Vegan Tortilla Patata aka Vegan Spanish Omelette

This is pretty much Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance, which is my favourite cookbook!

The tofu mixture would probably be very nice in a quiche, and of course you could perhaps roast some peppers with the potatoes and onions, or add vegan sausage or bacon. Infinite possibilities!

Tortilla Patata
Serves 4-6
2 - 3 large potatoes
1 onion
tofu mixture
2 packs cauldron tofu
soya milk
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1tsp smoked paprika
1tsp salt
1tsp turmeric
1/2tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp chilli powder/cayenne pepper
2 - 3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

You need enough potato to have a thin(ish) layer covering the pan. Bake in oven at 180C with 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil until soft but not too coloured. In the meantime prepare tofu mixture in food processor. Add soya milk and blend until a thick yoghurt consistency. You can taste mixture for seasoning, if lacking salt, can add more, or add soya sauce.

Bake until golden brown and springy to touch, approx 40 minutes. Serve with salad and crusty bread.
Tastes even better cold.

The. Ultimate. Chocolate. Cake.

Long time no blog...I have got a few recipes in the pipeline which I will post in due course.

First of all let me give credit to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her legendary "Vegan With A Vengeance" which in our house is dog eared and smeared with chocolate and various other foodstuffs - sign of a good cookbook (or messy cook?)!!! This recipe is adapted from her super amazing Banana Split Pudding Brownie recipe in the above book.


Super Chocolately Cake


115g plain chocolate (I generally use 100g with good results as this is the weight of a standard chocolate bar)
2 medium sized bananas
5 tablespoons rapeseed oil
250ml sugar  (yes, ML)
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g flour
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Melt the chocolate by placing it in a bowl over simmering water. Stir until melted and take off the heat.

Combine bananas, oil, sugar and soy milk - I like to do this in a blender to get bananas really smooth, but if you want to do it in a large mixing bowl do pre mash the bananas. Blend/Stir in the melted chocolate and vanilla until everything is combined.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the banana mixture in batches, mixing as you go.

The mixture should not be too firm, but also not too runny, maybe a thick yoghurt consistency. Add more soy milk if mixture seems a bit stiff, although it will still taste amazing once baked if mixture is stiff, just a lot denser.

Pour into a greased and lined spring form baking tin. Bake for approximately 40minutes, but I would check on it at the 30 minute stage and insert a knife into the centre - if the knife comes out clean with no wet batter on in, then the cake is done.
Frost with chocolate ganache/buttercream icing.

Chilli option:  I have made this cake with 1 tsp of chilli powder and 1/2 tsp cinammon sifted with the dry ingredients. It is not spicy, it just lends a really nice warmth to the cake, almost making it seem more chocolatey.

Raw Vegan Banana Ice Cream

I've recently been given an ice cream maker and I've tried some recipes from the "Lick It" vegan ice cream book. The recipes I've tried have been pleasant but quite reliant on coconut cream as a core ingredient, which just makes everything taste like coconut, even the green tea icecream.

As an aside - the chocolate mousse recipe on this website actually makes a pretty good chocolate ice cream, you may need to thin it down with some cream or soy milk for it to churn properly though. 

So I have wanted to try and make a raw ice cream, similar to the Booja Booja ice cream, which we can't get in Inverness, probably a good thing as it was tasty but hella expensive, much like their chocolate, which winks at me from the top shelf of the health food shop every time I go in. This Banana Ice Cream is on the Channel 4 website and I'm looking forward to giving it a go tonight. I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out.

Chocolate mousse with amaretto

I had a daydream about chocolate mousse. I made one before with silken tofu and melted chocolate which was yum, but really heavy, and wanted to see if I could make it lighter and hey presto.

It wasn't a plan to put it up on the blog, but it was soo yum that I had to, so the photo isn't "styled" at all and doesn't really do justice to the accidental gorgeousness of this chocolate mousse. (I will put the photo up tomorrow! right now I just want to post the recipe as promised yesterday!)

