Farewell MoFo!

Vegan MoFo ‘09 is over, sadly! I’ve really enjoyed this month, as it’s forced me to be a bit more creative with my cooking. I’ve used lots of new recipes (only a fraction of which I managed to photograph and post here) and have had a blast along the way, reading loads of fascinating food blogs. Aw, I’m already missing it! Roll on MoFo 2010!

As a farewell, here is a brief review of an awesome little place, inSpiral Lounge in Camden. It, quite possibly, has the best vegan cakes I’ve ever tasted!

Here is their Peanut Butter Tart, which I had along with a scoop of lavender ice cream (weird combination, I know, but I really wanted to try both):

Doesn’t it look gorgeous? It had a lovely, crisp chocolate and nut base, with a thick, creamy layer of peanut butter, all topped off with a layer of dark chocolate. Wow. The ice cream was delicious too, though I wouldn’t recommend getting the two together, it was just too rich and awesome!

My ’dining companion’ (my cousin) had their key lime pie, along with a scoop of lime ice cream, which she said was delicious (a massive compliment, considering that she’s a rather unadventurous omni):

inSpiral also has lots of non-desserty things, such as  pre=”as “>lasagne, pasta, bagels, etc. It is also the only vegan place I’ve seen that has a little bowl of nooch, sitting alongside some sea salt, allowing you to sprinkle as much noochy goodness on your food as you desire. Their sandwiches are also delicious:

 This was my first taste of tempeh, and was filled with spinach leaves, guacamole and thick slabs of tempeh, all on toasted wholemeal bread.

Aside from the food, the restaurant itself is rather tiny, but cute, and overlooks Camden lock. It always seems pretty busy, so it can be hard to find a table if you go at their peak times. They do play interesting music in the background, and although it wasn’t really my kind of thing, I was able to tune it out. It really, really annoyed one of my friends though, so be warned!

I did go back again, and though I didn’t manage to get any pictures, I had the best vegan cake I have ever had – the tiramisu. Holy freaking heck, it was sooo good! Layers of lovely, moist cake with creamy, almost mousse-like ganache in between, and raw chocolate on top. Really, if you’re ever in London, get down to inSpiral and try the tiramisu. You will love it, I promise!

 And with that, I bid MoFo ‘09 farewell! It’s been fun, and all of the comments and feedback have been great. Thanks!

Partay!

So today’s post is a day late, and that’s partly because I’m lazy, and also partly because I went on the Ghost Bus!

My sister turned 13 recently, and I decided to make a big ol’ birthday cake for the party. And, getting a bit carried away, I also agreed to do a couple of canape-thingymajigs. This wasn’t entirely out of the kindness of my heart, however. I wanted to be able to eat something, and the only way that was going to happen would be if I made it myself.

Some things went splendidly, others were a disaster. First, the good news. The canapes were awesome and the omni guests loved them. Luckily, I had a pack of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry to hand, which I wouldn’t normally use, but which was a life-saver when I began to run out of time. The pastry was cut into little tart shapes and topped with some veggies.

From left: Tomato, garlic and herb; zucchini on a caper and black olive tapenade; balsamic mushroom and onion (these disappeared immediately!)

I also made a roasted tomato tart, which was a nice vegan alternative to the pizza that was also being served:

This was super-simple as well – I just spread some sundried tomato and chilli paste onto the pastry, topped with sliced tomatoes, garlic and herbs, and popped it in the oven.

There was also a big bowl of home-made hummus, with crudites, which I didn’t manage to get a picture of, unfortunately.

Now, the bad news. I’m still getting to grips with vegan baking, and I made the mistake of using egg replacer for the birthday cake I was baking. The cake looked great, and tasted pretty good, but the texture was akin to a really, really firm jelly. It was also ridiculously heavy and very, very dense. Not a success at all. Here it is acting innocent and pretty:

It’s covered with a solid layer of dark chocolate and dark chocolate drops, along with star sprinkles. It’s also supposed to be a pink and purple checkerboard, held together with chocolate ganache, although the purple is more like brown. It wasn’t until everybody started eating the cake that we realised that something was wrong with it. One guest commented that it looked like a Lush soap.

Spot the difference!

Inside shot of the cake

Lush Buttercream

Oh well. I’ve learnt from my mistake. I am never touching egg replacer ever again, and will probably just use the recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World for cakes from now on.

