Vegan MoFo Day 13 - Free Fridays - Creamy green pasta sauce with homemade gnocchi

This week my theme for Free Friday is called Flashback Friday. Back in my vegetarian days I used to make a decadent cream and parmesan based pasta sauce to serve over potato gnocchi on a semi-regular basis which was a favourite meal with my fellows. The gnocchi was hand made if I could afford the time as it was so much softer and lighter than any gnocchi that came out of a packet. In my early vegan days and prior to discovering the almighty powers of cashews I made a vegan version of the pasta sauce which turned out rather well. This dish had slipped my mind until I started to crave gnocchi recently (my gnocchi cravings are similar to pizza and taco cravings, once they resurface they have to be fuelled).

The creamy sauce used to be stirred through sautéed garlic, mushrooms, spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes and wilted spinach leaves before it was poured on top of the gnocchi. I was all set to recreate it this way until Kari from Bite-sized thoughts posted a recipe for a pureed spinach and white bean pasta sauce recently. I adored the colour in Kari's pasta sauce and even though I still made my own cashew based sauce I changed up the method and blended the spinach in with the rest of the sauce ingredients which resulted in a vibrant green sauce.

The mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes were hidden by this colourful sauce and I will be tempted to omit them next time I make this as the sauce is flavourful enough without them. I loved this sauce so much I won't be waiting until I can bothered making gnocchi again as the sauce would be great with any type of pasta. As I don't have time to post a version of the gnocchi recipe right now, here is the link to the recipe I have referred to for many years which always results in extremely soft gnocchi that almost melts in your mouth.

Creamy green pasta sauce 

½ cup raw unsalted cashews
1 1/3 cups soy milk
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
30 fresh basil leaves
100g baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Optional extras
100-150g button mushrooms, sliced
50g sundried tomatoes, drained of oil and cut into thin strips
4 spring onions, sliced
freshly cracked black pepper

Place the cashews, soy milk, nutritional yeast, sea salt, Dijon mustard and lemon juice in a blender and process until no chunks of cashews remain and the sauce is smooth. Add the basil and spinach leaves and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides a few times of necessary to incorporate any stray pieces of basil and spinach.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry the garlic for 30 seconds or until fragrant and starting to colour slightly. If using mushrooms, add them to the pan and saute until they have softened and released their juices. Pour in the contents of the blender then rinse out the blender jar with ¼ - ½ cup of water and add this to the pan. Stir through the sundried tomatoes and spring onions (if using) and allow the sauce to heat through. Serve with pasta of your choice garnished with freshly cracked black pepper.

Around the world - Stopover 26 - Montenegro

Montenegro was drawn out of the hat the week before Christmas which feels like such a long time ago now. I managed to research, plan and cook up a meal during the chaos of the silly season although I haven't had the chance to post about it until now. Montenegro is a small European country located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea which shares borders with Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. Montenegrin cuisine varies depending on the region, the coastal areas have a Mediterranean influence whereas inland regions consume dishes that are also common in Turkey, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia.

When I made a version of Bosnian Zeljanica with filo pastry during Vegan Mofo, I mentioned that I would have liked the opportunity to attempt making burek pastry if I had more time on my hands. Even though time was limited again on this occasion, I stubbornly wanted to give a Montenegrin burek called krompirusa a try. Krompirusa is a snail shaped burek filled with finely cubed potatoes and onions that have been precooked in vegetable stock.

The recipes I adapted my version from were written in Serbian or Croatian and with the aid of Google translate it still was a challenge to make complete sense of the ingredients and methods. My long bench top was an essential tool in preparing the krompirusa and even though I split the dough into two pieces to make smaller bureks, the length of the pastry measured just under 2 metres! After the lengths of dough were rolled out, filling and shaping the krompirusa didn't take much time at all.

As I wasn't sure how flavoursome the filling would be, I searched for an accompaniment and decided to make a dip/relish based on roasted red capsicum/bell peppers called ajvar. It wasn't incredibly complicated to make although it wasn't the speediest process either as the vegetables needed to be oven roasted and onion and garlic sautéed prior to processing it all into a paste.  

After all the effort that went into the meal I wasn't impressed with the texture of pastry as it wasn't light and flaky as you would expect from a burek so I'm back to the drawing board with this type of dough. Regardless of the unsatisfactory pastry, the krompirusa tasted fantastic and was surprisingly delicious on it's own. The ajvar was a fantastic partner for the krompirusa and would be perfect to serve alongside a bunch of other dips so I've included my version of it below.


Ajvar (Adapted from Todd's wanderings)

3 small red capsicums/bell peppers
1 lebanese eggplant
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 240C. Place the capsicums and eggplant on a roasting tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the skins have charred. Flip the vegetables over and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and when they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins from the capsicum and eggplant and discard the seeds and membranes from the capsicums.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a small frying pan and sauté the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute then turn off the heat and set aside.

Place the cooked eggplants and capsicum in a food processor along with the onion/garlic mixture, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt, remaining tablespoon of olive oil and black pepper. Process until it becomes a smooth paste, then transfer to a serving dish.

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Did you know?

