Category: Veggie

French Onion Soup

Posted on by Trish

Some time ago, I attempted to veganize cream of tomato soup.  Today I attempted to vegetarianize French Onion Soup, which is traditionally made with a meat stock.  No mean feat, given the pre-warning that it is not nice if too salty and that I had been thinking Marmite would give it a meaty taste.  The mushrooms gave a bit of ‘meatiness’ to the stock without adding a ton of salt. Also, I can’t remember eating French Onion Soup.  I know I have done because I have a vague memory of making a version from a book I got when I was about 10; a version that I very much doubt contained alcohol – even if it was the seventies.  I’ll have to try the real deal at some point to see how the version below measures up but it all disappeared at the dinner table this evening so that’s a good sign.

  • 3 or 4 large onions
  • 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Red wine (I used Merlot because it was open)
  • Stock: I used a level teaspoon of low-salt vegan bouillon, a handful of dried porcini mushrooms and 3-4 squirts of Bragg’s Aminos (soy sauce without added wheat or salt and made by some very strange people) to a pint and a half of boiling water
  • Agave nectar (sugar will do; I don’t know where ours is)
  • Bay leaves
  • Mixed herbs
  • Vegetarian hard cheese e.g. veggie Parmesan – Morrison’s cheap hard Parmesan-like cheese is vegetarian (although it comes from cows so I can’t have any)
  1. Slice the onions finely and cook in the oil over a low-ish heat for ages, stirring occasionally.  By ages I mean about half an hour.
  2. Squirt some agave nectar in after about 10-15 minutes to help the onions caramelize a bit
  3. When onions look just about ready (browning at edges and soft), throw in minced garlic and cook for another minute
  4. Add a splash of wine and the stock, herbs and bay leaves – simmer while you set the table
  5. Serve with grated cheese

I believe traditional French Onion Soup employs squares of cheese on toast instead of just a sprinkle of cheese, hence it looks interesting enough to take a photo of.  You may be reassured, however, that this tasted too nice for me to remember to photograph it.

 

 

Xmas dinner for Unexpected Vegetarians

Posted on by Trish

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It’s a few days before Christmas, there might be a shop open somewhere but you don’t care, you believe you’re all sorted.
What do you do IF you find out you’re having another guest for Christmas day and they’re vegetarian OR an existing guest announces a conversion to not eating meat and no, they can’t wait till New Year to kick off?

Not to worry!  You’ve probably got everything you need to make a very basic nut roast already in your cupboard.

You’ll need:

  • about 4 slices of bread (wholemeal for preference)
  • vegetable oil, olive oil or sunflower oil
  • an onion or a leek
  • marmite
  • some dried herbs and spices, whatever you have will do
  • some nuts (it’s Christmas, there are probably nuts in the house – not including the ones you live with)
  • A blender OR amazing amounts of patience

Here’s what you do:

  1. Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F
  2. Oil a baking sheet, doesn’t need to be a huge one
  3. Turn the bread into breadcrumbs by throwing it into the blender a few slices at a time – this experience may be quite soothing, unlike breaking it into bits with your hands, which definitely isn’t – throw the resulting breadcrumbs into a big bowl
  4. Measure out 235g of nuts – really any nuts you can get your hands on are fine: chestnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews – if they’re salted, omit half of the marmite from later on in the recipe and don’t add any more salt
  5. Pull ALL of the nuts in the blender and blend till they also resemble crumbs.  If you don’t have a blender, put your nuts inside a clean plastic bag inside another carrier bag, tie securely and either stamp up and down on or bash the heck out of with a rolling pin – then put nuts in the bowl with the bread
  6. Add about a tablespoon of mixed herbs, or whatever you have, and a shake of cinnamon or cayenne pepper or whatever else you have (remember, this is an emergency recipe)
  7. Add pepper and salt (so long as your nuts weren’t salted to begin with) and give it a stir to mix everything together
  8. Put 2 tablespoons of oil into a frying pan and fry your onion (chopped) – if you have any garlic, bung a clove of that in too, also if you have any celery that has no current purpose in life, chop up and throw a stick of that in too – fry till soft but not browned (hint: lower the heat after about a minute)
  9. Add onion mixture to bread and nut mixture
  10. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of marmite (only 1 if your nuts were salted) in a quarter of a pint of boiling water and throw that into the bowl as well
  11. Mix all ingredients with a spoon – by now it should smell quite nice 🙂
  12. With CLEAN hands, form into a long loaf shape and place on your baking tray – decorate a few spare nuts if you can be bothered
  13. Bake.  The roast will take anything from 30 – 45 minutes, depending on your oven – try 30 to start and keep checking on it
  14. You can make the roast a day in advance and then warm it up on Christmas Day

