Today for my MoFo vegan world tour, I am featuring a couple of tester recipes courtesy of Taymer and her blog of Caribbean delights, Vegan in the Sun.

First up is Cheeseless Vegan Bajan Macaroni Pie. I made this tonight and it was so tasty and delicious, I really had to fight back the little devil on my shoulder who was prodding me with his little pitchfork and saying “I know you’re full, but it tastes sooo good… go on, finish it off”.

It was so full of creamy cheesy goodness that Mr Thrifty couldn’t believe there was no commercial vegan cheese in it. The other thing I loved about this sauce is that it doesn’t congeal when it cools down the way cheese sauce made with commercial vegan cheese does.

After you’ve finished salivating over the photo, you really must hop on over to Taymer’s blog and check out the background on this culinary piece of heaven.

I made these scrumptious Coconut turnovers a couple of weeks back. Even though I messed up on the sweet dough (dough and I don’t always get along, doh!), they were still amazingly delicious. The almond-scented coconut filling was delightful. If you want to see what they are supposed to look like, be sure to check out Taymer’s food-porn shot here.

This is a quick & easy pasta dish, perfect for a busy day when it’s already well into evening and the stove has not yet been lit. Not authentically Italian, perhaps, but delicious.

I used this recipe, omitting the cheese, and adding some veggie prawns for protein. Instead of a tin of cherry tomatoes, I used passata (tomato sauce) that I had left over in the fridge, and added fresh cherry tomatoes from our allotment (just about the last of them).

I cooked the fresh tomatoes with the garlic for about seven or eight minutes before adding the passata and basil.

The veggie prawns were sauteed separately with a some freshly minced garlic, and were added on top of the pasta for serving.

Squisito!

When I think of the food of Switzerland, I think of cheese. So in choosing a dish to make from the land of yodelling, I decided to veganise Aelplermagrone, or Alpine farmer’s macaroni.

Aelplermagrone is a simple, cheesy pasta and potato casserole that’s full of wonderful homely flavours. I had an inkling (well, more than an inkling) that Mr Thrifty would love it, since it contains one of his favourite foods in the world, the versatile spud.

And love it he did. It took a lot of willpower, he said — after polishing off a second helping — to abstain from thirds and instead save some for his lunch the next day.

Besides sauteed potatoes, the dish contains slow-cooked onions, macaroni, meatless “bacon”, and a simple vegan cheese sauce made with soya milk, vegan sour cream and vegan cheese.

For the vegan cheese, I used half Smoked Cheddar Sheese and half Mozzarella Cheezly.

Served with a salad, it’s the kind of meal that’s perfect for a cool autumn evening… regardless of whether the view from your dining room is the Alps, or just the back garden.

Alpine farmer’s macaroni

1. Heat one teaspoon olive oil and one teaspoon margarine in a heavy skillet over low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Add garlic, cook another five minutes.

2. While onions are cooking, parboil potatoes in boiling salted water for five minutes. Drain.

3. In the same water, cook macaroni according to package directions, until just tender.

4. Heat one teaspoon of olive oil and one teaspoon of margarine over medium heat. Fry parboiled potatoes until browned and crispy, 10-12 minutes.

5. Put potatoes and macaroni in a small casserole dish and mix.

6. Gently fry vegan bacon in a little olive oil until warmed through, a minute or two each side. Chop into small pieces and add to casserole dish.

7. Make sauce: Gently heat soya milk with vegan sour cream until just hot. Stir in vegan cheese and continue to heat, stirring with a whisk, until cheese is melted.

8. About 10 minutes before onions are done, preheat oven to 175C (350F).

9. When onions are finished cooking, add them to the casserole dish along with the sauce. Mix thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix again.

10. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Makes two generous servings.

This is a great recipe to use up some of the glut of courgettes (zucchini) that we gardeners always seem to have at this time of the year.

The first time I made this, Mr Thrifty asked me the next day when I was going to make it again, so it soon made another appearance on the dinner table.

First, a note about lasagne noodles. They’re different in size on this side of the pond, so you may need to adjust the number of noodles you use (they’re rectangular here, rather than long and thin as in America/Canada). I use two noodles per layer in my 24cm (9-1/2″) square lasagne pan. You need enough to make four layers, but keep in mind that if your pan is bigger, you’ll also need to adjust the other ingredients.

Inspiration came from here, though it isn’t much like the original.

For melty cheese, I used Mozzarella Cheezly, and for hard cheese, Mature Cheddar Cheezly. I used Tofutti vegan sour cream in the filling, although vegan cream cheese would be good as well.

