Ouch! Recipes for stinging nettle and other things from my garden

I love gardening, and the place we’re renting at the moment is perfect for it. The owner has spent 40 years developing the soil, and its beautiful. Sadly though, we moved in a little late in the season, and some of my veggies are coming a long a bit slowly because of the cold.

The same can’t be said for the weeds. Stinging nettle has found its way its the veggie beds, and has taken over fast. I was going to rip it all out, but further consideration has lead me to realise that a) it stops the slugs and caterpillars from walking straight from one plant to the next, and b) its edible.

And nettle isn’t the only thing going great guns at our place – the lemon tree is continuing to be prolific, and my mushroom container (bought at the Flemington farmer’s market, but also available at CERES and other garden shops) finally grew me some fungi!

My home grown stuff, and my boots. (and gloves and string – not sure where I was going with that).

So I’ve been playing with ways to use our bounty, and here’s the best hits so far.

Nettle and Spelt Pasta

I made this a few weeks ago, and didn’t get a picture, so you’ll just have to imagine the grey-green coloured, hand made noodles.

I used my all purpose pasta recipe, with just the one tweak. I blanched and pureed around two and a half cups of chopped nettle, resulting in about 1 cup of nettle mush. I then added the nettle mush to the flour to make a crumbly dough, before adding enough water to fill it out. Of course the measurements elude me, but you get the idea.

I served it up with a tomato sauce because I was playing host to some kidlets, but I think it would be great tossed with some salt, nooch, garlic and olive oil.

 

Nettle Risotto

Next up was a nettle risotto, with lemon and pumpkin.

Nettle Risotto

I wasn’t going to post a recipe, because I make risotto all the time and was sure I had posted a few here by now. But when I looked for a recipe to link to – gasp! I’ve never actually posted one. So here is my risotto recipe this time with nettle, but use whatever veg you like (I’m a big fan of plain onion risotto).

Risotto with Nettle

Serves 3-4

• 2 cups raw nettle, washed and stems removed (use gloves and be very careful, they hurt)
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 1/5 cups aborio rice
• 1 cup pumpkin, small dice
• 6 cups stock of your choice I used veggie
• zest of two lemons
• 3 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• salt and pepper to taste

1. First deal with the nettle. Wearing gloves remove the stems and any dead leaves. Put the nettle in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain.
2. Puree half the nettle, and chop the other half, and set aside.
3. In a large saucepan heat the oil and fry the onion until soft and beginning to brown.
4. Add the garlic and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring.
5. Add the rice and wine, and stir over high heat until the rice begins to turn more opaque.
6. Add 2 cups of stock, the nettle and the pumpkin. Bring to the boil, then return to simmer until the stock is nearly absorbed. Repeat, stirring frequently, until the stock is all used up and the rice is cooked.
7. Stir the lemon juice and zest through, taste, and add salt, pepper or herbs you want – i used tarrgon with the nettle.
8. Serve up hot.

Nettle Pesto

So my nettle use has had a bit of an Italian bent. This time I went with pesto to top some plain pasta. This is easy peasy, but as before, be very careful when handling the nettle.

Nettle Pesto on Pasta

• 2 cups of washed nettle, stems removed.
• 1/3 cup of pine nuts
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbs nutritional yeast
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup vegan cheese, crumbled

1. First deal with the nettle. Wearing gloves remove the stems and any dead leaves. Put the nettle in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and set aside.
2. In a dry, non-stick pan, toast the pine nuts until they brown. Be watchful – they take a while but once they begin to brown they burn quickly. Reserve half of the pine nuts for garnish.
3. Toss all ingredients together and blend. I use a stick blender, but a food processor or big blender will work too.
4. serve on pasta, topped with the vegan cheese and left over toasted pine nuts.

