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| Cooking the jam |
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| Mince pie fruit |
Monday 26 December 2011
PHOTOS!!!
My Christmas Gifts
I have actually been doing a lot of cooking lately even though I haven't posted. The food was for Christmas presents so I didn't want people to find out what they were. Everything has been opened now so this is what I made: mince pies with a cinnamon and orange pastry, almond and cranberry biscotti and festive jam and for those preferring savoury some olive and roasted pepper tapenade and chilli vodka. They were meant to be "hampers" but I couldn't find good baskets to put them in so I wrapped them up in clear tuppaware boxes to keep some things fresh or just wrapped the jars or bottles.
I will start with the easiest first. I found this "recipe" from many sources- chop 2 red chillies and leave in a bottle of vodka for around 5 hours (I left it overnight). This was strained and decanted into two 500ml glass bottles (we used two small empty wine bottles). Before they were wrapped I put a whole chilli in as a decoration.
The orange and cinnamon pastry I adapted slightly from a recipe on allrecipes.co.uk:
225g plain flour
4 tablespoons icing sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
150g vegan margarine
2 tablespoons orange zest
Beat all the ingredients together into a dough. Hands work best (especially boyfriends' hands if you don't like getting your hands messy like me!)
We did have to add more flour and icing sugar to make it less sticky (quite a lot but I couldn't quantify it). I would also recommend a little more zest and cinnamon as it was quite a subtle taste and I would have preferred more. This makes around 18 pies.
For our mince meat we adapted a recipe from delia online. This makes at least four times what you need for the quantity of pastry listed but it can be stored in sterilised jars for a while:
225g chopped and cored Bramely apples
110g vegetarian suet
around 500g mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel)
175g soft brown sugar
zest and juice of an orange
zest and juice of a lemon
25g flaked almonds
2 teaspoons allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
a good few slugs of brandy
Mix all of the ingredients except the brandy together and sit for as long as possible (up to 12 hours but we only had time for 3). Add the brandy and cook in a low 120 degrees celcius oven for 3 hours with a loose covering of foil.
Once the pastry has been rolled and put into greased cupcake tins then a spoon of the mixture can be put in each one followed with a pastry lid. These can look particularly good in festive shapes like stars. Brush with some soya milk and put into a 200 degrees oven until light golden brown (around 15- 20 mins). Dust with icing sugar to serve.
The almond and cranberry biscotti was my favourite thing we made. This was adapted from a recipe from food.com.:
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup apple sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup fresh cranberries cut in half.
Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in one bowl and the sugar, applesauce, oil and extracts in another. Mix the contents of the two bowls together. Add the cranberries and almonds. push into baking trays lined with grease-proof paper. Preferably with the width the same as you want the length of your biscotti. Cook in a 160 degree oven for about 25 minutes until light brown. Take out and cool for a little while. Chop the biscotti to the right width and turn each one on it's side. Put back into the oven at 150 degrees for around 5-10 minutes and then turn over and repeat.
The olive tapenade was just a made up recipe:
2 red peppers
1 jar of green pitted olives
2 big spoons of capers
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh corriandar
4 cloves garlic
a few drops of tabasco
a bit of pepper (and salt if the olives and capers weren't in brine)
The peppers were roasted in a hot oven until they were turning black and then very simply all the ingredients were whizzed together in a food processor and put into jars. It made about 2 jars.
The jam was the most time consuming but not as hard as I thought. The recipe was again adapted from food.com.
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup apple sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup fresh cranberries cut in half.
Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in one bowl and the sugar, applesauce, oil and extracts in another. Mix the contents of the two bowls together. Add the cranberries and almonds. push into baking trays lined with grease-proof paper. Preferably with the width the same as you want the length of your biscotti. Cook in a 160 degree oven for about 25 minutes until light brown. Take out and cool for a little while. Chop the biscotti to the right width and turn each one on it's side. Put back into the oven at 150 degrees for around 5-10 minutes and then turn over and repeat.
The olive tapenade was just a made up recipe:
2 red peppers
1 jar of green pitted olives
2 big spoons of capers
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh corriandar
4 cloves garlic
a few drops of tabasco
a bit of pepper (and salt if the olives and capers weren't in brine)
The peppers were roasted in a hot oven until they were turning black and then very simply all the ingredients were whizzed together in a food processor and put into jars. It made about 2 jars.
The jam was the most time consuming but not as hard as I thought. The recipe was again adapted from food.com.
3 cups of cranberries
2 cups pitted cherries
1 orange and zest
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup of water
85g liquid pectin
I used frozen cherries and cranberries but they need to be thawed beforehand (believe me we broke a hand held food processor this way!).
