Very Nearly Vegan Lasagne

 This would be quite vegan if you didn't put cheese on it, or if you substituted a vegan "cheese" for the real stuff.

Sauce the first (mock bechamel)

1 large leek, green parts removed

1/2 medium cauliflower

Chunk butternut squash

3/4 cup unsalted cashew nuts

Sprig of rosemary (if you have some)

Salt, pepper and dry mustard powder.

Enough water to come up to the minimum level in your soup maker, if you have one, or just to cover.

Chop the leek, peel and chop the butternut, render the cauliflower into florets

If you have a soup maker, put everything in there and cook on pureed soup.  If you don't, put it all in a saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes, until soft.  Blend until smooth.

Sauce the second (mock ragu)

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 punnet mushrooms

2 slices bread

About 1/3-1/2 cup walnuts

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Salt, pepper, herbs, mushroom ketchup

Peel and chop the onion, peel and crush the garlic.  Put them into a saucepan with a little cooking oil and allow to sweat for several minutes.  Add the chopped mushrooms and cook until their juices run. 

 

Meanwhile, use a food processor (or mini food processor, which is what I used) to turn the bread and walnut into crumbs.

Put the breadcrumb mix into the vegetable mix and add the tin of tomatoes.  Season to taste.

To assemble:

6-8 sheets lasagne

1/2 packet grated cheese (if using)

Layer the mock ragu, pasta sheets and mock bechamel in a lasagne dish in that order, finishing with a layer of mock bechamel.

  If you are using cheese, pile it on the top. 

Bake in a moderate oven for about 30-45 minutes.

Vegan (well, almost) pasta bake

I had long been wanting to try the pasta sauce you make from cashew nuts, and, as I had bought a cauliflower, I thought I would make a cauliflower cheese using it.  Only things got a bit away from me, as they are apt to do.  And I didn't measure anything much, except to make sure it reached the "minimum" level of my soup maker.  If you don't have a soup maker, simmer everything on top of the stove for 15-20 minutes and then blend it.

Handful unsalted cashew nuts (I started by soaking 1/3 cup of them in boiling water, but then decided to add some more at the last minute, so probably 1/2-3/4 cup)
The outside leaves of a cauliflower, roughly chopped
A large-ish chunk of butternut squash, peeled and chopped
An onion, peeled and quartered, and a peeled clove of garlic
Seasoning:| salt, pepper, mustard, rosemary (I have some fresh rosemary at the moment!)
Enough water to make sure it reaches the minimum level of your soup maker.

Your choice of pasta in the amount you like.

Put everything except the pasta into the soup maker (or saucepan) and cook on "pureed soup".  Cook the pasta separately.  I found I had far too much sauce for the amount of pasta, so have saved some to live to fight another day, perhaps with a jacket potato and hard-boiled egg.  

I sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top, which rendered it vegetarian (arguably not that if you don't consider Parmesan vegetarian) rather than vegan, but you don't have to.  Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 30 minutes.  It was delicious!

Bean burgers

I don't care for fake meat, being perfectly happy to eat the real thing, but bean burgers are a good thing in their own right. And these were so easy and quick to make - and the Swan Whisperer said "Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!"

About 1/2-3/4 cup dried beans, soaked for at least one hour in boiling water and then cooked for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker. Or a 400g tin, drained and rinsed. You can use any sort of beans - kidney, cannelloni, borlotti, pinto, black-eye... I used kidney beans.

1 slice wholemeal bread

Handful walnuts (30g?)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 chilli pepper, seeds removed 

1/2 packet fresh parsley

2 small or 1 large carrots, grated

1 tbs cooking oil

Seasoning

Put everything except the beans and carrots into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Now add the beans and pulse several times, but not too much - you want them to be recognisably beans!

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the grated carrots and seasoning, then use your hands to mix everything very thoroughly until it begins to come together. Form into patties, and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Sprinkle with flour (I used gram flour) and then fry for several minutes on each side. Or bake....

