How to serve (vegetarian) haggis

It is Burns Night.  The day to celebrate the great Scottish baird, Rabbie Burns.  E being an expat, loves to celebrate with haggis.  When I first started making him vegetarian haggis (recipe at end of post), I thought that the only way was with neeps and tatties (mashed turnip and potatoes).  Since then I have discovered lots of fun way to eat it.  Here are some of my favourites.

Haggis neeps and tatties.  This is a traditional way to serve it.  The photo is from the Kenilworth pub in Edinburgh when we visited last.  It is so hard to make it look attractive.  I set myself the challenge of finding interesting and pretty ways to serve it. 
 

Beer Battered Haggis Balls.  This is what we ate tonight.  More about the recipe later.  When I have more time.  For now you can just know that I finally succumbed to frying the wee blighter.  What could be more Scottish! (Update: the recipe is now up - follow the link from the title.)

Festive Haggis Wreath.  We had this at Hogmanay just passed.  Haggis, bashet neeps and mashet tatties are layered, wrapped in puff pastry, shaped into a wreath and decorated with the offcuts.

Haggis baked potatoes.  We had this on St Andrews Day last year.  Baked potatoes with haggis and relish, accompanied by some coleslaw on the side.  Inspired by the Baked Potato Shop on Cockburn Street, Edinburgh.

Haggis stuffed mushrooms: A simple matter of stuffing mushrooms, grating some cheese on top and baking.  Then top with tomato sauce, which goes exceedingly well with haggis.

Haggis nachos.  Haggis, salsa and cheese layered with corn chips.  Baked til melty.  Served with guacamoles and sour cream or yoghurt.  Inspired by the Last Drop pub in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh.

Haggis pasties.  I mixed up some haggis with chunks of turnips and potatoes and baked in hot water pastry.

Haggis and cheese mole nut roast with chocolate and red wine gravy.  Ok this one was exceedingly challenging.  And fun.  And yummy.  I think the name says it all.

Haggis burgers are easy to make with a bit of tweaking to make the haggis mixture more clumpy than crumbly.

That's not all.  I have also served haggis in pizza, tacos, crepes and on pasta.  The possibilities are endless.  (I use it like a vegetarian mince meat.)  More Burns Night links can be found at BuzzFeed.  I hope you have a great Burns Night.

Vegetarian Haggis Recipe
From International Vegetarian Union
Serves 4-6
 
This is the standard recipe I use for vegetarian haggis.  It is very flexible.  Any nuts can be used (I usually use cashew, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts or whatever I have about).  I sometimes substitute other vegies for carrot and mushrooms (red pepper, tomato, etc).  It is fine to use less butter or more whisky

2/3 cup (65g) rolled oats
2/3 cup (65g) oatmeal
generous ½ cup (65g) nuts, finely chopped
120g butter or margarine
2 medium carrots
1 large onion
125g mushrooms
1/2 x 400g can kidney beans (a generous 1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp yeast extract
1 tbsp whisky, or more
1 tsp freshly ground pepper, or more
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
3 tsp dried herbs
pinch salt if required

Melt 30g of 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 another 30g of the 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 (including the remaining margarine if desired - you may need some vegetable stock if you don't include it) and cook another 5 minutes. 

Place in a greased and lined 13 x 22cm loaf tin (I use a silicone one which I don't grease). Press down and smooth with the back of a spoon. Cook 40 minutes in a moderate oven.
 

GF chocolate cake and GF blueberry lime poppy seed cake

While we were on holiday in Ocean Grove recently we had a celebration lunch for my mum's birthday.  I volunteered to make a birthday cake.  My mum's only request was that everyone would eat it.

Making a cake for a lot of people seems like a great opportunity to experiment with all sorts of cakes.  Then I take all the preferences into account and my options narrow considerably.  Which is why I made two cakes.  The gluten free chocolate was a huge hit while the blueberry lime poppy seed cake was a bit dry and not so popular.

