Sunday 22 June 2014

Vegan Roast Masterclass and weekend notes

It almost looks real doesn't it!  We called her Tina Turkey but she was really a tofurky.  She was the star of the Green Renters Vegan Roast Masterclass run by Cate today.  I love making vegetarian roasts and went along to learn some new roast ideas and share some hearty food over the winter solstice weekend.  My photos are not great.  I was too busy chatting to others and enjoying good food to concentrate on photos.

When I told Sylvia that I was doing a cooking class, she said that I already knew how to cook.  And I do.  But I have found that cooking with others is always a good way to learn more.  We started with a quick introduction to the recipes by Cate and a chance for everyone to introduce themselves.  Then we ventured into the large kitchen with a bench full of ingredients.  It was quite overwhelming to work with a dozen or so people in a strange kitchen but we danced around each other gracefully - mostly!

Recipes were allocated to small groups.  The first lot were desserts that needed to set in the fridge.  We made a no-bake chocolate pepppermint tart, a lemon tart, tiramisu and three ice creams.  Of course I chose to be on the chocolate team.  The tart had a nut, date and coconut base and a chocolate avocado filling.  It was joy to see the thick creamy filling in the blender.

Once the desserts were chilling, we chilled too with a cuppa, a slice of sticky baklava and warm doughnuts.  Did I mention that one of my "classmates" was another blogger, Veganopoulous!  It was great to meet her.  She was as warm and friendly and funny as her blog.

Next was the roasts.  Any regular readers will know that I love nut roasts.  However I wanted to make something I hadn't made before.  Like tofurky.  I teamed up with Veganopoulous and Leanne.  It was fairly easy to make but a little time consuming.  Firstly we had to make the stuffing, the tofu casing and the marinade.  Then we rolled the tofu around the stuffing, crafted some drumstick legs and basted her with marinade.  We called her Tina Turkey and made some terrible Tina Turner puns ("simply the best")! 

Meanwhile others made a nut roast covered in blanched cabbage leaves, a stuffed seitan roll and a mushroom wellington.  Cate and her lovely assistant Jen roasted some vegies and made three gravies - mushroom, red wine and miso.  (Or maybe others made the gravy.  Tina kept us a little busy!)

Cate and Jen also had a vegan cheese and crackers platter.  Doesn't it look amazing.  Sadly I barely touched it as I was too excited by all the roasts.  We took some leftovers home and I didn't think to take some cheeses.

Finally we had the roasts and plates of vegies on the table, along with gravies, cheeses, wines and cordials.  It took some time for everyone to serve their meal.  But it was worth all the work that had gone into it.  Scrumdidliumptious!  And very very filling.  One roast is so filling.  Four had us bursting at the seams.  I think my favourite was Tina the Tofurky.  The tofu outside was really tasty and the inside was full of vegies and breadcrumbs.  I'd love to try this at home and maybe add a few nuts to the stuffing.

And then there was dessert.  I didn't take a photo but it all tasted great.  The ice creams and lemon tarts weren't quite set but the chocolate tart was so deliciously creamy and the tiramisu was surprisingly good.  I usually avoid tiramisu because of the coffee but this had no coffee and made me think I need to try making it myself.  I did notice that the vegans were excited by the desserts, but as a vegetarian it was the savoury roasts that most excited me.

Many thanks to Cate for a fun and yummy class.  (Sadly this was her last cooking class in Melbourne before heading overseas to live.)  For further reflections and better photos, head over to check out Veganopoulous' post on the masterclass.

Weekend notes:
A few random notes on my weekend

  • My sister in law made an amazing rainbow cake to take along to a pub meal to celebrate some family birthdays on Friday.  See above photo.
  • As I left for the class today I found Sylvia chopping a fringe in her hair.  She has been playing at being a hairdresser lately.  I wont let her cut my hair.  E wont let her cut his hair.  I think hers was the only hair left to cut.
  • Yesterday I heard a really engaging talk by a researcher on ABC Radio National: Bridie Scott Parker of Southern Cross University discussed a New approach to reducing fatalities amongst young novice drivers.  It was fascinating to hear her talk about how she was translating her research into policy and practice.
  • I am reading The Luminaries.  It is fascinating reading but such a doorstopper of a book and so dense I worry I will never get through it.  I have been trying to get to bed early to read more but every time I do I fall asleep.  I don't blame the book.
  • I didn't manage to get out to a winter solstice bonfire last night.  Instead I made two of my favourite warm winter dishes.  Mexicale pie followed by Chocolate pudding.  If only I didn't feel too full from the masterclass today to enjoy the leftovers. 
  • We have found room for E to put his record player in the loungeroom (after some time Sylvia's bedroom).  As I write I am listening to an EP called This Machine is Made of People by Wild Pumpkins at Midnight.  It must be 20 years since I listened to it on vinyl.  Yet the topics of industries closing down, retrenchment and disappearing skills seems as current today as it did then.  I still feel sad as I hear these lines:
So you see I'm only human
And this machine is made of people
Although I need someone to remind me.
'Cause everyone has a number.

29 comments:

  1. Wow, the masterclass looks like a lot of fun - all that fabulous food! I don't think I've ever had a 'proper' roast experience - I've never done one myself. This spread is definitely motivation.

    I hope Sylvia's new fringe isn't too wonky, hehe.

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    1. Thanks Caeli - it was fun - you really need a proper roast experience - they are not just for carnivores - nut roast was one of the first things I learnt to make as a vegetarian and have enjoyed some great veg roast dinners. And yes Sylvia has gone to school with a wonky fringe - need to get a hairdresser to neaten it up

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  2. It was fun wasn't it! Love that you got photos of the other roasts being made, I didn't take pics because that was probably when I went back to the empty tea room to eat more baklava...

