Food for lovers

Pink Gin and Tonic

Valentine's Day - we don't do cards or flowers but it's always nice to have an excuse to cook a little more extensively than usual. There's nothing very novel here, mostly recipes I've made before or dishes that don't need a recipe but the scale of the four courses kept me busy for half an afternoon and of course, now we have leftovers enough for another three days!


Mushroom soup from the ladle

I made mushroom soup because it's the Mister's favourite. It was enriched with dried ceps we'd gathered in the woods last autumn and served with sourdough breadsticks.


Mushroom Soup plated


Descendientes de José Palacios Bierzo Pétalos 2004

With the main course we had this rather nice bottle of Spanish wine which was a gift from a friend.


Tomato Curry

I must admit part of the reason for choosing curries for our main course has to do with blogging. Taking pictures can interrupt the flow of an evening so I wanted stuff that could keep warm while we took the snaps. Also, although it's hardly obvious here curry was on this week's austerity menu list. So we're still on track there, in a manner of speaking!


Sag Aloo, spinach and potato curry.


Aubergine Tikka

The colour isn't very bright on this because we only had smoked paprika and that's rather too strongly flavoured to use with abandon.



We kept everything warm on one of those table top warmers powered with tealights that they have in some restaurants. Ours was a gift from the Stripey daughter.


Raspberries, blueberries and red grapes set in a port wine jelly

Something light and richly red for dessert. Made up as I went along but similar to a million other fruit jellies it ended up being more than the sum of its parts in a rather unexpected way. Very nice to eat but experiments are needed to pin down that novelty value.

And finally, the truffles. We rolled these at the table, an enjoyably sticky mutual task for a meal for lovers.


Chocolate, coconut and chilli truffles

Punch Drunk

Cottage Pie with Carrot Alfalfa Salad

This month of abstinence isn't going too well. We're eating very good food but a bit too much of it so the only really healthy thing we've managed is to cut right back on alcohol. This weekend we're relaxing completely after a meal out with friends last night and some indulgences for Valentine's day but the intention is to try for another couple of weeks of clean living from next Tuesday...


Pizza with mushrooms, yellow pepper and nutritional yeast

Bread is a real sticking point when trying to reduce calorie intake. We love it, it's an essential part of our usual diet but it's easy to eat and easy to load up with rich toppings and overeat. Still, pizza is essential for winding down on a Friday night and without cheese it's not too evil.


Made in the bottle Ginger Beer

Finally I was fascinated by this recipe for ginger beer, made directly in a pressure resistant bottle (the sort Coke or fizzy water comes in).

I was too eager and sampled it a bit early but it has great potential for brewing on the go. Give it a try,

Stewing

An enormous bowl of vegetable stew

Two more days, two more meals. Sunday night we had a huge bowl of vegetable stew, just lots and lots of vegetables; potatoes, swedes, carrots, onions, green beans, bean sprouts and leafy greens along with a handful of red lentils to thicken the broth. Seasoned with the traditional vegan flavour kit of nutritional yeast, chilli sauce and soy sauce it was warming and good.

Last night, a very similar meal but this time using Thai flavourings, some commercial green curry paste, lemon grass, ginger, kaffir leaves and coconut milk. We topped it with some cubes of fried pumpkin rice cake, of which more tomorrow.

Friday Night, Saturday Morning

Food in a Japanese Idiom

We like Japanese food a lot but although Mr. Stripey has travelled to Japan a few times I've never had the opportunity so my attempts at Japanese cookery are well meaning but probably totally inauthentic. Still we enjoyed this supper of inarizushi, tofu with bean sprouts, edamame and some griddled parsnip wafers.

The weekends are always a struggle when we're trying to live clean and frugal. Today we skipped breakfast (apparently a hearty breakfast isn't the way to lose weight) and had a light brunch followed by this rather large comparatively low fat lasagne.


A huge pan of lasagne

I made the pasta myself, which wasn't that much harder than using bought sheets and filled it with two layers of a pumpkin/onion mixture with a central layer of thinly sliced tofu. Some of the last of the home grown tomato passata from the freezer was used top and bottom with a splash in the middle for the tofu.

