Wrapped in Pastry

available now

   

Here in Melbourne, now is the perfect time to preheat the oven and bake some pastry! And if you're seeking some inspiration, we can happily recommend the newly released Wrapped in Pastry by Leigh Drew. This time last year I acted as a recipe tester for this book (including team-testing a number of recipes with K), and I was lucky to receive my copy of Wrapped in Pastry as a thank-you gift from Leigh.

Inside are 18 fillings, sweet and savoury, as well as several start-from-scratch shortcrust recipes. Everything is totally vegan, and there are gluten-free and soy-free options on every. single. recipe. Here's some we prepared earlier!

   

This tartlet is filled with a tangy bean pate and topped with caramelised onions.

   

The Aussie picnic pie is pure theatre, filled with legume-based "egg whites" and "yolks" and marinated vege "bacon".

   

The cherry strudel may be the ultimate winter afternoon tea.

Michael's favourite was the Pate En Croute - there are no photos for you here since I accidentally filled this inside out and it burst a seam, but the loaf of lentil pate and mushroom mousse is photographed in all its refined glory in the book. Don't even try to resist it.

My recommendation is the peanut caramel blueberry pie, an oddball match made in heaven. The great news is that Leigh has released this recipe to promote the book. Try it for yourself to get a taste of what this book's about! On the savoury side, Leigh has also released her recipe for party sausage rolls - we haven't tried it out yet and can't help wondering whether it rivals our own recipe. (Please report back if you ever play them off!)

Not only do these recipes suit a variety of specialised diets; Leigh has also gone to some effort to focus on ingredients that are widely available and not excessively processed - while a little bit of nooch and black salt sneak in, there's no call for mock meat or fake cream cheese. Instead these pies and tarts are bursting with fruits, vegetables and nuts.

My one warning is that the recipes are rather involved, most requiring hours some even days from start to finish. They're not weeknight material for most of us but they're the stuff of some lovely winter evenings, working and waiting by a warm oven.

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Look out for Wrapped in Pastry at your local bookshop, or order it online from aduki. I received my copy of this cookbook in exchange for recipe testing and am under no obligation to review it, favourably or at all - I just want to promote an Aussie veg*n cookbook and the deliciousness of pastry!

Toronto Day 6

April 26, 2012

I had enough time on my last day in Toronto to squeeze in two final meals and a bit more sight-seeing. I decided to start things off at Toronto's famous St Lawrence Market (supposedly the world's best food market!). The market itself was pretty quiet on a Thursday morning - it seemed quite small to me, but I imagine it's a bit more bustling when the farmer's markets are on each Saturday. The downstairs area has a decent selection of cafes, including my breakfast destination: Cruda Cafe.

Cruda Cafe is a raw, vegan and gluten-free cafe tucked away in the markets. Sadly, the blueberry pancakes I wanted are only available on the weekends (I was constantly amazed by how many breakfast places in Toronto were totally focussed on the weekend), so I was forced to choose from the lunch menu. It's all raw - wraps, salads and a few bigger meals. I settled on the enchilada rawrap (avocado, vegan chilli and seasonal veggies, $9).

This was an amazingly healthy start to the day - the combo of the dehydrated wrap and fresh veggies was bursting with freshness and colour. The chilli was a bit odd - I think it was mostly made of tiny little mushroom pieces. It tasted nothing like chilli, but was a hearty savoury accompaniment to all the vegetables. At $9 this isn't a particularly good value meal - it's pretty small - but that's the price you pay for raw food I guess.

I couldn't resist supplementing the healthy wrap with one of Cruda Cafe's signature desserts - a vegan Nanaimo bar ($4.50).

This was wonderful - bittersweet dark chocolate layered on top of a cashew cream middle and a chocolatey, seedy, nutty base. Delicious.