I cheated and used a prepared pasta sauce (Seeds of Change) instead of making my own.

Enjoy this great summer dish!

1. Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy pan. Add onion and saute for six to eight minutes, until softened. Add garlic and saute for two minutes. Then add grated courgette (zucchini) and saute until courgette is softened and some of the moisture has evaporated. Mix in sundried tomatoes, basil and sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Clean pan, then saute mushrooms in remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil until moisture has evaporated and they begin to go crispy. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, cook lasagne noodles according to package directions. Remember to gently stir them whilst they are cooking so they don’t stick together. Drain, rinse in cold water and lay in a single layer on a clean tea towel until needed.

4. Preheat oven to 220C (450F).

5. Grease a 24cm (9-1/2″) square, 6cm (2-1/2″) deep dish with olive oil. Spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom.

6. Layer the following: two lasagne noodles, one quarter of the remaining sauce, one third of the courgettes (zucchini), one third of the mushrooms, one third of the hard cheese, one quarter of the melty cheese. Repeat this twice.

7. Top with remaining two noodles, the last of the sauce and the remaining melty cheese. Cover dish with foil.

8. Bake for 45 minutes, until hot and bubbling and cheese is melted.

Makes 4 to 6 servings, depending on how much of a little piggy you are.

On the same day as I made the amazing banana chocolate chip muffins, I had another fabulous cooking success. What are the chances? The cooking gods must have been looking down favourably on me that day.

I wanted to make something quick and tasty for tea (i.e. “supper”. Don’t ask me why the evening meal is called “tea” here, it just is). Pasta sprang to mind, though I hankered for a creamy sauce instead of the usual tomato-based one.

For this dish, I decided to use one of the four small packages of veggie shrimp that I brought back with me from my recent trip to the homeland. Also some broccoli that was in the fridge patiently waiting to be used.

I started with this recipe, though I had to change it a lot to veganise it. Also, I didn’t have any angel hair pasta, which I think would have been better with a cream sauce, though it was still delicious with the rotini that I did use. It also would be awesome with some homemade fresh vegan pasta. If you’re using a very quick-cooking pasta, you’ll want to prepare the rest of the recipe before cooking it.

I used a few prepared products in the cream sauce, namely vegan sour cream, cream cheese and hard cheese. But you only need small amounts of each of them, so the dish isn’t too expensive to make. Of course, it doesn’t clog your arteries or harm your karma like a dairy-based sauce would.

Enjoy!

1. Melt two teaspoons of the margarine over low heat. Add flour and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the soya milk to make a smooth sauce, and simmer until thickened. Whisk in the fresh basil, cream cheese, sour cream and one clove of the garlic until smooth. Then add shredded Cheddar, and cook gently until it melts into the sauce. Stir in tomatoes, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Continue to simmer on very low heat while you prepare the other ingredients.

2. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Salt the water, then add pasta and cook according to package directions.

3. While pasta is cooking, steam broccoli for 3 or 4 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain.

4. Melt remaining one teaspoon of margarine and gently saute remaining two cloves of garlic for a minute. Then add the veggie shrimp and cook until they are heated through. Also add the steamed broccoli to reheat it.

5. When the pasta is finished, add it to the sauce, and top with the veggie shrimp and broccoli.

Makes two servings.

I’ve been playing around for awhile with my meatless meatball recipe. I was trying to duplicate Nate’s Meatless Meatballs, or at least my memory of them (since it’s been a few years since I’ve had Nate’s). I’m happy to report that I’ve achieved success at last!

These little puppies have a great texture that is, from what I can remember, very very similar to meatballs made from ground-up animals. In fact, I’m willing to bet you could fool carnivores with these. They are firm but not too chewy, with a slightly crumbly texture. I used a combination of textured vegetable protein (TVP), gluten, gram flour and breadcrumbs, as well as oil to keep them moist, plus spices and seasonings. I kept the seasonings quite neutral, so they could be used for anything from spaghetti & meatballs to sweet-and-sour meatballs to curried meatballs, and so on.

The first time I made them, I simmered them in broth, the way I do my seitan cutlets, but they didn’t hold together very well in the simmering broth. Now I steam them, which works great, followed by a brief session in the oven to make a slight crust on the outside.

Note that when they come out of the steamer, they will have developed a slightly flattened shape. If you wait a couple of minutes (until they’re cool enough to handle), you’ll be able to easily reshape them back into round balls.