Lemon and Hazelnut Cheesecake and Vegan Lemon Butter

My sister suggested I turn my mound of lemons into lemon butter, and I actually found a vegan recipe very quickly. I used this one, and created my own jar of the stuff. Its sweet and sour, and while it is tasty, it isn’t really matching up to the memory of buttery, creamy, eggy lemon butter of my pre-vegan days. I might give it another go with more coconut milk though.

Lemon butter in an old peanut butter jar.

I did, however, turn it into the topping for a delicious cheesecake. I need to work on it again though, because the lemon tang completely overwhelmed everything else, and not in a good way.

Ugly lemon cheesecakes

Fabulous Plain Old Fried Mushrooms

Last, we come to the mushrooms. In my first crop I only had enough mushrooms for one meal and the pressure was on to find the most perfect thing to do with them. In the end I decided I wanted to know what they tasted like alone, and how they compared with other mushies, so I fried ‘em up home style with some margarine, salt, pepper and garlic powder. They were stupendously good, and I can’t wait for more mushroom babies to spring up!

Terrible photo of delicious mushrooms

Favourite things Part 1

Over the last week I’ve been cooking up a storm, using all my favourite ingredients. Some, like lasagne, McVegan breakfast burgers, and caramel topping, I haven’t bothered to photograph.

Others were more fortunate and without further ado, here’s the first batch!

Brussels Sprouts, Pumpkin and Walnut Stir-Fry
Okay, actually I like to make this with hazelnuts, but I couldn’t find any. I also added some Tofutti ricotta because I hadn’t tried it before. It worked pretty well, but it isn’t a necessary ingredient.

Pumpkin, Walnut, Brussels Sprouts

Serves 3 as a side (when two of those people are 6 foot something and hungry)

• 1 1/2 cup cubed butternut pumpkin
• 2 cups peeled and halved brussels sprouts
• olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp agave syrup or maple syrup
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup halved walnuts or hazelnuts
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 cup vegan ricotta

1. In a large, non-stick pan, sauté the pumpkin and garlic for 10 minutes.
2. Add the sprouts, and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the agave and soy, and the nuts, and toss through over heat for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and quickly toss through the ricotta and nutmeg.
5. Serve immediately.

Orechiette with pesto
This doesn’t need a recipe, really. I was just excited to find herb orechiette pasta. Such a pretty green.

Orechiette with stir-fry

Coconut buckwheat pancakes with coconut, pineapple and banana topping

Coconut pancakes with tropical topping plus cashew butter and agave

I love pancakes, but I can rarely be bothered with them, but I decided to use the opportunity while I am unemployed and have access to non-stick pans.

Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes (Vegan and Gluten Free)
serves 2

• 1/3 cup coconut flour or coconut cream powder (I found it at an Indian grocer)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tbs ground flaxseeds
• 1 tbs cornflour
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/2 to 1 cup soy milk (Depends on how thick you want them)

1. In a large mixing bowl mix coconut flour, buckwheat flour, flaxseed, sugar, cornflour and bicarb until well combined and lumps removed.
2. Slowly add the milk, one 1/4 cup at a time, stirring it through before adding more. I like thick pike lets, so if you want thin pancakes you might want to add more milk.
3. Heat a non stick pan and grease.
4. Pour mixture in, swirl, and cook until lightly browned on each side.
5. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Coconut buckwheat pancakes

Tropical Topping
Serves 2 to 3

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 Banana, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped pineapple

1. In a large, dry, non-stick skillet, heat the coconut until it begins to brown. Shake it around a little to get a good coverage, but don’t let it burn. Once beginning to brown, immediately remove from heat, and put coconut in a bowl.
2. Chop the banana and pineapple and place in the bowl with the coconut.
3. Stir through until all the fruit is coated.
4. Serve with pancakes, or ice cream (or pancakes and ice cream).

Tropical Topping

Pancake Fixin's

Vegan Khinkali

It seems that every language, cultural or ethnic group who cook their food and have access to some sort of flour have their own version of the filling-filled pastry lump I know as a dumpling. Italy has ravioli, Russia has pelmeni and varenki, Poland has perogi, Azerbaijan has dushbere, Armenia has manti, Chile has pantrucas, China has jiaozi, Japan has gyoza, the list goes on.

