St Kilda Farmers Market (Fitzroy Street)

St Kilda Farmers Market (Fitzroy Street) was full of kids and dogs and delicious food.  But no Dolly.  It is where we lost Sylvia's beloved little Dolly.  Unfortunately this makes it harder to speak in the glowing terms I might otherwise have used about the market.  I loved tasting all the foods, discovering red kale and lunching on scones.  However my last memory of the market is walking round and round searching for Dolly.  So instead of telling you the story of the market, I will share some choice photos.

Beetroot that was roasted and eaten in salad.

Lots of lovely bread.

Loved the coloured baby carrots.

Red kale!  I had never seen it before.  Had to ask what it was.

Soft fresh licquorice.  Wish I had bought bags and bags of it.

Scones for lunch.  Sylvia insisted on a choc chip scone.  Amazing!  

We bought a cup of ginger beer to share, sat down to drink it and found Dolly was missing.  Sadly I just couldn't appreciate the drink.  I usually love ginger beer and think this was a good one.

Here is what we bought.  Beetroot, avocado, coloured baby carrots, Pink Lady apples, licorice, red kale, sweet potato vegie fingers (vegan and they had gluten free ones available).  And flowers.  If Dolly had not fallen off the stroller we might have brought more.  All I had the heart to buy was a bunch of flowers to cheer us up.  They lit up our kitchen for a while.  Wish they were still with us.  Dolly's memory is.

Fitzroy St. St Kilda. Farmers Market
Corner of Fitzroy Street & Lakeside Drive, Mel 2P B3
4th Sunday of the month
8 am - 1 pm
Website

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts. 

MLLA Hummus revisited

Sylvia and I made a quick dash through the supermarket before her swimming lesson.  I didn't want a tub of hummus sitting in the warm boot of the car so I suggested we make some at home instead.  She agreed and helpfully carried some tins of chickpeas to the cash register.  Fast forward to dinner time.  I made a wonderful dip.  Suddenly Sylvia decides, as only a 3 year old can, that all she wants is supermarket hummus.  We finally compromise by adding an extra tablespoon of lemon juice.

I have been using a version of this hummus recipe since leaving home. Before I had even heard of The Moosewood Cookbook.  My friend Nicki had a copy of the book and wrote out the recipe for me.  It was a revelation.  This was before I had oodles of cookbooks and access to many more online version.

So perhaps it is no surprise that the eighth post on my blog was hummus.  That is over 1000 posts ago.  The problem was that I had recently got a copy of the revised Moosewood Cookbook.  I hadn't been sure what version to use on my blog.  Now I am a bit more confident and I have experimented with this recipe many times since posting it.  It seemed a good time to revisit the recipe.  And put up better photos of hummus (actually they don't really make it look that smooth do they?).

The Moosewood recipe makes a lot of dip.  I find that it is too much for us.  Sometimes it has not lasted the time it takes us to eat through it.  I also prefer more tahini than the revised Moosewood version and am wary about using too much garlic.  I have tried adding yoghurt or water but it can be a bit watery if it sits too long so this time I added some olive oil.  It makes for a smoother hummus (as you can see in the bottom photo).

Hummus is a classic dip that is a perfect base for adding other vegies.  I highly recommend roasted pumpkin, spinach or smoky red pepper variations.  We also love a beetroot hummus from the supermarket.  I must find a recipe for it sometime.  Though no doubt Sylvia will prefer the bought version!

I am sending this to My Legume Love Affair (#52), founded by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook and hosted by Sra of When My Soup Came Alive this month.  And if you are interested in vegan dips, check out Cold and Sleepy Cooks who is blogging dips all October for Vegan MoFo.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Pumpkin cranberry salad
Two years ago: SOS Tahini Muesli Bars or Mama Mia!
Three years ago: MLLA Chana Masala
Four years ago: Lysy’s smoky burgers

Hummus
Adapted from From Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook 

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
A small handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 small spring onion, finely sliced
440g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
generous 1/3 cup tahini
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 and 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp - may have been too much)

Blend in food processor.  Check and adjust seasonings. Keep in the fridge in an airtight container.

On the Stereo:
Naked Raven: self titled

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.