Chocolate mousse
Serves 4

175g extra firm silken tofu (- essentially half a packet)
1 300g packet of CremoVita Organic Soya based whipping cream (I bought it in the Free From aisle in Tesco)
100g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, then take off the heat.
Blend up the silken tofu until smoothish - then add the whipping cream.

(I did all this in the food processor as I haven't got an electric whisk, but I imagine pureeing the tofu then folding it into pre-whisked cream might give a fluffier consistency but this was still light.)

Add the sugar and blend until well mixed and air is incorporated, mixture should increase in volume.
Add the melted chocolate gradually, blending to incorporate fully. (I did this with the processor on, gradually pouring chocolate through the little funnel in the lid of the food processor).

Add the amaretto and give a final few pulses to incorporate.

Spoon mixture into serving containers and refrigerate for a few hours. Mixture will firm up.

Variations:

non alcoholic - add 1/2 tsp almond extract instead of amaretto, increase sugar by 1 tbsp, top with flaked almonds
alcoholic - instead of adding amaretto:
Black forest mousse - kirsch soaked cherries folded in before refrigerating
or - try rum soaked raisins folded in

Thought for next time: the cream at the top of a can of coconut milk has the same consistency as the vegan whipping cream, perhaps a choco-coconut mousse with coconut cream instead of the whipping cream, and some grated (vegan) coconut ice on top/desiccated coconut on top.

Hope it goes well for you too, I'd appreciate any feedback if you try this!

~ K

Vegan Pesto

Here is my recipe for vegan pesto. This is my go to recipe if I have some guests coming and I want to feed them something tasty that doesn't take ages!

I use this as a topping for pizzas, and in my roasted veggie pasta, the recipe for which I will post next.

The asterisk is for if you want to stretch your pesto out a bit further, e.g. to serve 4.

Vegan Pesto

ingredients
30g/one packet of basil (usually 30g in supermarkets for regular sized packet)
25g/30g rocket/watercress* (I use the rest as a salad for the meal)
1 clove garlic
30g lightly toasted pine nuts (heat them in a dry pan on medium, stirring regularly until golden)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 heaped teaspoons nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavour)
1 tsp vegan Marigold Swiss Bouillion Powder (adds a cheesy flavour and replaces salt)

blend all ingredients together, until a slightly coarse paste is created. If blender is struggling to blend, add a touch more lemon or oil.

If not using straight away, store in fridge with a layer of olive oil over the top to keep it fresh.

Roasted Vegetable Fusilli with Vegan Pesto

Serves 4

Very easy and very adaptable.
If trying to economize, substitute pumpkin/squash for carrots and parsnips.
In summer, courgettes, summer squashes and peppers would be nice.
Seriously, just throw any veg that you like in.

It's autumn/winter here so I've used the following:

1 medium large butternut squash chopped into 2cm dice- approx 800g when peeled and seeded
1 large onion, chopped, roughly 1 cm dice
2 carrots, chopped, again 1cm dice
2 medium sized courgettes (ok, not sure how seasonal that is)
2 red/yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped.
dice all vegetables approx same size - looks better and cooks more evenly.

2 tsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper

vegan pesto
500g fusilli (preferably wholewheat)

preheat oven to 180C

mix chopped squash, onion, carrots with oil and seasoning in a large deep sided roasting tin.
roast until soft - approx 20-25 minutes

Add bell peppers and courgettes and return to oven
meanwhile put boiling water in a large saucepan and add 1tsp salt.
Add pasta to boiling salted water, stir initially when water returns to boil to make sure pasta doesn't stick together.

When pasta is al dente, drain.
Take roasted vegetables out of the oven - peppers and courgettes should be just cooked.
Stir pasta in with vegetables in tray, try and incorporate the caramelized pan juices. Stir in pesto.

Serve with salad.