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - great to meet you - I think they had planned to tie string around the seitan which I was intrigued with and then decided against it - perhaps it wasn't sturdy enough - I was back for more chocolate tart and doughnuts but the baklava was so sticky that I didn't go for more even though it was so yummy

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  3. What a great class! I love the sound of all the desserts and your tofurkey - which looks amazingly like the real thing.

    I also laughed at Sylvia's hair cutting adventures. I still recall very clearly the trauma of finding my favourite doll with uneven hair, as an 8 year old, and my mother not believing me when I accused my brother of causing the uneveness. Unfortunately for my brother, he left the scissors and chunks of doll hair in his bedroom, so the truth came out rather quickly. I guess Sylvia bypassed dolls and went for the real thing :)

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    1. Thanks Kari - the tofurky was fun - but the haircut wasn't. I was just about to go and found sylvia with lots of her hair on the floor - she was keen on doing a doll's hair but I told her not to cut it - I also told her not to cut her own hair - wish she had ignored my wishes with the doll rather than her own - sorry to hear about your doll - hope you were able to neaten up her hair - will see how the hairdresser goes with sylvia's (though I think Sylvia is so proud of her work that I don't know how she will go with someone else taking over!)

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  4. I'm so mad I couldn't make it - although I haven't felt much like eating after a recent bout of gastro. :-P That tofurkey reminds me of your pastry pig from years ago - and of Miyoko Schinner's (the vegan cheese woman's) un-bird. They all make me want to cook a big roast dinner!

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    1. Thanks Linda - it was a shame you couldn't make it - but you really needed a huge appetite for that meal - I was thinking of my hubert the hog's head when we did tina turkey

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  5. It certainly does look quite real. I think no matter how good you are in the kitchen, you can always benefit from a cooking class and it sure looks like you had lots of fun. Your sister's rainbow cake is gorgeous xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - hopefully it is useful for sylvia to see that I can take classes even after all the cooking I have done - you can always learn something else - and yes that rainbow cake was so pretty - I got home and found we had a piece in my bag that my mum had put in there - E was most pleased because he had stayed home.

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  6. PLEASE TELL ME YOU ALSO MADE NUTBUSH JOKES AND DID THE DANCE

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    1. But of course Hannah - we were laughing about Tina doing the nut bush in the oven!!!! But no we didn't do the dance ourselves - I have done it more times that I ever wanted to and never again!

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  7. I had to do a double take when I read vegan and then saw the pic of the
    "chicken"! Sounds like a fun and yummy class

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    1. Thanks House - just a little joke!!!! and yes lots of fun and so so yummy

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  8. That's a very clever "chicken"! I was a bit surprised when I saw it :)

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - he he - when I downloaded my photos I couldn't resist a bit of fun

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  9. So funny, yet true regarding Sylia comment about 'mummy can already cook!', but I understand, sometimes a little part of me wants to go in and cook in this manner too, especially savoury like the Tofurky - I've seen Tofurky before, but forgot about it before and now am super excited about it again; and some sweet vegan treats. I would have loved this, nothing like this my way. Only vegetarian food classes and I feel competent in what they wish to offer the participants to learn, I would like to learn the dishes you had here - a vegan masterclass.So fab to meet other bloggers that you respect too. I am so pleased you had a good day. And that rainbow cake looks magic, i need to make that someday for my family, their mouths would drop in amazement.

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - I almost didn't do the class as I have made a few vegan roast dinners but I have never made a tofurky so that is what drew me in and I was very pleased to be in that group. I think it might well be the first cooking class I have done since school and I enjoyed it as I love to cook with others and I love a good roast. The rainbow cake was great too - it was a great surprise as it was fairly plain coloured on the outside.

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  10. That sounds like an absolutely fantastic event! What a lot of fun you must have had and I love the look of Tina Turkey :)

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth - I really enjoyed the class - it was different to what I expected but the 5 hours went quickly

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  11. Looks fabulous! I love Sylvia's response :) the food all looks amazing. What a great chance to do this with fellow bloggers!

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    1. Thanks Kate - the wisdom of kids, hey! it was really nice to meet Veganopoulous and also to meet Cate whom I have started following

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  12. I'm out of leftovers :( But I have been shimmying around chook-legs style. No high heels though!

    I wish there was another class! So lovely to have meet you finally, too bad we won't have another class like this (well, I hope we do!). Unless we go to Germany, ha!

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - we still have a few leftovers today but that was because we still had leftover mexicale pie last night and I left some roast leftovers for E who hardly had any of them - hurrumph! Now the idea of following Cate to Germany to take a few classes is very appealing :-)

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  13. Oh man would I love to take your cooking class! That no-bake chocolate peppermint tart looks AMAZING!!! And that veggie roast - wow, just beautiful.
    All the food looks gorgeous =)

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - it was all wonderful food - though I don't think roasts are the most appealing of foods once you start hoeing into them - maybe one day I will learn to photograph them well

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  14. A roast is one of my favourite meals of all time - I try to make one every Sunday. Must have loads of roast spuds and gravy, and a vegan yorkshire pudding! Where's Cate moving to? If she ends up in London, I hope I'll get to check out a class of hers!

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    1. Thanks Joey - roast dinner is one of my favourite meals too - though I don't manage to make one weekly - am impressed at your efforts - Cate is moving to Leipzig in Germany and hoping to hold classes there so you could always combine a little travel and a class :-)

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  15. What a fantastic recap on your cooking class, there are so many different kinds of dishes out there to make and learn about - I would love to learn how to make all kinds of desserts one day. Tofurky is one of my favorite meatless alternatives - but it’s awesome that you made it…I would love to have it with loads of gravy and mashed potatoes, mmmm or make it into a Tofurky breakfast sandwich.

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