Pumpkin Spice Scrolls

Pumpkin scrolls have been on my to-do list forever.  Or so it seems.  How many times have I drooled over the ones on Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk.  How many times have I promised myself I will make them.  Then I chicken out because they seem full of butter and sugar (especially when the recipe suggests having your fat pants on the ready)!  Then serendipitously I saw a healthier version of the recipe on The Lives and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and a really useful Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll showdown on La Vida Vegga.  This time there were no broken promises.

I also had some tinned pumpkin puree to experiment with.  I usually buy my pumpkin fresh but was curious about the tinned stuff I read about on blogs.  It was garishly orange and quite thick but it just missed some of that sweet pumpkin flavour that I associate with the fresh stuff.  If I were to make the scrolls again I would probably just use my homemade mashed pumpkin.

Making the scrolls was an interesting experience.  It was a challenge patting out the dough into a square because Sylvia kept grabbing handfuls from the corner for her scroll.  And I melted rather than softened the butter in the microwave.  This meant that the butter oozed out as I was cutting the buns.  Next time I will make sure it is merely softened.  (Though I notice Smitten Kitchen uses melted butter in her scrolls.)  I was excited to try Grumpy's Honeybunch's method of cutting the scrolls.  Although my scrolls were not even and uniform, this way of cutting didn't press down on the dough like I usually find with my knives.

The scrolls smelled fantastic in the oven.  Warm yeasty sweet spicy aromas filled the kitchen.  They tasted delicious, not over sweet but quite filling.  After all there was enough butter and sugar wrapped in these to soften the insides.  These were more like the Coffee Scrolls that I grew up with than the Saint Cinnamon scrolls that dripped a sweet buttery filling.  (NB Coffee Scrolls are a bit like Chelsea Buns in the UK, and they mostly don't contain coffee.)

I dobbed on a restrained blob of icing that was leftover from a cake I made about a month ago.  I am not much of an icing person.  In fact this is the third time I have used this batch of icing that has sat in my fridge for quite some time.  Coffee scrolls don't have a lot of icing.  I sometimes wish I could make their icing for nostalgia's sake.  Then I am worried at finding out what is in it.  It tastes so artificial. 

Both E and Sylvia loved these scrolls with icing.  I was quite happy to take a scroll to work for morning tea without any icing at all.  Butter wasn't mentioned but I think my parents would have served these cut in half with some butter in the middle, like Coffee Scrolls are often eaten.  We also enjoyed eating these for breakfast.

Lastly I thought I would step back from my close up and show you why I love close up photography so much.  Here is my kitchen table where I was taking the photos.  It was a chaotic end to a busy day.  I'm having fun playing around with backgrounds and colours in my photos and thought you might like to see one of my new 'toys'.  I have recently bought a cheap foam mat from a craft store.  It has helped shut out some of the clutter in my backgrounds but I found the white a bit stark.  Recently I took a kitchen sponge and some of Sylvia's craft paints and painted it blue.  Yes this is food props on the cheap!  And the little orange flowers were brought to Sylvia by her little friend across the road.  H picked them from his garden himself.  How sweet!

I am sending these to Susan of Wild Yeast for her weekly YeastSpotting event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Chia bread: revising olive oil bread
Two years ago: Noodles in Broth
Three years ago: Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza – heaps of vegies
Four years ago: Tom Phat: Funky fusion

Pumpkin Spice Scrolls
Adapted from The Lives and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch and Baker Bettie
Makes 9

• 7g or 2 1/4 tsp dried yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup warmed soy milk
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, either fresh or canned
• 1 tbsp ground chia seeds and 6 tbsp water (equals 1 egg)
• 1 tbsp melted margarine (I used Nuttalex)
• 1 wholemeal plain flour, plus extra for kneading
• 2 cups white bread flour

Filling:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp mixed spice (or pumpkin spice)
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened (not melted)

Place warm milk, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl.  Set aside for 5-10 minutes to allow the yeast to start blooming.  Add pumpkin, chia seeds, water, melted margarine, and flours.  Mix into a soft dough.  Knead on a floured board for 5-10 minutes (I did 5), adding around 1/4 cup of flour until the dough is smooth.  warm milk, sugar, salt and yeast

Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place to prove for about 1 hour or until doubled.

Punch down dough and knead briefly.  Pat or roll out dough into a rectangle of 16 x 12 inch.  (I used the blue ruler below to help get a sense of the size.)

