Apple tarte tatin, beer-glazed carrots, salads, and soup with leftovers

(Nederlandstalige versie)

I missed a few days of VeganMoFo, and I still have photos of market finds & meals that I hadn’t posted yet, so I’m going to combine them in an attempt to catch up. :)

I bought this back in July so I’m not sure what everything cost, but we’ve got rainbow carrots, courgettes, fennel, turnips, daikon, fresh herbs, lettuce, apples, strawberries, and cherries …

… which brings me to Wednesday’s prompt: favourite late summer foods. Stone fruits are definitely one of my favourite things about summer! In July it was cherries, recently it’s been nectarines; I love them all, and I hope I’ll get to eat a few more before summer is truly over.

On the other hand, it’s been raining for days and I’m also starting to crave cold-weather foods. Like roast potatoes. In this picture I served them with tempeh, a salad of lamb’s lettuce with apples and walnuts, and beer-glazed purple carrots and turnips.

Let’s talk about omega-3s for a minute! (Day 11: specific nutrient.) You can get your alpha-linolenic acid by eating foods like flax seeds, chia seeds, or my favourite: walnuts. The walnuts in the salad pictured above were extra delicious because they’re from my aunt and uncle’s garden. (They gave me a big bag of them for my birthday. Aren’t edible gifts the best?) For more on omega-3s in a vegan diet (It’s also in full-fat soy products! But do you need a supplement?), read this post from The Vegan RD.

Day 14 was about sharing something vegan with a non-vegan, so here are some leftovers I shared with my boyfriend. We had flatbread, chickpea flour scramble, hummus, some kind of fresh coriander sauce, harissa, falafel, shaved fennel and courgette salad, pan-fried courgette, rocket, and fennel soup. (His plate probably had less salad and more bread, scramble, and falafel, but it still counts as sharing!) I imagine this plate would be a nightmare for people who don’t like their foods to touch, but I kind of love meals like these.

Finally, if you haven’t tried the tarte tatin recipe from Vegan Eats World, you absolutely should. (It’s also on Terry’s blog.) I mean, I didn’t even follow the recipe properly and it still tasted fantastic. This might even be good enough to serve to Obama (day 15).

Links of the day

Reading the other posts for this prompt, though, maybe I’d better send Obama over to someone else’s home. I’m sure he would love these grilled cheese sandwiches by Lazysmurf, these portobello steaks with parsley basil pesto by Jessica from Sprouts & Chocolate, or this tomato and mushroom pizza from Emily/la.vida.vegana.

Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

(Nederlandstalige versie)

I missed Friday’s MoFo prompt (may make up for it later), but I had to come back to tell you about my favourite cookbook! You probably know about it already because it’s a vegan classic, and it definitely deserves all the love it gets: my favourite is Veganomicon.

This may be the book that’s taught me the most about cooking. It was one of my first cookbooks when I went vegan back in secondary school, and I’ve cooked from it more than from all my other beloved books. I’ve even used it in my BA thesis! (It was on recipe translation.)

The book

Thankfully, this book was built to last. The pages in mine are stained, and the cover may have accidentally been used as a cutting board (Once. Maybe twice?) – but it’s not even close to falling apart.

The book isn’t picture-heavy (the only photos are inserted in the middle), but I still find myself wanting to try every single recipe when I leaf through it. Isa and Terry’s writing is so entertaining that I’m inspired just reading their descriptions, and I can always find pictures of the final dishes on forums and blogs.

The recipes

Veganomicon has been so useful to me while learning how to cook. It starts with basic techniques and cooking times for vegetables, grains, and beans. The mix-and-match chapter provides simple ways to flavour those foods and to pair them with vegan proteins like tofu, tempeh, and seitan. But this book definitely doesn’t consist of basic recipes only – it provides full menus with everything from spicy tempeh nori rolls and chestnut-lentil pâté to heart-shaped apple galettes and jelly donut cupcakes. To give you an idea, these are some of the recipes I’ve tried.

My favourites: Walnut-mushroom pate (page 64), Quinoa salad with black beans and mango (page 84), Snobby joes (page 98), Marinated Italian tofu (page 128), Chickpea cutlets (page 133), Pumpkin baked ziti with caramelized onions and sage crumb topping (page 194), Tofu ricotta (page 206), Cashew ricotta (page 206), and Fresh rosemary focaccia (page 220).