I served this in a bun with avocado and a portobello mushroom with cheese, garnished with sweet chilli sauce, with coleslaw and home-made tzatziki on the side.

And no, I couldn't eat it all, but the Swan Whisperer ate that which I could not! 

Asparagus with pasta and pine nuts

The asparagus season is finally here!  Actually, strictly speaking it starts next week, on 23 April, but British asparagus is already beginning to be found in the supermarkets, and I treated us to two trays thereof (only 6-7 spears in each tray, and they were expensive, but worth it).   1Some people just want to eat it as a starter, steamed with Hollandaise sauce, and why not?  Very delicious.  But sometimes you want it as a main meal, and this post and the next are two of my favourite ways of having it.

1 tray British (or local to you) asparagus
40-50 g pine nuts (Lidl sells them in 40g sachets, which is what I used)
100-120 g pasta of your choice
About 50g butter
About - well- a nice amount of Parmesan cheese, grated.

Put the pasta on to cook, and while this is happening, fry the pine nuts in half the butter, stirring all the time, until everything is nicely browned.

Then you can add the rest of the butter and fry the asparagus in the same pan, turning it frequently.  Or, if you prefer, you can steam it - up to you.  I fried ours yesterday, and it was lush.  NB, if you cut off the tough ends of the asparagus, save them for the next recipe!

Mix the pine nuts, cheese and drained pasta together, and top with the cooked asparagus.  Yummy.

s

Serves 2.

Ash Wednesday Casserole, revisited

Some years ago now, I posted my recipe for what I call Ash Wednesday Casserole, or Ash Wednesday Stew.  I have always made it in my slow cooker, as if there was an Ash Wednesday service in the evening, one could go, and it would be ready to eat on one's return.  However, this year, the services were in the morning, and what with one thing and another, I didn't have time to put it in the slow cooker.  And we reckon we like this version even better! 

1/2 cup of your favourite beans, soaked for at least 1 hour in boiling water, or overnight in cold
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 large leek (it is St David's Day, after all!)
1 chilli pepper
1 sweet red pepper
1-2 sweet potatoes, depending on size
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tinful water (rinse out the tin so you don't waste any tomato juice)
Seasoning to taste - I used salt, pepper, a little soya sauce and some chilli-garlic sauce.  You could use a vegetable stock cube of some kind, but I forgot!

To serve: 1 tbs peanut butter; peanuts or cashew nuts to sprinkle (apologies if you have a peanut allergy - either use some other kind of nut butter, or tahini, or I expect you could use grated cheese, but this is essentially a vegan dish).

Rinse the beans and cook in fresh water - if you use red kidney beans, make sure they boil hard for at least ten minutes.  Or you could use a tin of beans, drained and rinsed, but I prefer dried.  Traditionally the recipe uses red beans, but you could use any kind you like.

Chop onions and leeks and fry very gently in a little oil until they don't look raw.  Add the chopped chilli, red pepper and sweet potatoes (which you will have peeled and cut into chunks).  Stir well, then add the beans, tomatoes and water, and season to taste.  Bring to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes.  Stir in the peanut butter and serve with nuts sprinkled on the top.

Ash Wednesday stew

It's delicious at any time of year, but I call it Ash Wednesday stew as it is a good one to make when you don't want to eat animal products, and it will sit in the slow cooker until after the Ash Wednesday service!

1 tin aduki beans
1 clove garlic
1 onion
1 chilli pepper
1 sweet red or yellow pepper
2 sweet potatoes
1 leek
A cube of frozen ginger, or a piece of grated/chopped ginger root
500 ml vegetable stock

To serve: 1 tbs peanut butter; 1 tbs roasted peanuts or cashew nuts.

Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and forget about them; when ready to eat, stir in the peanut butter, and sprinkle each bowlful with roasted peanuts or cashew nuts.