Become Pro Vegetarian Chef

I know there are a barrage of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks out there at the moment- spearing from every direction, some are on my wish list and some are not.  But I have been making a conscience effort to thumb through those neglected cookbooks already on my shelf and identify those recipes I want to try.   Many of my cookbooks are vegetarian, some are vegan and many are not either.  I have been making a concerted effort over the weekend to cook and bake some of those bookmarked recipes and have already done so with many (see below). Caribbean Modern (from the Library) Dock Kitchen Cookbook  Mildred's Cookbook Meat-Free Any-Day Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates Snackistan Veggiestan V is For Vegan And I've even been inspired by some bloggers and food website.    Well today's bookmarked recipe that comes from    Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every-Day. Heidi's B uttermilk Cake is topped off with plums.  I made this at the weeken...

As well as bookmarking recipes from cookbooks , I mentioned that I have bookmarked some recipes from websites also.    I've had my eye on a couple of Ethiopian recipes from Azeb Woldemichael of   Mazi Mas as featured in The Guardian .  It is thanks to The Guardian that I have discovered Mazi Mas and have become a fan from afar.   Mazi Mas which translates in Greek 'with us' is a roaming eatery that serves global home cuisine to the public.  The chefs are migrant and refugee women who have struggled to find work in the U.K.  Mazi Mas   reminds me a little of The League of Kitchens in  NYC, America. For those of you who read my blog, will know that  I've been cooking up some global cuisine since the start of this blog; and most recently Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine has been on the menu , thanks to some new people frequenting my workplace and inspiring me.   I was more tempted by the Berbere spices which I have com...

Eating black eyed peas at the start of the New Year had become a bit of a tradition in my home, reputed to bring good luck and prosperity.  Goulash made with Black Eyed Beans Black Eyed Peas Hot Pot Ginger Black Eyed Peas Trini Black Eyed Peas with Rice Well whether its true or not, I fancied a change this time round and made something different. Still with pulse goodness.   I like the natural buttery nature of butter beans more than cannelini beans, but choose whatever white bean takes your fancy if you want to try this recipe.  What really tempted me to make this White Bean Soup was actually the  Arabic Seven Spices  known as Baharat .   Follow this link to learn and see so many other variations of the  Middle Eastern - Arabic Seven Spice - Baharat . When the dish was completed, I felt it was more of a stew than a soup which was actually a good thing, making this suitable more for a meal than a light lunch.  The weather has been stu...

In more of an effort to make use of my cookbooks from my Vegetarian Library, today we have Mildred's The Cookbook.   I  was fortunate to win Mildred's The Cookbook last year.   I've made a few recipes from it including  the most delicious vegan  Brownies with Peanut Butter   and a smoky  Lapsang Chestnut Mushroom Strogonoff .   This time I wanted  to try something with piquancy.  I decided on the Cauliflower and Green Olive Tagine.  I like olives, it wasn't always this way and to satisfy D it had his favourite white vegetable.   Although the Tagine was filling and full of different textures from the cauliflower, carrots and chickpeas, we both felt the sauce lacked depth.  Why? This recipe does not have onions, but is substituted with celery sticks.   I do understand the need for such recipes.  When I did a bit of freelance vegetarian cooking, one of my customers had an allergy to alliums: the onion famil...

A few weeks back when we were all planning on our Christmas menu, a colleague at work who loves her sweet baking shared a link with me for a very easy, yet very impressive recipe that would Wow guests.  It was simple enough, spread between two sheets of ready rolled puff pastry is a sweet (chocolate and hazelnut, fruit jams) or savoury (pesto, cheese) spread, then the pastry is shaped into a tree - an edible tree that is, where the tree branches are twisted for breaking off and enjoying.  I can only describe this a bit like a Danish pastry without the sugar icing.   I loved the look of the recipe, the fun aspects as well as the ease of making it, so picked up some puff pastry with intentions of making it for unexpected visitors, but sadly we didn't have many guests over the festive period...  Then New Year came and I was given the opportunity to make it.  Even though mine did not turn out as elegant as that featured in the link below and looked more like a ...

