Mighty fine Sunday pie

Four days down in the veg box challenge and we are gradually munching our way through the gorgeous produce that arrived on Wednesday. The squash has all gone, as have the carrots and the cherry tomatoes. There's still a couple of onions though, most of the leeks and mushrooms, the lettuce, one parsnip and a handful of chard as well as potatoes.
So to Sunday dinner - what to have? There's plenty of curry leftover from Saturday night, but those big fat juicy leeks are just begging to be eaten, so it just has to be a leek and mushroom pie.
I know some people aren't keen on pie, especially as a thick layer of butter pastry can result in a serious case of indigestion afterwards. But I've always been a fan, and ended up missing out for a while when I first went dairy free. It then got more complicated when I went plant based and then nigh on impossible when I went gluten free. But where there's a will there's a way, and a desire for pie can overcome all obstacles!
Ever since grain was milled, people have made some sort of crust to stuff a filling into! First it was more of bread or pancake. Then the Greeks developed pie pastry, and the Romans started documenting pie recipes. Apparently the most popular recipe was called 'placenta' - somehow that doesn't sound too appealing to me........
Pie has been a feature of British cuisine since Roman times, and take different forms all round the world. We noticed the Aussies are particularly fond of pie when we were over there at Christmas, and I always think of Twin Peaks when anyone has cherry pie!
For a plant based pie filling, in my mind there is no better than a simple leek and mushroom one, especially if they are firm, nutty chestnut mushrooms, which is fortunately what was in the veg box. They go together brilliantly with tarragon and a creamy sauce, making such a delicious filling you might just prefer it to a meat pie!

You may not think of leeks as being particularly special, but being part of the allium family they are packed full of phytonutrients such as flavonoids and polyphenols that help protect and support our blood vessels and help protect against oxidative damage and stress. And mushrooms, although in lesser amounts, have a whole range of vitamins and minerals, particularly selenium, and lots of fibre. On top of that, they produce their own natural antibiotics that can help boost immunity.
I made my own pastry for this pie as I haven't found a gluten and dairy free alternative in the shops. If you're ok with shop bought pastry, then go ahead and use it if making it is not your thing - JustRol is dairy free and definitely easy to use. I've not included my recipe for gluten free pie pastry here - I'm well chuffed with it though, and will save that for another day.
To make the creamy sauce, I kept it really simple and used some soya cream -it works brilliantly and is no hassle. If you don't do soya, then there are some other dairy free creams on the market such as oat or rice. You could of course make a white sauce, but I was too busy making rhubarb crumble (dessert is most important!).
For a complete Sunday night feast, our pie was accompanied by crushed potatoes (mash with skins on!) and some steamed cabbage, admittedly not from the box, but perfect anyway.
Mighty fine leek and mushroom pie

4 medium leeks, washed and trimmed
150g of chestnut mushrooms (more if you have them)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons tarragon, fresh or dried
1 carton dairy free cream
salt and pepper
1 portion pastry, enough for a double crust
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Slice the leeks and mushrooms, then heat a dash of olive oil in a large pan and sauté the leeks for a few minutes, then adding the mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic for a couple more. Pour in the cream, add the tarragon and seasoning and simmer until everything is cooked through. Let it stand for a few moments.
In the meantime, divide your pastry in two and roll out the first half and cover the base of a pie tin or dish. Wet the rim with a little water. Then roll out the second half of the pastry, making it big enough to cover the top. Spoon in the leek mixture, then place the pastry on top, pressing the edges together. Make two small slits in the middle to allow the steam to escape, brush the top with a little water or dairy free milk, place on a baking tray and pop in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is firm and light brown (remember you might not get this brown with gluten free pastry). Remove from the oven, let it sit for a couple of minutes then serve and enjoy!

Friday night rainbow savoury pancakes

Friday night dinners have to be quick and easy, just because it's Friday, really! Rainbow pancakes are ideal as they are super tasty and don't take much time to make.
So what was used from the veg box? One of the carrots (I'm gradually making my way through them), a handful of chard and then the cherry tomatoes, not for the pancakes but roasted on the side - oh and they tasted sublime!