E took Sylvia op shopping while I baked the cake on the day before going to Ocean Grove.  It was lovely to tie on my apron, put on the stereo and be free of distractions.  I did some shopping and baked two cakes before they came back.  The house wasn't tidy but you can't expect miracles.  (I am particular about having a tidy house to come home to after gong away for a few nights.  The tidying happened the next morning before we left!)

The strangest moment while I baked was hearing tapping on the kitchen window.  Sylvia and I had swept away the cobwebs from the kitchen window recently (see we do clean occasionally) and a poor little spider was trying to reinstate the cobwebs but a sparrow was trying to eat the spider. Made me feel a little guilty for my cleaning!

One of the ironies of blogging where a picture tells so much of the story is that sometimes the prettiest food is not necessarily the most delicious.  As was the case here.  The chocolate olive oil cake from nigella.com was amazingly soft, moist and melted in the mouth.  Even after a day it was hard to handle because it was so fragile.  (Surely the extra tsp of vinegar didn't have an impact.  I was worried it might be needed because I used Dutch processed cocoa.)

Using cocoa and olive oil made it less dense than my favourite GF chocolate cake with almond meal.  I loved how light it was.  In fact it might be a new favourite.  Especially given that it disappeared almost as fast as my mum's pavolva.  (And that is some feat!)

Making a cake to transport to a holiday house is a bit of a challenge.  It doesn't allow a lot of decoration options, especially when I forgot to take some stencils I meant to use for the icing sugar.  I did take a little jar of icing sugar and a small sieve.  I also forgot to take birthday candles.  My mum was delighted.  She is all for minimum fuss.

The second cake was a more whimsical choice.  When I offered my mum a few options she chose the plain chocolate cake because that is what most of the family would like.  We agreed that some of the other cakes were more interesting.  So I made a small one for her.  Sadly it didn't come out quite as amazing as it sounded.  I take the blame, rather than the Green Kitchen Stories where the recipe originated.

I had to tinker with the recipe to halve the size (originally in a 20cm round cake tin), including using chia seeds rather than halve an egg and trying some of the Bob Red Mills GF all purpose flour instead of almond meal.  I think the flour wasn't a great choice and in future I would use all almond meal.  I also would bake it all at 170 if baking in the smaller tin as it dried out a bit.

Perhaps it would have been more moist if I had covered it with a yoghurt frosting and blueberries.  This was a bit challenging for taking to the holiday house.  However like the chocolate cake, it was lovely with some vanilla yoghurt and berries.

I am sending the chocolate olive oil cake to Jane from The HedgeCombers who has taken on co-hosting Tea Time Treats with Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is eggs, eggs, eggs!  This cake relies on the eggs to help it rise so fits the bill.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Risoni with Chickpeas, Lemon, and Mint
Two years ago: Scienceworks - history meets science in Spotswood
Three years ago: CC Hal's Stirfry Sauce
Four years ago: A week of firsts
Five years ago: Mojos Weird Pizza – for the adventurous!
Six years ago: GF delights and fairy bites

Chocolate olive oil cake
Slightly adapted from nigella.com

50g dutch cocoa powder
125ml coconut milk (or boiling water)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
200g caster sugar
150ml regular olive oil 
3 eggs
150g ground almonds (or 125g plain flour)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt

Grease and line a 22cm round cake tin.  Preheat oven to 170 C.  Mix cocoa, coconut milk, vanilla and apple cider to a paste in a small mixing bowl.  (My paste was very thick.)   Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, olive oil and eggs for 3 minutes.  Slowly beat in the chocolate paste.  Use a spoon to gently mix in the ground almonds, bicarb soda and salt.  Bake cake for 40-55 minute (55 min for me).  It is done when sides set, middle slightly damp and a wooden skewer comes out mostly clean but perhaps with a few crumbs clinging.  Allow to sit at least 10 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

Blueberry lime poppyseed and almond cake
Adapted from Green Kitchen Stories via Scrambled Megs

2 cup almond meal (or part almond meal and part flour)
2 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup  rice bran oil (or other neutral oil)
1/4 cup honey
1 lime
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp chia seeds mixed with 4 tsp coconut milk (or water)
1/2 cup (75 g) blueberries
blueberries and yoghurt to serve

Preheat oven to 170 C.  Grease and line a round 15cm cake tin.  Place dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  In a small heatproof bowl heat oil and honey til combined (I did this in microwave - use a saucepan if you want to do it over stovetop).  Add lime zest then gently mix in lime juice, egg, chia and coconut milk.  Pour honey mixture into dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Pour into cake tin.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  (I baked mine for half the time at 180 C but I think baking at 170 might make it less dry.)

