers
Broccoli and hazelnut burgers
Carrot and Mushroom Loaf
Carrot and Nut Rissoles with Red Onion Gravy (gf, v)
Carrot, Parsnip and Cashew Loaf (gf, v)
Cereal Nut Roast
Cheese and Walnut Nutloaf
Cheesy Nutloaf (gf)
Chestnut, Walnut and Mushroom nut roast (gf)
Chickpea cutlets (v)
Chorizo Sausages (v)
Henderson's Vegetarian Haggis (v)
Michaelmas Loaf
Mushroom, chestnut and couscous sausages
Nutroast
Parsnip Nut Roast (v)
Pumpkin, Carrot and Lentil Loaf
Purple falafel with vegetables (v)
Red Lentil Loaf
Red Rascal Burgers
Roasted Beetroot Tofu Burgers (gf, v)
Shamburgers
Smoked tofu and bean burgers (gf, v)
Spicy Vegetable Loaf with Yoghurt Sauce (gf, v)
Tofu, carrot and zucchini burgers
Tofu and lemongrass nuggets with chilli sauce
Tofu and spinach nutroast (gf)
Vegetable nut crumble
Vegetable nutloaf
Vegetarian Haggis (v)
Walnut and mushroom nutroast (v)

Pastry/Pies/Tarts
Brie, tomato and zucchini tart
Broccolini and brie tart
Crustless asparagus and potato quiche
Fontina onion and potato tart
Hubert the Hog’s Head
Leek Tofu Quiche (v)
Liz O'Brien's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
Mexican croustade (v)
Mushroom Yoghurt Pie with Spinach Crust
Pierogi with Cabbage, Walnuts and Blue Cheese
Polenta Pizza Tart (gf, v)
Pumpkin Cornmeal Quiche
Red Onion, Feta and Olive Tart
Sephardic spinach filo cigars
Spinach and potatoe pasties
Spinach and ricotta pie with filo roses
Vegetable Cheese Pie
Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
Will's farmhouse (mini) pies

Stews/Stovetop
Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu (gf, v)
Bean, barley and tomato stew (v)
Bean stew with honey and cider (gf)
Bulghur wheat with aubergines and mint (v)
Coconut Black-Eyed Bean Stew (gf, v)
Deconstructed pumpkin hummus (gf, v)
Fried rice with vegetables, pineapple and cashews (gf, v)
Green broccoli quinoa (gf)
Italian rice and beans (gf, v)
Mushroom and Lentil Ragout (gf, v)
Paella with brown rice (gf, v)
Peanut Stew with Banana (gf, v)
Potato, mushroom and tofu paprikash
Prune and Bean Casserole (gf, v)
Roast Vegetables with Fruity Lentils (gf, v)
Rumbledethumps (gf, v)
Silverbeet, cauli, chickpea and preserved lemon stew (gf)
Spanish Vegetable Casserole (gf, v)
Szekely Gulyas
Vegetarian Pad Thai (gf, v)

Chilli Non Carnes/Tacos
Black bean and apricot chilli non carne (gf, v)
Black bean and sweet potato burritos (v)
Borlotti Bean Mole with Roast Pumpkin and Silverbeet (gf, v)
Bulgur and beans chilli non carne (v)
Chilli non carne with lager (gf, v)
Isa's Chili sin Carne al Mole (gf, v)
Kidney Bean Stew (gf, v)
Mexicale Pie
My breakfast burritos (gf, v)
Oaxaca Tacos (with potato and cheese) (gf)
Pumpkin, bean and tofu enchiladas (gf, v)
Shark fin chilli non carne (gf)
Spinach, pumpkin and bean burritos (gf)
Tacos (gf)

Curries etc

Aloo Jeera (potatoes and cumin) (gf, v)
Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran (gf, v)
Cauliflower in spicy peanut gravy (gf, v)
Chana Masala (gf, v)
Dal Makhani (gf)
Easy Dahl (gf, v)
Mughlai Biryani (gf, v)
Palak Paneer (spinach and cheese curry) (gf)
Roasted Vegetable Vindaloo (gf, v)
Red Lentil Dosa (gf, v)

Sausage curry casserole (v)
Spiced yoghurt rice with nectarines and mint (gf)
Vegetable and Chickpea Rogan Josh (gf, v)
Zucchini Koftas with Tomato Gravy (gf, v)

Desserts
Apricot and almond sponge with toffee sauce (gf)
Apricot sponge (v)
Apricot crumble with cranberries and hazelnuts
Baked berry, ginger and treacle pudding
Berry and coconut crumble (gf)
Butterscotch pudding (v)
Choc-nut Banana and Fruit Kebabs (gf, v)
Chocolate Pudding (v)
Chocolate pumpkin mini cheesecakes (gf)
Chocolate Rice Pudding (gf, v)
Choc-Berry Bread Pudding
Christmas Pudding
Condensed milk fudge sauce (gf)
Finnish Blueberry Soup (Mustikkakeitto) (gf, v)
Healthyish sticky toffee pudding (gf)
Nectarine and raspberry strudel
Notella Chocolate Sauce (gf, v)

