Saturday Breakfast

Latkes with Tomato Jam, served with a big mug of coffee.

Back soon.

Beetloaf

This is a favourite recipe I don't make often because I'm too lazy to do the grating required but it's filling, tasty, economical and, dare I say it, good for you. It's also just the sort of no-nonsense old fashioned vegetarian home cooking I crave from time to time.

The recipe makes a large loaf tin roast which can be served straight from the oven, eaten cold with bread or crackers or reheated in a sauce so despite making six good servings it's ideal for the single diner. I've never tried freezing it but I'm sure it would.

You will need:

250g grated potato (about one large, well scrubbed so no need to peel)
250g grated beetroot (about 2 medium. Scrub them well, no need to peel, trim the root end and use the leaf stem stubs to hold the root while you grate it)
150g finely chopped onion
100g fine breadcrumbs, wholemeal is best.(I used my coffee grinder to make mine!)
100g coarsely ground nuts - almonds, walnuts, cashews, whatever. (the grinder struggled here, and few nuts were left whole which was rather nice)
75g tahini (or peanut butter or if all else fails a tablespoon of oil)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
black pepper
2 tsps dried herbs (thyme, sage, mixed, de Provence) or the equivalent in fresh

Mix the vegetables, crumbs and nuts together. Dilute the tahini with the soy sauce and mix everything together with the pepper and herbs.

Bake in a well oiled loaf tin for about an hour at 180C. Line the bottom of the tin with a strip of oiled baking parchment if the turning out whole is important but usually you'll get away with it anyway. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out to decorate in whatever retro fashion floats your boat. I've seen meatloaf recipes suggest masking in tomato sauce or ketchup even. Interesting.

I served mine with dutch oven steamed potatoes and leaf cabbage, dressed with an onion miso gravy.

Ketchup catchup

This is what I made with the pot of tomatoes I was working on yesterday. Two litres of simple, rich, thick tomato ketchup.

Last year I tried quite a range of different recipes for tomato jams and ketchup and they were good but they weren't quite the same as the thick red gloop of my misspent youth. This is much closer to the mark and has no garlic or onion in it.

You will need 9 litres of fully ripe, washed and roughly chopped (in halves or quarters) red tomatoes and a pot big enough to take them all. I'm not sure what the weight is but I'll be filling the pan again tomorrow and will weigh it then for an update. *** UPDATE *** The weight of tomatoes in my pan full is about 7kg/15lbs.

Without adding any extra water, set the pan of prepared tomatoes over a low heat until the juices start to run, then give it all a good stir and turn the heat up for 20 minutes or so until the whole pan is full of soft, cooked tomato goodness.

Turn off the gas and allow to cool a little. This is for your comfort, so if you can take the heat move straight onto the next stage.

Run the softened tomatoes, skin, seeds and all through a food mill. You'll need something like this, I bought mine four years ago and it's still going fine.



This will remove the seeds and any lumpy bits but still press most of the skin and flesh through. When it's all done you'll have reduced the volume in the pan to about 6 litres.

Put it back on the heat, bring to a simmer and allow to reduce, stirring frequently to avoid it catching, until it's 3 litres, a half of what you started with. A big preserving pan with graduations on the side is helpful but you could use a ruler. Measure the depth of liquid when you start and stop when you get to half of that. It does take a bit of time so keep yourself busy in the kitchen while it does its stuff.

Add to the pan, 500g white (or any colour you fancy!) sugar and 500ml of 5% (or greater) vinegar - I used a 5% cider one. Season with two teaspoons of paprika, 1 teaspoon of ground allspice, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and three dried red chillies. The spicing is up to you, this is lightly fragrant. If you use whole spices you'll probably want to strain them out before bottling. Add 25-30g good salt. I used sea salt.

Stir everything in and then reduce the volume again to two litres. You'll need to stir much more frequently now and the sauce will spit so use a long handled spoon, wear an oven glove or wrap your hand in a tea towel to avoid burns.

When the sauce is reduced it should be thick enough but you can reduce it a little more if you like a really rich dollop with your chips.