All of the fruit and spices were combined in a food processor until roughly chopped (or use a hand held processor). This was then added to a big pan with the sugar and water and heated until bubbling vigorously (not stopping when stirred). Add the pectin at this point and bring back to the vigorous boil for a minute. This should be added to sterilized and hot jars. The jars should then be boiled for 10 mins each and left to cool to seal the jars.
These all seemed to go down well and I enjoyed tasting them as well! The hampers started out as a way to give something nice while trying to save money (we are trying to move into a new place soon) but it ended up being more expensive than we managed as quality ingredients are important. But I was so happy with the results and I think it showed how much work went into them.
I would like to say a massive thank you to my boyfriend for helping so much even though he is not a fan of baking. and also to his housemates for letting us cook in their house!
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
I am having some trouble putting the photos in at the right places being new to blogging. I also managed to lose the best photos off my phone. I will blog the photos next and see if I can retrieve some better photos!
2 cups pitted cherries
1 orange and zest
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup of water
85g liquid pectin
I used frozen cherries and cranberries but they need to be thawed beforehand (believe me we broke a hand held food processor this way!).
All of the fruit and spices were combined in a food processor until roughly chopped (or use a hand held processor). This was then added to a big pan with the sugar and water and heated until bubbling vigorously (not stopping when stirred). Add the pectin at this point and bring back to the vigorous boil for a minute. This should be added to sterilized and hot jars. The jars should then be boiled for 10 mins each and left to cool to seal the jars.
These all seemed to go down well and I enjoyed tasting them as well! The hampers started out as a way to give something nice while trying to save money (we are trying to move into a new place soon) but it ended up being more expensive than we managed as quality ingredients are important. But I was so happy with the results and I think it showed how much work went into them.
I would like to say a massive thank you to my boyfriend for helping so much even though he is not a fan of baking. and also to his housemates for letting us cook in their house!
I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
I am having some trouble putting the photos in at the right places being new to blogging. I also managed to lose the best photos off my phone. I will blog the photos next and see if I can retrieve some better photos!
Tuesday 6 December 2011
The Parsnipship- Surbiton
The Parsnipship at Surbiton is a newly established vegetarian and vegan caterers. It is run by my sister and my cousin so you may think I will give it more favourable reviews but I will do my best not to. At the moment they are having a stall at the Merton Abbey Mills market every weekend (Saturday and Sunday 10-5).
My first visit was this Saturday and although the weather was a little wet it was really nice to look round the whole market which had a variety of wares for sale. My boyfriend even had some Mauritius food (he didn't have vegan food but I believe there were some vegan friendly options like deep fried aubergine, yum!).
Anyway back to the parsnipship- of all the products they had available that day, at least half were vegan including a red wine and tomato passata, root vegetable burgers, indian summer pudding (savoury which confused my boyfriend very much), some pate's and two varieties of "flowerpot bread" (so called because they were cooked in flowerpots).
We bought root vegetable burgers, indian summer puddings and some orange and lemon bread.
Last night I cooked the indian summer puddings (they come with cooking instructions- very simple) and had them with salad and some fried potato chunks with onion, garlic and chilli.
They were really really nice. They weren't too big, which I find is usually the problem with pie-like things, and full of a chickpea and vegetable mixture. The pastry was perfect even though being cooked twice. My omnivorous boyfriend ate all of his without a single scrap on his plate which is a massive compliment as if he doesn't like something it usually ends up in the bin (my falafel and morrocan couscous creation- which in fairness was not the best!).
The food they sell has some changes everyweek and if you follow them on facebook or twitter you will be able to find out the specials that week.
I would definitely recommend a trip down there- you can freeze the food for a delicious easy meal at a later date!
grrr...just tried to add a photo but the stupid uni computers wouldn't let me- again I will do this at a later date.
Jules x
UPDATES: PHOTOS!!!
My first visit was this Saturday and although the weather was a little wet it was really nice to look round the whole market which had a variety of wares for sale. My boyfriend even had some Mauritius food (he didn't have vegan food but I believe there were some vegan friendly options like deep fried aubergine, yum!).
Anyway back to the parsnipship- of all the products they had available that day, at least half were vegan including a red wine and tomato passata, root vegetable burgers, indian summer pudding (savoury which confused my boyfriend very much), some pate's and two varieties of "flowerpot bread" (so called because they were cooked in flowerpots).
We bought root vegetable burgers, indian summer puddings and some orange and lemon bread.
