This is a delicious way to cook new potatoes. It’s from Jack Bishop’s Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook.

Soaking the potatoes in cold water helps remove some of the starch so they don’t stick to the roasting tin. Adding the garlic and herbs halfway through ensures the garlic doesn’t burn. You can use thyme and/or oregano instead of rosemary and sage.

Thanks for the great recipe, Jack!

Roasted new potatoes with garlic & herbs

1. Preheat oven to 210C (425F). Scrub potatoes and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes but do not blot dry. Place them in a roasting tin large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and toss to coat evenly. Roast, turning once, for 30 minutes.

3. Crush garlic in a mortar and pestle with salt until reduced to a paste. Add sage and rosemary and ombine remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons oil, garlic, sage, rosemary and salt in a small bowl. Drizzle over the partially roasted potatoes. Toss gently to distribute the seasonings. Continue roasting, turning the potatoes occasionally, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Last year, one of the varieties of winter squash that we grew was Jaspee de vende.

I like Jaspee because the rind is fairly easy to cut through, and can be trimmed quite close… there isn’t a thick layer of hard flesh next to the rind like there is with some varieties. (Then again, maybe it was just because the squash was fully ripe.)

The thing with winter squash is that when you’re cooking for two people, one squash seems to last ages. Though uncut squash lasts months, once cut it needs to be used fairly quickly.

I roasted some of the squash with other veggies, roasted some on its own, and also made a delicious soup. And there is still a chunk left over!

The soup was inspired by one found here. Besides squash, it has potato, red lentils and spices. It’s a smooth and creamy soup, and light in texture… it doesn’t remind one of baby food, like some pureed vegetable soups. It’s easy to make and really tasty, a great winter warmer!

Winter squash & red lentil soup

1. In a medium pot, heat vegetable oil over low heat and saute onion for five minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook for two more minutes.

2. Add cumin, coriander, curry powder & cayenne, and saute an additional minute.

3. Add squash, potato, lentils & stock or bouillion. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook over gentle heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables and lentils are soft.

4. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Ladle into bowls and top with freshly chopped coriander (cilantro).

Makes 2 servings.

Happy New Year!

On Sunday, Mr Thrifty and I went for a 10.5-mile (17km) hike. When we got back, we were in the mood for something belly-warming and tasty.

I decided to make a red lentil soup which turned out to be most delicious. I slightly modified this recipe from the New York Times.

I doubled the amount of tomato puree (tomato paste). I didn’t add lemon juice because I didn’t have a lemon in the house, and the soup was really tasty without it. But in case you want to add it, I’ve left it in as an optional ingredient.

We ate the soup with toasted sourdough French bread. Then we each had a big plate of roasted veg: brussels sprouts, oca and potatoes. Yummtastic!

Red lentil soup with carrots

1. In a medium pot, heat olive oil over low heat and saute onion for two minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook for two more minutes.

2. Add cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne, and saute an additional two minutes.

3. Add stock or bouillion, water, lentils, carrots and tomato puree (tomato paste). Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook over gentle heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

4. Using an immersion blender, puree about half of the soup.

5. Stir in lemon juice (if using). Ladle into bowls and top with freshly chopped coriander (cilantro).

Makes 2 servings.

Yesterday being Sunday, we had a roast dinner (not that we have one every Sunday, but yesterday we did).

Instead of serving a faux meaty thing to go with all the veggies, I decided to try a nut roast. Cashew nut roast from Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Christmas, to be precise.

It was awesome, really really delicious, with a perfectly moist yet firm texture. This would be so good for Thanksgiving (and what a coincidence… American Thanksgiving is right around the corner) or Christmas or really anytime you are hankering for a roast dinner and don’t want to do the whole fake turkey thing.

We served it with rosemary roasted potatoes, agave-mustard roasted parsnips & carrots, peas and gravy.

Note when you are assembling the roast that it looks like there is no way that it will fit into a 1-pound loaf tin, but it does (just) if you pack it in. The stuffing was a bit crumbly, so next time I’ll probably moisten it with some vegetable stock. I might further tinker with the recipe as it is quite high in fat, probably by adding some mushrooms for moisture and reducing the margarine. But it is delicious just the way it is.

Cashew nut roast with herb stuffing

For the roast:

1. Prepare a 450g/1lb loaf pan. Put a long strip of baking paper across the bottom and up the two narrow sides, then use some of the margarine to grease the pan and paper well.

2. Melt most of the remaining margarine in a medium-sized saucepan, add the onion and fry for about 10 minutes until tender but not browned. Add the garlic cloves and continue to cook for one minute. Remove from the heat.

3. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

4. Grind the cashew nuts in a food processor until they look like breadcrumbs, then remove to a large mixing bowl. Process the bread into crumbs in the food processor and add to the bowl.