On the stereo:
Set List: The Frames

More catch up recipes from 2013

Socca with caramelised onion, pan-fried kale and tomato sauce

Following up on Part I of catch-up recipes, here is Part II of unblogged recipes from last year.

Sometimes it is hard to believe I haven't blogged some of these recipes because they are so good.  Take this Socca with caramelised onion, pan-fried kale and tomato sauce.  It was slightly adapted from Lisa's Vegan Culinary Crusade. It was so delicious.  Yet I thought I would make it again before posting about it and I never did.  I must eat more socca.  These chickpea flatbreads are amazing.

Walnut crusted tofu cutlets

I made these Walnut crusted tofu cutlets after reading the rave by Cindy at Where's the Beef.  I liked them but they were too thick and too much tahini for me.  I still intend to make them again with another nut butter.  They were rather good and E was quite taken with them.

Cauliflower pizza base

I've tried a cauliflower pizza base previously.  It was good but quite fragile.  I saw this one on Brittany Angell's Real Sustance.  It was vegan and used starch and psyllium husks as well as cauliflower and almonds.  It was more bready and more sturdy but still a bit soft.  Sylvia refused to try it.  While it was an improvement, I think I never posted it because I kept hoping I might one day have a cauliflower pizza base that I will really love.

One pot thai style peanut pasta

I occasionally hear people talk about how aspirational Pinterest is.  As though it for the dreamers.  Yet I find myself often actually making recipe found there.  However not all of them deliver what the pretty picture promises.  This One pot thai style peanut pasta from Apron Strings made for beautiful photographs but it didn't quite live up to the picture.  To be fair to the original, I made this in a hurry, made changes to the recipe and I am not overly comfortable with peanut dishes due to Sylvia's allergy.  I still like the idea of throwing everything in a pot and cooking until you have a meal.

Cashew Tofu Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Lentil Pumpkin Sauce

I have had a pasta splurge in the latter part of last year and still feel up to my eyeballs in pasta.  We don't eat it enough.  One packet of pasta was jumbo pasta shells.  I've never used them before and decided on a vegan Cashew Tofu Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Lentil Pumpkin Sauce adapted from KZ Cakes.  This was nice but filling was too strong and didn't fill enough of the pasta shells.  The recipe didn't specify the size of the packet of tofu and I think I guessed wrong.  Something to try another time.

Spinach tamales

I first tasted tamales at Trippy Taco last year and they were amazing.  Soon after I saw Katie of Apple and Spice making Spinach Tamales.  I was so excited about trying them.  They were good but didn't quite work as they should.  Katie's tamales were light and fluffy but mine were more green and more dense.  I should have tried them again but I think I am a bit wary about them and went on to try other things with my masa lista flour.

Noodle soup with kale and chickpeas

This recipe for a Noodle soup with kale and chickpeass is from 2012 or earlier.  So long ago.  It was made on a night when Sylvia jumped from the arm of the couch and bit her lip so hard that blood poured everywhere.  I only know this because I still have my notes.  I am not sure how much I enjoyed it but I did note that I added yoghurt at the end because it needed a lift.  It was heavily adapted from Heidi's New Year Noodle Soup recipe at 101 Cookbooks.  I used split peas, pumpkin, kale, chickpeas,  and the juice of limes from the garden.

Cabbage and corn vermicelli salad with almond coconut dressing

If I remember rightly I really enjoyed this Cabbage and corn vermicelli salad with almond coconut dressing from Denis Cotter's For the Love of Food cookbook. His recipes have long complex titles and are long and complex but they are delicious and innovative.  My version didn't look much like his photo, but then again I didn't really follow his recipe.  It was an Asian style salad.  So I was horrified when I suggested E put ketjap manis on it and he doused it in ketchup.  It was made for a lazy holiday lunch and just what I needed.