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 The rest of the Christmas meal is fairly easy to adapt.  Potatoes should be roasted in olive oil.  They won’t want any stuffing that’s meat based – stuffing you can buy as powder in shops is usually veggie-friendly, though so have a quick look at the label.  Obviously avoid serving them the pigs in blankets!!!

Gravy is fairly straightforward: Fry a tablespoon of flour in oil then add some veggie stock (use green OXO cube or marmite again) – bay leaf, mustard powder and some more herbs make it taste nice, soy sauce or balsamic vinegar will help it be nearer the right colour but keep tasting to make sure you’re not making it too salty.

Oh, and if you’re a meat eater, try some of the nut roast yourself (this recipe makes plenty) either with Christmas Dinner or cold the next day.  For an emergency recipe, it’s actually OK 🙂

Onion Squash Soup (served in an Onion Squash)

Posted on by Trish

Here’s something you could make for Halloween.  Please NO carving of scary faces into the squash before serving up – it makes the soup fall out.

sssooop

 

For each serving you’ll need:

  • One onion squash – about 550-600g whole weight
  • 1 and a half teaspoons of olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 15g creamed coconut  and half a teaspoon nutritional yeast  flakes OR  30g goat’s cheese
  • Vegetable stock
  • Parsley or chives to garnish
  1. Cut small amount from base of squash so that it stands flat
  2. Make another cut right through the squash about 2/3 of the way up and remove that section
  3. Scoop out seeds and discard
  4. Armed with a sharp knife and a metal spoon, excavate chunks of squash as you would if you were hollowing out a pumpkin – however aim for chunks all being approximately same size
  5. Put chunks of squash in a bowl and mix well with olive oil
  6. Transfer to baking tray and bake at 200°C, checking every 10 minutes, till chunks are soft (cooking time will vary depending on how big chunks are)
  7. When soft, transfer to blender and blend together with all other ingredients except for garnish (you can vary amount of stock to get a thinner or thicker soup)
  8. If soup not warm enough, transfer to saucepan and warm through
  9. Pour into hollowed-out squash to serve and sprinkle with garnish

Please note: onion squash also tastes amazing just on its own

WWPP: 5

Koftas

Posted on by Trish

Some years ago, when I worked in Hackney, there was a family-run health food shop near to the office and I was a fairly frequent visitor. Alongside Decaffs with soya milk (don’t do it – it curdles), fruit and veg and branded health foods, the shop sold lentil koftas as made by one of them and lovingly presented with a slice of lemon. I found recipes for them online and tried making my own only to discover that online recipes tell you how to make a million koftas when you actually want 6 or 7 max and they all require you to use bulghur wheat which I can’t find in the shop. The recipe below uses quinoa, which is everywhere and makes enough koftas for a packed lunch plus a few extra to wait in the fridge for you and greet you when you get home.

koftas

It’s quinoa, not worms – it just looks like that, OK?