Pine-berry fruit salad (gf, v)
Pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding (v)
Raspberry and yoghurt parfait
Red fruit salad (gf, v)
Rhubarb and Raspberry Crumble (v)
Steamed Strawberry Pudding
Strawberry and Passionfruit Icy Poles (gf, v)
Strawberry Soup (gf, v)

Summer fruit salad (gf, v)

Baking with Yeast
Bagels (v)
Cheese and Onion Bread
Finnish Rye Bread (v)
Hot Cross Buns
Isa's Pizza Bases (v)
MultiSeed Bread (v)
Nigella’s Norwegian Mountain Loaf (v)
Oatmeal Beer Bread (v)
Oatmeal and Treacle Bread (v)
Pumpkin bread
Russian Vegetable Bread (v)
Sesame and Lemon Bread (v)
Sprouted green lentil and bulgar bread (v)
Walnut and Fig Bread (v)

Savoury Baking without Yeast
Beer Bread (v)
Beetroot, goats cheese and onion bread
Birdseed Bread
Buttermilk and lemon myrtle damper
Cheese, Onion and Potato Bread
Cheesy Almond Muffins (gf)
Cheesy cornbread
Chickpea muffins (gf)
Corn bread with nut roast
Feta and pepper crackers
Gluten Free Cornbread (gf)
Olive oil parmesan scones
Potato Scones (v)
Pumpkin Cornbread (v)
Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Muffins
Pumpkin scones
Remembrance Soda Bread
Roasted Vegetable Crackers (v)
Scottish Oatcakes
Sour Skon
Spinach and feta scones
Sweet potato soda bread
Three cheese and beer bread
Tofu and pesto crackers (v)
Wholesome Guinness Soda Bread
Yeastfree rye and caraway bread (v)
Yorkshire Puddings

Sweet Baking - Cakes/Brownies
Apple and date cake
Awesomely Delicious GF Pumpkin Brownies (gf, v)
Butterscotch surprise cake
Cheese and apple cake
Chewy chunky blondies
Choc caramel banana cake

Chocolate, cherry and chestnut cake (gf)
Choc-Lime Marble Cake
Chocolate brownies with chickpea flour (gf)
Chocolate and Coconut and Date Cake (v)
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate fruitcake
Chocolate mug cake
Chocolate pumpkin spice cake
Chocolate Spice Gingerbread
Citrus Grape Cake (v)
Coconut Chai Cake (v)
Eggless Chocolate Cake
GF Apricot and Cranberry Cake (gf)
Ginger Fluff Sponge (gf)
Guinness Chocolate Cake
Heavenly chocolate cake (gf)
Heidi’s chocolate cake
Hummingbird cake
Jill Dupleix's flourless chocolate cake (gf)
Melt and mix chocolate chunk mud cake
Moist and nutty carrot cake
Mum’s Banana Cake
One Bowl Flourless Chocolate Cake (gf)
Orkney Ginger Broonie
Paragon chocolate orange cake
Peanut Butter Brownies
Pear and Spice Cake
Plain Butter Cake
Spring Chocolate Brownies (v)
Sticky prune cake
Vegan Chocolate Spice Cake (v)
Walnut Brownies
Walnut fudge cake
Wattleseed Mud Cake
Wholemeal Chocolate Cake

Sweet Baking - Muffins/Little Cakes
Apricot, Berry and Bran Muffins
Banana and Coconut Cupcakes (gf)
Cherry Banana Muffins
Chocolate avocado cupcakes (v)
Choc Honey Muffins
Fruity Quinoa Muffins (v)
Full Moon Cupcakes
Gluten Free Cupcakes (gf)
Hot Milk Cupcakes
Kraut Choc Cupcakes
Lemon Yoghurt Cupcakes (gf)
Marmalade, blueberry and nut muffins (gf, v)
Moist Bran Muffins
Nutella cupcakes
Oaty Rhubarb Muffins
Pear and walnut muffins
Pumpkin choc chip muffins (gf)
Queijadinhas (macaroon cupcakes) (gf)
Raspberry, coconut and apple muffins
Raspberry Brownies
Small Cakes (gf)

Sweet Baking - Slices
Apricot condensed milk slice
Chocolate Caramel Slice
Coconut ice (gf)
Fig and Almond Bars (gf, v)
Fruit, Nut and Tahini Slice (v)
Hedgehog
Hedgehog fudge with dried cherries
Honey parkin
Mars Bar Slice
Mock turtle
Pooh Bear Honey Slice
Pumpkin muesli slice (v)