Last night I cooked the indian summer puddings (they come with cooking instructions- very simple) and had them with salad and some fried potato chunks with onion, garlic and chilli.
They were really really nice. They weren't too big, which I find is usually the problem with pie-like things, and full of a chickpea and vegetable mixture. The pastry was perfect even though being cooked twice. My omnivorous boyfriend ate all of his without a single scrap on his plate which is a massive compliment as if he doesn't like something it usually ends up in the bin (my falafel and morrocan couscous creation- which in fairness was not the best!).
The food they sell has some changes everyweek and if you follow them on facebook or twitter you will be able to find out the specials that week.
I would definitely recommend a trip down there- you can freeze the food for a delicious easy meal at a later date!
grrr...just tried to add a photo but the stupid uni computers wouldn't let me- again I will do this at a later date.
Jules x
UPDATES: PHOTOS!!!
The stall- with my lovely sister on the far right
Indian Summer Puddings
Flowerpot Bread
Monday 5 December 2011
A Taste of Heaven (Tulse Hill, London)
I have been meaning to blog about this place for a while. I was so excited to hear of this new restaurant opening as I literally live about a 10 minute walk away. I had picked up a menu on my way past one day and had been salivating ever since. A few weeks ago I had my friend Jen staying (which I think I have mentioned in a previous post) and for a weekend treat we decided to have breakfast there.
We were immediately greeted by friendly staff and chose a seat by the window (we did have the full choice seeing as no one else was there!). I pretty much knew I wanted the full vegan breakfast before I arrived and when we got there Jen decided on the same. It came with sausages, grilled tomatoes, sauteed potatoes, mushrooms with a light covering of a creamy sauce, baked beans and toast. You also get a hot drink. The food was yummy! It was not very greasy- a good thing and I was very glad it wasn't fried bread as I always feel sick after that. I have got to admit it wasn't my top vegan breakfast ever but it was still good and being a new restaurant it may improve even further. With my drink I branched out a bit and got hot carob. I've got to admit I was not a fan. I love hot chocolate and I definitely have a bit of a sweet tooth so it just didn't quite hit the spot for me.
One of the best features of the restaurant though is the absolutely lovely staff. There were just two there when we went- a guy who was quite obviously new as he had to relay all our questions back, and a woman who I presume is an owner as she asked us how we'd heard about the restaurant and we had a good chat.
I would recommend going here definitely. There is still a lot on the menu to explore yet- I particularly want to try the carrot cake and bakewell tart and it would be nice to have dinner there sometime. It would be really nice to get people knowing about this place as I do think more custom would help. It is a little off the map and that's why I think it struggles a bit but with people spreading the word I am sure it will become a thriving business.
We were immediately greeted by friendly staff and chose a seat by the window (we did have the full choice seeing as no one else was there!). I pretty much knew I wanted the full vegan breakfast before I arrived and when we got there Jen decided on the same. It came with sausages, grilled tomatoes, sauteed potatoes, mushrooms with a light covering of a creamy sauce, baked beans and toast. You also get a hot drink. The food was yummy! It was not very greasy- a good thing and I was very glad it wasn't fried bread as I always feel sick after that. I have got to admit it wasn't my top vegan breakfast ever but it was still good and being a new restaurant it may improve even further. With my drink I branched out a bit and got hot carob. I've got to admit I was not a fan. I love hot chocolate and I definitely have a bit of a sweet tooth so it just didn't quite hit the spot for me.
One of the best features of the restaurant though is the absolutely lovely staff. There were just two there when we went- a guy who was quite obviously new as he had to relay all our questions back, and a woman who I presume is an owner as she asked us how we'd heard about the restaurant and we had a good chat.
I would recommend going here definitely. There is still a lot on the menu to explore yet- I particularly want to try the carrot cake and bakewell tart and it would be nice to have dinner there sometime. It would be really nice to get people knowing about this place as I do think more custom would help. It is a little off the map and that's why I think it struggles a bit but with people spreading the word I am sure it will become a thriving business.
Thursday 1 December 2011
Itadaki Zen (King's Cross, London)
Hi Everyone,
My course has been so busy that I haven't had time to write anything recently but I still have some things to write about.
A couple of weeks ago my dad, my boyfriend and I went for dinner to Itadaki Zen- an Organic Vegan Japanese Restaurant! SO many good things wrapped up in one. Now I still haven't remembered to take many photos- the only ones I have of my own is and empty bottle of Sake and a full boyfriend but I will try and find some photos of some of the food we ate on the internet.