For the sharp eyed, you'll notice there is an interloper in the veg ingredients - I snuck in some sweet potato, not just for the gorgeous colour but to use as a binding agent. Once steamed and puréed, sweet potato goes a little gloopy, and works brilliantly helping to hold everything together in gluten free plant based recipes. They also contribute towards the texture and can be added in surprisingly well to a variety of recipes - anyone tried my sweet potato chocolate brownies.....?
The other key ingredient in the pancakes is the flour - for this particular pancake I've used chickpea flour (otherwise known as besan or gram flour). I first discovered this flour when living in India, and find myself using it more and more, simply because it's amazing! First it has a strong flavour so contributes a savoury taste. It's packed with minerals, particularly magnesium, B vitamins and is a great source of protein and of course fibre. Finally, it's gluten free and really adaptable for all sorts of recipes. Don't try to lick the bowl though, as it tastes pretty foul when raw!
To finish off the dish, I made a spinach and walnut pesto sauce as it needed a little something on the side, and that's what I had in the fridge!
So give this a go - it takes about 20 minutes in total if you already have some sweet potato pureé to hand. Enjoy!
Rainbow savoury pancakes

1 cup chickpea flour/besan/gram flour
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
200ml water
1 medium carrot, grated
2 small sweet potatoes, steamed and mashed
handful chard
handful parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
cherry tomatoes
olive oil
First, heat the oven to 180ºC, place the cherry tomatoes still on their stems into a baking tray with a splash of olive oil and pop in the oven to roast for 15 minutes or so.
Wash the chard and separate the stem and leaves. Finely chop the stem and put to one side. Place the leaves into a frying pan and dry fry for a couple of minutes to remove some of the water. Leave to cool.
Whilst the tomatoes are roasting, make the pancakes. Place the flour, turmeric, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together well. Add most of the water to make a thick batter. Stir in the sweet potato, chopped chard stems, chopped chard leaves, grated carrot and parsley and mix together really well until everything is combined. Add a little more water if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a drop of oil in a pan and dollop 2-3 spoonfuls into the middle, spreading it out to make a large pancake. Cook for a couple of minutes until starting to brown, then flip and cook the other side. Slide out onto a warm plate and repeat until all the mixture is used up.
Cut each pancake into fours, then serve with the roasted tomatoes and some pesto or sauce of choice.

Christmas chestnut tartlets

I don’t know about you, but this year seems to have gone by so quickly! Christmas is nearly upon us once again. By now, most people have the decorations up, the presents bought (or maybe not!) and know who’s cooking that amazing festive feast on Christmas Day.I usually cook up a flavour-packed nut roast as my plant based alternative to turkey (see http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/planning-christmas-dinner.html for a good basic recipe). Some may say it’s not the same, but a special feast is what you make of it, not necessarily what tradition dictates! If you so desire, there are some tasty meat-alternatives out there such as the Vegusto rustic roast (made with wheat protein) or Tofurky (wheat and soy protein), but they’re not my kind if thing, even before I went gluten free. Eating plant based and wholefood is about packing in real food, not processed products infused with a variety of chemicals.

This year though, I wanted to create something slightly different, something sumptuous and packed with Christmas flavours. And what's more Christmassy than chestnuts and cranberries? So I put together this gorgeous little tartlet for my December supper club, and have to say am rather pleased with the results. 

Chestnuts are an underrated nut! Lower in fat and higher in starches than most nuts, they are popular with those who believe that low fat, high carb is the way to lose shedloads of weight (remember Rosemary Conley's Hip and Thigh diet??). Although this approach is no longer de rigueur and despite their low fat content, they're still good sources of mono-unsaturated fatty acids, but also fibre, manganese and vitamins B and C. 

Cranberries are well known for being good for bladder health, and dried can be as good as fresh, although some of the vitamin C is lost. The problem is that sugar is often added to make them more palatable, but a small amount is fine. Just try not to nibble the rest of the packet whilst you're cooking!

The filling is also gluten free, so as long as you use gluten free pastry as well, then you've got a fully free from dish (unless someone has a nut allergy!). I'm currently experimenting with gluten free flours - with this dish, I've found a pastry made with brown rice flour works the best, but that's another blog post!

So why not give this a go? It does take a little time, but can be made in advance then reheated when you're ready, giving you more time to open presents and drink bubbles! Merry Christmas!

Chestnuts, cranberry and mushroom Christmas tartlets (makes 6)

1 portion shortcrust pastry (homemade, Just-rol, gluten free)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

260g chestnuts (I used 1 ½ packs of Merchant Gourmet whole chestnuts)

3 medium carrots, grated

2 teaspoons thyme

1 pack parsley, stems separated from leaves and finely chopped

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

200g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

tamari

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons dairy free cream cheese or non-dairy cream

To make the filling Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion and thyme until the onion is soft (if it starts to stick, add a little water. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the carrot and chopped stems of the parsley, mix well and cook for another minute. Stir in the chestnuts and mushrooms and cook until the fluid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Add the cranberries, a few dashes of tamari and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cranberries then add the cream cheese/non dairy cream and chopped parsley leaves and cook for another few minutes until it all comes together. Taste and add additional seasoning and tamari as needed. 

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Roll out your pastry of choice to about 1/2 cm. Place a tartlet tin on to the pastry and cut around it with a 1 ½ cm extra rim. Remove the tartlet tin and carefully pick up the cutout piece and flip it over into the tin. Press the pastry into fit, pinching any breaks together and trim the edges. Brush with some dairy free milk or a chickpea flour wash (mix a tablespoon of chickpea flour with some water to get a milk-like consistency). Repeat the process until all the pastry is used (should be enough for 6).  Place the tartlet tins on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 6 minutes.