Sweet Baking - Biscuits/Cookies
ANZAC Biscuits (v)
Balsamic Fudge Drops (v)
Best ever chocolate cut out cookies
Birdseed biscuits with choc chips
Butter biscuits with cocoa nibs and candied orange
Cake Crumb Cookies
Cashew Choc Chip Cookies (gf, v)
Choc Banana Oat Cookies
Choc Cherry Cut-Out Cookies
Choc chip and dried cherry cookies
Choc Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Chocolate and cranberry shortbread
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudgies (v)
Chocolate Sesame Cookies (v)
Cornmeal Choc Chip Cookies (gf)
Gingerbread bush buddies
Gingerbread choc chip cookies
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (gf)
Gluten free gingerbread cut out cookies (gf, v)
Grey ghost pumpkin cookies
Maple walnut chocolate chip cookies
Maple walnut cookies (v)
Orange and Rose Petal Biscuits
Potato chip choc chip cookies
Walnut and quince thumbprint cookies (v)

Other Sweet Treats
Apple and Cheese Pita Wraps
Apricot and cheese balls (gf)
Banana and choc chip scones
Berry scone wedges
Brandy butter and pudding truffles
Cheese and apple scones
Coconut Almond Balls (gf, v)
Condensed milk macaroons (gf)
Condensed milk and pudding truffles
Grubs (gf)
Lemonade scones (v)
No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (gf, v)
Orange and date scones
Potato boston bun (v)
Pumpkin scones
Scones (v)
Strawberry and Passionfruit Icy Poles (gf, v)
Wattleseed Cashew Truffles (gf, v)

Novelty Birthday Cakes
Blues Clues Cake
Club Penguin Cake
Crown Cake
Fairy Castle Cake
Farmyard Cake
Flower Cake
Green Giraffe Cake
Handbag Cake
Number Two Cake
Octopus Cake
Oven Cake
Sparkles the Rabbit Cake
Superhero Kapow Cake!
Vampire Cake

Sauces/Condiments
Apricot chutney (gf, v)
Asparagus Sauce (gf)
Bush mushroom and 'sausage' gravy (v)
Cherry salsa (gf, v)
Cinnamon tomato sauce (gf, v)
Gravy (v)
Green pea sauce (gf, v)
Lessarella vegan cheese (v)
Notella Chocolate Sauce (gf, v)
Oatmeal gravy (v)
Onion and Sundried Tomato Gravy (gf, v)
Paradise Chutney (gf, v)
Peach and pineapple jam (gf, v)
Pear and Walnut Chutney (gf, v)
Pico de Gallo Salsa (gf, v)
Pineapple and Banana Chutney (gf)
Port Gravy (gf, v)
Plum Chutney (gf, v)
Pumpkin and Pecorino Sauce (gf)
Pumpkin chutney (gf, v)
Raspberry Vinegar (gf, v)
Red onion gravy (gf, v)
Red wine sauce (gf, v)
Rhubarb Dipping Sauce (gf, v)
Rhubarb Relish (gf, v)
Roast Pepper and Tahini Coulis (gf, v)
Sarah Brown's tomato sauce (gf, v)
Tahini sauce (gf, v)
Simple Tomato Sauce (gf, v)
Tomato chutney with cranberries (gf, v)
Vegan Lunchbox Cheese Sauce (gf, v)
Vegan Mayonnaise (gf, v)
Worcestershire Sauce (gf, v)

Drinks
Apricot and strawberry punch (gf, v)
Apricot, pomegranate and orange smoothie (gf, v)
Banana, cranberry and raspberry smoothie (gf)
Berry and banana smoothie (gf, v)
Blueberry, banana and oat smoothie
Chilled apple green tea (gf, v)
Deep purple juice (gf, v)
Ginger banapplerry smoothie (gf, v)
Kiwi fruit, avocado and spinach smoothie (gf, v)
Mulled apple juice (gf, v)
Orange, fig and ginger smoothie (gf, v)
Purple passionate pine pom juice (gf, v)
Raspberry, apricot and pumpkin smoothie (gf, v)
Rhubarb and Raspberry Smoothie (gf, v)
Spiced red currant and orange punch (gf, v)
Strawberry cheesecake smoothie (gf)
Strawberry, kiwi and orange smoothie (gf)
Tropical peach smoothie (gf, v)

Breakfasts
Blueberry, banana and oat smoothie
French Toast with Baked Rhubarb, Strawberries and Banana (v)
Lazy Fry-Up Brunch (v)
Microwave Muesli (v)
My breakfast burritos (gf, v)
Oaty pancakes with berries
Potato Scones (v)
Pumpkin buckwheat pancakes
Raspberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Roasted Vegetable Tofu Scramble (gf, v)
Zuccchini and Cheese Fritters (gf)

