The Vegan Kitchen Table

Our New Book!

2015-01-23T12:29:00.002+00:00

Our latest Cookbook, The Vegan Kitchen Table Cookbook, is now available here in the UK or in the US! Grab a copy now, write a review and tell us what you think!!
Kindle version coming soon!!

Here's some sample pages:

New blog over at sweeter than oats!

Potato and Asparagus Salad (with some Celery)

2014-04-24T12:59:00.001+01:00

Potato Salad is the taste of my childhood. Along with Sara Lee Gateau and Twiglets, I could devour a huge bowl of Potato Salad on my own, snarling at anyone who dares to wave so much as a teaspoon near MY bowl.
Let's elaborate here. I am an only child. I was not indulged in the same way as Edward from the Count of Monte Cristo ("Oh, it amuses me!"), far from it, but when my favourite food was available in the house, I got to eat the lion's share of it. There was no bickering at the table over who got the last sausage or pancake. I kind of wish there had been though.
This expectance of my favourite foods being mine all the time started to become challenged at that most heinous of things "the family get-together" when I then have to vie with the other potato lover of the family, my grandmother. And she lived through the war. And three children. She doesn't mess around when it comes to getting her potatoes. And as she survived all these things she does not see why she should share potatoes. Why, they are her hard-earned right.
I see fireworks in our future.
Skulking up to my bedroom with my tiny (mixing bowl sized) portion of potato salad, I put Blonde on Blonde on my super-duper stacking midi-system record player (what no CD player??) and sink into a foot-tapping sulk.
Even today I am reluctant to share MY food. I will cook for you, piles and piles of food. That is your food. This small (mixing bowl sized) portion of Potato Salad is for ME. Hence, this recipe for a Potato and Asparagus Salad (with some Celery) is enough to serve me, or four non-possessive Potato Salad eaters.

Potato and Asparagus Salad (with some Celery)
750g Jersey Royal (or any small salad) Potatos, boiled and cooled
Bunch Asparagus, boiled for a couple of minutes so that they still retain texture, not mush
1 stick Celery, finely chopped
¼ cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
Juice and Zest from 1 Lemon
2 tbsp finely chopped Chives
Salt and Pepper

Slice the potatoes in half. Chop the asparagus into thirds. Place in a small (mixing bowl sized) bowl, along with the celery and chives.
Whisk the Olive Oil, Mustard, Lemon and zest in a jug and pour over the vegetables. Mix thoroughly but gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
I like to chill it in the fridge but very rarely can wait. However, all the flavours will amalgate better if you let it sit for a bit.

Vegan Gluten-Free Hot Cross Buns

2014-04-16T14:44:00.004+01:00

This recipe is an amalgamation of different ideas, theories and online gluten-free recipes (thank you to Gluten Free On A Shoestring!).

I have had many disasters trying to make Hot Cross Buns. Sometimes the dough was too tough and just didn't rise. Other times the buns came out of the oven like snooker balls!
I have since realised that the only way to make a successful gluten-free bread-type dough is to keep the dough like the consistency of a cake batter. On the upside: NO KNEADING!!
So, after reworking and veganising a recipe for Panettone, which I had some success with at Christmas time, I managed to produce some yummy Hot Cross Buns!
Where I state "blend the batter for 5 minutes" I mean it! Seriously, this extended time spent beating the batter will ensure plenty of air and bubbles in your batter, and consequently your buns.

Gluten-Free and Vegan Hot Cross Buns

adapted from a recipe by glutenfreeonashoestring.com
2½ cups Self-raising gluten-free flour
½ cup Sugar
3 tsp Instant Yeast
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Salt
Zest of 1 Lemon
225g Raisins
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
½ cup warm Milk
1¼ cups Vegan Yogurt
1 stick (112 grams) vegan Butter
For the cross (optional)
75g Gluten-Free White Flour
5 tbsp Water

3 tbsp Apricot Jam, warmed, to glaze

Method:
In a jug, whisk together the yogurt, lemon zest, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, cream of tartar and salt.
Pour over the whisked together yogurt mixture and warm milk and, using an electric hand whisk start beating in the vegan butter, dropping it in by tablespoonsful.
Now beat for 5 minutes. This step is crucial as it incorporates air into the batter.
Then beat in the raisins until fully mixed.
The dough will resemble cake batter.
Now, you can either drop by the 3 tablespoonfuls of the mixture, spaced 2 inches apart, onto a greased baking sheet (giving you a flatter bun) or half-fill greased muffin cups with the mixture.
Now leave to rise for at least 2 hours. The rise will not be huge but the air that we incorporated through the beating will ensure a light dough.
Preheat oven to 180c.
If you want to make the cross, whisk together the 75g flour with the water until you get a thick, smooth paste. Pour into a piping bag and pipe a cross on each bun.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes until just turning golden. If you overcook, they will be dry.
Once baked, remove from the oven and brush immediately with the warm apricot jam to glaze.