The Montenegrin people are reportedly the world's tallest. The average height for males is 186 cm (6 feet, 1 inch) and the average for women is 171 cm (5 feet, 7 inches).

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 16 - Austria

My Austrian meal turned out a little different to what I originally planned due to lack of time on the weekend. I had been drawn to a recipe for a Linzer Torte which claims to be the oldest known cake in the world dating back to the 1700's, although I didn't getting around to making this after becoming sidetracked with another cooking project which was unrelated to my theme.

I wanted to try my hand at some Vienna bread as my bread making endeavours of late haven't involved anything as simple as a loaf of bread. The recipe I used stated that it made 5 loaves so I halved this and made 2 loaves out of the half batch. The loaves were on the small side so I would just make one large loaf from this half batch in future. The bread was baked in the oven with a tray filled with water to create steam which gives the bread a crispy crust. These loaves were a lot crustier than others I've made in the past although they still weren't quite up to bakery standards.

After a busy day on Sunday, I needed a quick dinner on the table and knew that I could rely on a convenience product to stand in as an Austrian schnitzel - Fry's chicken-style schnitzels. I looked up a quick Austrian styled potato salad and made this to have on the side. The amount of dressing that was listed for the salad sounded way too much(and it would have been) so I cut it back to a quarter and played around with the method a little as well. The potato salad was tangy from the vinegar yet still had an element of sweetness from the sugar so the balance of flavours in this was really nice. We had our schnitzels in fresh Vienna bread with salad and vegan mayonnaise, paired with the potato salad this was a tasty quick dinner.


Austrian-style warm potato salad (Adapted from foodnetwork.com)

500g washed potatoes
1 tablespoon salt
4 small springs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped


Place the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan filled with water and add the salt and thyme. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender. Drain in a colander, when the potatoes are cool enough to handle peel off the skins and chop the potatoes into slices.

Mix the white wine vinegar and sugar together in a small bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onions for 5 minutes or until soft then stir through the potatoes until well coated with the onions. Pour in the vinegar and sugar mixture and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the parsley just before serving.

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Did you know?

The Austrian flag is one of the oldest in the world and has been in use since 1191.

Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 8 - Lebanon

When the young man drew Lebanon out of the hat, he grinned and said to me, "I think you'll like this one". He was spot on, what's not to love about Lebanese food - falafels, hummus, baba ganoush, pita bread, tabbouleh, ful medames and mujaddara to name a few. The only problem with these foods is that I've made them all before so I searched further to find something new to try.

Kibbeh is a national Lebanese dish typically made of burghul, onions, ground meat and spices. It can be served in a number of ways, the most common form is stuffed and fried in the shape of mini footballs. I had more than enough fried foods last week so when I spotted a baked version in World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan I simply had to try it. Bryanna's version started with a layer of thinly sliced onions drizzled with olive oil which were covered with a bulgar and mashed potato mixture followed by a layer of lentils and topped off with the bulgar and mashed potato.

The most substantial change I made to the recipe was to use quinoa in place of bulgar as it's something I don't keep in the pantry. I loved that the recipe provided several options with regards to the fresh herbs that could be used and as I had mint and parsley on hand that's what I used. The spices in the dish were minuscule by my usual standards which made me wonder whether this meal was going to be flavoursome enough. I needn't have been worried as it turned out to be really lovely, the spices and mint were quite subtle although it was the onions throughout that really made the dish. Using quinoa may not have been the best substitute as the texture of the kibbeh turned out to be rather crumbly which made it impossible to cut squares neatly. I served the kibbeh with pita bread and leftover baked okra as it need to be used up.

During my research I came across a dip I hadn't heard of before called mutabbel before realising that it's a slightly spicier version of baba ganoush. Both of these eggplant dips are common to Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Kurdistan, Israel and Egypt even though their names and ingredients vary slightly between countries. I've made baba ganoush plenty of times before using different methods to cook the eggplant and this time I decided to initially blacken the eggplant over a gas flame, stuff it with garlic slivers and finish the cooking in the oven. I enjoy the smoky flavour that roasting eggplants over a flame brings although I find it time consuming and fiddly to completely cook the eggplant this way so I was much happier with the method I chose.

Mutabbel

1 large eggplant (about 750g)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons tahini
¼ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon smoked salt
olive oil, parsley and smoked paprika, for serving

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place the eggplant over a gas flame until the skin is mostly blackened (this step can be skipped if you like and the eggplant roasted a longer time. Make incisions in the flesh of the eggplant and insert slices of garlic in the cuts. Place the eggplant on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until the eggplant is very tender and collapsing.

When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and discard. Roughly chop the eggplant flesh and place into a food processor bowl with the tahini, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne pepper and smoked salt. Process until it has a smooth texture then transfer to a serving bowl. Make a moat in the middle and fill with olive oil. Garnish with chopped parsley and smoked paprika.

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Did you know?

Lebanon is a unique country in the Middle East as it's the only country that doesn't have a desert.

Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 2 - Sri Lanka

It was an exciting moment when the young man drew Sri Lanka out second, it was a country I really wanted to appear in this challenge because I knew exactly what I was going to make. Many years ago I worked as a travel agent and one of the companies I was employed with was a Sri Lankan family business. During my time there I was introduced to several of their fiery hot curries yet it was their greasy deep-fried snacks known as short eats that remain to this day as my favourite part of Sri Lankan cuisine.