Remove the pastry from the oven then fill with the mixture. Put the tartlets back into the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so until the pastry feels firm and the top of the tartlets starts to brown slightly. Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly so you can remove the tartlets from the tin without burning yourself and serve with all the Christmas veg. This works well with onion gravy with some redcurrant jelly stirred in, although I used homemade rosemary jelly - yum!

Super Sunday Salad

Sometimes, the simple things are the best, particularly when it comes to food. Fresh, undiluted and natural flavours beat anything that's been highly processed or manufactured. And of course, nutritionally speaking, whole and complete provides a wonderful range of minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients that our bodies need, not just to stay healthy, but to positively glow with energy and vitality.

As a family, the main Sunday meal is treated as a bit of an occasion in our house, sometimes the only time we all get to sit down and eat together. In winter, it tends to be a plant-based roast or stew of some kind, summer a BBQ.  This weekend, though, has been a bit different, with parties and meals out for all, so that by the time it came to Sunday, most of us were a bit overfed, and the fridge was looking rather forlorn! So rather than go grand, we had this beautifully simple but wonderfully delicious salad, light enough to sooth the overfed, and filling enough to satisfy a giant boy's hunger!

New potatoes have been coming in our veg box for a couple of weeks now; organic new potatoes really are the best and have an actual flavour, unlike many mass produced potatoes that are bland and unrewarding on the taste front. Dieters tend to avoid the lowly spud, but when boiled or steamed and served without lashing of butter they are pretty good for you, with a hefty amount of vitamin B6 which is involved in many cell activities and enzymes, and plays a particular roles in keeping the nervous system and heart healthy. Potatoes also contain good amounts of potassium and vitamin C, as well as other phytonutrients, some of which are only just being discovered. And of course, potatoes (unadorned with fat or fried) are a good source of fibre, essential for a healthy gut. Keeping the skins on potatoes, particularly easy with new ones, maximises the nutrient content, as most are stored in or just under the skin, which is why organic is better so pesticide residues are minimised.

I love the dressing on this salad, as I used a vinegar I made a few weeks ago whilst on a foraging course. The day was so much fun, and I learnt loads about spring flowers, leaves and shoots that can be freely eaten; some of the flavours were incredible, particularly the flowers of wild garlic that have an incredibly intense garlic flavour and the strong wasabi-like taste of  leaves of the pretty pink cuckoo flower. My vinegar had wild garlic and ground ivy infused into it, and tastes beautiful, making the salad dressing particularly gorgeous.
We ate these with baked vegetable and bean patties served in a large lettuce leave; recipe to come soon. The salad can stand alone as a lunch or complete supper, so why not give it a go - it doesn't have to be a Sunday, any day will do!
New potato, asparagus and spinach salad

450g new potatoes
150g baby spinach
1 bunch asparagus
2 large vine ripened tomatoes
handful pumpkin seeds
handful fresh parsley
juice 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar (flavoured if you have it)
salt and pepper
Boil or steam the potatoes until tender, drain and leave to cool. Steam asparagus and leave to cool. Chop potato and tomatoes into bite sized pieces, slice asparagus length ways and put into a bowl with the spinach, mixing together with your hands so everything is combined. Pour over the dressing, mix again then garnish with seeds and parsley and season to taste. Enjoy!

Dinner for all

Going plant based can be challenging at times, especially if you are being entertained and your hosts don't know what to cook for you or you are doing the entertaining and your guests are not ones for a full-on veg dining experience. I had this problem recently, and spent some time wracking my brain about what to do. The starter was easy - tasty spring salad; the dessert a no-brainer - raw banoffee pie, as no-one can argue with that. But what to do for the mains?

