Black pepper tofu & eggplant

August 26, 2023

   

Cindy heard the See Also podcasters raving about this Smitten Kitchen twist on one of our favourite Ottolenghi dishes and was quick to pop it into our rotation. We've made the black pepper tofu for a bunch of special occasions, and this seemed like a less fiddly variant that incorporates a few more veggies without losing any of the punch that had us fall in love with the original version. 

It was exactly that - baking things first means that the eggplant is falling-apart-soft. Our tofu didn't really get crispy, but I think our baking trays got a bit crowded. It starts out looking like an astonishing amount of food, but everything shrinks down to a more appropriate, serves-4 kind of size. Cutting down on the pepper and fresh chilli and just adding a drizzle of chilli oil at the end is the perfect approach for our household, meaning each person can make their plate as intense as they want. Vegan version below - the original has butter instead of Nuttelex.

We served it straight up with rice, and a little bean stir-fry or something would still be a nice side to add, but it's pretty perfect on its own. I suspect we'll make this version a few more times before we go back to the original again!

Black pepper tofu & eggplant

(from this recipe on Smitten Kitchen)

500g firm tofu

1-2 eggplants (you want about 500g)

sunflower oil

1 tablespoon cornflour

4 tablespoons Nuttelex

1 medium red onion, sliced finely

5-6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1/2 cup tamari

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1-2 tablespoons ground black pepper

salt

chilli oil for serving

Preheat the oven to 220°C.  Cut the eggplant and tofu into rough 2cm cubes. 

Toss a tablespoon or two of oil with the eggplant cubes and a generous sprinkle of salt. Spread the eggplant on a baking tray or two with another drizzle of oil. Toss the tofu cubes with the cornflour and a bit more salt and spread those cubes out on the rest of your baking tray real estate (this was two very full baking trays for us, but all squeezed into one for Deb from Smitten Kitchen somehow). 

Roast for 20 minutes and then gently flip the tofu cubes and stir the eggplant around a bit before roasting for another 10 minutes. 

While everything is roasting, melt the Nuttelex in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion and garlic for 10 minutes or so, until it's beautiful and soft. Stir in the tamari, pepper and brown sugar and simmer for a few minutes. 

Stir the roasted eggplant and tofu back through the sauce and serve, over rice or breads or however you like!

One for the Crow II

August 26, 2023

   

I noticed that One for the Crow announced a new menu mid-winter, and we arranged to try it out with the Moody Noodles. The new menu is a fun mix of all-day breakfast, burgers, bowls and sandwiches, all vegan and with gluten-free options marked. 

Ordering the Lamb Open Bowl ($22) was a bit out of character for me, but I bet on a winner here! The mock lamb was well marinated and teamed with soft, sweet red onion. The accompanying Greek-style salad included a lovely, creamy fetta; I chose chips over quinoa, dipped them in the tzatziki, and folded whatever I could fit into the most pillowy-warm pita. It was a generous portion and it took me a long time to eat, but I relished every bite and let my friends have a few chips too.

   

Michael chose the more classic brunch dish of baked beans ($18) and added sausages and tempeh bacon ($5 each). The green garnishes of dill and salsa verde had the beans looking extra vibrant, and Michael gave them a tick for taste too.

There's plenty more on the menu that I'd love to try, but I'll be just as tempted to revisit that fabulous mock lamb.

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You can read about our first visit to One for the Crow here.

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One for the Crow 

9 Commercial St, Maidstone 

9080 1806 

food, drinks 

facebook page 

Accessibility: There is a small step on entry. Tables are regular height, chairs have backs, and they're quite densely arranged with a very wide pathway through the middle of the café. We ordered and paid at a high counter, and didn't visit the toilets.

Green miso bean soup

 August 18, 2023

   

One of my colleagues was eating this for lunch at work one day and I hassled her immediately for the recipe. She forwarded me a scrappy text version, but it turns out that it originates at Vegan Dinner Feed on Instagram, so jump over there if you want a sassy video version instead of our early 2000s blogspot approach. 

It's a super easy weeknight dinner that's loaded up with veggies and white beans and has some lovely creaminess from the blended cashews and great savoury flavours from the miso and nooch. The yoghurt/tahini topping is a must too, for a bit of acidity. Once you've stemmed your kale and chopped up your leeks and garlic, the whole thing comes together in no time. We served it with buttery bread, but I reckon it would be great with quinoa or rice too. 

Green miso bean soup

(from this recipe by Sophie Waplington from Soph's Plant Kitchen)

1 small bunch of kale, stems removed

1/2 cup of soaked cashews

2 tablespoons nooch

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white miso paste

6 garlic cloves, minced

juice of 1 lemon

2 leeks, chopped finely

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 tins of butterbeans (including the liquid they come in)

salt and pepper

tahini yoghurt

2-3 tablespoons yoghurt

1 tablespoon tahini

juice of half a lemon

salt

Blanch the kale leaves for a minute or two and quickly run them under cold water. Blend them up with the cashews, nooch, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, miso, half the garlic and the lemon juice. You can add a bit of water here to loosen things up if your blender isn't hitting the mark.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in a big pot and gently fry the leeks for about 10 minutes, with a big shake of salt. You want them to soften and caramelise a bit.

Add in the rest of the minced garlic and the cumin and coriander and continue to fry gently for a few minutes, before stirring in the beans and their liquid. Once that's all combined, stir the blended green mix in as well. Simmer gently for a few minutes while you stir your tahini yoghurt ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and then serve, with a slice of buttered bread and a bit dollop of yoghurt mix on top. 