In Georgia the local dough-filled-with-stuff-then-cooked dish is Khinkali.

Khinkali are very large in comparison to, say, a wonton, and about twice the size of a gyoza, or four times the size of Russian pelmeni. They are shaped into a knob, that looks a lot like one of those old-fashioned ice-bags for head-bumps.

Ice bag for head-bumps

supermarket khinkali

They come hot, sprinkled with pepper, or plain. To eat khinkali, you hold it by the knob, and bite carefully (because broth comes out of the meat ones). You never eat the knob itself (it is dry and tough). I’ve heard tell that men line the knobs up on their plate as a evidence of their appetite, but as I mainly eat with Mr (not into manliness-affirming appetite displays) and women, I haven’ noticed this in real life.

Khinkali are usually filled with meat, of course, however a long tradition of religious fasting here in Georgia means that there are versions available that are made without meat or dairy. I have been able to buy them from the supermarket (although the flavour was a little like tinned mushrooms), have made some myself, and will soon (tonight I think) brave the language barrier and have some in a restaurant. (We’ve been taking a little holiday from being foreigners and tourists, and have not really done anything outside the house for a few weeks- It has been so cozy!).

There are many recipes for them online, but here’s what I did to make mine:

Vegan Khinkali

Serves 3

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 to 2 cups water

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups mushrooms, chopped finely
• 3 tablespoons parsley, chopped finely
• 1 tsp coriander seed powder
• by rights it should also have some dill – I hate dill, so I don’t know how much would be an acceptable amount.
• pepper
• salt to taste

1. Make the dough. I just mix water into the flour with my hands until it turns into dough. Scientific, I know. The dough needs to be fairly soft so it can stretch out. Leave the dough to sit on a floured surface for 30 minutes.
2. To make the filling: heat the oil in a frying pan. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook for another 5. Add Mushrooms, coriander powder, and pepper, and fry until mushrooms are cooked. Remove from heat and toss through the fresh herbs. Add salt to taste. Allow to cool.
3. Roll the dough out to about 3 mm.
4. Use a large cup so cut circles of dough. Fill each circle with filling, and pull the dough into a knot, twisting the top to seal.
5. Once you have made all the khinkali you can freeze them for later, or boil or steam them immediately, and serve with cracked pepper.
   

   My khinkali - don't know why, but this is the only photo.

I still need to work on my twisting technique, but I really enjoyed the flavour of my first home-made khinkali experience. They feel like a bit more work than my usual dumpling standby (usually jiaozi or gyoza), but they are also much bigger, and (if you get them right) look pretty impressive on a plate.

What kind of dumplings have you tried? Which are your favourite?  I love the chive steamed dumplings, and basically anything fried.

 

Vegan Italy in Photos

Not too much chatter from me today, because I have neither recipes nor reviews to share. Italy has such good produce, pasta and pizza, that we hardly went out at all, I was so happy to cook simply.

So, you’ll have to settle with vicariously enjoying what everything I ate and saw looked like. Belissima!

Graffitti - not by us, we just found it

 

OMG they have vegan chocolate croissants here (albeit heavily packaged)

 

Sunset somewhere in the mountains of Emilia Romagna

 

pasta with oil and herbs and ratatoullie

 

A sunny day in Buti, Tuscany

 

ValSoia Vegan meatballs, lemon risotto and glazed veg

 

Il Colosseo (which was closed due to flooding)

 

Spooky haloween pumpkin soup with lovely couchsurfers

 

Excellent gelato from Gelatone in Rome

At a fountain in a piazza eating vegan gelato

 

Vegan parpadelle with basic veg and olive oil

 

Best pizza in thw rold? Take out in Rome

 

Detail of a painted wall in Pompei

See, we also ate some food without wheat in it

 

Pizza with potatoes, apparently... oops, not quite what I meant. In Imola.