Spread softened butter over the roll.  Mix together the brown sugar and mixed spice.  Sprinkle evenly over the butter.  Roll up the dough starting at the long end.

When dough is rolled, cut into 9 pieces.  I did this using Grumpy's Honeybunch suggestion of the 'dental floss' method.  She used unflavoured unwaxed dental floss.  Fishing line would work brilliantly.  All I had was some kitchen string.  Pull it under the dough and bring it up and around the piece you want to cut, pulling it across so that it slices through the  dough. (see photo above)  Or use a sharp knife to cut the 9 pieces if you prefer.

Once your pieces are sliced (and hopefully you have not melted your butter and had it ooze out everywhere like mine), place the scrolls in a greased 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin.

Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes. They should be more snuggly at the end of this time. While the scrolls are rising, preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped.  (I was concerned about the middle scrolls not cooking through and my oven is a bit slow so I did 50 minutes.)

Tun out onto a rack to cool.  Once cooled, if desired serve topped with a dob of icing (I used some cream cheese frosting I had leftover but just some icing sugar, margarine and a dribble of hot water would suffice) and/or slathered with butter.  Best eaten on the day of baking or the next day.  These
role into 16 x 12 inch

On the Stereo:
Betty Blue Soundtrack: Gabriel Yared

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.

Vegan Sweet potato and cheeze scones

I meant to make Kari's sweet potato chickpea and hemp seed burgers.  I steamed the sweet potato in the microwave and mashed it.  We were distracted by making three little pigs out of pink foam (to go with the house pictures we had been making).  I thought of putting the remains of my chickpea and hemp seed cheeze in the burgers.  Maybe not.  But there was a great recipe for Pumpkin Cheeze Biscuits (Scones) that I had discovered during Vegan Mofo.  Scones would go with the burgers and salad.

E bathed Sylvia while I made the scones.  Finally I decided I didn't have the time or energy for the burgers.  The scones and a simple salad would do just fine.  Except I had opened a tin of chickpeas.  They went into the salad to give dinner some muscle.

We loved the scones.  They were actually cheesy.  It is the first recipe I have made with the vegan chickpea and hemp seed cheeze that has been as good as anything I could have made with dairy cheese.  (Of course I imagine they would work just as well with dairy cheese.)  They were also soft and moist with the sweet potato. 

I make scones quite regularly and found that this recipe wasn't quite right for the way I do it.  Perhaps this is due to the Australian-British vs American biscuit vs scone divide.  I had to add extra milk because the dough was too dry and my mum has taught me to make sure there is enough milk to make a soft dough.  I also found that the temperature was much lower than usual.  My recipe notes take these into account.  The original recipe used mashed pumpkin and this could easily be substituted for the sweet potato.

I ate my scones plain.  Until Sylvia decided they needed promite.  (She is a bad example!)  E had his buttered.  Then he ate a leftover scone topped with leftover salad.  That seemed a bit weird!  However, I never complain when everyone loves the scones I bake.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Green (pea) Nut Roast
Two years ago: Spinach Rice Gratin
Three years ago: Finnish Rye Bread – a fickle monster!
Four years ago: Fried Rice

Sweet potato and cheeze scones
Adapted from Panda with Cookie
Makes 16-18

1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup (scant) soymilk
1 cup plain white flour
1 cup plain wholemeal flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
75g (5 tbsp) margarine (I used nuttalex)
1 cup grated cheddar cheeze
3/4 cup mashed sweet potato
extra milk for glazing

Place vinegar in a measuring cup and fill up to 2/3 cup.  Set aside to thicken and curdle.

Preheat oven to 200 C (I think I would do this for 230 C next time) and grease an baking tray.

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Rub in the margarine until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in grated cheeze.  

Mix the milk and sweet potato.  Make a well in the cheeze mixture and pour in the sweet potato mixture.  It will be quite moist and sticky.  

Turn out onto a well floured bench and lightly knead with lots of flour.  Press out to about 1 1/2 cm and cut into rounds with a scone cutter (or a glass if you don't have cutters) that has been dipped in flour.  

Place scones close together on greased tray.  Brush scones with milk.  

Bake for between 15-25 minutes (it took me 25 minutes but I will bake at a higher temperature next time which should reduce the time they take to bake).