After sampling many of these types of snacks, pan rolls became my favourite short eat and when I introduced the man to them he was hooked too. They resemble a large spring roll that has been crumbed and fried and the spiced, peppery filling inside is irresistible. Traditionally pan rolls are contained inside a pancake before being crumbed and fried which is where the name comes from. I took a shortcut with my version and used spring roll wrappers to cut down on preparation time and because I was fearful about pancakes falling apart.

Most of the ingredients are easy to come by although there are a couple of unique components to the dish like pepper powder and pandan or rampe leaves. I purchased pepper powder from a Sri Lankan spice shop ages ago for the sole purpose of using it in these rolls but I haven't been able to determine whether it is a different type of pepper to the standard black variety that is widely used around the world. Pandan leaves have a mild flavour and aroma and are often used to flavour desserts. There is one across the back of the top photo if you are interested in what they look like.

A few months ago I had my first attempt at making pan rolls which were a huge success even though I had been a little heavy handed with the spices. I didn't post the recipe at the time as I wanted to fine tune it a little but when I came to making them this time I couldn't locate my notes! This time around the pan rolls weren't spicy enough so at least I have recorded this effort now and will get the spices perfect next time around. I couldn't bear to serve up just fried food for dinner so I went served this with a fantastic Sri Lankan cashew curry from the soon to be released Vegan Eats World.

Edited to add (29/10/2012): The recipe has been modified slightly after making a better version and I have also included cooking times for a deep fryer. 


Sri Lankan pan rolls
Makes 10-12 

750g potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger, minced
3 birds eye chillies, finely chopped (reduce the amount for a milder version)
300g carrots, finely diced
1 ½ - 2 teaspoons pepper powder (depending on your pepper tolerance)
1 ½ - 2 teaspoons salt
12 curry leaves
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh pandan (rampe) leaves OR
2 stalks frozen pandan leaves cut into 5cm pieces
½ cup water
1 cup frozen peas
10-12 25cm spring roll wrappers
soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) and breadcrumbs, for coating
peanut oil, for shallow or deep frying

Place the potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until very soft. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli for 5 minutes or until the onions have softened. Stir through the carrots, pepper powder, salt, curry leaves, pandan leaves and water, cover and cook on low for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and mash them lightly into the mixture with a wooden spoon, then stir through the peas and allow them to cook until thawed. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. If using frozen pandan leaves, remove the stalks from the mixture.

Spoon about ¼ cup of the mixture into each spring roll sheet. Roll each one up to enclose the filling. Dunk each roll into soy milk then the breadcrumbs and transfer to a clean plate.

Heat the peanut oil in a deep sided frying pan, wok or deep fryer. If not using a deep fryer, test the readiness of the oil by sprinkling in some breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs will sizzle immediately when the oil is ready. In you have a deep fryer, set the temperature to 180C.

Fry the pan rolls in batches for a couple of minutes on each side until lightly browned or deep fry for 5 minutes. Drain the excess oil on paper towels and enjoy!

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Did you know?

Sri Lanka was the first country in the world to have a democratically elected head of state who was a woman.

Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.

Vegan MoFo - Stopover 1 - St Kitts and Nevis

It was a rude awakening to my Vegan MoFo challenge when the first country drawn was St Kitts and Nevis, a couple of small islands located in the Caribbean Sea. After discovering that the most famed dishes on these islands were seafood or goat based, I saw mention of a roti filled with curried potatoes and chickpeas. I wasn't able to track down a recipe that was particularly attached to St Kitts and Nevis so I used a bit of my amateur knowledge in Caribbean cooking I picked up during recipe testing for Terry Hope Romero's new cookbook Vegan Eats World. This is a perfect time to remind you that Terry's amazing cookbook containing fantastic recipes from around the globe is due for release at the end of this month and can be pre-ordered from Amazon now.

For the filling, I fried up some onions, garlic and chilli and later added some Jamaican curry powder (Terry's recipe), dried thyme, and salt. This was combined with pre-cooked and slightly mashed potatoes and chickpeas. The mixture was spooned into the centres of some roti bread bought from an Indian grocer which were sealed and browned in a grill pan. I struggled to find an authentic green vegetable recipe to have as an accompaniment and simply served broccoli steamed with garlic on the side. The rotis were on the fairly spicy side which didn't mind us as we don't mind a bit heat, for a milder version the amount of curry powder could be reduced and/or the chilli omitted.

These rotis were fairly simple to put together and tasted great. If the food this month keeps turning out as delicious as this meal was tonight, it's going to be a wonderful month of eating!


Caribbean rotis filled with curried potatoes and chickpeas

600g potatoes, peeled and diced small
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 birds eye chilli, minced
4 teaspoons Jamaican curry powder
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup water
6 x 20 cm pieces of roti bread

Place potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onions, garlic and chillies for 5 minutes until soft then stir through the curry powder, salt and thyme for a minute or until fragrant. Add the potatoes, chickpeas and water and cover and cook a couple of minutes on a slightly lowered heat until the water is almost absorbed. Using a wooden spoon, gently mash the potatoes until they are mostly broken down. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Place 1/6 of the mixture in the centre of each roti and fold the rotis up like parcels. Heat a grill pan over medium heat and cook the rotis in batches for a couple of minutes seam side down first until lightly browned then flip and brown lightly on the other side.