Last night we had them with spaghetti and a simple homemade sauce, made by sauteing onion, sweet peppers and garlic in olive oil, then adding passata (tomato sauce), and seasoning with basil, oregano, salt & pepper. The meatballs were served straight from the oven, on top of the spaghetti and sauce, and not simmered in the sauce. I’ve tried simmering the meatballs in sauce previously and it works okay, but you end up with softer meatballs, and I think they’re nicer served firmer.

I use a mixture of groundnut (peanut) oil and coconut oil (which is actually solid at room temperature), but I’ve also made them just with groundnut oil and they’re fine like that too, though the coconut oil seems to give them a slightly firmer texture.

Update 14/02/09: Denny of a simple kind of life modified this recipe to be gluten-free; and Andy of Aloka Life successfully made these meatballs soy-free by substituting mushrooms for the TVP.

Delicious vegan meatballs

1. Make the TVP mixture ahead of time, as it needs to cool completely. Stir the prepared beef-style bouillon, Marmite and optional gravy browning together in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, add TVP and stir well. Cover and set aside for 15 minutes, then stir again and add onion and garlic. Set aside to cool completely. The mixture must be cold before adding the other ingredients.

2. Mix together the coconut oil and vegetable oil until you have a smooth paste. Set aside.

3. For the liquid mixture, put beef-style bouillon cube in a glass measuring cup. Add a couple tablespoons of boiling water, and mix until bouillon cube is dissolved. Add ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Then add enough cold water to equal 165ml (2/3 cup). Set aside. Note that this must also be cold before adding to the other ingredients.

4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine wheat gluten, besan, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast and stir well.

5. When TVP and liquid mixtures are cold, first add oil mixture to TVP and combine well. Then add the liquid mixture and stir again. Now add this to the gluten mixture and mix it until it is evenly combined.

6. Form into meatballs. I make 24 meatballs, each about 2.5cm (1 inch) in diameter.

7. Prepare your steamer insert by lining it with greased parchment paper so the meatballs don’t stick (you can just grease the steamer insert without using the parchment paper, but they will stick a bit). Place meatballs in steamer insert with about a 2cm (3/4″) gap between them. My steamer is not very big, and I have to do the meatballs in three batches.

8. Bring an inch of water to boil in the bottom of your steamer, then turn heat down to maintain water at a simmer. Steam meatballs for 10 minutes, then carefully turn them over and steam for another 10 minutes. Remove them to a parchment-lined tray to cool. The meatballs will have flattened slightly in the steamer. Once they have cooled for a few minutes, you can gently reform them back into balls. Steam the rest of the meatballs the same way. Check the water level periodically to ensure the pot doesn’t boil dry, and add more boiling water if necessary.

9. When the meatballs are finished steaming, bake them at 180C (350F) for 10 to 15 minutes.

Makes 24 meatless meatballs.

I came across a recipe for Baked pepper & chorizo penne and it sounded really good, and easy to veganise. The crispy rosemary-flavoured breadcrumb topping was especially appealing.

Instead of chorizo, I used homemade sundried tomato Italian-style seitan sausages, but the dish would be delicious even without the faux sausage. For cheese, I used strong Cheddar-style Sheese.

I used less red pepper flakes in the pasta than the original, and less rosemary in the topping, though next time I’d use more of each.

The original recipe used 150g (5 ounces) of dried pasta for four servings. I didn’t think half the recipe would be enough for the two of us, so I made the full recipe. I was surprised that there actually WAS enough for three or four servings.

BTW, rosemary is very easy to grow, we have some growing in a pot outside and it stays green throughout the winter, one of the few herbs that does in this climate.

1. If you are using the optional seitan sausage, heat two teaspoons of the oil in a heavy skillet and fry over low heat until golden. Remove from skillet and set aside.

2. Heat remaining olive oil and saute onion and sweet pepper for three minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to saute for 10 more minutes, until vegetables are soft.

3. Preheat oven to 200C (400F).

4. Add garlic and chilli flakes, and saute an additional minute or two.

5. Add tomatoes (with juice), sun-dried tomatoes and capers. Cook gently for another five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling salted water until just done (mine took 11 minutes, but check the package as this varies).

7. Whilst the sauce and pasta are cooking, make the topping. In a blender, process bread until broken into crumbs. Add chopped rosemary and blend for another 10 seconds or so. Remove from blender and toss with grated cheese.

8. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to vegetable mixture. Thinly slice sausage (if using), and add to the mixture.

9. Spoon pasta mixture into a large shallow baking dish (I used an enamelled roasting tin). Top with crumb mixture.

10. Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is slightly crunchy.

Makes 3 or 4 servings.