Kale Apple and Walnut Salad

I found this recipe in the Booths supermarket "The Great Northern Christmas 2015" book, so I made it as a starter for our Christmas dinner and I am glad I did, it is a fantastic recipe.

2 large carrots cut into long batons
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
50 g pumpkin seeds
50 g walnuts
350 g kale
2 apples cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 180º.   Place the carrots in a bowl and toss with the cumin seeds and rapeseed oil.   Spread on a baking tray and roast for 5 mins, then add the seeds and walnuts and roast for a further 2-3 mins until toasted and golden.

Add the kale to the tray and toss well with the carrot mixture, then cook for a further 10 mins until the kale is crispy, then remove from the oven and tip into a bowl and toss in the apple.   Whisk the cider vinegar and olive oil together, add to the bowl, season with plenty of salt and pepper and combine thoroughly.

The Parkers Arms Hall Gate Hill Newton - 19th December 2015

Its awhile since my last review of The Parkers Arms and this being my last restaurant review of 2015, was a blinder of a vegan menu to finish the year.

I love their food philosophy, seasonal, local produce, simply prepared, which I do not mean in a derogatory kind of way, because simple really is the hardest, with nowhere to hide.

I kicked off  with nibbles of awesome crispy potato skins, these were one of the best, perhaps due to the kind of potato used, with sweet chilli dipping sauce, I could eat a ton of these!

My starter was warm confit Lancashire brown cap mushrooms, caramelised onion, homemade focaccia and parsley oil.   They must get through tons of watercress, served as a salad accompaniment, with soused butternut squash, radish and onion and loads of dressing, if you gave me just this and some good bread, I would be happy.

Mains was brussel tops, stuffed with wild rice and chestnuts, served with butternut squash puree, roast sprouts and chestnuts, it was that good I could have easily licked the plate.   A typical example of seasonal produce, used to perfection and how good does this dish look in the photo.

Chef Stosie is "Master of Vegan Puddings" not a fruit salad, dollop of sorbet, or undercooked caramelised banana in sight, which I was served elsewhere only last week.   Chocolate tart with almond ice-cream, caramel shard and a chocolate sauce, made with oat cream specially, as I am allergic to soya, just look at the sheen on that chocolate.

I ordered a very nice bottle of Domaine de Vedilhan Viognier, a fine vegan wine, in fact The Parkers has several vegan wines that I know of, on their wine list

This is not your typical gastro-pub, you may have to wait for your food, as it is made to order and everything is made on site, scratch cooking at its best.   It is a proper village pub, so you get locals in having a few beers or two and is popular with walkers, due to its location in the Hodder Valley close to the Bowland Fells, you have to drive there, but it is worth it.

Service front of house is always relaxed and friendly and there is always some banter going on with either AJ, Kathy or Ben.   Roll on 2016!

Winter Vegetable Gluten Free Tart

I saw this recipe in Booths supermarket "The Great Northern Christmas 2015" book, which was available free in store and decided to veganise it.   I had no butternut squash or red onions as required in the recipe, so used white onions and sweet potatoes, which worked well.

1 large cauliflower broken into florets
100 g ground almonds
40 g chickpea flour
2 sweet potatoes cut into wedges
2 onions chopped
2 red chillies chopped
Small bunch of sage chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp passata (I used homemade tomato sauce)
Salt and pepper
Small bunch of mint chopped

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 200º.   Mix the sweet potatoes, onions, chillies, sage and olive oil, spread out on a baking tray and roast until the sweet potatoes are tender and the onions browned.

Place the cauliflower florets into a food processor and blitz until coarsely chopped, put into a bowl and microwave on high heat for 4 mins, tip into a clean towel and squeeze out any excess liquid.

Sieve the chickpea flour into a bowl and whisk together with 120 ml of water, until it resembles beaten eggs.

Add the almonds and chickpea flour mixture to the cauliflower, season well and combine thoroughly.

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and tip the cauliflower mixture into the centre and press into a 30 cm round to make the tart base, making it thicker at the edges to make a crust.   Bake for 20-25 mins until golden brown.

Spread the passata over the cauliflower base, top with the sweet potato mixture, I also added a few halved cherry tomatoes.   Cook for a further 15-20 mins until the base is crusty, then serve with the mint scattered over the top.

Pure Dairy Free Olive Spread

I have used various vegan dairy free margarines over the year, but since being diagnosed allergic to soya and sunflower products, I had to find an alternative.

I struggled to find a vegan margarine not containing either sunflower or soya, but luckily the Pure dairy free range by Kerry Foods also has an olive spread, which, as with the others, is Vegan Society approved.