Roasted Fings Pt.1

2014-03-24T18:30:00.002+00:00

Roasting fings, not fingers.
Just to clear that up.
Today I decided to jump on the bandwagon and roast some Chick Peas AND some Cauliflower.
I recently bought a bag of Super Spicy WARNING HOT!! Chick Peas and was really disappointed. They were not obscenely hot, they didn't really have much flavour at all.
There must be more to roasted Chick Peas than this.
I used to love Bombay Mix, you know, with the little roasted lentils and spicy stick thingys. This also had Chick Peas and they were AWESOME.
So, who to turn to but google. Sorry.
I quickly found about a gazillion recipes for roasting these little nubbly gems, both savoury and sweet. I feel like these could become the new Popcorn. For me at least. I'm not that big on popcorn.
Today I simply roasted them with salt and pepper and some chopped Rosemary (I love Rosemary!), but I'm having mad (bad?) ideas about the sweet and savoury ones. How about salt and vinegar?? The options could potentially be endless.

For now, here's the basic recipe. I dare you to just eat one.

Ingredients:
1 can Chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp Sea Salt
¼ tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Chopped Rosemary

Method:
Preheat oven to 200c.
Tip the drained Chickpeas into a bowl of warm water. Gently rub together until the skins start to slough off.

This is the clever part: the skins will float to the top of the water so you can just fish them out!
Drain.
Tip onto a large baking sheet (I use one with sides, for obvious reasons) and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary.
Give the tray a little shake to make sure the Chickpeas are well coated and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
They will crisp crunch up as they cool. Try and wait that long.

Diabetic Chocolate Courgette Cake

2014-01-09T21:24:00.004+00:00

Or zucchini if you prefer.
This one goes out to all the diabetics out there, the naughty ones, the strict ones and the ones trying to live a life without sugar. I can't begin to imagine how I'd cope, but thanks to Diabetes UK, we not only have this delicious recipe, we also know that there is support out there for our loved ones who are suffering from diabetes. Furthermore, you don't have to be diabetic to enjoy it, you can slather it in a rich icing, or just some sweetened whipped coconut cream and feel just a little bit virtuous eating it!

I have veganised Diabetes UK's recipe and you can easily replace the flour with Doves Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising flour to make it suitable for pretty much everyone with every food tolerance going! Score!!

Ingredients:

1 large courgette, coarsely grated
3tsp Egg Replacer whisked up with 4 tbsp cold water
100ml vegetable oil
grated rind and juice 1 orange
125g caster sugar
225gs self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
50g ready-to-eat apricots, chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and flour a 8cm, deep loose-bottomed cake tin or bundt tin as I did.
Place the courgettes in a sieve and squeeze out any excess liquid.
Beat together the egg replacer, oil, orange rind and juice and the sugar. Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and beat to combine.
Fold in the courgettes and apricots then spoon into the prepared tin.
Bake for 25-40 minutes (depending on tin) until risen and firm to touch.
Turn out onto a cooling rack and cool.

A Comforting Pudding!

2013-12-09T19:08:00.002+00:00

Due to popular demand, I'm sharing the recipe for this lovely vegan AND gluten free pudding!
I first saw Rachel Allen cook this on Paul Hollywood's Bake show and it reminded me of a pudding my mother used to make for me when I was a child, rather unappetisingly called bum-cakes. In a nutshell, it contained those oh-so-retro but oh-so-comforting components of sponge, jam and coconut, of course served with custard! This version is a vanilla-scented, coconut studded sponge pudding poured on top of a layer of jam. You could also add a handful of fresh raspberries which cut quite nicely through the intense sweetness of the jam. I used some frozen berries.

I have veganised Rachel's recipe and also replaced the flour with Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising so we can all enjoy that cosy childhood pud feeling. Custard is obligatory.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp Raspberry jam (or favourite jame)
2 1/2 cups Plain flour (we used Doves Farm Gluten Free Self-Raising)
3 Tsp Baking powder
1 3/4 cups Caster sugar
1 1/3 cups Dessicated coconut
3 Tsp Egg Replacer whisked up with 6 tbsp Water
1 1/2 cups Almond Milk (or vegan milk of your choice)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup Vegan Spread (we use Pure), melted

Method:
Preheat oven to 180c.
In deep glass pie dish, spread the jam.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and coconut.