5. Add the onion/garlic, bouillon, nutritional yeast and seasonings to the crumb/cashew mixture and combine well.

6. Prepare the herb stuffing (see below).

7. Put half the cashew mixture into the prepared pan, top with all of the herb stuffing and pack down. Then spoon the rest of the nut mixture on top. Dot with the remaining margarine. Stand the pan in another pan to catch any margarine which may ooze out, then bake for about 30 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. Cover the roast with foil if it gets too brown before then.

8. Cool for a minute or two in the pan, then slip a knife around the sides, turn the nut roast out and strip off the paper.

For the herb stuffing:

Peel & grate the onion. Place it in a bowl and add the margarine and seasonings. Add the breadcrumbs and mix it together well.

Makes six servings.

Last night my father-in-law came over for an evening meal, and I decided to make curry.

Feeling bored with my usual repertoire of Indian food, I made some different things, all of which were extremely tasty and went over a treat.

On the menu was matar mushroom (mushroom & peas curry), rajma chawal (kidney bean curry), aloo dum (potato curry) and simla mirch bharata (bell peppers with garlic curry). Also rice, papadums, and store-bought samosas and pakoras.

The mushroom/pea, kidney bean and potato curries were all from a fab site I just discovered, Manjula’s kitchen. Not only does the website have full detailed recipes, but also video tutorials of “Auntie” Manjula demonstrating exactly how to make each dish. I know I will be visiting this site regularly.

The bell pepper curry was from one of my Indian vegetarian cookery books whose name escapes me at the moment.

A very successful meal and one which we be having again tomorrow as there were lots of leftovers. Thank you, Auntie Manjula!

Last night, I decided, was going to be curry night, and Mr Thrifty concurred as he is always up for a good curry. I made an old favourite, and tried a couple of new dishes too.

I’ve made Succulent mountain mushrooms several times before; it’s easy and tastes waaay better than the mushroom dishes that our takeaway does (for starters, it isn’t swimming in oil… why do some restaurants think everything tastes better with a slick of oil on it?)

Then I tried my hand at tandoori tofu kebabs. They were really good, but somehow were lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps because I forgot to sprinkle them with lemon juice & coarse salt before serving. Oops. Also, I think I pressed the tofu a bit too much, so I might skip that step next time.

I also wanted to make something with potatoes (cuz, ya just gotta have potatoes when you have a curry), and settled on Potatoes cooked with mustard seeds, from Madhur Jaffrey’s Eastern Vegetarian Cooking. The potatoes were golden and crunchy and delicious, and I’ll definitely be adding them to my rotation of Indian dishes.

Last night we had Buddha bowls with spicy chilli sauce. I used Chinese cabbage from our allotment, and a really good seitan “beef” from Kristin at Beans and Greens.

However, since I’ve blogged about the spicy chilli sauce before, tonight’s post is about Buddha bowls with black bean sauce that I made a couple of weekends ago. The sauce is easy to make and does not have any of the chemicals with big long names that are often in store-bought sauces.

To make it, you’ll need Chinese fermented black beans, which are actually fermented and salted soya beans. I bought a bag a couple of years ago for less than a quid, and there is still plenty left (it keeps a long time).

This sauce is quite strong and salty, so you may want to make some adjustments if you don’t like salty sauces.

You can substitute tempeh or seitan for the tofu, although I think tofu works best for this sauce because of its neutral flavour.

Buddha bowls with black bean sauce

1. First, make the sauce. Crush the garlic in a mortar and pestle. Rinse the black beans, then add them to the mortar and crush them with the garlic until you have a paste. In a small saucepan, heat one tablespoon oil over low heat. Gently fry ginger and black bean/garlic mixture for a minute or so. Add bouillon cube and mash to break it up. Reserve two tablespoons of water and pour the rest into the saucepan. Add soy sauce, sherry, sugar & pepper, and bring sauce to a simmer. Mix reserved water with cornflour (cornstarch), then add to simmering sauce and cook until thickened. Keep warm.

2. Cut veggies into bite-size pieces, and set aside.

3. Heat a large wok (I use cast iron) over medium heat. Saute fried tofu until heated through, then remove and keep warm.

4. Increase heat to medium-high. Add one tablespoon oil to wok. Lightly salt the oil, then stir-fry veggies until crisp-tender. Periodically, add a tablespoon of water to create steam and help soften the veggies.

5. When everything is cooked, put rice (or noodles or quinoa) into bottom of two large bowls. Top with veggies and tofu, then with sauce.

Makes two servings.

You know how you sometimes get a craving for food from your childhood, even though it’s not exotic, exquisite, elaborate, etc? With me, that craving is for Ukrainian food.

Holubtsi (cabbage rolls), perohi a.k.a. perogies (filled dumplings) and kielbasa (garlic sausage) were ubiquitous at family gatherings… on my mum’s side, at least. The cabbage rolls were sometimes vegetarian, and other times contained bits of ground cow or bacon. The perogies were almost always vegetarian, save for the odd bit of bacon that sometimes found its way into the potato perogies.