The topping was interesting (well, for small values of interesting) made from a handful of oven dried okara mixed with sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast and a small splash of oil. The okara worked well like this and could become a regular topping item in place of bread crumbs.

A couple more items to come from the planned menu and then I'll have to think of another one. A problem of planning ahead is that it stifles creativity a bit. We eat well but it's all things I've experience making. Next week I'll try and find some new recipes to share.


Pumpkin Tofu Lasagne with Okara topping

The third day

Leek and Mushroom Roly Poly

Happy Chinese New Year. I don't really know what came over me when I said there was nothing much going on in February. Not only does the Year of the Rabbit start, pretty important in this household for one reason or another but there's Valentine's Day and we've picked up a dinner date already. Still I won't give up.

Last night we had a thoroughly unhealthy Leek and Mushroom Baked Roly Poly with oven roasted veg and a thick miso gravy. It was great but we managed to keep the portions small and I watched the oil content carefully so I don't think anything bad will happen from it.

Tonight we had Lettuce wraps filled with home-made tofu, home grown quinoa, celery, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. Everything but the quinoa was stir-fried together in a tiny splash of oil, then the cooked quinoa was mixed in. Seasoning was black pepper and splashes of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. A final sprinkle of lemon juice reduced the need for salt.

That was so virtuous we had room for some Banana icecream and cherries.

I have a menu plan for the rest of the week but you'll have to wait, it's a surprise!


Lettuce wraps; eat with your hands

It's that time again

Yes, it's February.

In the Stripey household February is the preferred month for a time of abstinence. Its main virtue is shortness. Shortness and an absence of celebrations. Amongst its virtues are shortness and an absence of celebrations, also pecuniary shortfalls. I'll come in again...

It's a bloody good time to give stuff up. Firstly we're low on money after the spending season, secondly there are no birthdays or anniversaries to break the rule and it's not too long, a nice neat four weeks to mark off on the calendar. So, healthy eating here we come.



But, it's 9 a.m. on the first day, I have nothing to report so here's a recipe from one of our xmas book presents, Vefa's Kitchen. It's for the biscotti like things, the candied peels and orange jellies came from recipes here and here.

This is a naturally vegan recipe so it was bound to be amongst the first I chose to try from the book. It works well although I thought the biscuits were just a little bit dull. However, they perked up considerably with a glass of brandy. Just as well they're all gone now or my month of abstinence might be doomed.

Greek 'biscotti' are known as paximadia.

170g vegetable oil
120g dry white wine
2 tsps ground cinnamon (get fresh, mine wasn't)
the zest of one big orange
pinch of ground cloves (less is more!)
10g baking powder
2g baking soda
150g fine sugar (granulated works, caster would be better)
50g finely chopped nuts. (Vefa calls for hazelnuts, I used brazils and pine nuts would be great)
450g plain flour
sesame seeds for garnish

Makes about 40

Heat the oven to 180C

Sift the flour with the baking powder and soda. Add the sugar and nuts and stir in.

Mix the wet ingredients with the spices and zest. Add to the dry mix and stir until you have a pliable dough. It will look very soft and oily.

Divide the mixture into three parts and shape each part into a flat log about 5 cm across, just under 2cm high. I didn't measure mine but they were probably 20cm long. Use your hands, the oil stops the dough sticking to you. It's easiest to work straight onto your large baking sheet, all three logs can share one sheet as long as they're separated by a couple of cms. They don't spread much.

When the logs are shaped sprinkle sesame seeds along the tops and gently press in with the back of a spoon. Use a sharp knife to mark divisions about 1 cm apart along the length of the logs. Don't go all the way through but this will make it easier to divide the paximadia for the second cooking.

Bake for about 40 minutes then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven heat to 150C. Allow the cooked logs to cool slightly, then finish cutting the slices into individual biscuits.

Arrange them on their sides on baking trays (you'll need two now) and return to the cooler oven for 15 minutes. Take them out and turn the biscuits over before returning them to the oven for a final 15 minutes drying time. I just turned the oven off and left them to cool instead of timing the second drying period.

Store in an airtight tin.