Anyway, as it’s Friday night (already!), and the title of this post is ‘Partay!’, here is some music that’s made me want to dance recently, Everything Everything’s My Keys Your Boyfriend:

And I wanna know what happened to your boyfriend, ‘cos he was looking at me like Whoah!

The Greatest Invention Ever…

Is hummus, of course! Despite the myriad ways of spelling and pronouncing it, hummus is motherfucking awesome! (Sorry, Mum!)

Considering how often I eat it, I thought it would be absolutely terrible if I didn’t include a post about hummus. I stumbled across this video recently, and it inspired me to make some (I’ve finally found a store near me that stocks tahini!) :

Don’t you just want to eat hummus RIGHT NOW after watching that?

Rather than make the plain variety for the billionth time, I decided to experiment a bit. Here are the results:

The varieties are (clockwise, from front): Roasted garlic, roasted red pepper, caper and balsamic vinegar, and caramelised onion and sundried tomato.

I used the basic hummus recipe here, and just switched the ingredients around for each variety.

Bonus: Hummus rap!

MoFo is taking its toll

I suppose I’ve used this month as an excuse to bake lots of cakes and cookies, and eat lots of things I usually wouldn’t. I wanted a change, so, for lunch, I made a ‘Leon Superfood Salad’, but veganised it.

The recipe is taken from the Times’ site.

Leon Superfood Salad

Serves 2

- 2 tbsp quinoa

- Salt and pepper

- 2-3 heads of broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets, stalks sliced

- 120g frozen peas, simmered for 3-4 mins

- ¼ cucumber, cut into slim batons

- 100g good-quality feta cheese, crumbled [I subbed in tofu feta, made using the 'How It All Vegan' recipe]

- 1 handful of alfalfa sprouts

- 2 tbsp toasted seeds such as pumpkin, sesame and sunflower [I used pine nuts]

- ½ avocado, cut into pieces

- 1 small handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

- 1 small handful of mint, chopped

- 2 dsp lemon juice

- 4 dsp extra-virgin olive oil

Put the quinoa into a small pan. Cover with cold water to a couple of centimetres above the grain and let it gently simmer over a low heat until the water has evaporated — this takes about 15 minutes — then cool to room temperature. Pour a couple of centimetres of hot water into another saucepan, add a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil, drop in the broccoli, cover and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to take all the heat out and keep the broccoli good and green.

Now build your salad in layers: broccoli, peas, cucumber, feta, alfalfa sprouts, seeds, avocado, quinoa and finally the herbs. Only dress it with the lemon juice, oil and seasoning just before you eat it.

Comfort Food

After a hard day discussing gender theory and dodging tourists on Oxford Street because I’m late to a lecture, I want to come home to a bowl of something comforting. This recipe for lentil chowder pretty much fits the bill – it’s nourishing, creamy, and, best of all, pretty simple to make.

Lentil Chowder  (makes enough for two people, I think)

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 100g mung dal, rinsed
• 250ml unsweetened soy milk
• 200ml vegetable stock (or use veggie bouillon)
• 1 to 1 and a half tbsp hummus
• Optional: 1tsp dried mixed herbs

Instructions:

• Heat the olive oil, add the onions, garlic, carrot and celery, and cook on medium-low, until the onion softens and becomes translucent.
• Add the mung dal and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent sticking.
• Add the soy milk and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the hummus and stir. Simmer, uncovered, on low, for approximately 10 minutes, then turn the heat up to high. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the carrots have softened and the chowder has thickened, stirring occassionally.
• Serve immediately!

Jammy! (Or, The Wonders of Baked Yoghurt)

I love raspberries, but I love raspberry jam even more. I managed to get hold of a punnet of fresh raspberries, and decided to make some baked yoghurt and raspberry tarts. Also, do you know how wondrous baked yoghurt is? Because it’s pretty awesome. With a cheesecake like texture!

It’s essentially just a sweet, shortcrust pastry… crust, with homemade raspberry jam spread on the bottom, and some soy yoghurt layed on top. This was then baked, in my newly acquired mini flan tins, in the oven until the yoghurt started to turn yellow/golden. After cooling, I cut it into pieces and served with fresh raspberries. Yum!

Rosti: Redux

I have a habit of tweaking recipes without actually trying the original, and then being disappointed when everything goes wrong. Well, here is the original recipe for potato rosti, taken from Vegie Food, published by Murdoch Books.