Finally, I remembered a delicious Leon spicy coconut fish recipe I used to love in my pre-plant days. Each portion is individually wrapped in tin foil then covered with a gorgeous sauce consisting of coconut cream, garlic and ginger. As the sauce is the same for all, the solution was simple - one parcel was chicken based, three fish and two tofu. And as each person has their own parcel, the flavours can be altered according to taste, as the chillis and spring onions are sprinkled over the top. So you end up cooking three different dishes, without having to cook three different dishes - inspired!
Tofu is a great plant based protein and contains good amounts of iron and calcium as well as other vitamins and minerals. As it's made from soya, tofu contains phyto-oestrogens that mimic the actions of oestrogen produced in the body. Because of this, it's been link with reducing breast cancer as well as helping ladies of a certain age deal with the unpleasant effects of the menopause.
Unfortunately, soya products have become unpopular in some circles, mainly due to the fact that most soya in the US is now genetically modified. I always check where my tofu has come from, and if I can't find out, buy organic.
Many people don't like tofu as by itself as it's pretty bland and unpalatable. But it absorbs flavour brilliantly, so if cooked in the right way, it's a great plant based product to work with.
This recipe uses extra firm tofu. It still needs to be drained of any packaging fluid, then pressed for a while to remove more fluid to stop it falling apart when cooked. To press, place a few sheets of kitchen roll on a plate, pop your tofu block on top, place some more kitchen roll on top, then put another plate with a weight on the top (like a tin of beans) and leave in the fridge for an hour or so. Water is pressed out and you'll end up with tofu with a firmer texture.
This dish is great served with sticky red rice and steamed pak choi or spring greens. And it doesn't take ages to prepare or cook, leaving you more time to enjoy your entertaining.
Spicy coconut tofu (or fish or chicken!) Serves 6
150ml tin coconut cream or the thick cream off a tin of coconut milk
1 small clove garlic chopped

4 spring onions, 2 finely diced, 2 chopped obliquely
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 limes
15g fresh grated ginger
1 red chilli finely sliced
fresh coriander
10 lime leaves
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
salt
100g extra firm tofu per person (so if
feeding 6 you'll need 600g (see below)
* if you are serving this with chicken it will need cooking for 25 minutes, the fish for 15; they both need to go in the oven before the tofu.
Pre-heat the oven to 200oC.
Place the coconut cream, garlic, finely chopped spring onion, turmeric, zest of the limes, ginger, fresh coriander, a couple of crumbled lime leaves and salt together in a bowl and mix well so everything is combined.
Tear off a piece of tin foil about 30cm square and spray a little olive oil in the centre, wiping around with a piece of kitchen roll. Pop 2 lime leaves on the middle of the foil, then place the tofu on top. Spoon over 1/6th of the coconut mixture, then sprinkle some of the sliced spring onion and chilli according to diner's taste. Drizzle a dash of sesame seed oil over the top, then close the foil up, sealing each edge firmly to create a parcel. Place on a baking tray and repeat the step.
When you're ready, pop the parcels in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest until you're ready to serve. At the last minute, open up the foil and squeeze in a shot of lime juice straight away. Slide onto your plate with the rice and greens, and delight your tastebuds with the sumptuous flavours!
NB: I sliced each 100g portion into two thick slices just because it looked better, but it also absorbed more flavour so is definitely worth doing.

Little balls of happiness

It's mid afternoon and that familiar feeling comes creeping in - the slump. Tired, lethargic and craving something sweet, particularly if lunch was a meagre, hurried affair. A few hours later, your body is demanding something satisfying, and now!
A cup of tea and a slice of cake - that'll do nicely! Whilst there's nothing wrong with a mighty fine cake on occasion, consuming something that's packed full of refined sugars, fats and flour (plus various additives if it's not home made) whenever the slump hits is not sustainable in the long run. It may hit all the pleasure spots, but that quick release of sugar won't last, and before long you'll be hunting for more sugar satisfaction. As for biscuits, they may be even worse as it's tempting to keep cramming them in until the end of the packet!

You need balls to deal with this problem - energy balls! Packed full of nuts, dried fruit, seeds or oats, these little lovelies are filled to the brim with healthy fats, complex carbs and soul soothing sweetness that will satisfy your cravings, boost your energy and see you comfortably through to dinner time. And because they're full of whole foods rather than refined products, they're super filling so there's only so many you can eat at one time. Not only that, they're quick to make, store well and being raw, they are nutrient dense and packed with fibre, so keep your gut happy and working well. The nut based ones are gluten free too and of course they're all dairy free and plant based.
The recipe for my original energy balls can be found here - http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/sweet-treat-raw-and-dairy-free.html. These are still a firm favourite. But if you need a nut free version because of allergies or school lunch box restrictions (kids love these - honest!) then try these oat based ones:
Oat and seed energy balls

1 cup oats

½ cup sunflower seeds

½ cup stoned dates

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup raisins

1-2 tablespoons orange juice

dessicated coconut

Put sunflower seeds and dates in food processor and chop until fine. Add oats, cranberries, raisins and blitz until chopped. Add orange juice and blitz again until combined and sticking together (not too much juice)

Take a teaspoon of mix and roll into a ball then roll the ball in the coconut. Repeat.

Finally, for a slightly less dense and fresher flavour, try these lemon and nut wonders that are deceptively filling and so satisfying.

Luscious lemony balls

1 cup cashew nuts

1 cup desiccated coconut

Grated rind of one lemon 

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons maple syrup

pinch of salt

Put the cashew nuts and desiccated coconut into the food processor and whizz for a few moments until broken down. Add the remain ingredients and blend until combined and sticking together. Take out a teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball - this mix is slightly drier than the others so needs a delicate touch.