In a jug, whisk together the prepared egg replacer, vanilla, milk and melted vegan butter. Pour into the centre of the flour/sugar mix and mix well. Pour slowly into the dish, taking care that the jam doesn't disperse into the batter.

Bake for between 45mins to 1 hour, depending on the exact size of your dish. You can use smaller dishes too, reducing the baking time to maybe half an hour.

The pudding is ready when golden brown and springs back to the touch.

Serve - without question - with custard.

A Tale of Two Soups

2013-11-17T13:11:00.001+00:00

Whilst the shimmering frost looks delightful and the pale blue/grey wintry sky are truly evocative of every other winter that has passed me by, I am already longing for the past (or, preferably future) summer. Despite the sun closing up early and denying us of mood-enhancing daylight, the days seem much longer as I shiver in my car on the way to work. Fortunately, we have Christmas to look forward to, and, although it’s gone before it seems to have barely arrived, the days leading up to Christmas are always thrilling. There’s the Gingerbread House to make, biscuits and cookies to take to work, the tree to decorate and presents to buy and wrap.
So, because of all this extra activity, we need quick and nourishing meals, using up wilting vegetables from the fridge to ensure plenty of room for the seasonal extras. And what quick and nourishing meal do we always turn to in days of financial hardship and droopy vegetables? That’s right, soup.
The first soup, Mushroom and Wild Rice, is incredibly simple, some mushrooms sauteed in vegan butter with a little fresh Thyme, some garlic before being pressed gently through a sieve. The garlicky/fungus liquid is then used to form the basis of the soup alongside a basic roux, and the rest is made up with almond or soy milk. The mushrooms are then added to this rich soup with some wild rice and simmered gently for about 45 minutes.
The second soup is truly a testament to my ingenuity in the kitchen or you could call it “good luck”. A three week old bunch of Broccoli, rapidly turning yellow is simmered in some
vegetable stock with a diced potato and some sauteed onion. This is then pureed and returned to the pan and enriched with a swirl of tofutti sour cream. As someone who generally despises Broccoli, this tasted revelatory. At last! A way to make those little green trees interesting!
Despite both soups being “leftover” users, with the right garnish, they are also elegant enough for a dinner party yet hearty and speedy enough for a quick after work supper.

MUSHROOM AND WILD RICE SOUP – serves 2-4

Ingredients:
250g Mushrooms, cleaned of any loose soil with kitchen paper or a soft brush and roughly chopped. I used Chestnuts Mushrooms but normal white, cultivated ones would be OK. You can, of course, use Shiitake or Oyster or Wild for an even better flavour.
50g Vegan Spread, such as Pure
Spring of Fresh Thyme
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
25g Flour
25g Wild Rice
1 Pint non-dairy Milk
Salt and Pepper and a little Nutmeg
METHOD:
Gently saute the chopped mushrooms, Thyme and Garlic in 25g of the butter. Grind over a little pepper and salt to help release the juices. Cook until softened and easily pierced with a fork.
Strain through a sieve into a bowl, reserving both the liquid and the mushrooms separately.
In the same pan, melt the remaining 25g of butter and whisk in the flour, until a smooth roux is formed. Pour over the onion juice and half the pint of milk. Bring gently to the boil but keep whisking to ensure it does not go lumpy or stick. Add more milk if the soup seems too thick.
Grate over a little nutmeg.
Add the reserved chopped mushrooms and the rice. Leave to simmer gently until the rice is softened. Season as necessary and serve.

BROCCOLI SOUP serves 4-6
Ingredients:
Large head of Broccoli, about 300 or 400g, cut into small florets
1 Medium Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Medium Potato, peeled and diced
1 Pint Vegetable Stock
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Some Tofutti Sour Cream or vegan cream
METHOD:
Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion until translucent. Add the diced potatoes and florets of broccoli, sauteing briefly before covering with the stock. Bring to the boil, cover and turn down to a gently simmer.
Cook until the potatoes and broccoli are tender.
Pour this mixture into a blender, leaving some whole pieces behind for texture if you want. Process until smooth and return to the saucepan. Taste for seasoning and cook gently for another couple of minutes. Stir through some vegan sour cream to further enrich the soup and serve.

Tiffin aka Chocolate Biscuit Cake aka Refrigerator Cake

2012-12-05T16:03:00.000+00:00

Tiffin! The sweet of many names. And indeed more than one incarnation.

