Warm Cauliflower Saffron & Olive Salad

This is great as a side dish, or I could quite happily have it for lunch, with plenty crusty bread, to mop up the juices.

1 cauliflower
Few strands of saffron
25 g raisins
5 green olives
5 black olives
25 g pine nuts
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Serves 2-4 (depending on how hungry you are)

Heat the oven to 180°.   Soak the saffron in 150 ml hot water for 10 mins.   Chop the olives, removing the stones, put into a bowl with the oil, vinegar, raisins, then check the seasoning, as I found the olives added enough salt to the dressing.

Cut the cauliflower into florets, put in a roasting dish and spoon the saffron mixture over, coating the cauliflower with the lovely yellow liquid.  

Season with salt and pepper and cook until just starting to brown and the liquid has been absorbed.   Add the pine nuts and cook until the cauliflower is soft and the pine nuts lightly toasted.

Pour the olive dressing over the cauliflower and mix thoroughly, ensuring the cauliflower is completely coated with the delicious dressing.

Pea & Basil Houmous

This has to be the easiest houmous recipe ever and it tastes fabulous, as an alternative to normal houmous.

200 g frozen peas
Zest of half a lemon
Big handful of basil
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Makes enough for 4-6 as a dip, but depends on how greedy you are, two of us nearly demolished this size of serving on our own!

Put the peas into a bowl and cover with boiling water to defrost.

Drain, add the lemon zest, basil, plenty salt and pepper and a big glug of oil.  

Blitz with a stick blender, adding more oil, to get the consistency you want, I like it quite thick.   Check the seasoning and serve.

Cashew & Chestnut Sausages

This recipe originated from two recipes, both containing tofu, egg and cheese, so I tweaked to make them vegan and gluten free.   The sausages are fabulous, hold their shape, fry easily and make an awesome sandwich.

300 g cashews
200 g vac-packed chestnuts
1 onion chopped
150 g carrots chopped
100 g oats (glutenfree)
1 red chilli chopped
Zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp rosemary chopped
1 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy or tamari sauce)
30 g chickpea flour
Salt and pepper

Makes 15-17 sausages depending on how big you want to make them

Soak the cashews overnight in water, drain and put into a food processor, with the chestnuts and blitz till chopped.

Scrape the nuts into a bowl, add the carrot and onion to the processor and blitz until finely chopped.

Whisk the chickpea flour with 90 ml water, to get rid of any lumps, this becomes the egg part of the original recipes.

Add all the ingredients to the carrot and onion mixture, with plenty salt and pepper and blitz, stopping to scrape down the mixture into the bowl.

This part of the recipe takes a little while, depending on the power of your food processor, as you want to achieve a texture a little like sausage meat.

I wear vinyl gloves and roll the sausages on cling film, otherwise they stick to the work surface.

I weighed 70 g of mixture per sausage and it made fifteen, which I put on a baking tray, to freeze before putting into a freezer bag.

Battered Aubergine 'Fish'

The idea for this recipe was inspired by The Edgy Veg, but I changed it slightly, as I was missing some ingredients, wanted to make it gluten free and cooked it slightly differently too.

1 aubergine
1 tsp seaweed salt
½ tsp lemon zest
500 ml vegetable stock
1 garlic clove crushed
100 g chickpea flour
50 g cornflour
Soda water
Salt and pepper
Rapeseed oil

Serves 2 (or 4 if you're not feeling greedy)

In a long casserole dish, mix the seaweed salt, vegetable stock, lemon zest and garlic and whisk to combine thoroughly, to make a marinade.

Cut the aubergine into ½" thick fillet shapes (length wise).   Add to the marinade, cover with clingfilm and leave for at least 5 hours.

Drain the aubergine slices, put onto a baking tray and cook in the oven at 200° until slightly soft, but not browned.

Sieve the chickpea flour and corn flour into a bowl, with plenty salt and pepper and add enough soda water to make a thick custard like batter.

Heat enough rapeseed oil, in a large frying pan, so the oil is 1 cm deep in the bottom of the pan.   Dip the aubergine slices into the batter and lay in the pan.

Fry on both sides for a couple of minutes.

Carefully take each aubergine slice out of the pan, re-dip in the remaining batter and put back in the pan.   Continue to cook, turning regularly to ensure even cooking, so the 'fish' is golden brown and crisp.

Serve with chips, mushy peas and some Sriracha tartare sauce.

Sriracha Tartare Sauce

This recipe originated, as I have allergy issues with mustard seed and wanted to make a vegan version of tartare sauce, but zap it up a bit.

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp salt
1-2 tbsp Srirchara (depends on personal taste)
4 tbsp aquafaba (chickpea water)
¾ -1 cup rapeseed oil
1 tbsp capers finely chopped

Makes about 1 cup

It still amazes me that you can take a few simple ingredients, that make such a fabulous sauce.

Blitz the vinegar, salt, aquafaba and Srirchara sauce, using a stick blender for a few seconds to thoroughly combine.

Whilst the blender is still running, slowly drizzle in the oil.   The mixture will being to thicken up and turn a lovely yellow colour and you will need to move the blender around, to ensure its mixed properly.   Once the mixture is so thick, that it does not run off the blender, you can stop adding the oil.

Pour the mixture into a dish, mix in the capers and check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if required.

I enjoyed the tartare sauce with battered aubergine 'fish', chips and mushy peas.

Carrot Hot Dogs

I have been meaning to make Clean Eating Veggie Girl's carrot hot dog recipe and I am really glad I did, they are delicious and yet so easy.

4 large carrots
1½ tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you prefer)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Dash liquid smoke
150 ml water
1 garlic clove crushed
¼ tsp ground ginger
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Serves 2

Select evenly sized carrots, then peel and top and tail them.

Boil the carrots for about 6-8 mins, until tender, when pierced with a knife, being carefully not to split them.   Plunge into cold water, to stop them from cooking further.

Mix the coconut aminos, water, vinegar, sesame oil, liquid smoke, garlic, ground ginger and plenty salt and pepper in a shallow dish.  

Add the carrots and turn over a few times, cover with cling film and leave in the marinade in the fridge for 24 hours.   Turn the carrots in the marinade several times, during that period.

Put the rapeseed oil in a frying pan, with the marinade juices and carrots.   Cook on quite a high heat, to reduce the marinade and caramelise the carrots.

Do not be concerned if there are any brown bits, this only adds to the flavour.   I had no hot dog rolls, so I served the hot dogs on a wrap, with Dijon mustard, chilli sauce, ketchup, sliced gherkins, tomato and avocado.

They were delicious and I loved them, the marinade really makes the dish and adds a piquant to the carrots.   The marinade part of the recipe, is open to interpretation, to suit different tastes and whatever you have in the cupboard, like barbecue or chilli sauce.