Mexican rice bowl

This Mexican rice bowl was inspired by Two Peas and Their Pod.  I really like the idea of "dinner bowls" full of good grains, proteins and vegetables.  This one had corn, spring onion, tomato, kidney beans, green capsicum, avocado and lime rice.  I noted that I needed to work on the lime rice.  I think it needed a bit more flavour to bring the bowl together.  Must try this again.

the chickpea thing from the Moroccan Soup Bar

Cindy recently reminded me of the chickpea thing from the Moroccan Soup Bar that she had blogged at Where's the Beef? many years back.  I was too lazy to toast pita bread but decided to use the Tucker caramelised onion gourmet crisps that I showcased here.  I didn't do much measurement - lots of chickpeas and yoghurt with a little tahini, lemon juice and garlic, probably seasoning.  Excellent for a quick lunch.

Low Fat Chocolate Cake

I found the Low fat chocolate cake from the Australian Women's Weekly that I found on Laws of the Kitchen.  Reading my notes reminds me why I made it (I had leftover egg whites) and why I wasn't so keen on it.  We had some chai powder we didn't really like so I put it in the cake when I ran out of cocoa.  Silly idea.  The cake was too sweet and I blamed the chai powder.  After that I threw out the chai but never got around to trying the cake again.

Chocolate rice bubble slice

Lastly I will mention this Chocolate rice bubble slice.  I mentioned it in a post last year with a few notes but I still have it on my to do list to revisit.

Now I just need to finish my catch up on cafes I haven't blogged and my backlog will seem a little more bearable!

Catch up recipes from 2013 - some good ideas, craft and heatwave

Maple roasted carrots with chickpea pilaf and greens

Occasionally I made something that I love.  I wish I had taken better notes, I use some leftovers that make it unlikely I would be able to repeat it or I just want to remember an idea rather than a recipe.  Here are a few meals or ideas I have loved but they are not quite bloggable for various reasons.

Above is a meal that delighted me with its vibrant colours.  I was pleased with the maple syrup roasted baby carrots but can't remember how I did it - probably just olive oil, maple syrup and a pinch of salt.  Served alongside leftover chickpea pilaf (made with purple carrots), steamed broccoli and pan fried asparagus.  So simple.  So delicious.

Pumpkin, white bean, quinoa pie with a tofu topping

I made a delicious pumpkin, white bean and quinioa soup.  It was quite thick.  I had some leftover pastry from stargazy pie that had been in the freezer for a couple of months.  I was quite pleased to make a yummy pie with the pastry using the soup as filling and some tofu, tahini, nutritional yeast flakes and lemon juice for the topping.  I rolled, pricked and baked the pastry for 20 minutes at 180 C and then added the filling and topping and baked a further 30 minutes.  

Sweet potato fritters with lentils and rice and fried leeks and spinach

My first recipe from Otteleghi's Plenty was an idea.  I really liked the look of his sweet potato fritters but didn't have the ingredients so I used what I had.  Mashed sweet potato, parsley, egg white, fried onion gravy, cumin, smoked paprika, seasoning, and self raising flour.  Fried until golden brown.  Served with some rice and lentils and fried leeks and spinach. The fritters were so delicious I ate some cold for lunch the next day.

Sweet potato galettes with Mexican bean stew and broccolini

Another success with sweet potato that I loved but felt was made on the hoof rather than with much method.  Again it was inspired by an Ottelenghi recipe - this time for Sweet Potato Galettes.  However in my galettes I used smoked cheese and walnuts instead of goats cheese and pumpkin seeds.  It then was even more different because I had some pesto mixed with cauliflower puree and yoghurt (which needed using).  I spread it on the puff pastry before layering the sweet potato, smoked cheese and walnuts.  It was so so so good.  Served with some leftover Kidney bean (and corn) stew and a pile of broccolini.