Potato Rosti

Ingredients:

• 750g (1 lb 10 oz) waxy potatoes, peeled
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 30g (1 oz) butter [I subbed in vegan margarine]
• 2 tsp olive oil
• [I also added 1 tsp coarsely ground pepper]

Instructions:

• Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes, or until they just begin to soften. Drain, and allow to cool. Grate the potatoes and place in a large bowl with the onion and parsley, and season well with salt and pepper.
• Heat the butter and oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat.
• When the butter has melted, add the potato mixture to the pan, spreading the mixture out, but not pressing too firmly.
• Cover the pan and cook for 8 -10 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
• Halfway through the cooking time, check to ensure the rosti is not burning. Carefully turn by flipping the whole rosti onto a plate and then sliding it, uncooked side sown, back into the pan.
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cut into four pieces and serve.

Here is what it should look like if you actually follow the recipe (but I like mine a bit more crispy), accompanied by some chilli:

Friday nights are for slacking

Today wasn’t a very productive day for me, so I’m just going with it. I’ve got a The Thick of It special lined up, and a 30 Rock episode that also needs to be viewed.

Friday nights, if you didn’t know, are also for fish and chip dinners. I loved thegvc’s recipe for Feesh Feengers, but as I didn’t have any dill or nori to hand, I just made some yummy tofu fingers (using a breadcrumb, marmite and mustard batter). Here they are, accompanied by oven-baked chips, broccoli, and lots of vinegar and ketchup:

 

Dessert, which I’ve been looking forward to all day, was a “Twist and Shout” peanut butter cup (ha ha! Get it? The twist is the white chocolate and the dark peanut butter. No? Doesn’t matter):

 

The recipe is pretty simple, and all you need are three things: white choc chips, PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter, and star-shaped sprinkles.

1. Get your white chocolate chips, and melt them, in a bain-marie if you’re fancy, or in a bowl-within-a-bowl if you’re not (I’m not).
2. Get your *regular* sized cupcake tin, lined with doubled-up cupcake cases.
3. Using copious amounts of white chocolate, line the bottom and sides of the cupcake cases with a thick layer of chocolate.
4. Next, put two teaspoons of dark chocolate peanut butter in each cupcake case, making sure to smoosh the pb down to fill any gaps.
5. With yet more white chocolate, cover the tops of each cupcake case, making sure to fill any gaps at the edges.
6. Shake a few star-shaped sprinkles on top, and refridgerate until solid. And voila, you have instant happiness! 

Here’s the music that’s keeping me company this Friday night:

Roadrunner, by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

And I’m currently falling in love with Television all over again (or maybe just Tom Verlaine).

Foxhole, by Television

PPK-inspired sandwich

When someone posted on the PPK asking about a certain sandwich, I thought the ingredients sounded strangely intriguing, and I had to give it a try. Here is my take on the Crema sandwich in all its glory:

Yes, that’s more hummus than is decent, with slices of a Granny Smith apple, sweet potato and parsley rosti (which fell apart whilst being cooked, but oh well), bean sprouts, caramelised balsamic onions, and yet more hummus, all on toasted wholemeal bread. It was pretty freakin’ awesome!

MoFo Swap Spectacular!

I’ve wanted to participate in one of the PPK package swaps for ages, so when I found out that a MoFo swap was being organised (and that I was finally eligible), I jumped at the chance!

My assigned swap partner was the lovely tahinitoo, and this is the awesome package she sent me!

 

From left to right: Chocolate-flavoured agave, hemp protein powder, some Food Fight and Chicago Soy Dairy stickers and badge, mac & cheese, a pack of jerky, a big tub of dark chocolate peanut butter (!!!),  “Lesser Evil” potato chips, an apple and ginger cake bar, a Jokerz bar, a lovely bar of almond soap (which smells exactly like a Bakewell tart – good enough to eat!), assorted teabags (my favourite so far being the hazelnut flavour), a rice milk chocolate bar, a brown rice and marshmallow bar, some dried chillies (including chipotles!), a whole bag of much coveted white chocolate chips, some banana-cinnamon thingies, and some gorgeous hand-made cards!

I love everything, but I am so glad to finally have some white chocolate chips. I will definitely be making some cranberry-choc chip cookies soon, but I also think these would be put to good use in a millefeuille or some mendiants. Oh, all the choices! Or jazzies!

I received the package yesterday, and have already demolished the chocolate bars, tried some jerky (verrry meaty!) and used up quite a few of the tea bags.

I have to say a big thanks to my swap partner, because she managed to get everything I asked for! Thanks!