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Did you know?

St Kitts and Nevis were discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498 and they were one of the first Caribbean islands to be settled by Europeans.

Deconstructed shepherds pie

Deconstructed seems to be a buzz-word in the foodie arena these days. I'm not usually the type of person to keep up with the latest trendy terms yet it seemed to be the perfect description for a dinner we had recently. I had been hunting around for a recipe that used silverbeet (aka. swiss chard) and lentils and then threw in pie as an extra search term for good measure. A recipe for a lentil and swiss chard shepherds pie with onion gravy that Joanne from Eats Well With Others had posted sounded interesting although the recipe was calling out for me to deconstruct it.

Shepherds or cottage pies are very popular at home with everyone but me! I make them fairly regularly to please the boys even though they never really enthuse me. I don't mind these pies on the the night but there are always leftovers and the mashed potato topping tastes pretty awful when it's not freshly made in my opinion. When I discovered this recipe I thought to myself why bother going to the trouble of constructing and baking the pie when the individual components could just as easily be served on their own. The beauty of this idea was that I could make enough mashed potatoes to serve on the night without there being a need for any leftover spuds.

Joanne mentioned that the onion gravy was the highlight of the dish which had grabbed my attention. My gravy making endeavours often end up in the garbage and then the packet mix comes out to ease my frustration. Even though I subbed in dried thyme for fresh, I was very pleased that this turned out to be one of the nicest gravies I have made from scratch. This onion gravy is a recipe I will definitely come back to again and am looking forward to trying with fresh thyme!

Another minor change I made to the process was to utilise the stems of the silverbeet and cook them and the leaves in with the lentils rather than cooking the silverbeet leaves separately and dirtying another pan. The overall meal was hearty and satisfying and I was happy to have leftovers of the lentils and silverbeet and onion gravy and no mashed spuds for a change. Perhaps I won't bother with a fully baked shepherds/cottage pie in the future, deconstructed pies of this kind could be here to stay!


Deconstructed lentil and silverbeet shepherds pie with onion gravy
(Adapted from Eats Well With Others, originally from The Meatlover's Meatless Cookbook)

Wine braised lentils and silverbeet

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 French shallots, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium carrot, diced
½ teaspoon dried thyme (or use 1 spring of fresh thyme)
½ cup puy lentils (or use brown/green lentils)
2 tablespoons red wine
¾ - 1 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
400g silverbeet, stalks diced and leaves roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan on medium heat, add the shallots, garlic, carrot and thyme and fry for about 5 minutes or until slightly softened. Stir through the lentils followed by the red wine and increase the heat to cook off the wine. Pour in ¾ cup of water, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Add more water if the lentils are drying out during this time. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add the silverbeet stalks. When the lentils are tender, add the salt, stir through the silverbeet leaves and cook for a couple of minutes until just wilted.

Onion Gravy

3 tablespoons dairy-free margarine
2 large onions, sliced into thin half moons
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or use 2 sprigs of fresh thyme)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Melt the dairy free margarine in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Stir though the onions and thyme and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in the water and increase the heat to an active simmer. After the liquid has reduced by half, stir through the cornflour/water mixture and turn the heat to low. Cook for another 5 minutes then season with salt, sugar and soy sauce.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

700g potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
couple of splashes of soy milk

Place the potatoes in a saucepan with the garlic, salt and water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Drain the potatoes in a colander. If you have a potato ricer, press the potatoes and the garlic through a potato ricer into a large bowl. Stir through the dairy free margarine and a few splashes of soy milk. Alternatively use a potato masher to mash the potatoes, garlic, dairy free margarine and soy milk together.

Simple satisfying soup

There's nothing better than a bowl of soup to get you through a period of ill health. When the man came home from day surgery a couple of weeks ago I wanted to have a pot of soup ready for him as I had a feeling that his appetite would be diminished. I figured if there was a pot of soup around he may be persuaded to try some. I didn't have the time or inclination to look up recipes, instead I pulled vegetables out of the fridge and decided to make a simple soup based on broccoli as it's one of his favourite vegetables.

The soup turned out to be really lovely and the two of us polished it off in a couple of days. As I forgot to take a photo at the time, I had to make it again. It's a very simple recipe which takes about 10 minutes of preparation, 25 minutes of cooking and a few minutes at the end to blend it into a thick smooth delicious soup. Like most of my other blended soups, I included some red lentils for extra protein and to thicken it up.

I wasn't quite sure if the soup would be flavoursome enough initially and stirred some basil pesto into my bowl, honestly it tasted so much better without it. I love it with a shake or two of white pepper and think that's all it really needs. A mild tasting herb like parsley could also be a nice garnish.