Cranberry sauce ice cream

After Christmas I saw Ricki's recipe for Cranberry ice cream.  Her ice cream was creamy and pink.  However I was a little wary of the stevia and thought I would try it with some condensed milk. Wrong!  It was so sweet. ( (Using 1 jar cranberry sauce, 1/2 tub cream cheese, 1/2 tin condensed milk and 165ml tin of coconut milk.) However it was cold and creamy.  I enjoyed it with some overcooked jam tarts (forgotten while chatting to the neighbour) made with mixed berry jam and chocolate pastry.

  Chocolate pizza with berries and coconut cream

A more successful sweet experiment was using up coconut whipped cream that was leftover after baking cashew butter scones. Sylvia is a big fan of chocolate and berry pizza.  I think it might have been made with one of my attempts at a sourdough pizza base.  The coconut cream worked well here.  I was glad to use up some of it.  Most of it was a bit neglected, I regret to say.  Sylvia was delighted with the pizza.

Home made merry go round

As this post is an eclectic one I thought I would include some craft and some reflections on the heatwave.  The craft merry go round was Sylvia's and my brain child.  It was made of paper plates (painted), toilet rolls in the middle, straws, sticker horses etc and some sticky tape.  It is not perfect but was lots of fun.

Our wilted plants after the heatwave

And finally a few notes on the heatwave last week:

• Our plants didn't fare too well with the heat.  I moved the tomatoes and blueberry plants into the shadier part of the yard but moved them out again when it rained and then forgot to return them to the shade. Our  few tomatoes are gone and what blueberries were left by the birds are now burnt to a crisp.  It is a sad and sorry sight compared to this.
• Going to see the Angelina Ballerina musical at the air conditioned Arts Centre was a nice way to escape the heat.  (If only the show was more entertaining and less stuck in gender stereotypes!)
• E spoke to someone whose family saw dead possums dropping out of the trees so the father was spraying water on any live possums he saw to help them cope with the heat.
• Dinner outside - vegies drizzled with this Caesar dressing - was bliss after the cool change broke.
• After the lethargy brought on by the heat, I was full of energy on Saturday with the cool change.  Not only did I bake sourdough bread but I also thoroughly cleaned a section of the kitchen bench and the appliances that live there.  It had seen a lot of action lately.

This is Part I of three catch up posts.  Stay tuned for Part II on recipes and Part III on places to eat out.

Dashing Car Birthday Cakes

While my Irish nephew Dash was visiting over Christmas and New Year, he celebrated his birthday with his Australian family.  I offered to make a cake and asked what he would like.  He asked for Ricky Gervais' Flanimals.  I didn't rise to the challenge.  Instead I gave him some suggestions from my bookmarks and he asked for the robot car cakes.  (Don't ask about the robots!)

On the evening before his birthday I made three loaves of gluten free chocolate mudcake.  Then in the morning before going to Geelong to celebrate his birthday, Sylvia and I decorated the cakes.  It was fairly easy to make, though spreading some of the icing was fiddly.  And the lolly shop was out of liquorice shoelaces so we could only find it in a coil which meant it had a mind of its own.

We managed to get to Geelong by 2pm with the cakes, a present and our sanity intact.  Hurrah!  Unfortunately I bought presents that would threaten anyone's sanity.  Perhaps it was just the thought that they would be taken back to Ireland far away from me that made me so irresponsible as to buy a water squirter and a whistle.  Dash was gorgeous in his excitment over presents.

Fergal had done an amazing job of decorating the house for Dash's birthday.  Love the wrapping paper fives!  I wish I had his pizazz with decoration.  He also turned a box of small crisp packets into a pinata!  Genius! 

Once the pinata rained crisps on us, Fergal and Chris organised some party games.  Pass the parcel.  (Sylvia is still enjoyed her Pez lollie dispenser she won!)  Musical chairs.  (Am sure Ella will not play this again while holding a baby!)  Musical statues!  (Dash has some very groovy moves!)  Then there was playtime in the backyard with a little trolley, a hoop and the dogs!

