Bread and Veg

Rustic Mushrooms en croute with lettuce and peas

Oat cakes

These really simple oatcakes are great with pâté or spreads. The recipe is so easy that it's debatable if it's worth recording but I was pleased with them and will make them again so for my own records at least, here they are.



250g rolled oats.
60g wholemeal flour
100g white vegetable fat
4g salt
4g bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp. smoked hot paprika
60-75 ml boiling water

Cut, rub or process the fat into the dry ingredients then add just enough hot water to bring everything together in a soft dough. Use a metal knife or spoon to protect your fingers.

Turn the mixture out onto a board, lightly dusted with oatmeal, and knead gently until the dough is well mixed and uniform. This will only take a couple of minutes.

Roll the mixture out to about 5mm thick and cut into crackers with the cutter of your choice. I used a 7.5 cm round one.

Bake at 190C for 20 to 25 minutes until they smell toasty and look slightly golden.

Roses are red

I'm never quite sure about this catering kick for Valentine's Day. After a gut busting blowout, full of champagne, asparagus and chocolate, I'm more likely to need to sleep it off than indulge in passionate exercise, and for me, that's sort of missing the point of the celebration of adult love.

So skip the big meal on the 14th and have a threesome in bed with your loved one and this homely little cake. You'll be making sweet luurve all night and the cake will just provide a touch of needed energy for when things start to flag.



Yep, it's a Black Forest Gateau, a tired old cliché or an old favourite revisited depending on your need for trendiness. I hadn't made one in years because I'm no fan of vegan cream and without cream the cake doesn't really work but now we can buy Soyatoo whipping cream and although it's decidedly fake tasting it doesn't do a bad job in a rich confection like this, oozing with cherries, brandy and chocolate.

Make a pair of sponge cakes:

Line the base of two sponge tins (not bigger than 20cm max diameter) with parchment or greased greaseproof paper. Heat the oven to 180C

215g non-dairy milk
60g light vegetable oil (unless you like the taste of olive oil and chocolate)
2 tsp. cider or white wine vinegar (to activate the baking powder)
1/2 tsp. almond essence

150g granulated sugar
150g plain flour
35g cocoa powder
10g baking powder (that's not quite a french packet)
tiny pinch of salt

Mix the wet ingredients together, then add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix well and divide between the two pans equally. Bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes. The cakes should be just firm to the touch without being gooey. You need a very moist soft texture so don't overbake.

Allow to cool before proceeding.

To make up, you will need a small carton of Soyatoo whipping cream (or other vegan double cream substitute) whipped, some form of cherries and some grated good quality chocolate.

Split each cake into two layers. This is quite difficult. I used a large sharp knife but I've found a piece of cotton can make an effective cake 'wire'. The sections will be very fragile so work carefully but don't panic if they crumble a little. You can stick them back together with the filling.

Place a section of cake on your serving dish and cover it with preserved stoned cherries, lightly cooked and stoned fresh cherries, cherry conserve, those expensive cherries you get at xmas with the liqueurs in them, jam - you get the idea, use the best you have - then sprinkle over a couple of tablespoons of alcohol. Kirsch is ideal but brandy is good and creme de cassis works too.

Cover with a section of cake. Now cover that section, which will be the middle of the cake, with cream. You will have lot more cream than me because we'd already used half our carton for something else. Be generous but remember the sheets.

Repeat with next two layers of cake. You should now have a stacked cake four layers high with two fillings of cherries, one of cream and cream on top.

Sprinkle the top with the grated chocolate and decorate as you fancy.



There you go. A symphony of lovely sweet romantic joy. And those four plates in the picture? You really don't need to ask about those.

Tofu en meurette

Tofu cooked in a rich red wine sauce

This is a classical French dish, or it would be if tofu had ever formed part of the traditional French larder. It's really easy to cook and pretty good to eat if you can find a half good bottle of wine to use in it. Unfortunately when I came to make this last week all I could find was an exceptional bottle of wine and a rather dusty bottle of Elderberry 2001.