Eating Out - Melbourne City
ACMI Cafe
Café Issus
Cookie
Degraves Espresso Bar
Dymocks Bookstore Cafe
Gaylords
Gopals
Kenzan @ the GPO
Nila

Eating Out - Melbourne's Suburbs

Andre's Coffee House (Coburg)
Baba (East Brunswick)
Bimbos (Fitzroy)
Black Ruby (Carlton North)
Café Bellino (Brunswick)
The Carlton Paragon Cafe (Carlton North)
CERES Café (East Brunswick)
East Brunswick Club (East Brunswick)
Hellenic Republic (East Brunswick)
Lentil as Anything (Brunswick)
Gravy Train Cafe (Yarraville)
The Green Grocer (North Fitzroy)
Green Refectory Café (Brunswick)
A Minor Place (Brunswick)

Mojo's Weird Pizza (Clifton Hill)
Monsalvat Café (Eltham)
Moroccan Soup Bar (North Fitzroy)
Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza (North Fitzroy)
Old Fire Station Café Gallery (Preston)
Rathdowne Street Food Store (Carlton North)
Rumi (East Brunswick)
The Vegie Bar (Fitzroy)
Tom Phat (Brunswick)
Vina Bar (Carlton)

Eating Out - outside Melbourne
A Break in Beechworth
Darwin Days
GO café (Geelong)
Harvest Café (Daylesford)
Hobart Highlights
Maloa House (Woodend)
Miss Marple’s Tea Room (Sassafras)
Philip Island Pleasures

Markets, Food Shopping and Picnics
Carlton Farmers Market (Carlton)
Collingwood children’s farm Farmers Market (Abbotsford)
Crabapple Cupcake Bakery (Prahran)
Lazy Leftover Lunch at the Lake (Coburg)
Moonlight Cinema, Botanic Gardens (South Yarra)
Queen Victoria Market (City)
Slow Food City Marketplace 2008 (City)
Sydney Road – bakery tour and street party (Brunswick)

Reflections
About Me, Part 1 – mostly about Melbourne and food...
About Me, Part 2 – mostly about travels and food
About Me Me Me Me
Accolades and some random facts
Eight random facts about me and my day
Favourite food books
Fridge Door Confessions
Green Home, Green Houses
Happy New Year 2009
Hospital food and mum’s cooking
Housekeeping
How does our garden grow!
If music be the food... (food in song titles and band names)
In Praise of Cookbooks
My Cookbook List
My Personal Vegetarian 100 List
A Neb at Nut Roast – event Round Up
A Neb at Nut Roast - an invitation and nut roast information
Planet of the Blogs (reflections and resources about blogging)
Purple Pleasures, Purple Dinner
Random facts that speak of me
Ripple in Still Water
Teatowel Interlude
Top Ten Photos
Welcome little one! (Sylvia's birth)
What does home mean to you?
Where have all the vegetarian salads gone?
Why do we need another food blog anyway?

NOTES:

All recipes are vegetarian:
- I try to acknowledge the source of recipes where I can, but I have been jotting down recipes for years so I can't always be sure of the source - please let me know if I have not acknowledged your recipe and I will be happy to amend the post. I also cook a lot of dishes which are derived from my experience of cooking and reading but don't have any attributable source.
- where I use Worcestershire Sauce, it is a vegetarian version
- I try to use vegetarian cheese but I don't always manage it

v = vegan or vegan-friendly, You might like to consider
- you may need to substitute soy, rice or nut milk for cow's milk
- you may need to substitute agave/maple syrup for honey - for more information on agave, go here.

gf = gluten free or gluten free friendly. You might like to consider:
- you may need to check your soy sauce is gluten free
- you may need to check your noodles are gluten free - I have only labelled pasta recipes gf where the noodles tend to be traditionally gluten free such as rice noodles, but you could use some of the pasta sauces by using gluten free pasta.
- I don't include any recipes with oats in my recipes labelled gf
- the best gf flour mix I have found is Casalare gluten free flour

Measurements. The measurements I use are Australian cup (1 cup = 250ml) and spoon measurements, and/or metric. For conversions, go to Real Food for Real People or Gourmet Sleuth.

Useful Websites on Ingredients:
- Market Fresh - photos of vegetables and when they are in season in Australia.
- Gourmet Sleuth - a little information on a lot of ingredients
- Cooking Light - Flavour Profiles - more information on less ingredients

Please let me know of any mistakes or broken links on this page or on my blog by emailing me at gggiraffe07ATyahooDOTcomDOTau or by posting a comment.

