Vegan Food - To Crime!
May. 8th, 2012 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzie_and_ariI was talking (smugly) to a friend about eating vegan food, and how easy it was. La la la, I said, it's going so well. She responded very sensibly by threatening to come to my house and eat bacon in front of me, which would be revenge for the time I came over to her house for dinner to comfort her after she'd just been burgled, and toasted to crime.
It's been about a week since we started this vegan malarkey, and I must say I've reached the point where it's not easy, not at all. I don't miss cheese, I don't miss meat. But I do miss milk. I would kill for a frothy coffee not made of soy milk (yuck) and I miss pots of strong builder's tea, and I miss breakfast cereal.
On the other hand, porridge made of oat milk is a blinking revelation. It's lush. It is the smoothest, most luxurious porridge in the world, and the best thing is that Lizzie, who is lactose-intolerant, can finally eat porridge with me for breakfast. WIN.
Here are a couple of recipes. Lizzie invented this one. It's full of umami and noodles. Very moreish, and will blow the socks off your cold.
MISO NOODLE SOUP WITH MUSHROOMS, TOFU AND BROCCOLI
Ingredients: 2 little packets of miso soup stuff
Some mushrooms
Some ginger
1 evil little green chilli
Some garlic
Some brocolli
Some vermicelli noodles
Some cauldron smoked tofu
Some spring onions
Stir-fry the mushrooms, ginger, chilli, and tofu. When they're crisp, turn the heat down and stir in the garlic and spring onions. You'll just need a couple of seconds to release the flavour. Whatever you do, don't brown the garlic, or you'll ruin the whole thing and you'll just have to kill yourself. Then chuck in some water and the miso paste and stir. Chuck the broccoli in and simmer until bright green. Meanwhile, boil the vermicelli noodles in a separate pot. Drain, rinse, and add to the soup. Serve the soup in bowls and drizzle in a little bit of soy sauce if you feel like it. You could also put some freshly chopped coriander or fresh spring onions on top if you want the presentation to be particularly beautiful.
Calories: Oh, hardly any, I expect.
PIZZA
Dough: Yeast, water, strong white flour, olive oil.
Mix yeast with a little warm water and flour, and leave to rise. When it's risen, knock the air out of it and add some olive oil. At this stage it'll be a bit sloppy and messy. Turn it out onto a floury surface and knead very gently, adding more flour as you go until you end up with an elastic, beautiful, firm dough. Use the pads of your fingers to press the dough into an olive-oiled pizza dish. Preheat the oven. Put your tomato sauce and toppings on, and bake at 160.
Tomato Sauce: 3 onions, 1 tin tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, fresh rosemary, garlic.
Chop the onions into long strips and simmer in olive oil - lots of olive oil - until tender and transparent. Add garlic and tinned tomatoes, along with the bay leaf and rosemary. Tomato sauces are always a bit rubbish without a bay leaf. Plus, whoever gets the bay leaf in their dinner gets good luck. Simmer down until it's dark and sweet. Use whole tomatoes if you can - they'll be sweeter than chopped. Let it cool down before you put it on the pizza dough.
My pizza is basically lovely sweet bread with lovely sweet stuff on top. This one has a topping of the sauce, black olives, mushrooms and pineapple pieces. When the pizza's out of the oven I'll dress the top with wilted spinach.
Wierdly, pizza works very well without cheese. This is because the already very sweet sauce roasts in the oven, and with no cheese to obscure it it becomes even more caramelised, especially if there are lots of onions in it. When this vegan madness ends I'll keep this recipe and use dots of goat's cheese instead of smothering the whole thing with cheddar cheese.
Calories: Loads and loads.
Next week: Cheating, and eating like a pig!
It's been about a week since we started this vegan malarkey, and I must say I've reached the point where it's not easy, not at all. I don't miss cheese, I don't miss meat. But I do miss milk. I would kill for a frothy coffee not made of soy milk (yuck) and I miss pots of strong builder's tea, and I miss breakfast cereal.
On the other hand, porridge made of oat milk is a blinking revelation. It's lush. It is the smoothest, most luxurious porridge in the world, and the best thing is that Lizzie, who is lactose-intolerant, can finally eat porridge with me for breakfast. WIN.
Here are a couple of recipes. Lizzie invented this one. It's full of umami and noodles. Very moreish, and will blow the socks off your cold.
MISO NOODLE SOUP WITH MUSHROOMS, TOFU AND BROCCOLI
Ingredients: 2 little packets of miso soup stuff
Some mushrooms
Some ginger
1 evil little green chilli
Some garlic
Some brocolli
Some vermicelli noodles
Some cauldron smoked tofu
Some spring onions
Stir-fry the mushrooms, ginger, chilli, and tofu. When they're crisp, turn the heat down and stir in the garlic and spring onions. You'll just need a couple of seconds to release the flavour. Whatever you do, don't brown the garlic, or you'll ruin the whole thing and you'll just have to kill yourself. Then chuck in some water and the miso paste and stir. Chuck the broccoli in and simmer until bright green. Meanwhile, boil the vermicelli noodles in a separate pot. Drain, rinse, and add to the soup. Serve the soup in bowls and drizzle in a little bit of soy sauce if you feel like it. You could also put some freshly chopped coriander or fresh spring onions on top if you want the presentation to be particularly beautiful.
Calories: Oh, hardly any, I expect.
PIZZA
Dough: Yeast, water, strong white flour, olive oil.
Mix yeast with a little warm water and flour, and leave to rise. When it's risen, knock the air out of it and add some olive oil. At this stage it'll be a bit sloppy and messy. Turn it out onto a floury surface and knead very gently, adding more flour as you go until you end up with an elastic, beautiful, firm dough. Use the pads of your fingers to press the dough into an olive-oiled pizza dish. Preheat the oven. Put your tomato sauce and toppings on, and bake at 160.
Tomato Sauce: 3 onions, 1 tin tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, fresh rosemary, garlic.
Chop the onions into long strips and simmer in olive oil - lots of olive oil - until tender and transparent. Add garlic and tinned tomatoes, along with the bay leaf and rosemary. Tomato sauces are always a bit rubbish without a bay leaf. Plus, whoever gets the bay leaf in their dinner gets good luck. Simmer down until it's dark and sweet. Use whole tomatoes if you can - they'll be sweeter than chopped. Let it cool down before you put it on the pizza dough.
My pizza is basically lovely sweet bread with lovely sweet stuff on top. This one has a topping of the sauce, black olives, mushrooms and pineapple pieces. When the pizza's out of the oven I'll dress the top with wilted spinach.
Wierdly, pizza works very well without cheese. This is because the already very sweet sauce roasts in the oven, and with no cheese to obscure it it becomes even more caramelised, especially if there are lots of onions in it. When this vegan madness ends I'll keep this recipe and use dots of goat's cheese instead of smothering the whole thing with cheddar cheese.
Calories: Loads and loads.
Next week: Cheating, and eating like a pig!