I have to say I was extremely excited about this! I hadn't had Japanese food since a fateful trip to Yo! Sushi when I was younger which my dad never fails to remind us of where me and my sister did not like any of the sushi and just ate so many desserts! Dad says he is still paying it now!
As usual on dinner trips with my dad we decided to get many little dishes to share.
Starting we had spring rolls with tofu, some wild garlic rolls and some seaweed rolls. The sushi was delicious, although I couldn't really tell the difference- no garlicky taste and not much filling but all the same I enjoyed it. But the spring rolls- gosh they were good! Tofu should always be put in spring rolls it was amazing. Plus the way they were cooked was just so light and felt much less oily. Definitely the best spring rolls I have ever tasted!
Next came a tempura salad on a bed of noodles, Ryokusaimaki (spring greens wrapped round vegetable and okara) and then another dish with vegetables and a peanut sauce. The tempura was absolutely amazing but I have always been a fan. And the noodles underneath were nice and thick with a pleasing sauce. The ryokusaimaki were also really nice with a lovely smooth texture of the almost pureed vegetable mixture but the cabbage-y aftertaste stayed with me for the rest of the night which, although I do love cabbage, was not really what I wanted for so long. The dissapointment was the peanutty dish- as you can probably guess from me forgetting the name and details. We purposely chose a dish with peanuts because we all love them. Unfortunately you could barely taste the peanuts. It was still nice to eat but nothing special and a disappointment if you were really looking forward to some peanuts like me!
For dessert we chose: sesame pudding, macha pudding and the itadaki zen muffin. I've got to say I was not a huge fan of either of the 'puddings' but I think I just don't like jelly-like things that aren't classic jelly but both my dad and boyfriend enjoyed the sesame pudding. My favourite was definitely the muffin which was sugar free and came with a tofu vanilla cream which was delicious. I think though next time I would probably order more savoury food and skip the desserts.
All in all it was a lovely experience and I would definitely visit again. It was not expensive at all and just a lovely setting to relax and have some delicious food.
I have just realised I have the photos I do have on a different computer so will upload another time.
My course has been so busy that I haven't had time to write anything recently but I still have some things to write about.
A couple of weeks ago my dad, my boyfriend and I went for dinner to Itadaki Zen- an Organic Vegan Japanese Restaurant! SO many good things wrapped up in one. Now I still haven't remembered to take many photos- the only ones I have of my own is and empty bottle of Sake and a full boyfriend but I will try and find some photos of some of the food we ate on the internet.
I have to say I was extremely excited about this! I hadn't had Japanese food since a fateful trip to Yo! Sushi when I was younger which my dad never fails to remind us of where me and my sister did not like any of the sushi and just ate so many desserts! Dad says he is still paying it now!
As usual on dinner trips with my dad we decided to get many little dishes to share.
Starting we had spring rolls with tofu, some wild garlic rolls and some seaweed rolls. The sushi was delicious, although I couldn't really tell the difference- no garlicky taste and not much filling but all the same I enjoyed it. But the spring rolls- gosh they were good! Tofu should always be put in spring rolls it was amazing. Plus the way they were cooked was just so light and felt much less oily. Definitely the best spring rolls I have ever tasted!
Next came a tempura salad on a bed of noodles, Ryokusaimaki (spring greens wrapped round vegetable and okara) and then another dish with vegetables and a peanut sauce. The tempura was absolutely amazing but I have always been a fan. And the noodles underneath were nice and thick with a pleasing sauce. The ryokusaimaki were also really nice with a lovely smooth texture of the almost pureed vegetable mixture but the cabbage-y aftertaste stayed with me for the rest of the night which, although I do love cabbage, was not really what I wanted for so long. The dissapointment was the peanutty dish- as you can probably guess from me forgetting the name and details. We purposely chose a dish with peanuts because we all love them. Unfortunately you could barely taste the peanuts. It was still nice to eat but nothing special and a disappointment if you were really looking forward to some peanuts like me!
For dessert we chose: sesame pudding, macha pudding and the itadaki zen muffin. I've got to say I was not a huge fan of either of the 'puddings' but I think I just don't like jelly-like things that aren't classic jelly but both my dad and boyfriend enjoyed the sesame pudding. My favourite was definitely the muffin which was sugar free and came with a tofu vanilla cream which was delicious. I think though next time I would probably order more savoury food and skip the desserts.
All in all it was a lovely experience and I would definitely visit again. It was not expensive at all and just a lovely setting to relax and have some delicious food.
I have just realised I have the photos I do have on a different computer so will upload another time.
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