Broccoli soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup red lentils
4 cups vegetable stock
2 medium (300g) potatoes, peeled and diced
2 heads (600g) broccoli, stalks and florets roughly chopped
salt and black or white pepper, to taste
fresh parsley chopped, for garnish (optional)

Heat the oil in a stockpot and fry the onions over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the lentils, stock, potatoes and broccoli. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and process in batches until smooth. Pour back into the stockpot and reheat gently. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Moussaka update

When I have time on my hands and I'm in the mood for eating it, I really do love making moussaka. It takes a while to put together the way that I am accustomed to making it, yet I don't want to change the process as I have found that shortcuts are detrimental to it's overall taste. Last year I posted my initial vegan moussaka recipe which I was quite happy with at the time. This recipe has now fallen into the category of a few other recipes of mine where it has evolved into something different so I figured it was time for an update.

The main differences between my latest version and the earlier recipe are the bechamel sauce and I usually don't bother with a feta cheese replacement crumbled into the layers as it is flavoursome enough without it. I made a batch of Johanna's baked almond feta last week so I did add this to one of the layers only because I had it on hand. Another area where I have always fluctuated in the making of this meal is the method of precooking the vegetables. It used to work best with a BBQ hot plate and grill but ours hasn't been in working order for years so I have found that the next best thing to use is the grill function in my oven (with a watchful eye). Precooking the vegetables is the most time consuming part of the moussaka preparation and I believe this is a crucial step as it allows the potatoes and zucchini to soak up the flavours of the sauce whilst baking and gives the eggplant a wonderful smoky flavour.

The bechamel replacement that has become my standard is adapted from the moussaka recipe in Veganomicon. I wasn't attracted to the entire moussaka recipe as it doesn't contain enough eggplant and there is too much potato for my liking although I was very interested in the pine nut crema that is used in the topping. The greatest part about this crema is all of the ingredients are whizzed up in a blender so there is no need to fuss over the stove worrying about getting lumps in your sauce. After I tried out the crema, I made some changes as the standard tub of silken tofu I buy is 300g and the recipe calls for 450g. Silken tofu is one of those things that can linger in my fridge if it's not used immediately so I made some changes to the recipe after I grew tired of wasting leftover tofu. I found that 300g of tofu with half a cup of soy milk and some extra cornflour does just as good a job.  

Another wonderful thing about moussaka is that it makes a large quantity and the leftovers taste fantastic. It's a fantastic dish to take along to gatherings as it can be baked ahead of time and reheated when required.

Moussaka with tomato lentil sauce and pine nut crema (Crema adapted from Veganomicon)

Olive oil spray
1kg eggplant, sliced into 1-2cm thick pieces
500g potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
500g zucchini, sliced thinly
150g baked almond feta, crumbled (optional)

Tomato lentil sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 ½ cups cooked brown lentils or use a 400g tin, drained and rinsed
700ml jar tomato passata
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¼ cup water

Pine nut/cashew crema

½ cup pine nuts or raw unsalted cashews
300g silken tofu, drained
½ cup soy milk
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons cornflour
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
pinch nutmeg

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set aside for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, spray the potato and zucchini slices slightly with olive oil and cook under a griller until slightly browned on both sides. Alternatively, the slices can be fried them in a lightly oiled pan or baked in the oven on tray lined with baking paper until browned on both sides.

After the eggplant has rested for 30 minutes, place the slices in a colander and rinse well. Pat dry with a tea towel or paper towel and grill, fry or bake the eggplant slices until browned on both sides.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the chilli flakes (if using), oregano, lentils, passata and salt. Rinse out the passata jar with the water and add this to the saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

Place the pine nuts or cashews, tofu, soy milk, garlic, cornflour, lemon juice, salt and nutmeg in a blender or food processor and blend until it is completely smooth and no lumps remain.

Preheat the oven to 200C. In a 30cm x 20cm casserole dish, spread out about a quarter of the tomato lentil sauce. Place a third of the eggplant, zucchini and potato slices on top, followed by another quarter of the tomato lentil sauce. Crumble the baked almond feta on top, if using. Repeat the vegetable and sauce layering two more times, then pour the contents of the blender over the top as evenly as possible. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes, the top should be firm and starting to brown.

A different week in the kitchen

It certainly has been a different week in my kitchen - not a chilli in sight! I wanted to write about this recent period as my cooking has felt entirely different to what is usually on the menu. The man had minor surgery last week (nothing serious) and has needed to eat blander food than usual during his recovery. I usually sway towards spicy meals and probably cook them about 50% of the time so I took this as a perfect opportunity to broaden my horizons a little.

Last weekend I made pierogis which was fun to do but very time consuming. I prepared the dough, a potato-fried onion-dill filling, a sauerkraut-mushroom filling and fried onions for topping ahead of time which was rather simple to do. When it came to putting these little dumplings together, it felt like it took forever and even that was with the aid of a pasta machine to roll out the dough.

I had a few issues with getting the thickness right and initially made the dough too thin which meant that it wasn't robust enough to contain the filling. Another issue I ran into was overstuffing the dumplings which is something I have been guilty of doing in the past with Asian dumplings and really should know better by now. Once those issues were ironed out it was still a lengthy process to manually seal the dumplings and in hindsight I should have used my handy little dumpling press for this task.