To start we had dips, hot dogs, pastitzi and vegetarian sausages.  Then it was time for the sweet food.  Dash was indulged with Aussie party food that gave my mum a break from the kitchen!  Fairy bread, lamingtons, doughnuts and jam tarts.  (I couldn't resist giving the photo an antique effect because this my family's nostalgia food.)

And at the centre of the sweet food was the cakes.  Dash loved them.  Everyone loved the cakes!  Fergal was in charge of the music and found an appropriate song.  Grace Jones "Pull up to the bumper".

Unfortunately after making an effort to make a gluten free cake I realised that only the back of the cars were gluten free thanks to the liquorice and oreos.  The was enough.  In fact there was so much cake leftover that half of it went in the freezer and was finished off at Ocean Grove.

That evening Sylvia and I stayed for a sleepover with Dash.  We went for a walk down by the river and a play at the fun park.

I particularly love this photo of Sylvia running after Fergal and Dash on the flying fox.  Nearby my parents talked to a little girl about her dog.  She said her dog was not very old and Dash replied with the sense of ridiculous that I love in children: "but is it older than a cow?"  Huh?

Then we headed back to my parents' house to light sparklers and let Sylvia and Dash sleep top to toe for a few peaceful minutes.  Then, Children separated so they could sleep and party over, we relaxed with some cocktails whipped up by Fergal.  Here is my mojito mocktail and my dad's cosmopolitan.  Now that is a great way to finish a fun birthday.

How to make car cakes
Adapted from Betty Crocker via No Meat and Three Veg and Craftulate

1. Bake the cakes.  

Bake the cake in 3 small loaf tins.  I used this mudcake recipe but added a bit more wattleseed and cocoa because it doesn't have the whiskey in it (being kid friendly).  I used Bob Red Mills All Purpose Gluten Free Flour instead of the wheat flour and it worked beautifully (with 1 tsp extra baking powder to account for the plain flour replacing self raising).  My tins were 20.5 x 10.3 cm.  I bought them specially for the cake and while I may not need that many again, it was very handy to have three for the cakes.  Craftulate used disposable foil tins which is another possibility.  If possible leave cakes overnight before any decoration.

2. Shape the cakes.

This is pretty easy.  Two of the cakes will be the bodies of the cars.  Cut the third cake in half on an angle and turn one over.  Place each on the middle of one of the full cakes.  I started icing before placing cakes together but it meant I iced one of the tops upside down so would shape first.  I used a knife to shave off some of the top of the green car but didn't do this with the purple car.  These cars aren't meant to be perfect so shaping with a knife is unnecessary unless it looks really lopsided.  (The problem is that once you start shaping this way you can whittle away quite a lot of the cake in search of perfection!)

3. Ice the cakes.

I don't usually do a crumb coat but it helped here.  (A crumb coat is where you ice very thinly over the cake to seal in the crumbs and make the second coat of icing easier.)  I used some leftover buttercream and left it to dry while I prepared fresh buttercream.  I think I had a bit over a cup each of the green and purple buttercream, plus some extra white for the windows.  The buttercream frosting I used is similar to this.  It took a bit of patience to ice the door frames and then fill in the windows, but the liquorice helped smooth over small imperfections.

4. Decorate the cakes.

This is the fun bit.  Except if your liquorice has been coiled really tightly and doesn't want to stay where you put it on the cake.  But playing with lollies is always fun.  Use black liquorice laces to line the windows.  Any round yellow lollies can be the headlines - we used caramel buttons.  We used red lollies for the rear brake lights.  Jubes were the flashing light on top.  I used some green liquorice laces to make the fender between the headlights.  (Is it a fender - I don't know cars at all!)  I have also seen some cars with racing strips along the bonnet that looked cool.  Finally you will need almost a whole packet of oreos (or other round chocolate biscuits) for the wheels.

I am sending these cakes to Jac of Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes.

On the Stereo:
Never Loved Elvis: Wonderstuff

NCR Vegan caesar salad

I am so over this heatwave.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the last of the run the 40 Celsius days.  Meanwhile it is well and truly salad weather.  I tried a Caesar Salad tonight.  It is not something I have ever eaten.  Experimenting was fun.  And yummy.