  • 50g lentils
  • 50g quinoa
  • small onion
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil for frying
  • tomato puree
  • fresh herbs (I used dill but mint and coriander are good too)
  • Pinch of cumin
  • Lemon juice
  1. Cook the lentils and the quinoa, drain and then mix together in a bowl
  2. Add lightly fried onion and garlic, tomato puree, herbs, cumin and lemon juice and stir in well
  3. Form into sausage shapes and leave in the fridge – they should become solid enough for you to pick up to eat (with luck!)
  4. Serve with lettuce and a squeeze of lemon

Dill pancakes with broccoli, mushroom and kidney bean filling

Posted on by Trish

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At The Tea House, we are currently of the opinion that the above dish could do with being renamed; not due to any current inaccuracy but because it takes a long time to say and we’re lazy.  Besides, when you’re hungry and asking the waiting staff what today’s specials are, you don’t want to listen to your own stomach grumble through endless descriptions of “a subtle yet racy tarte aux oignons with a hint of chillies, slathered in a gentle cornichon sauce”; you want to hear “Pie, Lasagne or jacket potato?” to which you say “Jacket potato with what?” … “Beans or cheese” …. “I’ll have the beans”.  Job done.

Anyone who makes this recipe has my permission to call it ‘Pancakes with savoury filling’ (I chose not to just in case I make something similar, but not identical, on another occasion).  You also have my permission to pretend to your friends that you invented it – I shall take it as a compliment.

The dill works really well in the pancake batter and the kidney beans give a semi-sweet kick against the backdrop of meaty mushrooms and sharp Tenderstem broccoli.  Alternatively, “mmmmmmmm”.

Pancake batter

Vegan

  • 3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon soya flour
  • 2/3 pint of soya milk
  • salt
  • Finely chopped fresh dill

Veggie

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 pint of milk
  • 4oz / 115g plain flour
  • salt
  • Finely chopped fresh dill

You’ll also need some butter or oil for frying the pancakes

Filling

  • Tenderstem broccoli (about half a pack)
  • Mushrooms (one large or a handful of regular mushrooms per person)
  • Garlic (lots, obviously)
  • Red kidney beans (about one tablespoon per person)
  • Oil for frying
  • Handful of plain flour
  • Vegetable stock
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Agave nectar (optional)
  • Coconut milk or cream (dairy or plant-based equivalent)
  1. Start by making the pancake batter.  Blend all ingredients in a blender and leave it to one side while you get on with making the filling.
  2. Steam the broccoli for 5 minutes and put to one side.
  3. Fry the mushrooms then add garlic when they get to the point where they’re leaking mushroom juice.  Fry a bit longer to start the garlic cooking.
  4. Throw on some flour and stir it in, keeping the  pan on the heat.
  5. When you can no longer visually identify the flour, add enough stock to almost cover the mushrooms and let it simmer.
  6. Add some balsamic vinegar to taste
  7. Add kidney beans and cooked broccoli
  8. Add agave nectar to help bring out the sweetness of the kidney beans – if you don’ like your savouries too sweet then you can happily skip this step
  9. Add coconut milk or cream, how much depends on desired consistency
  10. Leave pan on a very low heat while you start cooking the pancakes
  11. Heat oil or butter in a frying pan – hot butter will sizzle and hot oil will smoke a bit.
  12. Pour some of your pancake mixture into the centre of the frying pan and move the pan to swirl the mixture around.  Your pancake will begin to solidify quite quickly so start shaking the pan when that happens in order to loosen it so you can toss it over and cook the other side.  If it’s particularly recalcitrant, try levering up the edges of the pancake with a suitable cooking implement.
  13. Now you’re ready to toss IF you are one of these supremely confident people who doesn’t drop four out of five pancakes they try this with.  An alternative is to get a wide spatula and work it under the pancake so you can flip it over without risk to your ceiling, floor or patience. You may want to flip a few times to get it cooked to your requirements.
  14. Place pancake on a plate and spoon some of the filling into the middle then fold the pancake over it.
  15. Serve and enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

Posted on by Trish

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I can claim very little of this as my own recipe.  The basic stuffed peppers concept and how to cook them properly was told to me by a passing shopper in a supermarket in the South of France, the vegan cheese topping recipe is from the internet (recreated here by me because I can’t find the original), the puy lentils were pre-cooked and packaged by Merchant Gourmet (what, me, lazy?) and the rice is Sainsbury’s Boil-in-the-Bag.  I totally invented the salad, just so you know – for the record nobody thought of pairing lettuce and tomato until I showed up.