The good news was that the pierogis tasted fantastic, the bad news is that I can't share the recipe as it is from Terry Hope Romero's new cookbook that will be released in October. We all preferred the potato and dill filling out of the two and I was especially pleased to find a recipe that made me appreciate this herb as it hasn't been one of my favourites in the past.

With a surplus of dill leftover I investigated other ways to make use of it. Beef stroganoff was something we used to enjoy years ago when we ate meat and then a mushroom version when we were vegetarian. I've been meaning to try a vegan recipe for a while using slices of tempeh and a sour cream replacement so I gave it a shot. I looked up a few different recipes from my cookbooks to get some inspiration but nothing was exactly what I was looking for so I ended up creating my own version inspired from about 3 recipes. I was very happy with the flavour of this meal and the man adored this so I'll have to make it again. I'm going to hold off posting a recipe for now as the consistency of the sauce was too thick and the way I prepared the tempeh needs a little tweaking so stay tuned for this one.

Tonight was the man's birthday and I made him a vegan spanakopita which incorporated baked almond feta which was posted by Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe recently. Johanna mentioned in her post that the cheeze needed more oomph and even with a bit of extra salt, it still wasn't tasty enough. The texture was great as it was creamy and a bit crumbly so I'll be revisiting the feta in the future. The spanakopita was pretty good although a little lacking in salt so once again I'll be tweaking this recipe further before posting my version. 

I'm so used to writing up a post with the objective of sharing a recipe so it feels strange to leave you without one this time around. In recent times I've been cooking up way more than I have had time to write about so at least it feels good to share some of my photos and experiences of the previous week. And even though I'm beginning to crave a spicy meal, it has been anything but a bland week of eating.

Pizza and pie

Diet, Dessert & Dogs is a fantastic blog full of innovative recipes which has provided me with a few winning meals in recent times (thanks Ricki!). Cindy from where's the beef posted about Ricki's beetroot pepperoni last year which I bookmarked immediately as it sounded fascinating. K from In the Mood for Noodles had also given it the thumbs up so I was very keen to try it. 

It's simple to prepare although it takes a bit of time to cook as the thin slices of beetroot are baked in a marinade for about an hour to absorb the delicious salty, smoky flavours. I followed Cindy's advice about adding a bit more spice to the marinade by increasing the paprika and adding some cayenne pepper. I made the pizza fairly plain to accentuate the flavour of the beetroot pepperoni, topping it with a mixture of tomato paste and pesto, onions, mushrooms and cheezly. When the man discovered my plan to put beetroot on a pizza he wasn't enthused at all but he thoroughly enjoyed the pizza, as did the young man and I.  

Cottage pie was one of the first vegetarian recipes I ever prepared back when we were thinking about converting to vegetarianism. The original recipe I tried was sourced from taste.com.au which has a lentil, vegetable and tomato base. A variation of this recipe became a semi-regular meal for many years as the man and young man regard it highly and request it often.

It has never been a favourite meal of mine so when the young man began to grow tired of the old cottage pie, I decided it was time for a revamp. I couldn't resist using some faux ground meat made of cauliflower and nuts in the base, this is another wonderful recipe from Diet, Dessert and Dogs I have used in various ways several times before. This meal turned out to be another winner which is likely to be repeated in the future.

There is one other recipe of Ricki's which I would love to tell you about, alas I didn't take a photo at the time. This will have to wait for another post!


Beetroot pepperoni (Adapted from Diet, Dessert & Dogs and where's the beef)

2 medium sized beetroots
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vegan beef stock powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon ground dried sage

Preheat oven to 170C. Peel the beetroots and slice thinly. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a baking tray then add the beetroot slices to the tray, ensuring they are coated with the marinade. Spread the beetroot slices in a single layer.

Bake for 20 minutes then flip the slices over, basting them in the marinade. Keep baking until the slices start to look dry and curl up at the edges, flipping and basting the slices in 10 minute intervals. The total baking time took mine almost an hour.


Cottage pie (Featuring ground "meat" from Diet, Dessert & Dogs)

1 kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
soy milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 quantity ground meat
1 1/2 cups vegan beef stock or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon vegan worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 180C. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the potatoes to the pot and cook for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Drain the potatoes in a colander. Mash the potatoes with the dairy-free margarine and enough soy milk to create your desired consistency.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened. Stir through the garlic for a minute, then mix in the carrot. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally then add the ground meat, beef stock, worchestershire sauce and tomato paste. Simmer covered for 10-15 minutes until the carrots have softened then stir through the peas. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the ground meat mixture in the bottom of a 20cm x 20cm casserole dish. Cover with the mashed potato and smooth it out to the edges so it entirely covers the filling. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the mashed potatoes are starting to brown.

Vegan MoFo - M is for Mexe Wedges

Mexe Wedges is the name I created for my favourite spiced wedges some time ago. I played around with the quantities in this recipe for the first few attempts and this is how I make them every time now. They have become one of our favourite ways to eat potatoes and when my son told me that he preferred them over deep fried hot chips I was delighted. They are very simple to prepare and dangerously addictive but are cooked with little oil so you can indulge to your heart's content.

They are coated with a combination of salt, smoked paprika, olive oil and a chilli seasoning mix based on this recipe prior to baking. I like to keep a container of the chilli seasoning prepared as I know exactly what is in it as opposed to a packet mix full of additives. The main change I make is to omit the flour from the recipe.

