Tag: food

Vegan mayonnaise

recipe

I’ve mentioned it often enough. My vegan mayonnaise recipe. So here it is. I eat this almost every day. It keeps well in a closed jar or pot in the fridge and there are many variations. Mayonnaise is a good basic recipe which can be changed and tweaked for different flavours. Add garlic and it becomes aioli, add herbs for freshness, add spices for curry flavour or a chilli hit. The choice is yours. Change the kind of oil you use or the kind of sweetner, the vinegar or citrus. Use orange instead of lemon, or use lime, or white balsamic vinegar. The variations are endless.

Dare to experiment, you will soon find the one that works for you.

There are two ways you can mix this. The newer one is to throw it all together with the oil on top and stick blend it in one go. This does not work so well for me. I use the slow method.

First add all the ingredients, except the oil. I give this a blend first to get a soft frothy little mixture.

Then using a stick blender I slowly add the oil and mix it all carefully so it does not split. Do not rush.

Aquafaba. I use the water from a tin of chickpeas, but it can be the water from any kind of tinned beans. Or if you boil up your own beans after soaking them overnight you can try cooling and using that aquafaba. After much experimentation I have found that tinned chickpea water works best for me.

The original recipe calls for a 1/2 tsp vinegar white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. I use all lemon juice

Vegetable oil, Avocado oil, peanut oil sunflower oil. I have found that sunflower oil works best for me. I never use rapeseed oil.

Mustard, here you can use any kind of mustard you like, Dijon is my favourite.

The original recipe calls for maple syrup but any kind of sweetner will work, honey or even crystal stevia. I now use a powder or icing sugar.

1 cup sunflower oil.
1/4 cup chickpea aquafaba
1/4 tsp fine table salt
1 and 1/2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp icing sugar

technique.
Mix all the ingredients except the oil and give it a light whisk till it lightly foams.
Slowly drizzle in the oil mixing well all the time to create a soft thick mass.
Put the mixture in a pot or jar with a tightly closing lid and keep in the fridge.

Good luck, Mayonnaise can be tricky!

Lazy Sundays

Out on the water, the yacht, white on blue, crystal clear water in all directions.

The wind rustling my hair and the sails bold as the boat silently cuts the water to our favourite lagoon.

It’s time to open the picnic basket and the cooler. What did we throw into it early this morning with sleepy eyes and a dormant brain before rushing off to the lakes.

Bread, fresh from the bakers, the mad dash to the shop on the way to buy warm baked rolls just out of the oven. Fresh fruit and a knife, tomatoes, cucumber and mayonnaise, lots of green stuff. It looks like I just emptied out the vegetable drawer in the fridge and threw everything in there. Now, when hunger strikes it’s time to make up something to eat, now we find out what we forgot. Now we realise we don’t really want to be this healthy and would prefer to eat something vaguely unhealthy but there is no choice.

I slice juicy melon, the scent hitting us in the heat of the day as we throw out the anchor. I fill the rolls with salad things, they have gone slightly chewy. We are in a silent bubble, the distant sounds of revellers on the beach, children jumping into the water, chugging engines seem unreal, snaches of music and the soft lap of water on the keel create a dreamy haze.

No wasps here.

We ravenously tear at chunks of bread with our teeth, slices of cucumber and tomato spill onto our hands dripping onto the deck. Did we forget napkins and tissues again? This feast washed down with bottles of icy water from the cooler. A delicate pink wine, fresh and cool or a cold beer. I can feel an afternoon headache coming on but I don’t care. The sun beats down and turns the water into a million diamonds. It’s all simple, quiet, delicious.

We ruffle the water with our sticky hands then settle down to some serious sunbathing for the rest of the afternoon saving the punnet of strawberries for later.

This is the life.

Out to lunch

One of the greatest pleasures we have is eating out.

One of the few things we can only do here while on earth in the physical is eat. No angels harps or hellfire here, here we have food.

So, of course we have turned food into an artform, or at least some of us have, the chefs. I wish I was one of them, except for the hours they keep.

Dishes of fresh tomatoes with burrata and basil, searingly hot peppers tossed in a wok with prawns and garlic. The delicacy of a peach fresh from the tree, gently marinated and served with vanilla ice cream, warm and juicy, sweet and succulent.

Lunch out.
It must be my favourite occupation to sit at a little table outside somewhere, town or city, village or countryside and watch the world go by. I can think of nothing more deeply satisfying or relaxing.

We pick a likely looking table at a fairly busy restaurant. The instant waiter helps us efficiently order drinks and menus appear in our hands.

Today I put my book and pen away for lunch and just absorb. The waiter materialises to serve me a chilled wine. I know next to nothing about wines so I have let him choose whatever he thinks is best. Thankfully I am not disappointed. Crisp and fresh as the sparking fountains in the square.

The gentle hubbub of the lunchtime crowd around me comes into focus. I even slide my travel guide surreptitiously off the table and into my bag. Olives, nuts and bread with dab of butter arrive as we peruse the menu. As usual we cannot decide, salads, soups, sandwiches, fried fish or stuffed courgette flowers?

I love Europe, specially France I believe they invented lunch. An hour of two to while away between morning and afternoon. Time to savour a glass of good wine, to eat a new dish, to make pointless conversation.

It is a glorious moment to enjoy all the good things about the art of food, the glint of cutlery, white napkins, a charming waiter. And somewhere behind all this the hellish madness of a kitchen run by an enraged chef which we thankfully have nothing to do with at all.

We smile at each other across our little table, knowing we have picked a good one this time.

Beetroot salad

For this recipe I used two beetroots, raw, a pink and a yellow, this gives a pleasing pastel nuance to the finished dish. Dark beetroot can also be used. It is a refreshing light salad or side dish. Also shown is the original recipe which has since evolved into the recipe I am offering you today.

ingredients.