Others I’ve loved: Grilled yuca tortillas (page 49), Acorn squash and black bean empanadas (page 55), Samosa stuffed baked potatoes (page 60), Curried carrot dip (page 62), Sun-dried tomato dip (page 62), A hummus recipe (page 67), guacamole (page 69), Chocolate chip brownie waffles (page 74), Blueberry corn pancakes (page 76), Black bean burgers (page 98), Cornmeal-masala roasted Brussels sprouts (page 107), Eggplant-potato moussaka with pine nut cream (page 164), Leek and bean cassoulet with biscuits (page 172), Red lentil-cauliflower curry (page 186), Lasagne marinara with spinach (page 196), Almesan (page 207), Backyard BBQ sauce (page 207), Poppy seed-cornmeal roti (page 221), Carrot-pineapple sunshine muffins (page 226), Chewy chocolate-raspberry cookies (page 234), Fudgy wudgy blueberry brownies (page 242), Lower-fat deep chocolate bundt cake (page 256), and Chocolate ice cream (page 261).

Roasted eggplant and spinach muffuletta sandwich

I’ve posted about recipes from this book before, but I wanted to try another one just for this review. The roasted eggplant and spinach muffuletta (page 100) is a huge sandwich stuffed with spinach, roasted aubergine/eggplant and peppers, and olive and sundried tomato relish. I’ve always wanted to try it but I’ve never had exactly the right ingredients, so this time I decided to just make it with what I had.

I used all green olives instead of half kalamatas and I chopped them by hand instead of using a food processor, I left out the celery seed, and I roasted my own tomatoes and yellow peppers. I also couldn’t find a good round loaf of bread that wasn’t way out of my usual price range, so I made my own – which meant I made two smaller sandwiches instead of a single big one.

What a sandwich. I was planning on serving it with a soup, but once we’d tried a bite of the muffuletta we decided it would make a fine dinner on its own. I still think it would be nice with a lentil soup for a bit more protein, but I was surprised by how filling the sandwich was with just vegetables and olives.

This muffuletta works best if you make it well in advance so the olive relish has plenty of time to soak into the bread. I took mine out a little early so I could take a picture, but I have leftovers steeping in the fridge so I can’t wait to go and eat them.

Sample recipes

If you don’t have Veganomicon and you’d like to try a few dishes before buying it, these are recipes from the book (some slightly modified) that are available on the PPK blog.
– Potato latkes
– Seitan piccata
– Eggplant potato moussaka with pine nut cream
– Quinoa salad with black beans and mango
– Chickpea cutlets

Links of the day

Picking a favourite cookbook is hard! I was happy to see fellow MoFo bloggers highlighting some of my other favourites, including Appetite for Reduction (on Vegan Eats & Treats) and Vegan Brunch (on Kelli’s Vegan Kitchen). I also loved seeing recipe recommendations for books I want to use more often, like Authentic Chinese Cuisine (on Dandelion Vegan Blog), Isa Does It (on Vegan Crunk), and Vegan Eats World (on Vegan à Montréal).

And of course I’ve read many reviews of wonderful cookbooks I don’t currently own – but I expect everyone’s added lots of cookbooks to their wishlists after today, so I’m not going to tempt you by linking to more of them. :) Instead, check out Zsu’s round-up of the second week of VeganMoFo!

Dumpling stew with chickpeas and fennel

(Nederlandstalige versie)

I’m seeing a bunch of beautiful things for the “something blue” prompt today! Me, I’ve got a recipe for days when you’re the one feeling blue. It’s nothing special, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s the kind of meal I like when I’m ill, or sad, or cold, or just craving chickpeas and dumplings. I first discovered dumplings like these in the Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk zine, so that’s what my recipe is based on as well.

Ingredients
Serves two (with leftovers, which taste even better)

For the stew:
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
3 medium-sized leeks, halved and thinly sliced
2 fennel bulbs, halved and thinly sliced
3 medium-sized carrots, halved and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chickpeas
1 litre (about 4 cups) salted vegetable stock
a few sprigs of fresh parsley, minced
freshly ground black pepper

For the dumplings:
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
120 ml (1/2 cup) plain unsweetened soya yoghurt

Preparation

1. Add the 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil to a pot or large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the leeks and fry them for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the fennel and carrots as you chop them.