My blog started in April 2007.

That’s No’ How You Make Haggis (NYE pt 3)

'Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!' - Rabbie Burns

When I lived in Edinburgh, I learnt that we had our Scottish friends to thank for New Year’s Eve which in Scotland is called Hogmanay. E (a true Scotman) still thinks it is uncivilised not to get a holiday on 2 January in Melbourne like he would at home – there’ll be no lump of coal for his employer! So to mark a Scottish celebration, it seems only right that we eat a Scottish dish.

I’d never eaten haggis before I went to Scotland. The closest I had come to it in Melbourne was at the wedding of my friends Jane and Andrew, where Rabbie Burns ‘Address to a Haggis’ was recited in a fine Scottish brogue before the haggis was ceremonially served with a lovely home made atholl brose (but I was vegetarian by then and can’t remember what I had instead of haggis). In Scotland I found that the haggis still roams the hills (or so the tourguides would have you believe). Well maybe the wild haggis herds are a myth but it was certainly easy to find both meat and vegetarian haggis in pubs and delicatessens.

So I can’t compare vegetarian haggis to meat haggis but I can tell you the former is absolutely delicious. It is a bit like a nutloaf with finely chopped and lightly fried oats, nuts, vegetables and beans - just as tasty but more crumbly and chunky. A great way to use up leftover scraps. The oaty nutty aromas makes me think of of home-cooking around a dark fireplace in a crofter's cottage. Apparently it was originally humble peasant fare. The peasants would have laughed at the vegetarian version – but I don’t envy anyone eating sheep’s stomach and offal. The vegetarian haggis is substantial, wholesome and unpretentious. Perfect for a wintery meal. Perfect for a celebration dinner.

After leaving Scotland I couldn’t find haggis for love or money in Melbourne, and then I came across a recipe on the internet. It wasn’t that hard to make, and tasted like just McSween’s vegetarian haggis (here's proof how good the vegetarian version is - originally intended as a PR stunt and now their vegetarian haggis accounts for 20-25% of their business). The recipe even amused me with instructions to add “1 tbsp whisky or more”. I have found a few different recipes on the net so next year I might try a few other flavours next year which feature in other recipes – such as barley or nutmeg.

Now, much as I love haggis, I have found it a challenge to present it. Traditionally, haggis is served with bashet neeps and mashet tatties (mashed swedes and mashed potatoes). But haggis isn’t an attractive dish – it looks like a loaf as it comes out of the loaf tin and then collapsed into mince-like crumbs at the touch of a fork. Mashed tatties and neeps don’t really don’t excite me and they just look so dull and colourless. I have dug out a photo (above) of 2006 New Year’s Eve to demonstrate how it looks.

This year I decided to serve it with potato and swede rosti – felt like a good compromise – after all, surely if the Scots had thought of frying their mashed vegies they would leap at the idea. However, luck was not with me as the rosti kept sticking to the frypan as I followed the recipe rather than my instinct. Unfortunately, the internet was on slow go so I couldn’t check my notes on the similar mock fish I made earlier in the year. Finally I had some almost presentable pieces of rosti to serve, and a pile of rosti crumbs (see photo) that we will eat with leftover haggis tonight. I also steamed some broccolini to give the dish some colour and freshness which worked well.

I decided it needed a sauce. My inclination was gravy or a sauce of onions, cream and whiskey. E wanted tomato sauce. When I thought of how he always drowns his haggis in tomato sauce, I thought it was a fair request. I found a Cinnamon Tomato Sauce recipe in the Café Flora Cookbook. It was one of the highlights of the meal. The cinnamon was subtle and fragrant but added a festive intensity. I know they say haggis should also be served with copious whiskey but we don't go through much whiskey in our place - our current bottle which is almost finished is almost 2 years old!

I also did a starter because I found one that seemed light and interesting – tomatoes stuffed with guacamole. I liked the festive green and red and it was a pleasing wee taster before the main event. I’d recommend this as a Christmas day starter for vegetarians. My avocado was not so good so the guacamole had a lot more green capsicum than avocado but was still good, maybe better for it. At first E described it uncertainly as interesting and different but he came around to finding it quite palatable.

Here is the menu:

Starter: Tomatoes stuffed with Guacamole

Main Course: Vegetarian Haggis with Cinnamon Tomato Sauce, accompanied by Tatties and Neeps Rosti and Steamed Broccolini

Dessert: Fresh Fruit Platter with Condensed Milk Fudge Sauce

To Drink: Apricot and Strawberry Punch

That’s six recipes which is a lot of work! One of the major challenges was cooking in 42 C heat. Youch! This is the sort of heat that makes concrete too hot to walk on barefoot, that burns the leaves of plants and saps you of any energy. Our poor pussy cat spent the day lying stretched out on the floor like she’d melted into a little puddle.