Pour into warm sterilised bottles or jars and seal the lids. If you want you can heat treat this for longer keeping. Put on the caps but don't tighten and process in a simmering water bath with the water up to the neck of the bottles for 25 minutes, then remove and tighten caps. We'll use it all up before it has a chance to go off so I haven't bothered. Refrigerate after opening.

Macaroni con funghi

Hello again! The long delay hasn't been because I've died due to mushroom poisoning, rather that the season has progressed from potatoes and courgettes to fungi and tomatoes pretty much seamlessly and it's still stretching my ability to come up with something fresh and interesting.



My days are spent rendering tomato products and drying and freezing various fungi for the winter. Today I had a big pot of tomatoes that were becoming passata and some mixed varieties of mushrooms - chanterelle, sheeps' feet and parasols - to preserve.

It seemed hopelessly Italian so for my supper I had to include some pasta. Start the pasta first, if it finishes cooking before the sauce is ready, drain and keep warm but it should all come together about right.



The sauce was made with a clove of garlic and a small onion (or use a shallot) chopped fine and softened in plenty of olive oil. When this starts to smell delicious add your prepared mushrooms and stir them around in the hot pan so that they cook and take on the caramel sugars of the onion. Add a couple of ladles of hot fresh tomato passata, salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer down for a few minutes.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce, toss well, sprinkle with some fresh green basil and serve.

Puff Ball Puff

I'm sorry it's been so quiet around here. Mostly it's because I'm just eating what's growing and cooking it as simply as possible. There are only so many ways of displaying a plate of potatoes, beans and courgettes before everyone falls asleep from boredom, the eater included.

Anyway, after the heat came the rain and that has proved to be ideal conditions for the Giant Puff Ball, currently known as Calvatia gigantea in botanical terms. Before I get too bored with these as well, and regular readers will be aware of my ambivalence to all things mushroomy, I thought I'd show you a typical presentation.

The Giant Puff Ball is a robust creature and can be chopped up and used pretty much as you would use a soft tofu or aubergine in any of your favourite dishes but I particularly enjoy them sliced and coated in a thin batter before pan frying. They also make damn fine tempura if you're in the mood for a Japanese theme.

Here the cooked slices are served with a garden salad of onions, tomatoes, mild chilli pepper, golden purslane and basil leaves. No need for dressing because of the oil already on the puffball puffs and just a bit of salt and lemon juice to bring out the flavours.

If you get the opportunity do try them, they're really quite special.

First of a New Season

We've been eating new potatoes from the garden for several weeks now but one of the varieties of potato we grow is chosen because we think it makes especially good chips. The variety is British Queen. Potatoes for making chips are usually fully mature and conditioned before use which can mean waiting until September or October before the spuds are fit but we decided to have a go with our just grown and barely legal tubers. It worked surprisingly well.



Making delicious full fat chips is pretty simple, prepare potatoes, make nice chunky chips, cook once in hot oil to cook the flesh through, then remove the chips to drain, reheat the oil and pop them back to crisp and brown. See full instructions here.



With them, because we are on the continent after all, we had real home made vegan mayonnaise.

We've always bought it before, the Plamil version for preference, one or two other less pleasant ready made alternatives but it actually took a post on David Lebovitz's blog to show me how easy it was to make this for ourselves.

You absolutely must have a good quality blender to make this but if you have that essential it's pretty easy. I've made it a couple of times now, the first time using some cereal milk, the second a small pot of soy yoghurt. Both worked just fine, so the liquid you start with isn't too significant, and you could probably experiment with whatever you have to hand. I have used grape seed oil and a mixture of grape seed and olive oils. I think all olive oil would be too strong a flavour for most purposes although if you were making aioli it might work.