  • 3-4 peppers – whatever colour you like
  • 1 bag of boil-in-the-bag rice – ditto (for people who can actually cook rice, this is equivalent to about 125g)
  • About a quarter of a packet of ready-to-eat puy lentils
  • As much garlic as you can stand, crushed
  • Half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of olive oil
  • Pinch of dried, mixed herbs or teaspoon of fresh herbs of choice
  • Pinch of salt or stock powder

Vegan “cheese” topping

  • Half a cup of soya milk
  • Half a cup of olive oil
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1-2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons potato flakes (Supermarket’s own cheapo version of ‘Smash’, on no account attempt to make mashed potato with it); if your supermarket doesn’t have these, you can get just as good results by using potato flour
  • 1 teaspoon veggie stock powder (I use this one)
  • 1/2 teaspoon marmite
  1. Chop peppers in half lengthways, remove the seeds and the green stalk
  2. Boil for 5 minutes to soften then place to one side
  3. Cook rice according to instructions
  4. Mix rice, puy lentils and garlic together, add herbs and a very small amount of olive oil
  5. Place each half of pepper on a sheet of baking foil that will be enough to wrap completely around it when it is stuffed
  6. Put about a tablespoon and a half of rice and lentil mixture into each half of pepper and wrap them up
  7. Place your foil parcels on a baking tray in an oven set to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and leave them to bake while you make the ‘cheese’ topping – check them after about 20 minutes though
  8. Pour the soya milk into a small pan with about 1/4 of a teaspoon of the stock powder and heat gently
  9. Pour the olive oil into a suitable receptacle for mixing with a hand-held blender (don’t use a proper blender unless you really love dismantling it and washing it up) – add the lemon juice
  10. When the soya milk is threatening to bubble, pour it into the container with the oil and blend together – it will look like mayonnaise
  11. Add all the other ingredients and blend thoroughly – it should look like cheese dip
  12. When the peppers are ready (usually about 20 mins or just under) take them out and unwrap them.  Spread your ‘cheese’ mixture on top of each one and return to the oven until the topping is bubbling and just starting to brown.  Actual cheese from a cow can be used as a substitute if you’re someone who eats dairy – pick something that enjoys melting.

On this occasion, the salad was made up of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, spring onions (green onions) and toasted almond flakes.

Please do gather to applaud the excellent photographic skills of my lovely neighbour, who sent me a selection of photos to choose from – all of them awesome.

Mushroom soup

Posted on by Trish

Mushroom Soup

One of us being a person who used to eat dairy but who now doesn’t, the Tea House menu sometimes features dishes that are classic dairy feasts but which have been reinvented so as not to incorporate regular milk or cheese.  Tonight, mushroom soup was created; it’s for lunch tomorrow but we’ve had a teaspoon each to try it and it definitely ‘works’ despite being a little more like the mushroom soup you get served as a starter in Thai restaurants and a little less like the canned Heinz stuff.  The mushrooms in the picture above looked green by the way, until Peter undid the damage I’d done by trying to use Photoshop.  By request I’m attempting to include approximate amounts for all ingredients used.