On this occasion we enjoyed our wedges with Chipotle Lentil burgers from Appetite for Reduction, Mushroom Chicharrones from Viva Vegan and some asparagus. The burgers did not live up to our expectations, they were nice but not as wonderful as I was expecting them to be. I actually preferred the leftover burgers straight out of the fridge the next day. Mandee from Cupcake Kitteh inspired me to give the tasty chicharrone marinade another try using mushrooms instead of tofu and they were a highlight of the meal. The man adored them so much that I am planning to follow Mandee's lead more often and use mushrooms in place of tofu.

This post brings me halfway through my alphabet of golden oldies and newbies. So far I have posted 7 new recipes and revisited 6 oldies. It feels like a good time to take a bit of a breather, go through some of my MoFo bookmarks and post about some of the exciting recipes I can't wait to try!

Click here to see my A - Z of Vegan MoFo posts.


Mexe Wedges

1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chilli seasoning
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place the potato wedges in a large bowl and sprinkle the salt, smoked paprika and chilli seasoning over the top. Drizzle in the olive oil, then mix thoroughly with your hands until well combined.

Line a roasting tray with baking paper and spray lightly with olive oil. Spread the wedges in a single layer on the tray and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the bottoms have browned. Flip the wedges over and cook for a further 15 minutes or until nice and crunchy.

Vegan MoFo - H is for Hot Potato Salad

Hot potato salad has been on my list of things to veganise for a while as it is a family favourite that has been around at BBQs for years. The original recipe uses a lot of sour cream and cottage cheese as well as a dried packet of french onion soup. I had been thinking about how to make a good vegan version of this for some time and when I found some tofutti french onion flavoured cream cheese last week it seemed like the perfect thing to try.

The man and son were particularly interested when they saw what I was attempting to make as they are huge fans of this potato salad. Using cashews, nutritional yeast, tofutti, soy milk and seasonings it turned out tasting quite close to the original so I was pleased with the result for a first attempt. I'm certain that I will be requested to make this again as the boys loved it so much that they went back for seconds.  

I also made some Hot Wings from Vegan Dad's blog but found the texture to be mushier than how I'm used to eating seitan. The are two recipes for hot wings on his blog and I tried his one that contains mushrooms. Other people had commented about the texture of these wings so perhaps I'll try the recipe without the mushrooms another time.  

Click here to see my A - Z of Vegan MoFo posts.

Hot Potato Salad

1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 cup unsalted cashews, soaked for about 4 hours
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup french onion flavoured tofutti cream cheese
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1-2 teaspoons dried onion flakes (I used 2 which gave it a fairly strong taste)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
4 spring onions, chopped
cornflake crumbs or breadcrumbs for toppping

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain the cashews in a colander and rinse well with fresh water. Place the cashews, water, soy milk, cream cheese, nutritional yeast, onion flakes, dried parsley and salt into a blender and process until smooth and creamy.

Drain the potatoes in a colander then spread evenly in a baking dish. Sprinkle the spring onions on the potatoes then pour the blender mixture over the top. Stir gently with a spoon until combined. Top with crumbs of choice and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Mexican Fiesta

Last Saturday night, we had our first official family gathering post renovations. Although the majority of our renovations were completed early this year, we wanted to hold off on dinner parties until we purchased a new dining table. The year has been slipping away too quickly and as we are no closer to purchasing a table, we decided it was time to pull out the old trestle tables and have the man's family over for a meal.

Over the last couple of years we have fallen into the habit of having curry nights in colder months with everyone bringing a curry or two to share. As this was to be our first hosted dinner, I wanted to do something different and suggested a Mexican night which was warmly received.

I planned to make enchiladas and the man suggested that I make two different kinds, potato-chickpea-spinach filling with tomatillo sauce and smoky tofu and black bean filling with tomato enchilada sauce. As well as guacamole, salsa and cashew crema, I felt it would be a good time to try out a salad from Viva Vegan and settled upon the classic cabbage salad with cilantro-lime dressing. And then I felt like there should be some sort of appetiser and a dessert and went off to explore some further options.

On Friday night, my preparations began. I wrote out a task list, marked a few things that could be knocked off in advance and away I went. A couple of hours (and several dishes) later, two different sauces and fillings had been made for the enchiladas, black beans and cashews were soaking and the dressing for the salad was made.

The following day I made two types of flans from Viva Vegan for dessert, vanilla coconut and coffee flavoured (cafe con leche). They had the same caramel topping with a touch of lime juice so it was simple to prepare my moulds in advance with a double batch of this mixture. The fillings were fairly easy to make using agar flakes as the setting agent.

A few years ago I made a 7 layer dip to take to a party and it was very popular although I found it difficult to enjoy as there were too many layers to appreciate at once. I decided to cut back on the layers this time around and wound up with what I will call a triple layer dip. It starts with a layer of refried beans, followed by cashew crema and the top layer is a mixture of chopped avocado, tomato, olives and coriander. The dip was enjoyed by all and the man thought that it deserved a place on my blog. Other family members requested that the cashew crema recipe be posted as they thought it was fantastic as part of the dip and an accompaniment to the main meal.