When I saw the forecast I decided there was no way I was going to turn the oven on in that weather. Luckily the weather was cooler (30 C) the previous day so I baked the haggis that night, and reheated it in the microwave. I also made the chocolate sauce the night before and the tomato sauce during the day. Everything else was fairly straightforward – apart from the recalcitrant rosti – and it was just a matter of finding enough workspace amid all the dishes and dirty saucepans (see photo in previous post). Today it is 40 C and I am delighted to have lots of lovely fruit to graze on and leftovers that I can easily heat for dinner.

Tomatoes stuffed with Guacamole
(adapted from Cooking with Cranks)
Serves 2

- 2 medium tomatoes
- ½ avocado*, mashed
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- squeeze of lemon juice, to taste (I did a tbsp I think but could have done with less)
- ⅓ green pepper*, finely chopped, plus extra for garnish
- ¼ tsp pepper
- pinch salt
- few drops Tabasco sauce
(* the recipe instructs to add 1 avocado and 1 tbsp capsicum, but I used what I had and it was good - so you can be fairly flexible with these amounts)

Cut the tops off the tomato and scoop out the flesh and seeds (the recipe says you can do this using a teaspoon but I needed a sharp knife!) Turn the tomatoes upside down to drain while you prepare the guacamole.

To make the guacamole, mix all the ingredients. You can make any guacamole recipe here – I just made one with what I had to hand but the recipe suggests using finely chopped celery, yoghurt and parsley.

Fill tomatoes with guacamole and garnish with chopped green pepper. The recipe also suggests garnishing with reserved avocado slices and watercress.

Vegetarian Haggis
Serves 4-6

⅔ cup (65g) rolled oats
⅔ cup (65g) oatmeal
generous ½ cup (65g) mixed nuts, finely chopped (I used almonds, pecans, cashews)
65g margarine or butter
1 large carrot (I used two medium)
1 large onion
125g mushrooms
½ x 400g can kidney beans (a generous ½ cup)
65g vegetarian suet or butter (optional – I used 20g butter)
½ tsp yeast extract
1 tbsp whisky or more
1 tsp freshly ground pepper (or more)
Juice of ½ lemon (or 1 lime)
3 tsp dried herbs

Melt half the margarine and cook oats, oatmeal and nuts for about 3 minutes over medium heat in a large frypan. Transfer to a large bowl

Finely chop carrot, onion, mushroom, and beans. It is easiest to use a food processor so the mixture is very fine. Melt remaining margarine in the frypan and fry the vegetables and beans for about 2 minutes. Return oats and nut mixture to the frypan with the vegetable mixture. Mix in the remaining ingredients and cook another 5 minutes.

Place in a greased and lined loaf tin – I used my 13 x 22cm silicone loaf pan (and found my mum was right in advising I didn’t need to grease it). Press down and smooth with the back of a spoon. Cook 40 minutes in a moderate oven. I cooked mine 30 minutes and cooled in the pan. I reheated it in the pan in the microwave the next night – it is quite fragile and this was the best way of keeping it together.

You can leave out the suet, but the recipe warns it might get dry and need some vegetable stock – but I found that it was moist enough with only 20g extra butter.

Cinnamon Tomato Sauce
(from Café Flora Cookbook)
Makes 3½ cups

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp crushed garlic (about 5 medium cloves of garlic)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground cloves (about 4-5 cloves)
½ cup red wine (I used 3 tbsp port)*
2 x 400g tins of diced tomatoes
2 x cups water
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped (I only had 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (I only had 1 tsp dried oregano)
*I wonder if pomegranate molasses would be a nice substitute here?

Heat oil in a medium to large saucepan and fry onion over low heat til soft and translucent (I found that I only did it about 5 minutes because the onion started to stick to the bottom of the pan). Add garlic, cinnamon and cloves. Stir over low heat about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add wine and stir a few minutes til most of wine is evaporated. (The recipe says to deglaze pan which I think means to clean the pan of all the cooked bits which have started to stick to the bottom.)

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat. Cover and simmer gently about 30 minutes.

Tatties and Neeps Rosti
(adapted from Vegie Food)
Serves 4

500g potatoes (about 4 medium/fist sized potatoes)
300g turnip* (1 medium)
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh parley, chopped (or more)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
40g butter
2 tsp oil
* I got to know and love these turnips in Scotland so they are always turnips to me but in Australia they are known as swedes and in USA they are known as rutabagas.

Peel potatoes and turnip. Cut turnip into a few small chunks the size of potatoes. Place in saucepan with a few inches of boiling water. Cover and bring to boil. Simmer about 15 minutes til just soft. Run under cold water. If you have time, it will help if they can sit for 30 minutes.

