Cooking every day

But little time for blogging. Here is a haul of vegetables from the local Farmers' market in Newport Pagnell. I'm missing my French veggie patch which could have supplied most of these lovely things but still, it's nice to support other growers.

Things I have learnt

Yesterday was the Supper Club Rehearsal Lunch. It was a success I think, with no major disasters and a good time had, but it was a learning curve and these are some points to remember.



Despite starting several days beforehand we were still cleaning, assembling tables and ironing tableclothes just before the guests arrived. It is sometimes difficult to know what to do when guests are unavoidably detained in bad traffic. The amuses were a hit, even the garlic dip which is nearly pure garlic with a little salt and oil, was popular. Get the table laid early.



A bread basket is a wonderful and necessary thing but it's difficult to serve oil and balsamic vinegar elegantly and people can feel intimidated. If I'd had an extra person to wait front of house it might have been possible to hand the bread and dressings individually but people don't like to reach.



Even when you think everything is in hand, it's easy to overlook small details. I sent the starters out without their apple crisps. It's amusing to rush around the table and dress things in public once in a while but I think it's a habit that could become irritating.



It's a mistake to cook something on the day that you haven't tested a dozen times before. The tarts were pleasant enough, certainly edible but the presentation was appalling and I nearly lost it completely by not regulating my ovens adequately, trying to cook too hot to make up for lost time.

And we forgot to take pictures of the pudding! Which is a shame. Ice cream does need to be churned before the meal and not during it, no matter how delicious soft serve is. When adding alcohol to puddings be aware it might not suit the drivers.

Everyone still had room for sweets and coffee. I'm not sure if this means the portions were too small, the guests were too greedy or it was all too delicious.

I had fun.



If you would like to join a Supper Club meal in Newport Pagnell on Saturday 12th November then please let me know in the next couple of days as take up has been very slow and I'm hovering on the edge of cancelling.

Nottingham and Ealing are selling well, so if you were thinking of eating with us then it's probably a good idea to get your reservation in now.

Yesterday was World Vegan Day

And this is the post I meant to put up for it!



After a fairly uneventful journey back to the UK I've had to settle into the work plan for November and really get on with stuff. It's not coming easily to me, beset by worries that everything will go terribly wrong and panicking because although places for the dates in Nottingham and Ealing are going fast there seem to be no vegans or vegan-curious diners in the whole of the Milton Keynes / Newport Pagnell area. It's a worry and with just 10 days to go I need some new ideas for publicity.

Pictured above the Hazelnut Shortbreads to go with the Fruit Compotes and Ginger Ices on the Newport Pagnell menu. They worked quite well and I'll have another go to perfect the cooking times when the private Dress Rehearsal lunch takes place this Sunday. Guests for that are mostly coming up from London, although Alex who is hosting the Nottingham event with his husband will come down for the day.

I hate to beg but I'm going to. If you have any friends, relatives or contacts in the Newport Pagnell area (we're close to Bedford, Northampton and Milton Keynes too) and you think they'd like to try some Underground Dining (they don't have to be vegan, the food will stand on its own merit) then do let them know we have an event on the 12th November. Tickets are available here, I can accept email reservations at catofstripes@gmail.com and the menu and all details are also available at the Stripey Cat Supper Club website.


The vegetables for the mustard pickles, which are degorging before cooking and bottling.

Er... #2

This Hallowe'en pumpkin head is my current self portrait. I feel orange, ugly, and essentially empty headed. Although I've not quite completed Vegan Mofo 2011 (I've never done one completely yet) it's all over for me.

I was kindly given the Liebster Award by Jeni Treehugger.

“Liebster” is German and means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but it can also mean ‘favorite’. The idea behind this award is to bring attention to bloggers who have less than 200 followers and show your support during Vegan Mofo!

The rules of winning this award are as follows:
1. Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the www!

This is very difficult for me because I love you all and I have many many blogs on my reader list. Also I have no idea how many followers most of you have or whether you've been awarded already but this mofo I have mostly been reading...

Tea and Sympatico
Cooking Vegan food Up North
The Vegan Cupboard
Adventures
The Vegina Monologues (I cannot tell a lie, it's the title that hooked me)

But I'm not going to lay the obligation on further. If you think you've found a good blog that's under-appreciated then tell the world. That's all it needs.

Ciao

Supper Club Tests #4

I'm not really trialling the griddled aubergine steaks for the Supper Club but the rich red wine sauce that goes with them. Onions and mushrooms are cooked together in olive oil until they are richly caramelised, red wine is added, a big glassful, to deglaze the pan and to add fruity acids of its own. More stock, seasonings and some sweetness in the form of redcurrant jelly or brown sugar enhances the flavours and then the whole pot full is allowed to simmer and thicken.

It tasted good but as you can see from the picture it needs to be sieved before serving to remove the slightly unsightly gribbly bits and possibly thickened in the classic manner with a beurre manié (suitably veganised of course).

Les Amuses

Language is a funny thing. In particular names of things have a habit of changing over time because, usually in an attempt to make things interesting again, someone decided to redefine the wheel.