  • Mushrooms of choice (about 200g)
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Up to 4 cloves garlic
  • Enough veggie stock to cover
  • Up to half a can of coconut milk (I’m practically crying that the brand I bought contains sulfites but have discovered that you can make your own)
  • Dried chilli flakes (amount to vary from none to loads according to preference – use fresh chillies if you can be bothered)
  1. Fry mushrooms in oil until they start releasing liquid, then throw chopped or crushed garlic in and fry for another half a minute
  2. Scatter in chilli flakes
  3. Pour on veggie stock and let simmer
  4. Add coconut milk
  5. Taste, add any other things you think will work – I threw a bay leaf in but not sure it did much to change the taste

Smokey Stew

Posted on by Trish

I know, Smokey Stew sounds like an expendable extra from a western (“dangnammit! you done shot Smokey Stu”) but this dish is well nice, much thanks to smoked paprika, which I haven’t researched yet to see if it’s bad for you because I’m not done liking it :)I made it to use up leftover veg so please feel free to follow suit and substitute whatever’s in danger of expiring instead of the veg I used.

I served it with roast sweet potato and kasha.

  • One onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • Few handfuls mushrooms
  • 1 carton organic tomatoes (yeah, I try to use all fresh veg but the tomatoes I currently have are all tiny, cherry ones and they’re too cute to pulverise plus they’ll look awesome in salad)
  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • 1 carton red kidney beans
  • Stock
  • Agave nectar
  • Coconut milk
  • Smoked paprika
  • Braggs Aminos
  • Balsamic vinegar
  1. Steam or boil any veg apart from the onion, garlic and mushrooms (use your noodle: if you think the veg will do better fried then fry it)
  2. Meanwhile fry chopped onion, garlic and mushrooms in a little oil till soft
  3. Add smoked paprika and tomatoes and let it bubble gently till other veg is ready
  4. Add rest of cooked veg and stock and simmer
  5. All the other ingredients are for flavouring so add them in whatever quantities you like, keeping tasting until you’re happy with it – or add your own favourite things

Green soup

Posted on by Trish

I had not deemed the following soup worthy of publication, until someone else tried some and said ‘put it on the blog’.  It’s a doddle to make and I think it will make several repeat appearances on the Tea House menu.

Take things that are green and white and boil them.  Not just any things, food things preferably.  Today I used a celeriac (white), some broccoli (green) and a courgette (a bonus both!).  Add some stock powder to the water or, if you live in the 18th century or are self-sufficient, boil in stock that you’ve made yourself by boiling vegetables to mush.

When your green and white things are cooked, blend them with some of the water or stock.  Then add cheese.  I’d love to say there’s a nice vegan option for this soup but if so then I have yet to discover it.  I used manchego (sheep cheese) and feta (sheep and goat) – enough so the soup tastes cheesy, not so much that you get cheese sauce instead of soup.  Just chop or grate and chuck it in then keep stirring over a low heat till it melts.

Add some more things to get the taste right – e.g. anything you like and think will taste nice.  I added agave nectar and a bit of salt (my stock powder is low salt) also a pinch of mustard.  A cooking secret – I never know why I add a pinch of mustard to anything, it just seems like a good idea when I’m cooking some things; I say “and a pinch of mustard” and in it goes like I know what I’m doing.

Soup was served with chopped spring onions floating on top.  Verdict on the soup?  “Scouped up the last of it after it was cold, that’s saying something!”

Pesto

Posted on by Trish

It’s been a long time since I ate any shop-bought pesto; there’s a jar of Florentino basil pesto in the cupboard but, I dunno, I just don’t trust it.  For pesto you need fresh basil leaves, good olive oil, flaked almonds* or whole almonds with their skins if you’re feeling worthy, plenty of garlic and a hand-held blender.  To make your pesto a bit cheesy you can add cheese of your choice; while hard cheeses like pecorino are traditional, soft goat cheese makes for a creamy pesto.  If, like me, you prefer no cheese at all, you can add some nutritional yeast to achieve a cheesier taste.

*you can use pine nuts if you prefer, but once I switched to almonds there was no turning back

How to make?

Rinse the basil leaves, chop the garlic, then everything in a blender (or use a hand-held blender)

Goes well with pasta or just about any other grain – alternatively use as topping for bruschetta