It must have been a subliminal message of sorts that got me hankering for a Veggie Sausage Casserole.  For days I went onto D 'I need to pick u some veggie sausages...'  yet always seemed to forget and then I repeated myself all over again 'I have to pick up some veggie sausages', but yesterday - I remembered!   And so here it is, a rich thyme and smoked paprika infused tomato sauce based casserole with kidney beans and Romano red peppers.  It turned out very red indeed. You can choose to use any vegetarian or vegan sausage you like, I am not loyal to any particular brand and like to try them all.  If your not a veggie, of course you can opt the real meat variety.   The smokiness from the paprika was just right, not overwhelming at all.   I served this very red vegan casserole with some crushed roasted new potatoes.  It was grand I tell you and well worth the wait. So some of you may wondering why do I showcase a leek here?!  Well I w...

The past few weeks or so, I have made a few Persian inspired dishes inspired mostly by Iranian   food bloggers, rather than from the spate of mainstream Middle Eastern cookbooks published recently in the UK.  It started as a means  to find inspirational ways of using my spices such as Advieh , Baharat , Sumac, Za'ata r and ingredients such as Maftoul and Freekeh, but like any curious cook I have been lured and enticed by other recipes.   When I saw an Iranian style Koresh tweeted by The Persian Fusion,   I just knew I had to make a vegetarian variation of it.  Something about it had me salivating.   Koresht/Khoresht/Ghalyeh  are stews or curries in Persian cooking.  They should not be compared to South Asian curries popular in the Western world.  Persian stews and curries are  quite mild.   I substituted the chicken breasts with Quorn 'chicken' fillets and adjusted the spices to taste and the tomato sauce acc...

One of the reasons I wanted to make this recipe for Venezuelan Black Beans was the fact that the recipe used Panela.       Eden Project  a couple of months back.  I'm planning a few other recipes with the panela, but if any of you have any other suggestions, please do share.   I adapted the recipe for the Venezuelan Black Beans from Viva Vegan.  I even made the sofrito with onions and green peppers.  I am not going to type up the recipe here, even with my tinkering and will just say, go on treat yourself to the cookbook Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero; or borrow it from a friend; or your local library.   For those of you who have Viva Vegan and have made this recipe, what did you think of it?! I would like to know.  It was  a bit of a shock for me to eat, as this Venezuelan style Black Beans was not spicy at all, or even herby - its has sweet undertones from the Panela.  I served it with Turmeric Rice.   ...

A few months ago, I got hold of some purple sweet potato.  I made a Pizza with it, but we were so hungry that evening that I never got round to photographing its bold vivid colour.  I did not want to lose out on sharing the striking bright colour of this easy red purple cabbage pesto.   So I asked D to get a photograph for me while I got on with other things in the kitchen.   I had half a red cabbage in the fridge, left over from another another dish  that I had made (also not photographed).  I was inspired to make a Red Cabbage Pesto that I saw a long while back in The Guardian and bookmarked.   Its a relatively simple and easy recipe, only four ingredients: red cabbage, garlic, sunflower seeds and olive oil.   I have to admit the raw garlic was quite pungent to the point it had heat and left that burning sensation in the mouth, not particularly pleasant.  So I sauteed the pesto in a little oil before using it for the required dish,...

I have been following Olives for Dinner for a while, and Erin's originality is astounding and her generosity for sharing her recipes definitely praise worthy.   I have a number of her recipes bookmarked including her Carrot Lox  recipe.  I have been waiting for an excuse to make it.   The reason for finally making the vegan Smoked Carrot 'Salmon' came to me last week, when it was one of my good work colleagues birthday.  This colleague happens to be vegan.  One colleague who is an excellent baker had decided to make her some vegan chocolate cupcakes with Lotus Biscoffi 'butter cream'.  I had decided to have a go at making the classic Cream Cheese and Smoked 'Salmon' Bagels for her, only vegan style !   The first time I ever had smoked Salmon was by pure accident.  It was on a flight from Paris to San Francisco many, many years ago. I was assured by the flight attendant that the ready made vegetarian meal  I was having was indeed ...

I have so many bookmarked banana recipes, but when it comes to finding them - Can I find them, of course not, then I find  myself making another Banana Bread. This time with the addition of dessicated Coconut and Coconut Sugar and guess what it happens to be vegan too.  D thought the bread looked dry and suggested that he may want put some jam or sunflower spread on it,  but I had to disagree with him. I thought it was plenty moist and to prove my point even further, I took some into work for some colleagues to try and they sided with me, but he wasn't haven't any of it - we agreed to differ.  I think the coconut sugar gave the banana bread a caramel colouring as it looks like it is made with wholemeal flour.  I assure you it is not, the coconut sugar also imparted a little caramel flavour, or maybe I was just imagining that.  This Banana and Coconut Bread is adapted from a recipe by  the original recipe here.    I made some little tw...