Wrap warm scones in a teatowel.  Best eaten warm but will be fine to eat the next day.

On the Stereo:
The Good, the Bad and The Queen: self titled

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.

Sweet potato, silverbeet and black bean soup

Last week I made pumpkin scrolls (more about them later).  With a filling dessert, I decided a simple stew was all I needed for dinner.  I had sweet potato roasting in the oven, a tin of black beans in the pantry and silverbeet in the garden.

Our spring weather has been rather fickle lately.  When it started to rain, I rushed out to photograph and harvest the silverbeet.  I needn't have bothered.  No longer had I rushed in the door, then the rain stopped.

You can't blame me for not trusting my luck.  That afternoon, I had been trying to listen to a Boy George interview on the radio when Sylvia poured herself a large glass of milk, spilled it over the floor and while I rushed to get the mop, she tried to sweep it up with the broom!  Argh!

I've had a series of these sort of small misadventures lately.  Not that I have much to complain about:

• Bad news - I knocked over a plastic container of flour.  The plastic was so old and brittle that a piece broke and flour went everywhere.
• Good news - When I made bread with the remaining flour, I found the lump of plastic before the bread went into the oven.  (Honestly I thought I had taken out the broken plastic before tipping the flour into another jar!)

• Bad news - Sylvia tipped heaps of sand out of the sandpit all over the backyard.
• Good news - She was having such a lovely time playing on a warm and sunny day that I couldn't be too cross!

• Bad news - I arrived at work today to find my 'Rennie Mackintosh' necklace that I wear most of the time had disappeared.
• Good news - I found it when I got home.  Hurrah!

With the soup, the bad news was that there was too much silverbeet for E.  The good news was that he only had it one night.  I had it two nights in a row and really enjoyed it.  It came together quickly and meant I could eat more pumpkin scrolls!

I am sending this borscht to Deb of Kahaki Kitchen for her Souper Sundays event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: CC Tamarind Tempeh with Noodles
Two years ago: Pate, Goslings and Bubbies
Three years ago: HoTM: Chocolate Sesame Cookies
Four years ago: Biscuits like birdseed

Sweet potato, silverbeet and black bean soup
served 3
an original recipe

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion
4 pattypan squash, diced
3 garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt or to taste (depending on your stock)
2 cups vegetable stock
1 large sweet potato, diced and roasted
large handful of silverbeet (chard), chopped
400g tin of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small avocado, diced

Fry onion in olive oil for a few minutes and add squash and garlic for a few more minutes.  Stir in cumin and smoked paprika.  Add stock, roasted sweet potato, silverbeet, black beans.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.  Serve scattered with avocado chunks.

On the Stereo:
Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant: Belle and Sebastian

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.

Strawberry avocado and walnut salad with a chocolate vinaigrette

When you first hear the name of this salad, you might be forgiven for wondering if it is dinner or dessert. I just had to try it.  I served it with potato quinoa scones a few weeks back.  At first I feared I had got dinner all wrong.  E was even more wary and claimed the lion's share of scones as insurance.  Our concerns were all for nothing.  Dinner was enjoyed by all of us.

As usual the three of us enjoyed it in varying ways.  I loved all the flavours in the salad.  The sweet juicy strawberries, the creamy avocado and the intense chocolate vinaigrette.  I had far too much vinaigrette and used it for a couple of other salads over the next week.

Sylvia was unpredictable as ever.  She decided she loved the sour chocolate sauce and abandoned dinner to dip strawberries in the vinaigrette.  She did eat mot of her dinner later.

E enjoyed the salad but his love of any sauce continues to amaze me.  He enjoyed dipping his potato-quinoa scones into the vinaigrette.  (These are based on the traditional Scottish tatty scone but with some cooked quinoa thrown in.  We wondered what his Granny would have thought!)

For those who are wondering, the sauce not overly chocolatey.  It was quite intense, thanks in part to the walnut oil.  When I tasted it I could barely taste the chocolate but after I had eaten it there was a memory that I had eaten chocolate, like the shadow of a taste.  That is all I need in a savoury dish.