Loaded up with raw nutrients, I hit the city for a while. Toronto is a great city for wandering - there are loads of distinct, interesting neighbourhoods. It's not particularly scenic, but there's a lovely atmosphere to the place. Still, my feet were eventually worn down from all the tramping and I tracked down some decent coffee and free wi-fi at Dark Horse - nice to find another proper latte after some of the swill I'd had elsewhere.

Recharged, I headed off to find some lunch. I had so many places I wanted to try: Urban Herbivore, Live Food, Hibiscus, Hot Yam, Rawlicious, Rancho Relaxo, Sneaky Dee's, Green Earth even vegan-frinedly chains like Lick's Burgers, Magic Oven and Chipotle. Instead, I just went to the nearest veg place I could find: Vegetarian Haven.

Vegetarian Haven is an all-vegan Asian influenced place that has a pretty great reputation - it won dine.TO's best vegetarian restaurant and has lots of great reviews on Yelp. The lunch menu has a decent number of options: noodles and wraps, salads and a half-dozen bigger main meals (or entrees as North Americans insist on calling them).

I was very tempted by the spicy coconut curry seitan and the sizzling seitain in black bean sauce, but decided to go mock-meat free and try the spicy eggplant tofu (Asian eggplant fired up in a hot wok with hot chilli slices served with purple rice, $11.95).

This was a great way to end my vegetarian tour of Toronto - the mix of fresh veggies, fiery chilli sauce, lightly seared tofu chunks and a cute dollop of purple rice made for a deeply satisfying lunch. They don't pull their punches on the chilli, which is perfect for this dish. I was sad not to try the tofu drumstick or their range of vegan desserts, but there was plenty of food in this one meal, and I had over-eaten my way through the week. Service was friendly and efficient (as it was everywhere I went basically) and the atmosphere of the place was low-key and welcoming (the surrounding tables seemed heavily populated with professors from the nearby university). Vegetarian Haven hadn't been that high on my list of must-visit places in Toronto, mostly because it's schtick (Asian-style vegetarian food) is not one that's hard to find in Melbourne. But it was great - really worth a visit if you're looking for some middle ground between diner-style fried goodies and raw food.

So, six days (4 full days and 2 part days really) and ten restaurants later, my Toronto trip was over. It's a great city, and a great city for veg*ns - very reminiscent of Melbourne in many ways. The people are friendly, there are trams, the place is bursting with culture and there's food - more food than you can possibly tackle in under a week. I can't wait to go back. Thanks to everyone on Twitter who suggested restaurants and activities for me!

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Cruda Cafe has been met with universally positive blog reviews - check out: Toronto Vegetarian, Toronto Coffee Shops, Raw Candy, Going Raw - A University Student's Experience, Food Art Life, Greatest Wealth, Vegan Backpacker and The Healthy Hipster.

As for Vegetarian Haven, Life's Tasty Adventures, JYG's Urban Adventures, What We Eatin': Where We Eatin', the recreational vegan, Gail at Large, MeShell in your city and Newman Improved all loved it, while they call me queen of the universe was a bit less impressed.

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Cruda Cafe

Downstairs at the St Lawrence Market, 93 Front Street East, Toronto 

647 346 6502

Salads and meals $8-$14, Fancy juices $5.50-$6.50, Sweets ~$5 (all plus tax)

http://www.crudacafe.com/

Vegetarian Haven

17 Baldwin Street  Toronto

416 621 3636 

Main meals: $10-$16 (plus tax and tips)

http://www.vegetarianhaven.com

Accessibility: Cruda Cafe is downstairs at the St Lawrence Markets, although there's a reasonable possibility that there's a lift (I wasn't paying attention pre-coffee). Ordering and payment takes place at a relatively low counter, and there are reasonable tables nearby. Vegetarian Haven has a flat entryway and isn't too crowded inside. Ordering and payment happens at the table.

