December 11, 2008: My edible birthday

On turning 28, my friend, colleague and fellow maths-nerd Alana reminded me that my new age is a perfect number. As if that's not enough to be pleased about, take a look at the food-themed gifts I've been treated to, to celebrate the occasion.

This cute card arrived in the mail from my brother, Liam.

Michael's mum, Robyn, posted me this brand new recipe calendar to replace the 2008 World In Your Kitchen Calendar that she bought us for Christmas last year. This time she designed and printed her own calendar full of vegetarian recipes! I'm impressed and mighty chuffed that she went to that effort - you can be sure that this blog will document us testing each recipe throughout the year.

Yes, it's Veganomicon! The ultimate reference for vegan cooking, source of the fabulous chickpea cutlet. Michael picked it out after a little internet research, and offered to cook me my choice of dinner from it on Friday night. I can't wait to get my teeth into more of these cruelty-free recipes in the coming weeks and months.

But he didn't stop there. Michael also tucked away some sweet little earrings and badges amongst a bag full of newspaper. The newspaper concealed this vintage drink set! I'll swizzle up Pimm's punch all summer, if only the weather warms up.

My December birthday melds most agreeably into Christmas. I spent the afternoon lazing around a barbecue and playing bocce with my lab-mates while in Dr Who-themed costume - that's what passes for an office Christmas party 'round these parts. And I think there's at least one more fabulous food-themed gift on its way to me. During the planning and parties of these few weeks, I'm looking forward to my turn to do the giving.

December 10, 2008: Rhubarb tartlets

When I planned to make strawberry and rhubarb pudding on the weekend, a minor mix-up meant that Michael and I simultaneously and separately bought big bunches of rhubarb. With nine crimson stalks left over, I embarked on a mega-quantity of rhubarb compote. An opportunity to share it around arose within days - my friend and colleague Emily (who we visited in London last June) stopped by our lab to present the last seminar of the year.

I took the low-fuss route, buying four boxes of single-serving shortcrust pastry cases and a small tub of already-dollopable cream. (I figure that home-made shortcrust and freshly-whipped pure cream are privileges reserved for eating in my home, not from the office kitchen.) As I stood in front of the seminar audience and introduced Emily, it was all I could do not to giggle as a dozen or more pairs of eyes looked not at me but at the plates of tartlets in front of them; no-one was game to pluck their portion until I gave the go-ahead. They made short work of these once I did.

December 8, 2008: Locro

For the final calendar meal of the year, the World in Your Kitchen Calendar served up Locro, an Ecuadorian pumpkin stew. Like most of the dishes from the calendar (with one or two exceptions), it was pleasant and filling without being something interesting enough for us to bother making again. I used fresh corn and peas, but it was probably an unnecessary effort - they were kind of buried in the stewy mush, so their freshness didn't stand out at all. The main flavour is the sweet pumpkin, and with some cheese on top and a fresh salad on the side, this was a reasonable end to a year of international recipe adventures.

Locro - pumpkin stew

1 cup sweetcorn
450g pumpkin, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup peas
4 potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
200g cheese, grated
1 teaspoon nutmeg
oil
salt and pepper

Boil the pumpkin for 10-15 minutes, until soft. Drain and mash into a thick paste.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion over low heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or so, stirring.

Add the tomato paste and potatoes, along with enough water to submerge the spuds (about 1.5 cups in our pot). Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Add the corn, pumpkin and peas and stir everything together. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle the grated cheese and nutmeg on top and serve with a salad.

December 7, 2008: Zucchini crumble

Vegan sausage rolls weren't the only triumph of Sunday night's dinner. We typically augment pastry meals with steamed or sauteed green vegetables but on this occasion I branched out, taking my cue from an almost year-old comment from Kathryn of Limes & Lycopene about zucchini crumble.