Coarsely grate potatoes and turnip into a large bowl. Add onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Heat half the oil and butter in a large frypan. Tip the mixture in – the recipe says don’t press down but I disagree. It also advises to cover and leave 10 minutes. Foolishly I followed these instructions. Number one mistake was having too much mixture (once I had scraped out half the mixture it was much easier to manage) and the other mistake was that I didn’t constantly shake the pan and push an eggflip or spatula under it to make sure it was not sticking. It did not help me to cover it. And when I tried to flip it onto a plate and slide it back onto the frypan it was a disaster. Finally when I had less mixture, I cut the round flat rosti into four corners and found it much more manageable. Needless to say I took a lot longer than the 10 minutes they suggested. But I hope to try it again with more success as it is potentially a good side dish.

On the stereo:
The Best of Jethro Tull: Jethro Tull

Cheers and Happy New Year (NYE pt 2)

Last night, on New Year’s Eve, E and I saw out the old year and welcomed the new year with a feast for two at home. We had a pleasant moment between main course and dessert when the hot weather had cooled enough that we could take our glasses of punch and sit in the backyard where we relaxed and reflected a little. So this is my interlude between courses to tell you what I drank and reflect a little on my blog!

First, the drink! We had Apricot and Strawberry Punch, based on a Vikki Leng recipe from A Vegetarian Feast. I added sparkling wine rather than sweet white wine or apple juice because it felt more celebratory. But I liked the velvety combination of strawberry and apricot. I resented having to sieve the strawberries but it did taste good.

I don’t make many drinks as it seems too much extra work (and there are so many good juice combinations you can buy these days). But my sister, Susie, gave me a set of gorgeous green glasses for Christmas and I wanted to showcase these. It also gave me the opportunity to use a beautiful crystal bowl that I was given years ago for my 21st birthday by my nan. (It was the first anniversary of my nan’s death just a few weeks ago so it was nice to remember her.)

The meal also was the first time that I have used some lovely new red linen serviettes which I received from my mother in law in Scotland (NB - the vampire cake photo refers to below reflections rather than having anything to do with my lovely mother in law). It is nice to have a special meal where we use lovely linen, cookware, and crockery that bring to mind important people in my life. It feels that the meal is richer for the connections and the memories.

So, about 2007! It started with me searching the internet for recipes and ended with me having a blog which gave me an opportunity to navel gaze, to record favourite and newly discovered recipes, and to connect with many wonderful blogs and bloggers. In between I experienced many highs and lows, sometimes in the same instant. What a long strange trip it's been!

In my search for recipes I discovered the joy of blogs. I first stumbled across the uberblogs, 101 Cookbooks and Zucchini and Chocolate. Then I discovered vegetarians (Cindy and Michael) in my home town of Melbourne had a blog called Where’s the Beef? and blogging suddenly seemed accessible.

I finally started my own blog after feeling quite proud of myself for making a gluten free Vampire Birthday Cake for my partner, E’s birthday. I posted on some of my favourite meals including the spectacular (and vegetarian) Hubert the hog’s head and the ordinary Mexicale Pie. I experimented with sauerkraut in a cupcake and a roast dinner in a burger. I learnt about blog events which inspired me to make dishes such as Peanut Banana Stew for They Go Really Well Together and beetroot filled dumpings for the Waiter There’s Something in My… event. I celebrated Australia’s Indigenous peoples’ Reconciliation Day with damper, snags and dead horse, I finally discovered a recipe for mole that I could adore, and I wrestled with a roulade. And I learnt so much from other bloggers and their wonderful recipes (see my links on my side bar for just some of the truly inspirational blogs out there).

In between all the recipes, I was keenly aware of making sure my dishes could cater for gluten-intolerant diets (such as The Enchanted Broccoli Forest and vegan (such as Vegan Chocolate Spice Cake), as well as my vegetarian diet. I returned to favourite old cookbooks and continued to buy too many new cookbooks. My pantry and fridge grew full of new and exciting ingredients such as pomegranate molasses. I tried to put a little of my life in my posts, both to give some colour and in a poor attempt to keep in touch with family and friends. It is taking time but gradually my blog is taking shape and I now have About Me part 1 and part 2 posts which I will link to from my sidebar. I still have a long way to go with my photography and web skills but hopefully I will continue to learn in 2008.

So I raise my glass to my readers and wish you a happy new year. To my fellow bloggers, thanks for your inspiration, your comments and your support. My own blog and others' blogs gave me much foodie pleasure during my highs and kept me sane during the lows. I look forward to sharing many more wonderful recipes in 2008. To family and friends who read this, thanks for reading and for your feedback which is always appreciated. I look forward to sharing some fine food and delicious meals with you in 2008.