Toronto Day 5

April 25, 2012

Wednesday was another half day, giving me another two free meals. I was in the mood for a trendy Melbourne-style cafe meal for breakfast. A lot of places in Toronto seem to only do brunch, meaning either they're only open pre-lunch on the weekends or they don't really get started until 11 or so. The breakfast-focussed places that are open early seem to be largely diner-style places that stuff you full of eggs and potatoes, so it wasn't as easy as I'd hoped. Still, after a bit of web research, I decided to try out Saving Grace - it was near the place I had to go afterwards for work, had excellent reviews, drew long weekend queues, and seemed to offer some original brekkie dishes.

The fit-out is very familiar - Saving Grace wouldn't look out of place at all in Collingwood or Brunswick. And, like cafes in those suburbs that draw big weekend crowds, Saving Grace is easy to get a table at on a work day. I turned up about 9am and there was only one other occupied table - by 10:30 or so when I headed off things had got a bit more lively as the local hipster population started to rouse themselves.

I agonised over the menu for a while - the polenta/caramelised apple/walnuts/maple syrup combo sounded pretty wonderful, as did the rajistani eggs (scrambled with spicy red onion, chickpea masala and spicy paratha). Unable to choose between sweet and savoury, I settled on something kind of in the middle - savoury French toast (stuffed with gruyere, caramelised apples and red onions with greens, $9.75). Vegans beware - there's not much on offer for you here.

The side salad was a bit of an odd match with the French toast - something wilted would have worked better than just a straight lettuce pile. The toast however hit the spot perfectly - the apple and onion were both soft and sweetly caramelised, while the gruyere added a rich savoury layer without being overwhelmingly strong. 

I was in no urgent rush to get to my work rendezvous, so I was happy to just sit, drink coffee and read. I even decided to be brave and order a latte seeing as I was somewhere that did such good food. It was a mistake.

This was at least 50% foam, had chocolate sprinkles on top and tasted of nothing much except milk. Very disappointing. Luckily, the nearby Ezra's Pound does proper coffee and does it well - I grabbed a takeaway latte there and wandered off happy.

The rest of the day was work-related, including a pretty decent (and ridiculously large) felafel plate lunch at Free Times Cafe. After giving what surely must be my last PhD-related seminar at CAMH, I had a few spare hours to kill before dinner time and decided to spend them at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It's had some stunning Frank Gehry-designed renovations since we visited in 2004 and is a beautiful space to just wander through. Their Canadian collection is very, very impressive - there's almost a whole floor of the Group of Seven, plus great (temporary?) exhibitions of Jack Chambers and David Milne's work. Lots to enjoy.

Next stop: dinner! I was in the mood for vegan junk-food, so I jumped on the Subway up to Bloor Street West to check out The Hogtown Vegan, Toronto's answer to The Gasometer. It's run by the Hot Beans people and is more restaurant than pub - they do a bit of take-away, but their main business is feeding the hordes of comfort-food hungry vegans who fill their tables.

I snuck the last free table in the place and settled in with the menu. Unfortunately, I'm kind of an idiot - after scanning the six starters, three salads, three sandwich/burgers and the specials board I made my choices and ordered. It was only when I heard the next table talking about tempeh ribs that I realised the menu was double-sided! I'd missed out on 12 options, including po' boys, chicken and waffles, fish and chips, the aforementioned ribs and something called a Southern combo.Ah well, another place to revisit on some future visit.

Even with just the front-page of the menu I struggled to make decisions. The tofu-based buffalo wings sounded delicious, but I figured I really needed to sample poutine while I was in Canada. The vegan poutine (fries with Daiya cheddar and house-made mushroom gravy, $7) was a delicious mushy mess.

The Daiya cheese managed a reasonable simulacrum of melted cheddar and the mushroom gravy had a rich, deep flavour. The only slight disappointment was the fries - those that were cooked well were great, but quite a few of them were a bit underdone, which was a shame.

For my main meal I decided to see how their Reuben (house-made seitan, sauerkraut, mayo and sprouts on pumpernickel rye, $11) measured up. I almost doubled down and had fries on the side, but decided I should try their sauteed garlic collared greens instead.