Tiffin is known in South India as a between-meals snack or light lunch. Much like the Japanese have Bento Boxes for their immaculately compartmentalised lunches, the Indians have Tiffin-Boxes. Tiffin over here in the UK is simply refrigerator cake or chocolate biscuit cake.

For many, along with Flapjacks or Rice Krispie cakes, it will have marked the start of infantile cooking, pour and stir recipes offering children a quick and satisfying treat.

Tiffin is melted (vegan) butter and golden syrup, mixed with molten chocolate that is then bolstered generously with crushed Rich Tea or Digestive biscuits, raisins, hazelnuts and coconut or perhaps glace cherries. The options are endless. And, if you use a decent dark chocolate, Tiffin makes a rich, decadent treat for grown ups too.

I am choosing to keep some pieces of Tiffin in our biscuit tin because I know exactly what has gone in them and I feel that we have greater control over our intake of sugar and fat this way. Besides, both are so rich that you only require a small square to feel that your sweet tooth can take that well-earned break from bugging you.

Both of these recipes come from one of my favourite cookbooks at the moment, Sue Lawrence’s Book of Baking. All of the recipes are simple enough for the non-baker or young person taking tentative steps towards cooking. She writes in a straight-forward, non-flowery manner as you would expect of a Scotswoman and everything looks delicious, comforting and homely. Highly recommended. Also, the recipes are easily veganised because the ingredients are so simply.

TIFFIN or CHOCOLATE BISCUIT CAKE adapted from Book of Baking by Sue Lawrence
Ingredients:
175g Vegan Butter or Spread (I used Pure, as usual)
1.5 Tbsp. Golden Syrup or Dark Agave Syrup for a lower GI
200g best quality Vegan Dark Chocolate (fortunately, most, if not all, true dark chocolate is vegan)
180g Vegan Rich Tea or Digestives or a combination, crushed roughly in a freezer bag (they usually come in this weight package)
85g Raisins, Dried Cranberries or Cherries or a combination
85g Roasted and Coarsely Chopped Hazelnuts, Macadamias, Almonds, Pistachios or nuts of your choice

METHOD:
Gently melt the vegan butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a large saucepan until melted and glossy. Don't use a small pan like what I did, or this happens.

Stir in the crushed biscuit pieces, the raisins and the hazelnuts.
Turn out into a lightly greased cake tin, 9” square.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, before cutting into squares and gorging.

OPTIONAL: You can halve the raisins and add 85g of coconut as per the original recipe, or replace the raisins with glace cherries or any dried fruit you love. Play around with whatever nuts, dried fruit and biscuits or cookies you have lying around.

ENJOY!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

2012-12-01T17:14:00.000+00:00

When I first met Paul, I really couldn't stand raisins, I hated cinnamon raisin bagels, raisin bran, you name it. As we progressed on our blog, both of our foodie tastes expanded and I gradually allowed those little wrinkled grapes into my cooking repertoire.

Nowadays, I can't get enough of this little bursts of tart sweetness. Right now, I have some currants, sultanas and raisins slowly sozzling in an apple brandy and cointreau bath, langurously waiting to be stirred in a christmas pudding in a few days.

Dried fruit is great for people watching their sugar intake as it provides a desirable level of sweetness to cookies or baked goods that you would seek in a bar of chocolate otherwise. Sure, they still have sugar but they are (fairly) unrefined. And I don't mean that in an anti-Coco Chanel type way.

So. Rewind to Christmas 2011. Paul has bought me a breadmachine. So we just go crazy making bread. Some work, some don't.

And then the machine stops being used as post-Christmas realities hit. It sits there, gathering a little bit of dust, waiting patiently. Maybe it feels a touch of panic when the big news hits the kitchen gadgets that we've just become vegan omg.

Don't you worry, breadmachine. For whilst eggs, milk and butter will no longer grace your breadpan interior, ground flaxseed will make it's glorious first appearance, replacing the sticky egg binder. Soya or Nut Milks will replace cows milk and my favourite spread, Pure, will replace butter. And to great success might I add.

I refuse to give up my non-vegan cookbooks. Particularly the baking ones. I used to adore baking and now being a vegan has rekindled that love of creating something homely, comforting and maybe a little bit wonderful, just from flour, fat and milk. And a few other bits and bobs.

So, time to dust off the breadmaker and my copy of Judith Fertig's Artisan Bread Machine cookbook. 250 amazing recipes that seem easy to veganise. We started with - what else? - The Miller's Cinnamon and Raisin Bread.