 

Pizza verdure senza mozarella in Rome

 

Sunset over Rome (From the Forum)

Gnocchi, and the end of Italy week

Home made gnocchi

I had forgotten all about making gnocchi, until I found this photo.

I loosely followed the recipe from Vegan Yum Yum, ans served it up with tomato sauce (boy have we eaten a lot of that lately), and a big salad of lettuce, basil, mint and silverbeet from our garden, and some cucumber from a friend’s garden.

I love Italian food, and had a lot of fun and a bit of zen making bread, pasta, gnocchi and tomato sauce from scratch. It was fun having a lot of ways to use the tomatoes which are everywhere and very ripe at the moment.

I didn’t get around to making polenta, partly due to circumstances outside of my control, and partly because its just not my favourtie.

Next up is Brazil, I think, and maybe a pit-stop while I try to find out what to make with the four most available foods in Pohnpei: Bananas, Breadfruit, Taro and Yams.

 

The Food of Romance

We don’t do Valentine’s day at our place, but we do celebrate our love! (too cheesy?)

Every now and then I get a fit of vegan gourmet wrapped in a lovegush for Mr, and this usually turns into some heart shaped food.

Last week I had an exceptionally large lovegush/fooddream collision, and the results were fresh tomato soup, beet ravioli, strawberry carpaccio and a caramelised onion, pear and walnut tart. All with some pink or some hearts, of course.

Fresh tomato soup

Fresh Tomato Soup

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 very ripe tomatoes
• tomato paste, as needed
• filtered water
• pepper and salt, to taste

This is so easy to make. Fry the onion in some oil, until translucent (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic, and fry for a further 3 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, adding water if it dries out a little. Add about 1 cup of water, and blend. Taste – if the tomatoes are not super ripe, or if they’re from the supermarket, you’ll need to add some tomato paste. Then heat, stir and season.

Home made vegan beet ravioli

I borrowed this concept from Flavours of Venice, by Rosalba Gioffre, and borrowed from the Moreland Library. I made many changes to the recipe in order to veganise it.

I used my own pasta recipe, rather than the egg pasta suggested. For the filling I used some boiled beetroot, a teensy bit of cheesly, some mashed tofu, and some nutmeg. I had intended to make heart shapes, but my rolling was a little off, and I settled for any basic polygon instead.

I served the ravioli with just some margarine, olive oil, salt, and herbs from the garden.

Strawberry and Zucchini Carpaccio

Strawberry and Zucchini Carpaccio

Carpaccio is usually raw meat, cut very thinly. I think its better this way.

• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 small zucchini
• small bunch mint leaves
• 1 tbs agave syrup
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbs olive oil

Slice the zucchini very thinly and set aside. To make hearts, cut a triangle underneath the strawberry “cap” to remove it, leave a pointy heart. Very carefully, slice the strawberries.

Mince the mint, and combine in a bowl with the oil, agave and vinegar. Muddle, then gently toss the zucchini and strawberries in it, and set aside for the flavour to develop for at least 30 minutes (60 if you can).

Heart Tart

Caramelised Onion, Pear and Walnut Tart (makes 4)

• 2 sheets vegan pastry
• 1 large red onion
• oil
• 2 tbs agave syrup
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbs raw sugar
• 1/3 cup beetroot water (from boiling the beetroot for the ravioli – can be replaces with water or juice)
• 1 pear
• 4 tbs crushed walnuts
• 4 tbs vegan cheese

1. Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees. Take the pastry out of the freezer to thaw.
2. In a frying pan heat a little olive oil, then add the onion. Fry for 5 minutes, then add the vinegar, agave and sugar.
3. Continue to cook, stirring as necessary, until the sugar begins to dissolve. Add the beetroot water a little at a time, over 20 minutes of cooking.
4. If your pear is firm, add slices into the onion mixture at about the 15 minute mark. If it is soft, don’t add it.
5. Cut the pastry sheets in half so they each form 2 triangles. Chop the acute corners (the two corners on the long edge of the triangle) to blunt them. Roll the edges in, little by little, and press into the middle to form a heart shape. You will have to do some molding to form the top.
6. Arrange the onion and pear mixture (or pear slices) onto the pastry. Sprinkle with walnuts and cheezly, and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, and allow to cool a little before serving.