I leave you with a picture of our kitchen this morning. During last night's meal preparation, I was still struggling to find bench space, even after a large load of dishes was done. (A big thank you to E for all the dishes he does.) It is not always so messy but it is rarely spotless!

Thanks to Nupur of One Hot Stove for her idea of encouraging bloggers to reflect on and share their Best of 2007. She has kindly included my post in her list, despite lateness of sending it to her. I have already read some inspiring posts and look forward to reading more!

Apricot and Strawberry Punch
(adapted from Vikki Leng)

Serves 2-4

125g strawberries, hulled and halved
400ml tin of apricot nectar
1 tbsp lemon juice
350ml sparkling wine
4-5 ice cubes
Strawberry slices and mint to garnish

Put strawberries in food processor and blend to a puree. Push the puree through a sieve (this is tedious but I think it would be too lumpy otherwise) into a punchbowl. Add apricot nectar and lemon juice. Place in fridge until ready to serve – you can do this hours ahead (or even the day before). When you are about to serve, add the sparkling wine, ice cubes and garnish with strawberry slices and mint leaves.

On the stereo:
(the best of): New Order

Still life with fruit and fudge (NYE pt 1)

When wandering around art galleries, I have always loved the still life paintings by the old masters and they way they capture the round opulence of fruit. When I present a fruit platter I sometimes feel I am creating my own masterpiece. It seems so decadent and yet so simple. So many vibrant colours and tactile tectures.

I guess we are spoilt here in Australia where summer brings an explosion of glorious stone fruit that smells heavenly and drips down your chin as you bite into it. For the old masters, fruit must have been a rare pleasure in the days before fruit was shipped around the world. I partly base this assumption on my experience living in Scotland where the summer berries were manna from the gods and all other fruits seemed to be shipped in from elsewhere.

The fruits of my childhood always seem so delicious! I grew up picking soft juicy apricots off my grandmother’s tree, eating tart blood plums from trees in the backyard, and eating stewed cherry plums that fell in such abundance from the tree beside the chook shed that it was impossible to eat them all and a lot were mushed underfoot. I rarely eat any of these fruit now. They don’t taste the same after travelling to me in a refrigerated truck.

Ironically one of my favourite fruits in adulthood are nectarines which I wouldn’t eat for much of my childhood. There are downsides to eating fruit fresh off the tree. As a young child I remember sitting on my dad’s shoulders and picking nectarines off someone else’s tree. I was enjoying the round ripe fruit until a couple of earwigs ran out of the middle. After that I couldn’t eat nectarines for years. I am thankful that eventually I realised what I was missing.

So I don’t cook lots of desserts. I prefer my fruit fresh. And too often the main meal is so substantial that it doesn’t leave any desire for much in the way of pudding.

But when I do a feast for New Year’s Eve, it isn’t complete without dessert. Not just any dessert will do. I need something decadently wicked. Which means chocolate! A hot night was forecast so it had to be light and require a minimum of heating. I found a recipe for chocolate sauce with condensed milk in it a few years back and already it feels like an old favourite. So we ate it with a wonderful array of fruit (nectarines, cherries, grapes, pineapple, kiwi fruit, pear, strawberries). Dessert was both indulgent and refreshing. But after making little dint on the sauce or the fruit, I was so full I had to lie on the couch. (Actually the meal was so filling, I have only been able to graze on fruit for breakfast.)

I recommend this sauce as a fine accompaniment to a fruit platter. It makes the fruit seem very fancy. And inevitably pieces of fruit need rescuing from drowning in chocolate (what a way to go) which always make it a fun dessert too.

New Year’s Eve dinner was quite a production so I have split it into a few posts. Stay tuned for the haggis! I am also sending this to Bindiya at In Love with Food – Easy Indian Cooking for her My Favourite Things blog event which in December is all about chocolate. I can’t wait for the roundup.

Condensed Milk Fudge Sauce
Serves 4-6

1 cup sweetened condensed milk (or 1 x 400g tin)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
200g dark chocolate*, roughly chopped
½ cup cream
(*I used dark chocolate with 45% cocoa solids, but the sauce is very sweet so I think 70% cocoa solids would be even better)

Mix all ingredients in medium sized microwave-proof bowl. Microwave til chocolate melted (my advice is to place in microwave on high for 1 minute, then stir, and return to microwave for 20 seconds, then stir. If it is still not quite melted after a good stir return for another 20 seconds.) Serve warm with fresh fruit.

This sauce can be kept in the fridge for days but will thicken as it cools so you are advised to place in microwave to thin it down when you use it (or just stick the spoon in and eat it cold from the bowl if you are feeling very indulgent - and why not at new year!)

On the stereo:
The Sound of White: Missy Higgins