I will have to let the picture of the tempeh bacon speak for itself.  I am currently one of the recipe testers for Ricki Heller's new cookbook that is due out late 2014.   It is exciting to be helping Ricki and making some of her amazing recipes but I will have to wait til the cookbook is out to share more details.

However having some tempeh bacon was the inspiration to finally make a Caesar Salad.  It has been on my to do list far too long.

I think a Caesar Salad interests me but has never been top of the list of foods I must eat.  Too many egg, bacon and anchovies.  And not that many vegetables except lettuce.  Which is not my favourite vegetable.  But I had an iceberg lettuce in the fridge.  It would do.  And I had found a tofu omelet I loved last year.  I modified it to use up some silken tofu.  (See mixture above)

It wasn't the quickest of meals (though perhaps quicker than breakfast this morning when I had to bring in last night's washing before it got really hot, dealt with Sylvia's grumpiness and helped the new next door neighbour who locked himself out of his home!).

I did love all the exciting components in it.  Even the croutons were exciting because I used some of my own sourdough bread and some garlic infused olive oil I recently bought.

Once everything else was ready I finally made the dressing, using two recipes and some intuition.  It was surprisingly good.  Quite sharp with mellow undertones.

What I have isn't a recipe but a list of components.  We have leftover lettuce, dressing and omelet.  Now I just need the heat to abate so I can bake a nice loaf of bread and make snadwiches.

I am sending this salad to Lisa for No Croutons Required, a vegetarian soup and salad blog event co-hosted with Jacqueline.  After seven years of giving us themes, our hosts have opened the event to any vegetarian soup or salad. 

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Leon Superfood Salad
Two years ago: What vegetarian is that?
Three years ago: CC Nigella's Sugar Roasted Peaches
Four years ago: Cheese and Almond Loaf
Five years ago: Curry traditions – of sausages and potatoes
Six years ago: Scrumptious Sugarfree Slice

Caesar salad

Lettuce
Vegie bacon bits (such as tofu bacon or tempeh bacon)
Croutons (see below or for a gf salad make polenta croutons like lisa's)
Chopped tofu besan omelet (see below)
Caesar dressing (see below)

Arrange lettuce, vegie bacon, croutons, omelet in a large salad bowl or in individual bowls.  Drizzle over the dressing and serve.

Croutons
3 small slices of bread (preferably stale)
2-3 tbsp garlic infused olive oil

Chop bread into dice sized chunks.  Heat oil in a frypan over medium heat.  Toss bread through oil and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until starting to brown in a few spots and crisp up.  Reduce heat to low and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes to crisp through.

Caesar dressing:
Adapted from My New Roots and Where's the Beef

2 tbsp cashew butter
1 clove garlic, choped
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp tamari
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp capers
1/2 tsp dulse flakes (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients except the water.  Gradually add water until you have a pouring consistency.  (I think mine could have been slightly thicker as it lost some of the creaminess but was still good with 1/4 cup of water.)

Tofu besan omelet
adapted from here

300g silken tofu, drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon mirin
6 tbsp besan (chickpea flour),
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion granules
1/2 tsp sea salt
pinch black salt
1-2 tsp canola oil, for frying

Blend tofu, olive oil and mirin in blender.  Transfer to bowl and mix in remaining ingredients.

Heat heavy bottomed non-stick frypan over low heat and swirl around 1 to 2 tsp of oil to cover the pan.  Pour in the thick batter and use the back of a spoon to swirl it around the pan (I think my omelet was about 22 or 23cm in diameter).  Cook for 10 minutes on low heat and then cover with a large saucepan lid and cook another 10 minutes on low heat.

Use an eggflip or spatula to loosen so it slides around the pan.  Carefully flip (or slide) onto a dinner plate and cool in the fridge until required.  Leftovers can be used in sandwiches.

On the Stereo:
The Folk Songs of Britain: Vol 5, Child Ballads II