The greens were okay, but I wanted a much stronger garlic flavour. As it was they didn't taste like much at all. Luckily, the sandwich brought the flavour. The slices of seitan were seasoned up nicely, and the sauerkraut and mayo were a great condiment combo. It was a tidier version than that offered up locally, and probably even a little better - it was all about the seitan-based pastrami, which really was excellent.

So my Hogtown Vegan experience was a bit mixed. I think it's a place with a lot of potential - the menu is great (especially if you read it all!) and I can imagine heading back time and again to try everything if I was a local. As it was, I probably made some ordering mistakes (next time: Buffalo wings followed by mushroom po' boy) and left feeling a tad disappointed. Although the disappointment was tempered by the takeaway dessert I took with me!

I was too full to face up to dessert straight away, but figured I couldn't leave Toronto without at least trying something sweet. So I grabbed a fried apple pie with soy ice cream ($8.50) to wander home with.

The ice-cream suffered a bit over the trip home, but the apple pie was still fantastic - wonderful vegan pastry stuffed with sweet and spicy apple mush. Not bad at all.

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Saving Grace is one of Toronto's best-reviewed brekkie places. Michele Wong, Mostly About Music, Plato Putas, Baby Hedgehogs, EatDrinkToronto, A Salted Life and Breakfast in Toronto all loved it, while their were dissenting opinions from Two After Twenty and Will Travel for Food.

The Hogtown Vegan has the most reviews of any place I went to in Toronto and they're all very, very positive. Check out: MeShell in Your City, Drawn and Devoured, rabbit food, This Little Vegan, dancing through life, Fully Nourished, Two Cups of Love, Ate by Ate, Amanda Factor, The Tofu Princess, Healthy Hipster, Vegan Victuals, Not Your Parents' Granola, Born Dapper, Diary of a Chef's Wife and Candy Penny.

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Saving Grace

907 Dundas Street West, Little Italy

416 703 7368

Vegie  breakfasts $6 - $9.75 (plus tax and tips)

Hogtown Vegan

834 Bloor Street West (near Ossington)

416 901 9779

Starters $7 - $9, Mains $11 - $12 (plus tax and tips)

Accessibility: Saving Grace is very accessible with a flat entryway and a pretty spacious interior. Hogtown Vegan has a small step as you come up to the doorway but is also reasonably spread out inside. Ordering and payment is at the table in both places. I didn't visit the toilets in either.

Kentucky fried tofu goes gleegan

April 24-25, 2012

   

While Michael was galavanting around Toronto, I returned from the quincefest and mostly just hung out with the cat and a crisper full of cabbage. I did manage to break up the week and the cabbage by inviting Lisa, K & Toby over for dinner on Wednesday night. I prepped my KFC spice mix the night before then divided Wednesday between my computer and the kitchen - running simulations and ruining vegan meringues, cutting up cabbage and pasting summary stats into spreadsheets, parsing graphs and par-boiling potatoes.

The important bits worked - my code converged and dinner was pretty great. My successful sides were a Veganomicon coleslaw and purple-and-plain potato salad dressed with lemon juice and parsley. Then I deglutenised my recent Kentucky fried crumbing by replacing the wheat flour with equal parts Orgran mix and chickpea flour. Chickpea flour really has a way with frying - something special happens to the crust of vegan omelettes, vegan French toast, pakoras and now this here crumbing when it's involved. I'm going to continue supplementing my plain flour with some besan even when I'm not serving a coeliac.

The secondary tasks were better left to experts - K saved dessert by bringing PB&J chocolates, and I'm calling on a colleague to straighten out my curlier covariates.

Toronto Day 4

April 24, 2011

There's no post for Toronto Day 3 - it was my one completely full work day, and I didn't bother taking pictures of the catering for the blog. But Tuesday was only a half day of meetings meaning I could sneak off for lunch and a dinner. Toronto has a lot of vegetarian restaurants. A lot. So I was taking every chance I could to check them out. High on my priority list was Hot Beans, an all vegan, Mexican-themed place in the midst of Kensington Market. 