It contains added vitamins A,D,E and B12 which helps supplement a vegan diet, rapeseed, olive and palm oil, which is not shown as being from sustainable sources, so I have asked Kerry Foods about this and this is their response:

"Kerry Foods is committed to using sustainable Palm Oil. As members of the 'Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil' (RSPO), we are fully aware of the ecological and social impacts of deforestation and share the concern about the long-term consequences of this. With our customers, who have similar plans, we encourage moving to sustainable oil as soon as possible. As a business, we only source our Palm Oil from RSPO members and are working closely with them to ensure that in the future, our Palm oil is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, with our ultimate goal being to achieve 100% fully sustainable Palm Oil sourcing throughout our supply chain by 2016"

The colour is a lovely yellow colour,  it spreads well and is perfect for baking, cooking and spreading on hot toast or crumpets, so I always make sure I have a tub in the fridge.

Oatly Organic Single Cream

Since my soya allergy (amongst others) was diagnosed, I needed to find a cream alternative and Oatly is a fabulous find.   I love the fact its organic and although I was a big fan of soya cream, which I found had a slight after taste, Oatly is superior in my opinion with no after taste.

I also like that once opened, it stays fresh for up to 5 days in the fridge, not that it lasts that long in my house.

It is a really versatile product and can be used in hot and cold dishes, as can be seen in the photos below, I even made some sour cream, by adding a little lemon juice an hour or two before use.   I have tested Oatly on several people, including a couple of chefs, who thought it was a fabulous product.

 Mince Pie and Cream

 Vegan Pavlova

Soured Cream

Mustard Cream Sauce

Creamy Walnut Pesto

Bells of Lazonby Vegan Gluten Free Mince Pies

I found Bells of Lazonby vegan mince pies, also gluten free, in Booths supermarket and having had no success finding vegan mince pies elsewhere, bought two boxes.

Why have I not tried them before, well I tend to look out for products, with vegan on the packaging and these only mention dairy free and the only reason I checked out them, was my twitter friend Chantal tweeting about them.   I contacted Bells who quickly responded and said that vegan labelling will be introduced in the future, which is great news.

As for taste testing, well I do not understand why you would buy other mince pies, the pastry is light, crumbly and not too thick and the filling is lush and full of fruit.   When warm and served with dairy free cream, its a pretty terrific combination.

Mheat by Sgaia Foods Limited

Sgaia Foods kindly sent me a free sample of their meat replacement product Mheat, which is a little like seitan.   Sadly due to its soya content, I was unable to try it due to allergies, but my husband, who eats vegan 99% of the time, but still eats meat, offered to give his honest opinion of the product.

As the product is chilled, it is delivered in a thermally insulated package and according to their website, Sgaia Foods have made every effort to ensure the packaging is as sustainable as possible.

The product is a brownish colour, quite firm to the touch and meaty in texture.

The first dish I made was barbecued Mheat, so I cut it into strips and coated it with a spice mixture and gently fried in oil, adding barbecue sauce after a couple of minutes.

As you can see it looks just like barbecued meat and my husbands verdict:

"My first impression was it looked like meat out of the pack and has good texture.   It holds together well during cooking and was very tasty when cooked and has huge potential for all kinds of dishes, like stirfries, stews and casseroles and on sandwiches.   If I did not know otherwise I would think it was meat"

The second time I cooked Mheat, was to accompany a baked potato and salad, so I cubed the Mheat and gently fried in oil in a pan.

I then added a little soy sauce and gently fried until browned on the outside, the product is already pre-cooked, so it does not need much cooking.

Mheat gets the big thumbs up from my husband, who can see the future, where this kind of product will greatly reduce or even replace meat in the market place.

Mac and Greens

This recipe is another one from Anna Jones who writes for the Sunday Times and I just left the Pecorino cheese out to veganise it.

100g macaroni (I had to use fusilli)
1 large bunch of basil
25 g oats
100 g kale
zest of ½ lemon
½ tsp of chilli flakes
3 tbsp olive oil
250 g cherry tomatoes
75 g toasted almonds

Serves 2

Heat the oven to 200°.   Cook the macaroni until it is very al dente, reserving a mug of the cooking water and return the pasta to the pan.   Put half the basil, oats, kale, lemon zest, chilli and 1½ tbsp oil into a blender and blitz to a rough paste.   Season to taste and mix thoroughly.

 
Rinse the processor and add the cherry tomatoes and almonds, remaining basil and oil and blitz to a smooth paste season and blitz again.

Add the tomato mixture to the pasta and stir well, add a little of the reserved pasta water little by little, you want a sauce the consistency of double cream.   Do not worry if it seems very runny, as the pasta will soak it all up in the oven.

Transfer the pasta to an ovenproof dish and spread the kale mixture evenly over the top.

Bake for 20-25 mins until the topping is crunchy, then remove from the oven and wait 10 mins before serving.

I served the mac and greens with a fennel and avocado salad and it was delicious, definitely one to make again.