80 - 100g chilled cereal milk, soy milk or soya yoghurt
20 ml lemon juice
1 clove of garlic
pinch of white pepper if liked
150g vegetable oil in a small jug with good pouring lip
Salt
Herbs or seasonings to taste


Put the milk liquid, lemon juice and chopped garlic in the blender and give it a 30 second whizz to combine, then with the motor running add the oil very, very slowly through the lid into the blades. Try to add just a few drops at a time to begin with and then a very thin slow stream so that the whole process will take several minutes to add all the oil. The mixture will begin to thicken and may make gloopy explosions as it does so don't be alarmed. When it's thick, stop the motor, scrape the mayonnaise out into a bowl and add salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp. for this quantity), extra chopped herbs and a touch more lemon juice if you like it.

You could also add hot chilli sauce and more garlic to make a rouille type sauce or chopped capers, gherkins and herbs for a sauce tartare. Just use your imagination.

If the worst happens and the mayonnaise fails to thicken, perhaps because you added the oil too quickly, then pour the curdled mess back into the jug. Put 80g of cold milk or yoghurt in the blender and start again, adding the jug contents very very slowly as if it were just oil. This classic rescue formula works, I've done it!

Intermediate Interval Separating

So I'm really sure the WHOLE WORLD would like to know what it is that I eat on those days when it's not good enough to blog about.

Here we have a prime example - casually entitled Rat Charlotte it is a tempting combination of 3 day old leftover ratatouille and some pain de mie, the French equivalent of Mothers Pride, manipulated in a classic manner.

I don't know why it is that I can't make food in portions for one person, or when I find myself with far too much to eat at any one time I don't just throw the excess away immediately. Something in my frugal guilt laden upbringing just keeps me hanging on, resenting it and yet eating it although driven to the point of anorexia.

You might make this yourself, some evening when you've no money, little other food and in desperate hunger but really, if you were me, now, you'd be better off if you didn't.

It was o.k.

Beano

Beano is on the other blog!

Sweet Caramel

I read quite a lot of non-vegan blogs. Omnivores still eat vegetables and sometimes the techniques used on meat can be subverted to more suitable foods.

This recipe on Sunflower Food Galore is something that appealed to me, so that's what I made for my dinner tonight. It's a sweet and savoury flavour, rich with garlic and pepper. Delicious.

Instead of the chicken in Sunflower's recipe I used a very firm tofu, the sort of vacuum packed longlife product which is all that's available in supermarkets here. It worked well because it was strong enough to withstand the two cooking processes needed.


True garlic and elephant garlic compared.

In the garden I've been growing elephant garlic. Technically it's not a true garlic but a leek, however it looks like garlic and smells like garlic, it's just much much bigger! For cooks, it isn't perhaps as pure a garlic flavour as it might be but it has the advantage of making nice large slices and freshly picked the sugars in it caramelise rather beautifully. It seemed the obvious candidate for the dish.

250g firm tofu
Sesame oil
Garlic (use plenty!)
30g sugar
30g soy sauce
150g water
2 tsps white vinegar
Black peppercorns - about a dozen, crushed
30g roasted cashew nuts (optional)

Slice your tofu into pretty shapes, I made triangles but cubes or batons would be just as good.

Fry them off in a little sesame oil. Keep the oil hot so that the tofu takes a good colour then remove to a holding dish. Put your sliced garlic in the hot pan for just a minute or less to colour without burning. Scrape the garlic and any remaining oil onto the reserved tofu.

In the pan, sprinkle the sugar and allow it to melt over the heat. Watch it carefully, it will start to turn quite quickly and you don't want it to burn. When it's nice and golden brown remove the pan from the heat and add a little water from your measured quantity. It will splutter and spit like mad so hold it away from you and swirl the pan so that the hot sugar dissolves - it might solidify a bit but should stir back in.

Put the pan back on the heat, add the soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and the rest of the water. Bring to the boil and return the tofu and garlic to the pan. Allow to simmer for a few minutes while the gravy reduces and thickens to about a third of the original volume. Add the cashew nuts if wanted and swirl in the sauce.

Serve with rice and other vegetables if you like.



A housekeeping note: I'm still having many more spam comments than real ones. I've no desire to help Asian Babe sites publicise their tacky goods. If it goes on, and Google have been no help over this, I might just ditch the blog. It's all rather depressing.

Day of the Bastille