It was great fun cooking so much food and I enjoyed dabbling in desserts which is something I should do more often!

Triple layer dip

Refried bean layer

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
310g tin pinto beans
1/2 cup cooked black beans
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup water
salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir through the garlic and jalapeno and cook for another minute. Add the pinto beans, black beans, cumin, oregano and water and simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat. Mash the beans with a potato masher or a fork until they reach the level of smoothness you want. Season with salt to taste.

Cashew crema layer (From Viva Vegan)

1 cup cashews
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon agave nectar (or use other sweetener)

Soak the cashews in water for at least 4 hours. Drain and rinse then place into a blender with the remaining ingredients. Process for a couple of minutes until a smooth paste is achieved. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Top layer

1/2 large avocado, diced small
1 medium tomato, diced small
8 kalamata olives, diced
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
squeeze of fresh lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste

To assemble, spread the refried beans evenly on the bottom of your serving dish followed by the cashew crema. Sprinkle the diced avocado, tomato, olives, spring onion and coriander on top. Add a squeeze of lime and some salt and pepper.

His and hers comfort soups

The man was a little under the weather last weekend so I kindly offered to make him some soup. He was keen for some smoky tomato soup although I managed to talk him out of it as the quality and price of fresh tomatoes at the moment is terrible. My line of questioning mustn't have been clear enough or his responses were marred by his clogged up head because the soup I produced on Saturday was not what he wanted at all. Instead of making his comfort soup, I somehow managed to make my own!

Apart from feeling lousy, I find the most frustrating thing about colds is losing your sense of taste. Food that usually would be palatable becomes bland and unappetising, so I normally make meals loaded with garlic, chillies and spices. My favourite curried lentil soup includes these components and has the added bonus of being a cinch to prepare, with about 10 minutes of initial prep work required and no blending at the end. 

On Sunday, I had to make amends as the man was not impressed with my comfort soup (never mind, son and I were more than happy with it). After further probing, he indicated that he wanted a smooth pureed vegetable soup that you could drink from a mug if desired. His idea of comfort soup = boring soup to me! That's probably why he wanted it so badly as I haven't made a soup like this for such a long time. I loaded it full of vegies and he even agreed to some celery which is something I usually omit from recipes as he isn't a big fan. 

The man was much happier with this soup and has been devouring it for days. I'll keep this soup in mind for next time he is unwell...

Curried red lentil soup (Adapted from Curry & Chilli Cookbook)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 1/2 cups red lentils
6 cups vegetable stock
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and mustard seeds fry for another minute. Add the turmeric, curry powder, garam masala, coriander, cumin and chilli powder and cook for a minute then stir through the lentils so they are coated with the spices.

Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for about 40 minutes until the lentils have broken down completely. Stir through the lemon juice and coriander leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Mixed vegetable soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, chopped
1 onion, diced
4 large cloves garlic, chopped 
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
200g pumpkin, chopped into chunks
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 zucchini, chopped 
6 cups vegetable stock
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the leek and onion over medium heat for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Keep adding the vegetables to the pot as you chop them and then pour in the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Add the parsley to the pot and process the soup in batches in a blender. Return the blended soup to the pot, reheat and season with salt and pepper.

Viva Enchiladas

Mexican food has always been a popular cuisine at my abode, although throughout my cooking experiences, enchiladas have been a missing element. Tacos, nachos, burritos, quesadillas, baked tortillas and bowls of chilli have made their way into my accommodating belly but never enchiladas, until a few weeks ago...

Enchilada recipes that I had seen in the past didn't seem exciting or interesting enough to bother with. When I purchased Viva Vegan there were too many other intriguing Latin American meals that stood out and the enchilada recipe went by unnoticed. This fantastic book has had such a good workout and most of the recipes initially bookmarked have had a trial so it was a nice surprise when I stumbled across the Potato-Chickpea enchiladas with Green Tomatillo sauce and Pine Nut crema.  

Terry suggests that the tomatillo sauce, pine nut crema and potato chickpea filling can be made in advance. There are several parts to the recipe which can make it rather time consuming and I was thankful for this advice. It is feasible to make the whole recipe on a lazy Sunday afternoon, however, the pre-planning is highly beneficial for a faster weeknight meal. Fresh tomatillos are called for in the recipe which are something that I have never seen, however I purchased a tin of tomatillos a while ago from Casa Iberica so these were used instead.

We all loved the enchiladas and gave credit to the tomatillos for making the flavour so distinctive. It was the first time we had tried tomatillos which have quite a tart taste. The left-overs were equally delicious the next day.

The following week I made another batch of enchiladas using a variation from Viva Vegan. This batch had a seitan, potato and silverbeet filling with a ancho chile sauce. They were also delicious and I wasn't sure which ones came out on top until I repeated the tomatillo enchiladas again. Surprisingly it was unanimous that we all slightly preferred the tomatillo enchiladas over the ancho chile ones!

Prior to venturing into the enchilada world, I found a short video of Terry Hope Romero making the potato chickpea enchiladas with tomatillo sauce. The recipe was also posted on this site and as it is quite a long one, I'm not going to re-write it as the changes I made were very minor.