The recipe has a great lineage.  It was posted by Gina of Choosing Raw who served the vinaigrette with  beetroot, avocado and strawberries.  Then Janet of The Taste Space served the vinaigrette with strawberry avocado and mint.  I had intended to include mint and forgot.  Walnuts seemed just right for the salad for me.

I am sending this salad to Ren's Simple and in Season event, that is being hosted by Kate of Feeding Boys and a Firefighter.  Strawberries are plentiful right now so this was an interesting way to use them.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Oatmeal cutout cookies: on the good ship lollypop
Two years ago: GYO Tahini Caulflower and City Sights
Three years ago: Beauty and the Beast for World Bread Day
Four years ago: Broad Bean Pesto
 
Strawberry avocado and walnut salad with a chocolate vinaigrette
Adapted from The Taste Space and Choosing Raw
Serves 2

50g baby spinach leaves (a good handful)
1/2 small green capsicum, chopped
1/2 lebanese cucumber, chopped
150g strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
1/2 a large avocado, peeled and diced
handful (about 1/4 cup) walnuts

Balsamic chocolate vinaigrette:
(NB This is what I did.  Half of this would do for the salad)

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp walnut oil (or olive oil)
1 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp salt

Chop walnuts and lightly dry fry in a small frypan while you make the vinaigrette.  The walnuts are ready when they smell cooked and are starting to brown.  Set aside.

To make vinaigrette, lightly whisk all ingredients together with a fork.

Arrange salad ingredients in a bowl (or directly on the plates) in the order that they are written in the ingredients list.  Drizzle with vinaigrette.

On the stereo:
The songbook collection: Bert Bacharach and Hal David

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.

Lord of the Fries - veg*n fast food

We are very fond of Lord of the Fries.  You see, I have my own 3 year old Princess of the Fries who feels right at home with a bucket of chippies.  My first experience of Lord of the Fries (aka LoTF) was at the Northland Shopping Centre store (now closed).  Then we discovered the shopfront at Flinders Street Station.  Recently, we finally visited the Brunswick Street Store.   

It is the Flinders Street Station LoTF that we have visited most frequently.  Every now and again we need food fast at the end of a busy day.  It soothes the cranky tired little girl.  The LoTF chips are proper golden, freshly fried, hot, home style chips.  I've had crispier but these taste honest (if such a word can be applied to a chip).  Not the thin anaemic shoestring fries that some other fast food outlets have made popular. 

The chips come with all sorts of sauces.  I don't like sauce on my chips so I haven't tried them.  There is a whole range of food other than chips.  It is all vegetarian with lots of vegan and gluten free options.  Burgers, hot dogs, onion rings etc.  The Unfortunately they did sausage rolls at Flinders Street Station at one stage but when I returned to try them, they had stopped making them.

I was interested when I heard that there was a new Lord of the Fries cafe on Brunswick Street.  The decor is a diner-style that is in line with the food they sell.  Sylvia and I went there a few weeks back when we had other errands in the area.

Sylvia got chips and a bottle of pink fizzy guava drink.  I had to ask for a cup for her and was given a cardboard chip cup.  It was meant to make it easier for her to drink the stuff.  She still managed to spill sticky pink drink over the table, the seat and the floor.  Then she dropped tomato sauce covered chips in the window.  I know they are kid-friendly but I can't help but think they must have breathed a sigh of relief when we left.

I ordered the mini Toronto Hot Dog.  The menu said it came with veg bacon rashers, cheese, onion, relish, ketchup and mustard.  Sounded good.  I asked for vegan cheese.  It was more expensive but at least it was melty and tasty.  I think there may have been some onion but not a large tangle of fried onion that I expected.  I am sure there was no bacon.  I might have asked if I hadn't already had an uncomfortable chat about vegan cheese (where I didn't like to say that I wasn't vegan) and Sylvia hadn't spilled too much about her.  So it seemed that the hot dog was really mostly about sauces and that is just not my thing, even when the relish is green.

Despite the hot dog not being quite right, I would love to go back and try it again.  I really want to sample the veg bacon.  Michael enjoyed the bacon on his hot dog so next time I will be sure to ask about it.  I love the chips and the service was friendly.  We will definitely be back!

Lord of The Fries
383 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Flinders Street Station, Melbourne CBD
And other locations in Melbourne
www.lordofthefries.com.au

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food October 2012.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my Vegan MoFo posts.