A fine wee Haggis

It's Burns' Night tonight, the celebration of Scotland's favourite son, the poet Robbie Burns, and traditionally the feast is made with the "Great chieftain O the puddin'race!" which is the haggis. Frankly, one needs a good reason to eat it, even with plenty of anaesthetising whisky although the vegan in me applauds the use of the offal. If you're going to kill an animal to eat, you shouldn't waste a scrap of it.

Last year I made our celebration meal from scratch (you can see it here) and it was easy enough, but we failed to flush a fresh haggis out of the heather and had to make do with a frozen one this year. Macsween have cornered the vegan retail market for this oatmeal based savoury pudding and their offering is reliable and pleasant.



The traditional accompaniments are the hardy swede, which is often known as a "turnip" in Scotland and pronounced as 'neeps and a huge steaming mound of mashed potatoes.



A damn fine gravy helps everything go down so I made a caramelised onion and red wine sauce to douse the beast in.

Plug your ears, we're going to pipe in the pudding!



The haggis is already carved and in the centre, the very last portion of last year's effort, recovered from the freezer and added for contrast. A thrifty and economical race, the Scottish.



Enjoy your meal!

And this is one of the Bard's best, slightly more appropriate for a vegan blog than the usual Address to a Haggis often declaimed this night.

To a Mouse.

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An' fellow mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't.

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's win's ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turned out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Pumpkin

A lovely big pumpkin like the one above can cause some issues. It's just too darn huge for one meal (unless you happen to have 20 at the table) and yet once it's cut, it has to be used up relatively quickly or it will go to waste.

Such a pumpkin has been forming the basis of our meals for a week now. It's not quite as tedious as it sounds but has required some ingenuity to keep the culinary interest going.

Again I've forgotten to take pictures of our workaday meals but the menu so far has included a Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta bake. Made with wholewheat rotini, the pasta in spiral shapes, and with some sausages gathered from Infinity foods on our trip to Brighton at the weekend, this was a comforting and easy start to a week of late suppers while the Mr. does some overtime at the salt mine.

Infinity may not be the cheapest wholefood store around but they do have a very good range of stuff and on our rare trips to the south coast I enjoy revisiting a place that was a considerable influence on my early veggie life.

Whilst the pasta baked slowly in the oven I also roasted a large chunk of the pumpkin, in its peel and cut side down, so that it became soft and luscious and a lot of moisture was removed from the rich orange flesh. Then on Tuesday we had Thai Pumpkin Stuffed Giant Mushrooms. These were so much nicer than I expected I should have taken more notice of the way I made them. Cooked pumpkin was involved and Thai spices and a little coconut milk but I'll have to make them again before I can guarantee a repeatable recipe.

Wednesday night we had a seitan and vegetable stew and then I attempted something I hoped would be a winner, a brown sugar and oatmeal crusted pumpkin and coconut pie for pudding. It tasted really good but stuck to the pan and couldn't be extracted to look like anything remotely delicious so that one is back to the chopping board, so to speak, and will have be reworked. Still, that used up the last of the oven roasted squash.

For Thursday it had to be sushi. We had maki rolls and inarizushi followed with some more pumpkin pie, this time with a hot chocolate sauce.

But there was still nearly half a pumpkin left. Although I could perhaps have made a Kolokithopita, a Greek savoury pumpkin pie made with filo pastry my enthusiasm for immediate pumpkin consumption has waned. Instead I decided to use up the leftovers in a sweet fragrant chutney that is good with faux meats and cheeses, great in salad sandwiches and makes an excellent addition to the relishes served with the poppadums on curry nights.

Chilli Fennel Pumpkin Conserve.

1kg fleshy pumpkin (after peeling and seeding)
500g white sugar
10g salt
2 or 3 dried red chillies
1-2 tsps fennel seeds

Chop the pumpkin into smallish pieces and put into a large bowl with the salt and sugar. Cover and leave to allow the juices to run. This will take a couple of hours but I usually leave it overnight.

Tip the pumpkin, its sugar and juice into a large non-reactive saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is dissolved completely add the chillies (to taste, but you're aiming for a gentle warmth not violent heat) and fennel seeds. Don't overdo the seeds either, this is a very subtle chutney.

Bring everything to boil and simmer away briskly until the liquid is reduced by about half. If you have a sugar thermometer aim for jam temperature (105C). The conserve won't set but the syrup will be nice and thick.

Pot into warm sterile jars (this will make about 2 jars, 340g to 450g sized) and seal immediately. Ready to eat in a week.




One whole big pumpkin used up, no waste!

Terre a Terre Restaurant Review

I've got kittens. Did I say? It's all a bit time consuming, and we're having a frugal month (with new kittens! who am I kidding?) and I've been feeling a bit peaky so food hasn't been exactly exciting or worthy of mention for the last week or two but to celebrate a family birthday last Saturday we all went out to Terre a Terre which is possibly the best vegetarian restaurant in the south of England.

We'd saved our appetites all day for the event, Terre a Terre is a restaurant we're able to visit perhaps every 18 months and we wanted to have plenty of room. That meant we were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures. As a substitute I've done some very quick (and rather poor) sketches of what I remember we had to illustrate but I must stress that they may not be fully representative of what actually came out of the kitchens which was very pretty indeed.



This was my starter. Smoked Sakuri Soba; Chilled Tamari Soba noodles, piled with crisp raw vegetable spaghetti, bean shoots and mizuna leaves, surrounded by umboshi plum white miso and rice wine dressing, served with toasted smoked tofu, spice satay, doused with warm toasted sesame oil, red ginger and pomegranate beads, as they say on the menu. Looks like I missed the cashews off the picture although I remember eating them now.