2 beetroots
Japanese vinegar
Mirin
Salt
Cinnamon, ground
Juice of 1/2 an orange
Zest of one orange
quarters of 1/2 an orange
Mustard seed
Fennel seed

Wrap the beetroot in paper and foil and cook in the oven for 1/2 to 1 hour depending on size at 180°c.
Allow to cool and then peel.
Slice into 5mm. slices so the coloured rings show.

Put a layer of slices in a bowl and add one tbsp. of vinegar and 1 tbsp of Mirin. a sprinkling of ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. mustard seed, 1/4 tsp fennel seed and a sprinkling of salt. Plus the zest of half the orange.

layer again and repeat.

squeeze 1/2 the orange an add the juice to the beetroot mixing gently.
Cut the other half of the orange up into pieces making sure to keep the segments whole but without skin or pith.
Mix gently into the salad and leave in the fridge for 1/2 an hour to cool and marinade.

serve and enjoy

Red cabbage salad

Red Cabbage salad Recipe

1/4 red cabbage
4 large radishes
1 Spring onion
Juice of half a lemon
grated lemon zest. (1/2 a lemon)
1 tbsp Mirin
Celtic sea salt to taste
3 tbsp Hellmann’s vegan mayonnaise. (or homemade vegan mayonnaise)

Technique.

Cut the stalk out of the red cabbage and remove any bruised outer leaves.
Finely slice the cabbage, into approximately 1-2 mm strips, the fineness of the chopping, or slicing makes the difference here.
Place in a bowl and massage firmly to bring out the colour and soften the texture.
Add the salt. (be sparing with the salt)
Grate in the lemon zest – be careful to avoid the pith as the zest is so much more fragrant.
Squeeze 1/2 the lemon and add the juice to the cabbage, mixing well.
Top and tail the radishes and slice to 1mm thickness, slice as finely as you can leaving the radish in nice wafer-thin translucent rounds, mix with the cabbage. Use a mandolin if you can’t do this well with a knife.
Finely slice the spring onion making sure to use the white and green parts, 2mm thickness is fine enough for the spring onions.
Add a tablespoon of mirin.
Add three tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Mix thoroughly and leave to chill for an hour, then mix again to stir the juices through.
It is ready to serve.

This will produce a juicy, cool and fragrant cabbage salad with a generous dressing which is refreshing and satisfying.

P.S. It is always possible to change the chopping techniques, but this will change the whole texture of the dish. It is always possible to change some of the ingredients, ordinary table salt if you have no celtic sea salt. Normal mayonaise if you do not have vegan or Hellman’s. Instead of Mirin, a small spoon of sugar – but remember that changing the ingredients changes the entire flavour of the dish.

Try it, let me know how it went, I look forward to your comments.

Recipes to go

 

Time to get it together to show you some recipes.

I have terrible trouble writing them down and then I have terrible trouble finding the scrap of paper I wrote them down on when I want to try it again.

Most recipes are in my head.
Or, I invent them as I go along, using whatever it is I have access to.
I am completely useless at menu planning for the week or the month as I use what I can find.
Be it fresh from the market, already in the fridge, or frozen a while ago.
(And did I stick a date on it before it went into the freezer?)
Probably not, but I am getting better at that, so it’s good that it does all make sense in my head.

Getting the recipes and techniques onto paper, or in this case screen, is a different kettle of fish.
Specially if you are planning to write about cabbage.

So here they are, the lovely photos of food including the cabbage salad.
You will find the recipe on the recipes page.

It’s super easy and involves no cooking whatsoever, just some knife skills.

It was served with roast potatoes cooked ‘en papillote’ slightly cooled and sliced.
Slices of avocado with fresh squeezed lemon juice, celtic sea salt, multi pepper and whole Sichuan peppercorns.
With s sampling of carrots roast in the oven with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, celtic sea salt and after allowing them to cool slightly, fresh chopped parsley.

A delicious refreshing summer dinner dish.

Hope you enjoy.

Welcome

Hello sweethearts, just wanted to welcome you to my blog.

Mostly about food.

I came by the title in my adventures as a health conscious foodie.
I found that I could be a perfect vegan for quite long periods of time; except for cheese.
It was very hard for me to stop eating cheese as I was addicted to it
Since being a perfect vegan required that I stop I found a way to do so.
However I have fallen from my perfect foodie pedestal often, because of cheese.

The thing is I really like my health, I also really love food.

All kinds of food.

I would prefer to be a perfect vegan at all times,
it’s not as if I could go straight for the carnivore diet, I don’t even like meat that much.
Mostly i’m really suspicious of meat (was that really run down on the road today?)

And I’m also a social coward so when someone dishes up platefulls of delicious traditional fodder they have spent hours preparing in hot steamy kitchens I feel obliged to try some before quietly mentioning I actually prefer vegetables.

Yes, vegetables.

The look of horror on their faces is sometimes quite surprising, then they always ask.
“Where do you get your protein from?”
They don’t even KNOW that proteins are made by plants, they really believe they all come from animals. How crazy is that! And they also can’t work out why I haven’t dropped dead yet from malnutrition and how come I am so strong? They find this all very suspicious. but that’s OK, the message gets across.

And yes, I still sometimes accidentally eat cheese and sometimes other bits of dead animals too.

It’s a big secret.

But please don’t tell, I wouldn’t want it to become a habit.

This site is mostly about my adventures with food, recipes, eating out, and general dieting.

Some nutritional science might be alluded to.

It is also about staying healthy and all the circumstantial evidence which might actually support how to do this.

I hope you enjoy!