Anyway, don't do as I do, do as I say.

A couple of packs of firm tofu, say 500g, frozen, thawed and squeezed to remove the moisture.
100g vegan sausage - I used some Fry's polony.
3 tbs. olive oil
1 small onion (about 100g) chopped finely
1 tbs. flour
500ml water
1 bottle of drinkable red wine. If you want to call this Bourguignon, use a Burgundy!
Bouquet garni - minimum of parsley, thyme and bay but add some lovage or celery if you have it.
12 tiny onions and 12 button mushrooms for garnish if you're expecting guests

Use a heavy casserole suitable for hob and oven.

Chop the sausage into small pieces and fry gently in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and continue to cook, covered, until the onion is melted but not browned.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir continuously for a couple of minutes, then make a sauce by adding the water slowly, mixing in each addition until the flour absorbs it. If you do this carefully there will be no lumps. Bring to the boil, salt lightly and add the bouquet garni. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so.

Add the red wine, bring back to a simmer for another 15 minutes while you prep the tofu.

Chop the squeezed dry tofu into bite sized chunks, fry off quickly in a hot frying pan and a little oil until it colours up a bit. You might want to add some soy sauce at this point but I must warn you, the French wouldn't.

Put the tofu in the sauce and stick the whole casserole in the oven (180C) for about an hour.

If you want the garnish, peel the onions and wipe the mushrooms but leave both whole. Fry them quickly to colour and add to the pan 15 minutes before serving. A sprinkle of finely chopped parsley is pretty too.

I served ours with roast potatoes, mixed colours because I can but use what you have, and would have added some lightly cooked green beans but I forgot.

Bon appetit.

Lime Pickle

Warning: This pickle is very very strong and a little bit bitter. We like to make it at least a year before eating it to allow it to mature and mellow. Luckily, it keeps well.

We've been making this for several years now. The pot we're currently eating is labelled 2007 and is still good with curries and fried tofu sandwiches. It really isn't something for the faint hearted though and should be sampled in tiny amounts with plenty of rice. The hotness can be regulated to an extent, I usually only use 15 red chillies and few or no green chillies but try the full amount if you think you're man enough. It is flavourful enough to carry the heat.

If you can get curry leaves, add half a dozen to the frying spices for added perfume.

20 limes
Salt to taste
15-25 dried red chillies
15g fenugreek seeds
10g cumin seeds
10g mustard seeds
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tbsp. mustard powder
8 bulbs garlic (about 80 cloves)
12 green chillies or 1 large sweet green pepper
600 ml malt vinegar (or other 5% vinegar)
4 tbsp. mustard oil (if you can get culinary mustard oil) or rapeseed oil


Cut the limes into wedges or chunks, put into a glass bowl and salt well. I use about 30g of salt in this and consider it a minimum, it is an integral part of the process and product. Cover the bowl and allow to sit for up to 24 hours.

Make a curry powder by toasting the dry chillies, the fenugreek, cumin and mustard seeds for a few minutes and then grinding finely. Don't burn the spices. Fenugreek is very hard. You may substitute a teaspoonful of ground fenugreek if you can get some which is fresh and aromatic. Don't overdo it as an overdose tastes foul.

Mix your curry powder with the turmeric and mustard powder and hold to one side until needed.

Peel your garlic. If you are using fresh green chillies then wipe them clean and remove the stem end. If using a pepper, then take the flesh from the seedy core and slice it into long slivers to look like green chillies.

Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed non-reactive pan (a stainless steel pressure cooker for example) and toss in the curry powder mix. Add the limes, their juices, the chillies and garlic, give everything a good stir and add the vinegar. Stir again.

Cover the pot and simmer, stirring frequently for about an hour until the lime peels have softened and the sauce is forming, then remove the lid and continue to cook slowly, stirring often, until the pickle is thick and a line can be drawn across the bottom of the pan with the stirring spoon.

Pot into sterile jars and seal immediately. Label and store in a cool dark place for at least 12 months. Makes about 4 jam jars full.