2. Stir the minced garlic into the vegetables and cook for a minute or so, then add the chickpeas, stock, parsley, and black pepper. Turn the heat up to high and cover the pan with a lid while the stock comes to the boil.

3. Meanwhile, make the dumpling dough. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flours, the baking powder, the salt, and the dried basil. Pour over the oil and soya yoghurt and stir to form a relatively firm dough — but try not to overwork it.

4. Turn the heat down once the stock has come to the boil. Take tablespoon-sized pieces of the dumpling dough, roll them into balls, and place them on top of the stew. I got 13 dumplings out of this recipe. Cover the pan with a lid again and let the stew simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the dumplings are firm to the touch.

5. Garnish with more fresh parsley and fennel fronds if you like (or if you’re taking a picture). Serve hot.

Links of the day

I know my post for this prompt is a little late, but there are so many other blogs to read! Here are some of my favourite blue things from today/yesterday:
– Vegan gorgonzola (available in Barcelona — so no, not a recipe, but still really cool to see!) posted by Caitlin from The Vegan Word
– Homemade blue food colouring made with red cabbage and baking soda by Kuri the Vegan
– Blue cookbooks (with quick reviews) by Susan from Kittens Gone Lentil

Chocolate fondue and biscotti

(Nederlandstalige versie)

It’s retro day! I’ve been looking forward to reading the entries for this VeganMoFo prompt, but I didn’t have a solid plan myself. I wanted to make something in my Mum’s old Wonder Pot, but we didn’t have all the parts. Then I started to look through old cookbooks, and while I found a few amusing recipes, I didn’t see anything I would actually like to eat. I thought I might skip this prompt until I saw this post by Jo from Hello Seedling: fondue! Even if I couldn’t make a full savoury fondue spread, I figured I could at least do chocolate fondue for dessert.

Fresh berries are probably my favourite for chocolate fondue, but we had bananas and those were nice too. I also made a batch of vanilla and almond-flavoured biscotti. They were basically one of the recipes from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar with all the mix-ins left out because we’d be dipping them in chocolate anyway.

This was fun! Not too much work, not overwhelmingly sweet, and I still got a retro-ish meal into my day.

Our actual dinner was mushroom stroganoff with pasta and broccoli. Stroganoff was on my to do list, I had mushrooms I needed to use up, and I saw that Sal from Alien on Toast had posted this as her retro recipe, so it must have been meant to be. My version was somewhere in between Sal’s recipe and the one in Vegan with a Vengeance, both adapted to what I had in the fridge. My fresh pasta skills still need improving, but I loved the stroganoff!

Links of the day

– Hannah from House Vegan wrote about malt shop hamburgers, milkshakes, and her love of the 1950s.
– I’ve never had a prawn cocktail, but Amy/nos.da made one with Fry’s prawns that actually sounds good! Emil from Hasta La Vegan took it one step further and made prawn cocktail waffles.
– Sandwich cake!

Seitan stew from De Groene Keuken and lemon sago pudding from Little Vegan Bear

(Nederlandstalige versie)

The eighth day of this Vegan Month of Food is all about reaching out and making new vegan friends! I figured this would be a great opportunity to hop onto Randomofo and stop by more blogs I hadn’t commented on before, and to tell you about my dinner from yesterday, because I made two new recipes that I discovered during the first week of MoFo.

Sara from De Groene Keuken posted this seitan stew as her recreated restaurant meal on Sunday, and I wanted to try it right away. Now, I know my picture doesn’t do the recipe justice (I just wish I’d added some fresh herbs or something) — but aren’t the ugliest dishes often the most delicious? This stew has caramelised onions, mustard, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar, among other things. I cooked it for about two hours and kept adding more of the stock I’d boiled the seitan in, so it was super flavourful by the time it was done cooking. I wasn’t sure about which vegetables to pair it with, but I had peas in the freezer and they went quite well with the chips and stew.

This was also my first time making seitan by kneading plain wheat flour and washing out the starch instead of using vital wheat gluten. It was much easier than I’d thought, and kind of fun!