Bar Magnolia

August 17, 2023

   

We've known 295 Sydney Rd primarily as the spot that housed Maddox, and still hold dim memories of Empire Cafe Gallery before that. We didn't ever make it to Pogo for a sandwich before it was replaced by Bar Magnolia. Michael had his eye on the bar menu for a couple of months, but it took some complimentary instagram stories from Lidija before I paid proper attention. I booked us a table to stretch out those holiday vibes into our first working week back.

   

Magnolia has a seasonally shifting menu of share-friendly food with a decent proportion of well-marked vegetarian and vegan dishes. We ordered most of them, starting with Akimbo Bakery sourdough with whipped butter ($4 each).

   

I'm always up for artichokes when someone else is preparing them, and we liked these roasted artichoke hearts à la barigoule (i.e. braised in white wine, with vegetables, $12). Michael was excited for baby leeks ($20), served here as Poireaux vinaigrette (i.e. poached with a tarragon vinaigrette) and topped with smoked almonds.

   

The surprise star of our meal was probably the beetroot pavé ($24), myriad super-thin layers of golden beetroot compressed into a loaf slice, served with pear to bring out the sweetness and uplifted with horseradish.

   

Our most substantive savoury dish was a rich, flaky Jerusalem artichoke and chestnut tarte Tatin ($28), served with a salad of watercress, endive, cara cara orange and hazelnuts ($14).

   

I talked Michael out of ordering pommes frites in the name of dessert, and he had the appetite for us to order both sweets on offer: a perfectly portioned and caramelised crème brûlée ($12), and a prune and Armagnac clafoutis with crème épaisse ($18).

An abundant meal of French-style food is rare for veg*ns, so this was fun to try. The setting feels grown-up and special, but it's not so stuffy that it won't serve fries. We'll definitely keep it in mind when we're feeling fancy, now that our beloved Theodore's has closed.

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Bar Magnolia

295 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

a la carte menu, dessert, including cheese

https://www.barmagnolia.com.au/

Accessibility: Tables are closely packed but efforts have been made, including ramps replacing steps and a large unisex toilet with handrails. We ordered and paid at our table.

Sydney 2023

August 10-12, 2023

   

We had a strategic stop in Sydney on our way home from Brisbane - everything was timed perfectly for us to see The Weekend at Belvoir St Theatre (which is based on a novel I enjoyed very much). We haven't been to Sydney since 2019, and there's lots of old and new veg*n eating to enjoy, but this time around we stuck to venues that were convenient to our other activities.

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As if being present for The Weekend's short season wasn't good luck enough, our long-time food-blogging friend Gill had tickets for the same night! She recommended that we meet up for dinner at Flyover Fritterie before the show. At that early hour, we had the top floor of this contemporary vegetarian Indian restaurant to ourselves, although the ground floor looked full by the time we left.

Full marks to Flyover for offering six mocktails on their drinks list. Gill had their signature Thandaai ($10, right-most drink in the photo below right), a soy milk seasoned with almonds, watermelon seeds, rose, fennel, and chia seeds. Wary of the heat of the food to come, I ordered a passionfruit lassi with coconut yoghurt ($14, front-left drink in the photo below right), and Michael went for the house soda, flavoured with tamarind and raspberry ($9, back-left drink in the photo below right). 

To eat, there were fritters galore. The corn bhel puri ($20, photo below left) was a fresh and crunchy table favourite, with the coconut lime daal khichri ($24, photo above) coming a close second. Flyover also make fancy jaffles!

   

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Breakfasts were had a short walk from our accommodation, at Reuben Hills. It's a past favourite of Michael's and doesn't seem to have changed a whole lot. It's got an industrial look, emphasis on coffee, and an all-day menu that marks its veg*n and gluten-free options clearly.

We fell into typical roles: Michael went egg-heavy with soft-baked ones in spicy ranchero sauce ($23, pictured above left, with kale and goats curd), then scrambled ones ($22.50, pictured below left, with onion, chives and smashed avo). I scanned the sweet side of the menu, relishing the ricotta pancakes ($25, pictured above right, with raspberry and rhubarb compote, mascarpone, candied pecans and maple syrup) and downsizing to banana and walnut bread ($8.80, pictured below right) on our second visit. 

   

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We've been out of the loop on Shannon Martinez's ventures over the past few years - we've not properly visited Smith & Daughters since it moved (although we've stopped by the Deli to pick up sandwiches) and not crossed town for Lona Misa. Lona Misa sits within an Ovolo hotel, and so does Alibi in Sydney. The white cane felt out of step with Martinez's typically goth-punk vibes, but a few familiar items on the menu assured us we were in the right place.

   

With The Twin still front of mind, we ordered the focaccia starter ($12, front of photo above left), which was on the small side; we couldn't really taste the promised black garlic but the confit tomato and wakame-sprinkled ricotta were present and accounted for. We can always depend on Martinez for incredible croquettes ($18, back of photo above left), and these ones were flavoured with padron and (vegan) parmesan.

Michael was keen to revisit the cacio e pepe ($25, front of photo above right) and this was a well-seasoned, creamy portion. We balanced it out with charred broccolini ($16, back of photo above right) served with pickled radicchio, roasted hazelnuts, orange and aged balsamic vinaigrette. For dessert, it was always going to be quince filled doughnuts ($15, photo below). 

Alibi was a bit more formal and finicky than we usually expect from Martinez, but it was a special way to spend the last night of our interstate holiday.

   

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Between meals, we were busy! Not just with the theatre, but with three art exhibitions and an Aboriginal harbour heritage tour. (We passed the site of now-closed Bodhi several times, and remarked longingly upon it each time - the weather and our schedule would have been perfect for outdoor yum cha.) The veg*n wonders of King St will have to wait 'til next time.