It's basically a take-out joint - there's just the small counter you can see in the photo above for people like me who want to sit and eat. The menu is pretty exciting: there's TVP and seitan burritos, jackfruit pulled pork tacos and more. I was tempted into the fairly straightforward black bean burritos ($8.50), mostly because they included shredded smoky coconut along with the spicy bean mix.

This was a pretty excellent burrito - the bean mix had an intriguing combo of sweetness, smokiness and spice. The coconut didn't shine through texturally, but it clearly kicked in a the smoky flavour, while the vegan cheese and guacamole provided a bit of contrast to the bean and rice mix. Not bad at all. Someone else ordered the jackfruit tacos while I was there and I had a bit of order envy - hopefully Hot Beans is still around whenever I next make it to Toronto!

After an afternoon wandering around a few of Toronto's west-side neighbourhoods, I hit up vegan chain Fresh for dinner. The branch on Bloor that I wound up at was heaving with people at about 8pm. In some ways the vibe was reminiscent of The Vegie Bar in Melbourne - it seems like the kind of place non-vegos head to for dinner when they're feeling adventurous. The menu is large and broken down into four broad categories: snacks, burgers, wraps and bowls. At K's insistence I sampled the quinoa onion rings (made from scratch and coated with breadcrumbs and puffed quinoa, $5.50).

These were just about the crunchiest onion rings I've ever eaten - the puffed quinoa really made a difference. They were perfectly cooked and very, very moreish. Recommended!

After two days of eating far too many morning tea pastries I was feeling like a healthy main meal and Fresh had plenty of options. In the end I settled on the powerhouse bowl (avocado, chickpeas and grilled tofu with sunflower sprouts, toasted nut & seed mix, tomato, red onion & spicy tahini sauce served on brown rice, $14). 

It may have been made up of healthy components, but it was way too much food - I ended up leaving some in the bowl (although to be fair, that was probably because I'd just scarfed a serve of onion rings). The tofu had a nice savoury marinade (based on soy sauce I think, but with a few other flavours in there as well), while the greens, chickpeas, nuts and seeds were a nice mix of textures. The spicy tahini didn't have quite the punch I was hoping for, but this was still a pretty satisfying bowl of goodness - a bit on the bland side maybe, but healthy and (as you'd hope) fresh.Once you add in the taxes and the tip, Fresh isn't particularly cheap - my meal cost around $30 all up. Still, there's so much to try at Fresh that I'd love to come back for. One day. Fresh had a handful of vegan desserts to choose from but I'd eaten myself into the ground and staggered off towards the hotel to sleep it off.

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Hot Beans has had mostly positive reviews, see: rabbit food, The Keen Kitchen, Not Your Parents' Granola, Vegan Backpacker, Vegan Band Dude and Drawn and Devoured. Having actually read them all now, I'm a bit miffed I didn't order the TVP burrito. Maybe they'll open a Melbourne branch?

Like the Vegie Bar, Fresh divides opinions - in a nutshell, Where the Veggies Are, Food Junkie Chronicles, Healthy Veg and baystreat loved it, while In Kensington They Annexed My Heart, another amateur food blog, Where Jess Ate, Food With Legs and Air Eater (who report that you can't really trust Fresh's GF dishes to be GF) were all much less impressed.

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Hot Beans

160 Baldwin Street, Kensington Market

647 352 7581

http://hotbeansvegan.wordpress.com/

Fresh

326 Bloor Street West, The Annex (they also have branches on Spadina and Crawford)

416 599 4442

Starters $3-$10, Mains $10-$16

http://www.freshrestaurants.ca/main.asp

Accessibility: Hot Beans is pretty inaccessible - the counter you order at is down a flight of half a dozen steps and the venue as a whole is a bit small and cramped. Fresh is much bigger and doesn't have the steps, but the tables are pretty jam-packed and things get quite crowded. Ordering and payment is at the table.