Wanting to recapture some of the flavours of my youth, but not feeling up to a marathon cooking session, I decided to make cabbage rolls yesterday.

I followed this recipe loosely. I poured boiling water over the cabbage to soften the leaves (instead of steaming). I sauteed the onions in vegan margarine, cooked white basmati rice until “al dente”, omitted the meat (obviously), and added a few slices of veggie bacon. To season the filling, I used smoked salt to enhance the smoky flavour of the bacon, along with freshly ground pepper. You really do need to over-season the filling, because the cabbage leaves diminish the flavour quite a bit.

I don’t think I’ve ever cooked cabbage rolls for two hours before, but doing so made them really tender. Yumm. They were served with pidpenyok (mushrooms with sour cream), based on this recipe, roast potatoes and salad.

Next I’ll be tackling perogies. The wait for vegan kielbasa may be a long one, though!

Mr Thrifty has been asking me for ages to try my hand at vegan Yorkshire puddings. Since I finally have a Yorkshire pudding tin, I have no more excuses.

Woo hoo… success on the first try!

I cannot take credit for this creation.. it’s from the now-defunct blog gorgeousveganblog.co.uk. They are super-easy to make, with only four ingredients: plain flour, gram (chickpea) flour, soya milk and salt.

They are sooo scrummy! Since I’ve never had traditional Yorkshire puddings, I relied on Mr Thrifty to critique their authenticity. He said the only differences between traditional ones and these vegan ones were that these had a slightly sweet taste (from the soya milk, which has a bit of sweetness that I’ve never really noticed before); and also they didn’t rise quite as much.

They were perfect with our Sunday roast dinner.

Sharing the plate is a beefy seitan roast, stuffing balls, roast potatoes, vegan gravy and stir-fried Chinese cabbage with garlic.

For those who aren’t familiar with Yorkshire puddings (which is probably everyone outside of the UK), they’re like a pancake on the bottom with a crispy coating on the sides & top and a hollow middle. They are traditionally served with Sunday roast dinners, but Mr Thrifty has guiltily admitted to having them with curry in the past.

In future, these will make a regular appearance on the plate whenever we have a roast dinner.

The gal who created the original recipe made them in a muffin tin, and the recipe yielded six puddings, but my Yorkshire puddingn tin only has four holes. There is more batter here than is needed for four puddings, so I’ll tweak the recipe in future.

Because I’m lazy, I didn’t convert the UK “weight” measurements to US “volume” measurements, but will do so next time I make this recipe.

Here, thanks to gorgeousveganblog.co.uk, is the recipe for making these scrummy delights!

Vegan Yorkshire puddings

4oz  plain (all-purpose) flour

salt to taste

1 heaped teaspoon gram flour (chickpea flour, besan)

half a pint of soya milk

vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 230C (450F). Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil in the holes of a Yorkshire pudding or muffin tin and place in oven. The oven needs to be hot and the oil needs to be hot.

2. Mix plain flour, salt and gram flour together with a whisk. Gradually pour in the soya milk taking in the flour slowly until all the milk is added and the flour is incorporated. Whisk with all your might until you can see bubbles. (I used the whisk attachment of my stick blender.) Note: the batter will be very thin, much thinner than pancake batter. It’s supposed to be that way.

3. Carefully remove tin from oven and fill the holes. If using a muffin tin, fill half way up; if using a Yorkshire pudding tin, fill all the way up. Put back in oven and cook for about 20 minutes. Don’t open the oven door to check them, as the oven needs to stay really hot. If your oven cooks hotter at the back than the front (like mine), you can rotate the tin halfway through, but do it quickly.

Enjoy!

This isn’t a very authentic Mexican recipe, as I’m pretty sure tofu isn’t used at all in traditional Mexican cuisine. However, it is exceedingly tasty.

I based my recipe on one from Matt of My Veggie Kitchen. His Cheezy tofu enchiladas looked and sounded so yummy, I knew I had to make them.

I modified Matt’s recipe a bit. I sauteed the onion in olive oil instead of just simmering it in the enchilada sauce. I also added red pepper and garlic. I didn’t have any salsa on hand, so I used fresh tomatoes instead. I omitted the olives (though next time, I would use them). To add more flavour, I scrambled the tofu instead of just crumbling it in straight from the package.

I used jarred enchilada sauce instead of a homemade one.

Matt’s Nacho cheeze sauce was great; because I couldn’t find pimentos or diced green chillies, I substituted a bit of red pepper simmered in water to replace those ingredients. I used twice the amount of nacho sauce for the enchiladas: 1 cup nacho sauce for half a recipe of enchiladas.

The package of organic flour tortillas I bought contained six tortillas, so I used all of them for half a recipe; this made enough for three servings.

The enchiladas were so delicious, I had to stop myself from having thirds (no hope for avoiding seconds).

A very successful result… thanks, Matt!