Beach life

A few shots from holiday north and south of the Scottish border. Above: beach bbq with Linda McCartney sausages and sweetcorn for the resident vegetarian and vegan... (i.e. not all for me!)... Seaside chips at Seahouses...When the rain came down, we had an indoor picnic of green beans cooked in olive oil, flour wraps, herb potato salad, tomato salad with basil, hummus, and beluga lentil, chickpea and spinach salad.

Wahaca, veganised: Courgette, pea, sweetcorn and potato tortillas

I like to hum Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers whenever veganising a recipe. Just something to think about.

The original form of this recipe is Thomasina Miers' broad bean, pea and new potato quesadilla. I've swapped the broad beans for courgettes and added some sweetcorn for a little colour and flavour, after taking away the feta and cheddar. This makes an amazing lunch as just a wrap with some jalapenos, or as a dinner done as quesadillas in a grill pan. 

Makes enough for four

Ingredients
2 large handfuls of potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
Plenty of olive oil
1 onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 courgettes, chopped down small as shown in photo above
100g frozen peas
100g frozen sweetcorn
Juice of one lime (I know there's lemon above but lime does work better-it's just all I had!)
handful of mint
handful of tarragon or tbsp of dried tarragon

Boil the potatoes in salted water until they are ready to mash. While this is happening, take a large pan and slowly sweat the onion, garlic and chili in plenty of olive oil- making sure none of it burns, for about ten minutes. Bring another pan of water to boil and add the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas.

With the back of a fork, mash the potatoes into the onion mix, adding the lime juice, mint, tarragon, some more olive oil, and seasoning to taste. Keep the pan on a low heat as you add in the courgettes, sweetcorn and peas. Taste the mixture once more and add some extra herbs/juice/ seasoning to your liking- you should be able to taste every flavour.

Serve with homemade corn tortillas, in flour wraps, or in quesadillas. I made this dish (centre in photo) for a Mexican themed dinner I had for my friends, and there wasn't any of this left by the end of the night! 

Summer Lovin'

A summer spent on fire escapes and roof tops that may or may not be yours is still a summer spent outside, and that's all that counts. Before departing for a few weeks in Scotland, I went with Nina to see Charlotte at her amazing flat in Brixton. Each armed with a chopping board and a mixing bowl, we somehow managed to whip up this roof top vegan picnic before 7pm, leaving as much time as possible to devour it before the sun went down!

Charlotte mixed a tin of chickpeas with two teaspoons of mint sauce, a handful of cherry tomatoes, half a red onion and a little fresh mint.  A combination I've never even heard of and absolutely delicious- perfect for cutting through a rich guacamole and oily olives.

 I made a rough and ready guacamole with avocados from Electric Avenue.

 We mixed tomatoes and artichoke for something to top our doorstop bread with.

Charlotte chopped herbs from her windowsill and mixed with olive oil, boiled potatoes and salt and pepper, for a quick, warm potato salad.

All eaten alongside the Brixton skyline.

Salad Days

Another extended break from an internet connection has left blog posts a little thin on the ground for August- but it wasn't all bbqs on the beach and home cooking... at least not all the time!

For my Dad's birthday this year I made him a cook book of all my favourite recipes I have so far discovered. In fact there's been quite a few new dishes I've had to keep under wraps from here as I know he checks it from time to time!

Here's a little look at the finished cook book, which we looked through with fried mushrooms and parsley from the garden for breakfast. Happy Birthday Dad!

Brunch at Naomi's: Gluten-free, vegan crepes

A few Sundays ago Naomi made brunch and we talked about the missing local cat and the weirdness of strangers. These crepes are vegan and gluten free, less oily and greasy than standard pancakes and really really tasty. We had them with berries from Deptford Market, soy vanilla yoghurt and too much tea.

Naomi told me she used Dove's Farm bread flour (I think you could use either brown or white but she used brown in this instance) as it comes with Xanthan Gum in it already, which helps with any gluten-free cooking.

Naomi's (Not at all) Crepe Brunch

Ingredients

1/2 cup Soymilk

2/3 cup Water

1/4 cup Pure soy margarine

1 cup  Dove’s Farm gluten free brown bread flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Sugar (sweet crepes only, optional)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract (sweet crepes only, optional)

2 tbsp Water, to thin if needed

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Transfer to a pourable jug and refrigerate for 30 minutes. While the batter is refrigerating, wash the fruit or other fillings.

Heat a small frying pan and add a little oil, and once the oil is smoking in the pan, add enough crepe batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Allow the mixture to cook and once the edges begin to dry and come away from the side of the pan, use a spatula to loosen the edges and eventually the middle, so you can flip it over. The first crepe is never the best so be patient and use that one for a taste test (yum). Carry on doing the same method for each crepe, adding a little more oil between every few crepes. 

P.S. As well as brunches, Naomi is also amazing at making illustrations- you can see them here.

Spicy bean burger leftovers

Spicy bean burgers made from this recipe, with giant cous cous and chick pea salad, gherkins and toasted pitta. I'm sadly not working from home, but if I was, this is my dream lunch. Yes, it's okay to have those.

Work in progress: Chocolate and cherry Bundt cake

Last Sunday I got up at the crack of dawn to get this little blighter in the oven. Eating cake for breakfast is certainly a decadent pursuit, but unlike most involves getting up very early! A bowl of leftover cherries from the vegetable box became the perfect excuse to try the Bundt tin my Mum gave me- they are so much fun!!

I added some glace chocolate icing and cherries to finish it off. No recipe this time as there's still some parts to the ingredients and method I want to tweak- but here's a visual taster...