The only unusual ingredient in many of Fertig's recipes, is Vital Wheat Gluten. I had never even heard of VWG until I became a vegan. It is what makes chewy meat substitute seiten. It is also improves and texture and rise of your loaf. I have had to source VWG online but the recipes use only a few teaspoons at a time so a bag lasts forever.

The first time I made this recipe, I misread it and added FOUR TABLESPOONS of VWG instead of TWO TEASPOONS. I also forgot the salt. I have no idea how this happened. However, the bread turned out almost perfectly! The second night, I used the exact recipe (using flaxseed instead of egg) and the loaf was heavy, under-risen and had a strange burnt taste.

So, combining the first two night's experimentation, I adjusted the salt and the VWG to produce a pretty great Cinnamon Raisin Bread!!

Here's our recipe, based on Judith Fertig's:

Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Makes 1lb Loaf
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Non-Dairy Milk (I used Soy)
1.5 Tbsp Pure Spread (or equivalent vegan butter substitute)
2 Tbsp Soft Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed whisked up 6 Tbsp Water
2 Cups Plain (all-purpose) Flour
2.5 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 sachet Instant Yeast
1/2 Cups Raisins or Currants, soaked in Earl Grey Tea or other aromatic tea

METHOD:
In a small saucepan, heat the milk with the sugar and Pure until bubbles start to appear at the side of the pan and the milk starts to steam a little. Pour into the breadmachine pan and, using a milk thermometer, let it cool to between 30-35c.

Once cooled to lukewarm, add the salt and mixed flaxseed.

Spoon the flour on top, followed by the wheat gluten, cinnamon and yeast.

Add the drained raisins/currants to the dispenser.

Set to Basic/White cycle with medium crust. My machine has a Basic Raisin Loaf setting.

Remove from the machine as soon as the cycle is finished and leave to cool (if you can manage it!). Serve toasted with vegan butter!!

Enjoy!!

Makin' Vegan Cheeze Pt.1

2012-11-19T10:57:00.003+00:00

I would imagine that when people become Vegan, particularly if it is for health reasons as opposed to ethical, the foods you would miss the most would be cheese, bacon, milk chocolate. Or at least, that's mine.

So, imagine my joy when I discovered that you can buy - prepackaged! - vegan cheese, or cheeze with a 'z' as is the way with the world of vegan food. Redwood and Bute Island (there's is called Sheese, as in, sheese, this stuff isn't bad! Or maybe not.) both make some great hard cheezes, flavoured like Parmesan, Cheddar, Blue and a more melty Mozzarella.

To be completely honest, whilst they do a good job of fooling the eyes that, yes, your pizza or spaghetti bolognese really does have grated cheese on it, they don't have the taste nor the texture of true cheese. This is to be expected. The cheeze is made without any dairy produce. As we all know, dairy produce gives you a rich, and, well, dairy flavour. It also can give you high cholesterol, weight gain etc. In a pinch, these pre-packed vegan cheezes are OK and, if you didn't tell your strictly carnivorous neighbour, he might not guess.

So, what's the alternative?

As someone who is always looking to make the best of a meal with her the ingredients of her own cupboard, rather than using pre-made, I went a-(vegan)hunting. And, thanks to VegNews 13 Most Decadent Recipes ever, I was firstly directed to Erin at Olives for Dinner with her delicious Deep-Fried Vegan Macaroni Cheese and then her Vegan Grilled Cheese. As if this wasn't enough, the aforementioned VegNews also encouraged me to make my OWN A rtisan Vegan Cheese, courtesy of Miyoko Schinner.

There are several steps to vegan cheesemaking, but they all start with Rejuvelac. Rejuvelac is a liquid made from sprouting whole grains in water. It contains probiotics and nutrients and is great for vegans or those on a raw food diet who feel that cooking removes some of the important enzymes from raw food.

In cheesemaking, Rejuvelac simply replaces the dairy by-products (along with the help of nuts and sometimes soy milk) by souring the dairy replacement, giving you the seductive cheese "tang".

You can see the little groats starting to sproat...I mean sprout.

The procedure is simple but a little time consuming, insomuch as you have to wait a little while to eat your cheese but you firstly need a cup of whole grains just covered with water in a large bowl. Leave for anything between 12-36 hours for the grains to sprout. I used raw oat groats mixed with quinoa. The next morning they had already started to sprout.

Drain the grains thoroughly, transfer to a large jar and cover with 4 cups of water. Cover the mouth of the jar with cheesecloth and leave for another 36 hours until the water becomes cloudy and has a taste of lemon juice. This cloudy liquid is your Rejuvelac! Drain into a clean jar and refrigerate. It is now ready to use!