Whatever you’re making, have a crack at making shapes – its fun, and definitley worth the effort to make your dining partner smile.

Cannelloni

Cannelloni is my favourite pasta dish. I adore it, and make it whenever I can. I used to love it filled with egg and cheese and covered in parmesan, but I think my vegan version stands up to the test.

Vegan Cannelloni

You can use bought pasta cannelloni “shells” if you like, but the recipe for the dough follows if you’d like to strike out and try making your own. It takes more time, but ts well worth it for the perfect al dente finish, not to mention the zen that kneading dough can bring.

Keira’s Favourite Vegan Cannelloni Recipe, makes 4 serves

Note: this works best if you have a rectangular baking dish about 33cm x 20cm x 5cm. You may need to increase the topping recipe if you have a larger, or two small dishes.

For the Pasta

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup water

Filling

• 350g tofu, crumbled
• 100g cheezly, crumbled
• lots of nutmeg
• one bunch kale (about 6 leaves), chopped finely and cooked (I boil it)
• salt
• pepper
• 2 tbs nooch
• little soy milk

Topping

• 3 tbs Olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 -8 large tomatoes, diced
• 3 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tbs tomato paste
• sugar, salt and pepper as necessary

Method

1. In case you didn’t read the ingredients properly, now is the time to cook the kale
2. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees
3. Start with the sauce. In a large saucepan heat some olive oil, then add onion and fry for about 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
4. Add the garlic, and fry for another 5 minutes, being careful not to burn it.
5. Add tomatoes and cook for 15 minute over low heat.
6. Add all other ingredients (save the salt and sugar). Bring to the boil, then return to slow simmer, lid on, for the time being (about 40 minutes)
7. In a large bowl, or just on your bench, if you’re feeling adventurous, pile the flour and make a well, resulting in a volcano shape.I wrap a towel around my bowl, to stop it sliding around while I mix the dough.
   

   volcano

8. Pour the water into the well, and slowly add the flour into the middle, little by little, until all flour is combined with the liquid, and you have a loose dough.
9. On a floured surface knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Rest the dough in an oiled bowl, covered, for 30 minutes.
10. While the dough is resting make the filling. In a clean large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling together. This works best if you use your hands. Taste, and add salt and pepper and more nutmeg as necessary. Its the nutmeg that helps replicate the classic cannelloni flavour, so feel free to go heavy.
11. Check on the sauce. If it is beginning to look right, take it off the heat. Taste and add what you need (I like a little sugar in mine, if it isn’t in the tomato paste.) If it isn’t ready yet, you know what to do – leave it on the heat. Its ready when it tastes good, and is thick enough to coat the spoon.
12. Place about 1/5 of the sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish, coating it in a thin layer. Don’t forget to fish the bay leaves out first, and discard them.
13. On a floured surface, roll out the dough in 1 or 2 batches, as bench-space allows. Roll out until the dough is about 3-4mm thick, in a rectangle shape, approximately the same width as your baking dish, and a double the length. If your dough keeps bouncing back, you need to let it sit longer before rolling.
    

    Rolled out

14. Starting at one end, place the filling mixture down the edge of the dough. Brush the dough with some water, and roll into a cannelloni shape. Cut along the edge to form a cylinder. Place the pasta shape into the baking dish.
    

    the filling

15. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. My dish takes about 8 large rolls, so I use one 8th of the filling for each one. This will depend on the size of your dish/es.
    