For dessert, I made the lemon sago pudding that Caeli from Little Vegan Bear posted for the childhood meal theme last week. I’d had a jar of pearl sago in my cupboard ever since I’d bought it for this delicious seitan recipe, so I was excited to use it in a sweet dish too. It may not look very appetising (I may have made mine a bit too thick, and I can see why Caeli calls it frog’s eggs!), but I thought it was really tasty and so simple to make. I’ve made pudding with tapioca flour before and really hated the slimy texture, but I thought these little balls were much more pleasant to eat.

Links of the day

– Check out this photo of Sonja from Tartes and Recreation — she’s helping out at her local VoKü to cook meals for thousands of refugees Munich, Germany.
– I saw a few bloggers interviewing each other for today’s theme – such a fun idea! I enjoyed reading these interviews with Kyra and Bianca.

Stuffed grape leaves and roasted chickpeas (A Feast for Crows)

(Nederlandstalige versie)

[W]hen the door finally opened it proved to be only the servants with her midday meal. “When might I see my father?” she asked, but none of them would answer. The [chickpeas] had been roasted with lemon and [spices]. With [them] were grape leaves stuffed with a mélange of raisins, onions, mushrooms, and fiery dragon peppers. “I am not hungry,” Arianne said. … “Take this away and bring me Prince Doran.” But they left the food, and her father did not come. After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate.

– George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows

OK, so the original quote didn’t say chickpeas, but it’s the Vegan Month of Food, and I didn’t want to spoil anyone’s appetite. :) I made a few meals inspired by Game of Thrones last year, and I’m glad today’s prompt is giving me an excuse to try more. The main character in this chapter got left out of the TV series completely, so I highly recommend reading the books if you’d like to know more about her and other characters from Dorne (and not just because their food sounds so good).

I’d never stuffed grape leaves before. I looked at a few recipes for a plain rice-stuffed version and adapted them by mixing raisins, onions, mushrooms, chillies, and herbs into the rice. The bottoms got a little crisped and burnt because I didn’t add enough water while steaming (whoops), but thankfully they softened up and were all right after a night in the fridge.

The chickpeas were much easier: I coated them in a mixture of oil, lemon juice, cumin, paprika, syrup, lemon pepper, and salt, and roasted them at 180-200 °C (350-400 °F) until they were nice and crunchy — just keep checking on them and stirring them up so they don’t burn.

Links of the day

– Lacey from Avocados and Ales posted this blue ice cream with galaxy macarons inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy. Look at the colours on those macarons! I couldn’t stop saying “wow!”, “WOOOW” as I was scrolling through her post.
– More blue food: Tracy from Stairway to Vegan made blue leek and potato soup inspired by Bridget Jones’s Diary.
– Mike and Sarra from Fake Meat & True Love recreated Todd Ingram’s chicken parmesan and gelato from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. You’d better try their versions if you want to hold on to your vegan powers.

Dame blanche

(Nederlandstalige versie)

When I read today’s VeganMoFo prompt — to recreate a restaurant meal — there were plenty of dishes that came to mind. There’s the cashew fondue from De Hagedis, the vegan kapsalon from De Vegetarische Snackbar, the babi pangang from De Oude Plek …

But in the end, I chose something else, because
1. I didn’t have the time/ingredients to do those restaurants’ dishes justice anyway, and
2. I had a stronger craving: ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Dame blanche (aka vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce) used to be one of my favourite desserts to order when we went out to eat, and I think it’s a shame that vegan versions aren’t easier to find! But fine, we’ll just make our own. I used this ice cream recipe from Serious Eats with a few changes in order to use the ingredients I already had. I didn’t have corn syrup, but keukenstroop is also supposed to be high in glucose so I used that. I had some vanilla-infused whiskey from a vanilla extract experiment, so that went into the mix as well. My biggest mistake was probably that I used cheap (watery) coconut milk which made the ice cream a bit icy — but nothing a generous amount of chocolate sauce can’t fix!

Links of the day

I’m loving everyone’s recreated restaurant dishes and I’m seeing so many things I want to eat! Right now, I would particularly like to try this stoverij with seitan from De Groene Keuken and this aubergine/eggplant parmesan from Vegan Eats & Treats.