Vegetarian

Start lowering your carbon footprint on ‘Meatless Mondays’ with these dishes.

It is so important to not only help the planet but to also maintain (or reduce) our waistlines by having at least one meat-free meal a week. I have many more than that and I love sharing them here for your inspiration.

Vegan chocolate panna cotta

Posted on November 3, 2010

Who thinks vegans can’t eat panna cotta? Wrong!

I’ve been experimenting lately with agar agar as a setting agent to replace gelatine.

Agar agar is derived from a form of red algae seaweed and comes in powder and flake form. It’s used extensively in Asia for both sweet and savoury recipes.

It’s a completely vegetarian/vegan alternative to gelatine which is, of course, taken from the insides of various animals skin and bones. Sorry if you didn’t want to hear that! (more…)

Orange braised fennel w/ roast pork

Posted on September 5, 2010

I just couldn’t resist a massive crunchy bulb of fennel at the market the other week. It seemed to be crying out ‘take me home!’.

Young small bulbs are irresistible sliced paper-thin and eaten raw, but the larger ones, like this one, are best suited to braising so the flavour mellows out and sweetens.

The addition of fresh orange juice adds another layer of sweetness and makes it a great partner for pork, which I sat on top of the fennel while it braised.

Click the button below for photos of the final result, to get the easy recipe and see a drool-worthy crackling shot! (more…)

Vegan pear crumble cake

Posted on May 23, 2010

I’ve been experimenting with baking vegan cakes for about a year but I’ve only made four or so in that time. None of them have turned out as good as this one!

I tried making a vegan vanilla sponge cake, but it wasn’t very successful. I made my famous orange and almond cake and thought it was vegan until I remembered I put three eggs in it. Doh.

I’d really like to try the orange one without eggs, and I’ve been wracking my brain for about three weeks to think of a suitable substitute to beat with the sugar in the first step. Any ideas? No fake egg suggestions please!

My fascination with trying to make the perfect vegan cake stems from the fact that my brother-in-laws girlfriend is vegan, although I’m really interested in the health (and environmental) benefits for myself and hubby too. Just try to forget the fact that I will probably enjoy the cake with a nice big dollop of whipped cream, ha!

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Caramelised pear porridge

Posted on May 15, 2010

Lazy weekend breakfast

If I’m not going out for breakfast on the weekend then I like to spend a little bit of time and make something extra special.

It doesn’t have to be a large meal or use lots of ingredients, it just has to have one luxurious touch. In this case, porridge gets jazzed up with caramelised pears.

Other times I’ll make a compote with seasonal fruit like rhubarb or splurge by using truffle salt on scrambled eggs. They’re only small things but they make a big difference.

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Dense and moist banana bread

Posted on April 26, 2010

You know the best thing about this recipe? Actually, there’s two things; you don’t need an electric mixer and you only need one bowl.

So there’s no fancy cooking instruments and less washing up. Sounds like heaven to me, how about you?

My husband adores banana bread and banana cake and raw bananas. Yes, he’s a banana fan. I like sliced banana on my porridge because that’s two healthy things together, although the spoonful of brown sugar probably negates them slightly – but (for me) is a necessary evil.

I don’t have much of a sweet-tooth, but I do have a butter-tooth. Therefore, I indulge in my hubby’s craving for banana bread so I can serve it hot with lots of good quality butter; Harmonie Organic Butter being my current favourite. (more…)