    Without sauce

16. Once all the rolls are in the baking dish, cover with the sauce, ensuring that all pasta is coated.
    

    With sauce

17. Place the dish in the pre-heated oven, and cook for 35-40 minutes.
18. Enjoy with an enormous salad.
    

    Yum

What’s been going on lately

I’ve been loving everyone’s VeganMoFo posts, which I’ve just caught up with this morning. November (and October before it) have been for me more like VeganMoPho – Month Of Phones. So, so busy at the moment, and my phone rings constantly. (On Friday night I turned my phone off at midnight, and had two missed work calls when I got up in the morning at 8am).

I haven’t had time to write, but I have (of course!) found time to cook. I’ll post some RoundTheWorld updates soon (we’ve been doing Belarus and the Philippines) but for now I want to gloat about some recent kitchen successes.

Success number 1 – home made pasta

Homemade pasta

I LOVE homemade pasta. I learned to make it at high school, and have made it as often as I can ever since. It had been a while, and I had a Sunday afternoon to myself, so I whipped some up.

My ‘recipe’ is really based on what it should look and feel like, so it isn’t easily recordable. However, I can give a description. It is really very easy. I get some good Type 00 white flour, and put in on a bench in a volcano shape. Make a well. Add water slowly, a little at a time, slowly mixing the flour in. Keep doing this until you form a dough that is light, malleable, and not too sticky. If it is too dry, add water, if it is too wet, add flour.

Flour the bench and knead just until the dough is smooth. It should be consistent and not have lumps or dry bits. Let the dough rest for a while, until you can poke it and the indent doesn’t shrink back much ( a little is ok). This takes between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on how long you had to knead it.

Now, roll it out and cut it into shapes. I have a pasta maker to do this, but usually I just use a rolling pin and a knife.

Cook the pasta for about 7 minutes in boiling water with a little olive oil. Top with anything you like. I used facon, cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, olive oil, lemon juice, almonds, spinach, capers and broad beans. Yum!

Success 2 – Fridge Dregs Feast

The next success came on a weekday morning, before work. We had lots of vegetables, but no soy or beans to speak of. It was going to be hot and I didn’t feel like eating a bake or nut roast, or coming home and cooking.

Instead, I decided to take some mezze/antipasti inspirations, and went to town with the vegies at the bottom of my fridge before work.

The result was: Sun dried zucchini with mint, ‘Honey’ roast carrot and parsnips, almonds, olives, quinoa, dregs ratatouille, and saffron potatoes. No recipes for this one, just a dodgy pic.

Fridge Dregs Feast

Success 3 – Garden soup and potato salad

The most recent success was last week, when we had (again) not much in the fridge, but LOTS in the garden.

Check out the garden haul:

Broad beans, kale, silverbeet, onion, spinach and herbs!

I decided I wanted potato and broad bean salad (I love this combo), and wanted to eat the greens in a soup.

Again, no recipes for this, just pics:

Green soup

A fried decided to come round for dinner (yay!) so I added some fry’s strips to the potato salad mix, to make it go a little further. It was an awesome combination, and I will definitely do it again. I added some oregano, watercress and rosemary from the garden, too.

Boss potato salad with strips, broad beans and herbs

And that’s it for the moment.

Hopefully I’ll be posting on the theme again shortly… that said, my phone just got a message.

Aloha!

I’ve decided that this will be the last night of American food, because its time to move on to greener, healthier pastures.

Hawaiian food, Succotash Stew and Gumbo battled it out for the chance to be eaten and reviewed at our place. Annnnnd the winner is… Hawaii! Mainly because I’m not that into okra (gumbo is basically okra soup), and I forgot to soak the beans for the stew.

During my research I discovered that they don’t eat a lot of vegetables in Hawaii. They do eat a lot of pork, chicken, banana, pineapple, coconut, and spam though. In fact, they eat more spam than any other state in America. Much of the food is inspired by Chinese, Japanese, and mainland US cuisine.

I chose to try Huli Huli Tofu (usually chicken), Macaroni Salad, and Banana and Pineapple Cake.