I embellished a bit on her description, sneaking sprinklings of pepper and chicken-style stock cubes between the layers of zucchini rounds, and substituting a dried herb mix for the fresh ones she mentioned. The parmesan I grated lightly over the top was the saddest, driest looking scrap of cheese that you've ever seen but it did a fine job in the end product - the aim was to add a subtle savoury kick to the breadcrumbs, not to glue them together with melting goo. For a vegan version I can imagine nutritional yeast flakes standing in well, but really I'm itching to try Bella's recipe for vegan parmesan. Riffing on her approach, I bet that a few ground nuts (cashews, almonds, pine nuts!) would make a swell topping too.

Zucchini crumble

Estimate the quantities yourself, depending on how many people you wish to feed.

Start by preheating the oven to 180-200 degrees C (I went for 200 since I was simultaneously baking the sausage rolls). Lightly grease a baking dish (I used a small, square cake tin).

Slice several zucchinis into rounds. Layer them in the baking dish; it doesn't matter if there are gaps or overlaps. Sprinkle each layer alternately with ground black pepper or chicken-style powdered stock as you go - don't overdo it, you just want a little seasoning to bring out the zucchini's flavour.

Time to crumble! Sprinkle over breadcrumbs, chopped fresh or dried herbs, a light layer of grated parmesan, nooch, vegan parmesan and/or ground nuts.

Bake the crumble until the zucchini is tender and the topping is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. You can cook it further than the colouring you seen in the photograph above - our reheated leftovers had a deeper colour and flavour.

December 7, 2008: Vegan sausage rolls

   

I've been devoted to Liz O'Brien's recipe for vegetarian 'sausage' rolls longer than I've been vegetarian. Not only are they guaranteed gristle-free, but they taste as good as real sausage rolls (perhaps better!) and only require ingredients that you can find readily in a supermarket. I've cooked them for birthdays and Christmas and for cold, solitary winter nights on the couch. This recipe, my friends, is forever.

... except for my new lil' discovery. With one or two substitutions, you can make vegan sausage rolls that taste just as motherlovin' awesome! Toss the cottage cheese and eggs, and mash up a block of silken tofu - that's it. The raw filling has a distinctive whiff of soy, but there's not a trace of it once baked. These are the salty, flaky sauce vessels of your dreams.

If you compare the recipe below to the original version, you'll notice I've made a couple of other tweaks for convenience over the years. Perhaps you will too - the filling seems most forgiving.


Vegan sausage rolls

125g pecans
stale bread to make ~1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 onion
300g silken tofu
1 cup rolled oats
1 Massel beef-style stock cube
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce (you can use less - the end result will be less salty and brown, and therefore less resemble a 'real' sausage roll)
ground pepper, to taste
3-4 frozen puff pastry sheets (~25cm square, Borg's is vegan)
water or vegan milk for brushing pastry
sesame seeds

My preferred way of prepping this filling makes maximum use of my food processor. If you don't have one, chopping and mashing will do the job just fine. Start by processing the pecans until they're thoroughly chopped, but not all gone to powder. Tip them into a large mixing bowl, then toss the bread into the food processor and whizz it until it's crumbs. Toss the crumbs in with the pecans and move onto the onion. Chop it into 8 chunks and process them briefly until they've a 'finely chopped' kinda texture. Add them to the mixing bowl, and finally whizz up the tofu until it's a smooth mush. Add it to the mixing bowl, as well as the rest of the filling ingredients: rolled oats, a crumbled-up stock cube, garlic powder, soy sauce and pepper. Stir everything together well.

Now preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and lightly grease a baking tray. Thaw out your puff pastry, and slice each sheet in half so that it makes two rectangles. Spoon the filling down the centre third of each pastry rectangle; lightly brush another third with water or milk and then roll the pastry, starting from the empty third and tucking it into the brushed third. Slice the roll into halves, thirds or quarters as you wish and place them on the baking tray. Make a couple more diagonal cuts in the top of the roll, brush the top with more water/milk and sprinkle over some sesame seeds. Repeat with the remaining filling and pastry. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes, until they're golden brown and flaky. Serve with lots of sauce - this one comes highly recommended.