Time was when these tiny snacks that come with the drink before the meal were called hors d'oeuvres or appetisers but those names now often refer to the starting course of a meal set. Don't even talk to me about entrées, that word is abused worldwide to such an extent it is almost meaningless.

Scratching around for something fancy to call what the honest Brit on the bus would call nibbles, menu writers have seized on another French phrase and made it their own. Enter Les Amuses. You can have amuses gueules or bouches, but to keep it simple for an international audience the qualifiers are usually omitted.



I have a particular fascination with tiny food. Miniature portions of things, tiny replicas, salty savoury morsels to be devoured in a bite all call my name. A book bequeathed to me by a beloved aunt is William Heptinstall's Hors D'Oeuvres and Cold Table which despite being very dependent on flesh as an ingredient is a wonderful, sharp read full of good advice and clever wheezes.

Today I've been playing around a bit in the shallows of the craft. To be honest these very simple bites are not shining examples of their type but, did I say? my kitchen is very very cold at the moment. Still they do fulfil the basic criteria and with a little bit of tweaking or some wholesale alterations will provoke an appetite nicely.

Don't rue the roux

Aaargh, I was doing so well and now look at me, all behind like the lamb's tail.

Excuses, for there are many, mainly revolve around the fact the roofers are here. I'm not used to people being around, banging and crashing, just being there. It's also rather cold and because the men are on the roof I can't light the woodburners or I'd smoke them down again.

Anyway, looking for light and toothsome dishes to feed myself with I have rediscovered the joys of a very plain parsley sauce, béchamel lightly flavoured with parsley. No excess of fat or creams, no faux cheesiness, just properly cooked goodness. I used it to dress some cooked vegetables and then browned the top off in the oven.

Simple white sauces like this were amongst the very first techniques we were taught in Domestic Science lessons at school when I was 11 or so and consequently they suffer both from the contempt of over familiarity and the forgetfulness of the recipe overloads of the last, well, mumble, years.

We were taught to make them in three densities, barely thick enough to cover the back of a spoon, the middle way; creamy and coating and finally almost stiff enough to stand the spoon in. This option was to use as a binder for rissoles and the like.

I can't bring myself to laboriously write out the recipe, there are plenty of options on the web or in your favourite beginners cookery book but don't be afraid to use a balloon whisk if things start to go lumpy and do make sure the flour is properly cooked through.

Supper Club Tests #3

A fruity, jammy Bramble Cake with Caramel sauce and Creme. I'm really quite pleased with this one, yes, a success at last! So, dear readers, I hope you don't mind if I don't share the recipe just yet. A girl has to have some secrets. This will be making an appearance on a Supper Club menu although I do need to spend some time thinking about styling and presentation. We eat with the eyes after all.

The Darling of the North Americas

Kale Chips or Crisps as we defiantly call them in the old country. They are enormously popular (if food blog agglomerators are anything to go by) but frankly I don't get it.

You know the routine; wash and tear your kale into bite sized pieces, shake nicely dry. Spray or sprinkle a little good oil over the pieces and toss to coat well then toast in a hot oven for 10 minutes or so until crisp. Season with salt and get wildly excited. Or not.

I ate mine but next time, if one should ever arise, I'll be tempted to season with a sugar/salt mixture as the Chinese restaurants of Old Blighty do to their 'Crispy Fried Seaweed'.

Achochas de Padrón

So it begins, a day slips past without a post, is it laziness, lack of time or ennui? And then the need to catch up commences. Vegan MoFo is always a task that is slightly beyond my capabilities but for now I'll try to make good. This is yesterday's post, a little late.



In my garden I grow a lot of odd things. I like to try new varieties and I'm committed to the idea of agricultural biodiversity. It's important to grow a wide range of plants for the benefit of the environment, for food security, for added interest. Mostly this is covered on the other blog but of course I grow food to eat it. There's going to be some overlap.



This year for the first time I grew a plant, Achocha which is popularly believed to be one of the Lost Crops of the Incas. It's a vigorous plant and I won't be the first to wonder how they managed to lose it. Related to cucumbers and squashes it climbs, makes tiny flowers and produces green, slightly spiny fruit that can be harvested in a range of sizes, as above.

Unfortunately, I find them rather dull to eat. The tiny fruit are cucumbery and can be popped into salad, the larger ones are best deseeded and stuffed but that relegates the achocha to the status of tasteless green wrapper. It's not wrong but there seems little point to it.

I've used them cooked on pizzas and in curries, which is probably the most successful method for dealing with the larger vegetables but there's nothing that really can be called a definitive achocha dish, they're just not distinctive enough for that.

A popular tapas dish is called Pimientos de Padrón, small rather mild green chillies are fried quickly over a high heat to blister them and served with a dusting of salt. The twist is that some of the chillies are uncharacteristically spicy. Once in a while the diner gets a surprise. It adds a little piquant suspense to what is basically a bar snack.

I've adapted this basic idea for the smaller, more immature achocha. Fruit too small to need the big black seeds removing are fried very quickly to blacken and blister the outsides, adding some flavour. To mimic the hot surprise I included a few shreds of a not very hot large green chili. It's not the same as the real thing by any means but a part of a mixed selection of tapas it's quite acceptable.