Macaroni Salad

Basic versions of Macaroni Salad include macaroni, grated carrot, and mayonnaise. Sometimes fruit, other vegetables, sauces and macadamia nuts are added. I used Plamil Egg Free Mayonnaise, a little lime juice, chopped brazil nuts (I don’t have macadamias atm), and some very finely chopped carrot. Oh, and macaroni, of course.

It was a little bland, but not a bad version of pasta salad. Mr ate about three peoples’ worth, so I suppose he liked it!

The Huli Huli tofu is just fried tofu, with a BBQ-ish sauce. The sauce is made from pineapple juice, soy sauce, worcestershre sauce, grated ginger, and cornflour. I marinated tofu slices in the sauce for about 30 minutes, then cooked them in all the sauce a skillet for about 15 minutes on one side, and 5 on the other. The sauce thickens and coats the tofu slices, and they become delicious saucy morsels of goodness.

Huli Huli Tofu

I also made a very quick vegie stir-fry to go with it, because I really couldn’t find a decent Hawaiian vegetable dish to make, and I didn’t feel like dinner without them.

vegie stir fry

Yummy cake

The last dessert from the US was Hawaiian style banana and pineapple cake. I used my own recipe, which is below. I overcooked it a little while distracted, but its still moist and flavoursome. The icing is made of icing mixture, tofutti sour cream, and lime juice.

My verdict on Hawaiian food: Tasty, but not my style. I’d like more vegies and much less sugar and meat. To get an idea of what I mean, check out the image at this website of Hawaiian recipes.

Banana and Pineapple Cake Recipe

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tbs golden syrup
• 2 tbs Tofutti sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 6 pineapple rings
• 2 cups plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp coconut essence

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees, line a cake tin with baking paper.
2. Beat the sugar, golden syrup, sour cream and oil together with a wooden spoon, until thoroughly mixed.
3. Add banana and pineapple, and mix well.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder, and beat well.
5. Add coconut, milk, and coconut essence. Mix wth a wooden spoon until mixture is consistent.
6. Pour into the cake tin, and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then cool on a tray.
8. Ice or dust with icing sugar and serve.

Mac n Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese. I remember watching American movies as a kid, and drooling over the idea of macaroni and cheese. It was the main character’s favourite food, or what they had for dinner when their mum, dad, big brother, or quirky uncle were trying to cheer them up. Its what baby sitters made for their charges before something spooky happened at Halloween.  But it certainly wasn’t something we ate when I was growing up in Regional NSW.

Turns out it is pretty great. I can see why kids in the US love it.

You may have noticed I’m not much of a recipe follower. I like the idea of cookbooks, but I really jut use them to get ideas, rather than following the instructions.

This time I intended to use Lauren Ulm’s recipe from Vegan YumYum, but on the night I opened the book, had a cursory glance at the ingredients, and decided I couldn’t be bothered following a recipe. I’m sure its a good recipe, and it doesn’t look difficult, I just had an odd moment of the CBFs and decided just to guess.

So we’ll say the recipe has been inspired by Vegan YumYum’s baked mac and cheese, and credit should go to her. I couldn’t be bothered measuring anything so the measurments below are just approximate, but I’ll talk you through the general gist.

Baked Mac and Cheese

1. Boil the pasta (enough for 4 serves).
2. Make a white sauce, make it cheesy. I make my ordinary white sauce (its here) but make it a little thicker, leave out the bay leaves, and add double the nutritional yeast, 2 tsp dijon mustard, 3 tbsp cream cheeze, some lemon juice, and some salt and vegie stock powder, and a little turmeric for colour.
3. I then steamed some broccoli, and added the broccoli and pasta to the sauce and tossed through.
4. Copying Lauren Ulm, I baked it all with a bread crumb/turmeric/vegie salt/nutritional yeast crust, but only for about 10 minutes.

It was exactly what I had imagined Mac and Cheese would be. It was creamy, cheesy, and warm. Very comforting comfort food.

Baked mac and cheese