It was really nice although the two beige sauces weren't sufficiently characterful to be worth while having the second one, the large blob, on the plate. I'd rather have had a little more of the sauce beneath the tofu, which matched the other ingredients far better.

One of the other guests had the Tikka halloumi kebab starter and seemed to enjoy it and our other guest had some of the appetiser nibbles which I used to think were wildly exciting but now seem rather plebian since I've learned to make them all at home and serve them regularly there.



We had a bit of an issue with the mains. There are only a few vegan choices and we'd hoped to sample all of them by having a mixed spread around the table but one option was so popular that we ended up having two plates of that and a veggie dish that the Mr. and me couldn't try. Anyway, just to be different to everyone else I chose the Chana Chaat - which is as anyone might have guessed; Chaat spiced poori layered with black salt smashed potato and chana peas, heaped with mint , corriander and coconut limey served with hot mustard seed muffin, tamarind jelly and a Kerela soup sas.

It was really lovely and had I cooked it myself I would have swooned at my own cleverness but we eat Indian food quite often in many of the very excellent restaurants around and so I was disappointed that on a big night out I ended up with curry again. The mustard seed muffin was a fun addition and I think I enjoyed that the most, dipped in the sauce.

The others had Porcini Pudding and Cranberry Kraut; Little steamer crammed with port and porcini mushroom ragout served with mashed potato truffle cream, mulled red carmel cabbage and cranberry kraut, finished with chestnut milk and parsnip crisps.

This was a bit mushroomy for me although I tried the truffle mash and a little of the pudding. The others thought it was great and the veggie option of Kalamata Coka; griddled thyme onion potato flat bread, loaded with rocket pesto, topped with minted grilled feta, served with cucumber, tomato and onion salad, Kalamata crush and pungent tzatziki with heaps of oregano and flat leaf also seemed to go down well.



Despite being utterly stuffed we weren't going to stop there and ordered puddings! Mr. S-C and I shared a plate of Churros, served with a chocolate dip and some vodka soaked cherries, and the others had Treacle Tart (far too much on the plate, she ended up taking it home for later) and some of the house chocolate truffles, because they come in a box and can be saved to take home easily too.

Although we'd mentioned nothing to the staff they had twigged we were a birthday party and really sweetly, and without undue fuss, presented the truffles on a plate decorated with birthday wishes and a candle. Very touching and it made the birthday girl's meal.

So, to sum up, a good evening was had by all. It's not the cheapest night out but if you need pampering, understanding staff and excellent food it's definitely worth the trip to Brighton. They are usually very busy so be sure to book, I used the online system and it worked well.

Detox

There is, apparently, very little beneficial effect to be gained by following any of the popular modern detox regimes. I know this from reading one of my favourite blogs Junkfood Science which rather beautifully identifies the flaws in the research underlying a lot of the recommendations of health professionals and the subsequent hysteria accompanying it to do with our bodies, our food and our lives. Take a good long read if you're concerned about your own health, your children's health or the interests of politicians and big business in your future wellness.

But all that aside, there is something appropriate about a few days of meagre eating after a big blowout. Throw out the fats and oils, embrace whole grains, fruits and water. The system benefits from a rest and the mind is comforted after the dyspepsia of festive feasting.

Miso soup is one of those foods that soothes and relieves over indulgence anxiety, and it's so easy to make that it's barely more difficult than one of those fancy high caffeine espressos that are normally knocked back two or three times a day (in this house anyway!).

Make a little stock with a carrot, some kombu, perhaps a small piece of celery or leek. A slice of fresh ginger can be added sometimes for variation if you like it. Allow it to simmer for 15 minutes or so, then allow to cool in the pan before straining out the vegetables.

Finely chop your soup additions. I had a bit of roasted pumpkin to hand and a baby leek, but you might prefer some shreds of mooli radish or some carrot flowers or even a few leaves of baby spinach and spring onion. If you like a few tiny cubes of soft tofu will make a nice addition. The idea is to garnish the soup with something pretty and tasty but not to fill your bowl with it.

Dissolve a big tablespoon of your favourite rich miso in a couple of spoonfuls of the cool stock and keep to one side. This makes it easier to mix in at the end.

Bring your stock back to a simmer, add your garnishes and cook just long enough to take away the rawness. Then turn off the heat and stir in the diluted miso.

Eat immediately. The picture doesn't do it justice (and I'm having some camera troubles which don't help)

Picture this

1. paella, 2. coconut drop scones, 3. peanut butter choc cups, 4. late to the party, 5. chickpea pancake with tomatoes and herbs, 6. chocolate orange loaf cake, 7. pakoras, 8. Chili with Sprinkles, 9. Cauliflower: Pickled, 10. Potatoes in a Lemon Peanut Broth, 11. dandelion syrup, 12. tempeh tofu roast, 13. hot and sour, 14. quinoa tabbouleh, 15. guac, 16. Frozen Strawberry Margarita, 17. chocolate brazil biscotti, 18. roast tofu, 19. cookies, 20. spinach stuffed tomatoes, 21. filled, 22. Miso soup, 23. moschata, 24. aubergine, 25. summer fruits jelly

During one of my moments of madness I broke the blog by changing the permissions on my flickr sets to private. This had the effect of preventing blog readers from viewing the pictures that go along with recipes. When I changed the permissions back, it was too late, something at flickr had changed and in order to reinstate those shots I have to individually fix everyone of them. It's slow work.

Here are a few of those missing pictures arranged via a tool at BigHugeLabs.