Last night I got to stuff my face with the most delightful vegan street food treats at Jackie Kearney’s book launch.
For those who haven’t heard of Jackie, she was one of the Masterchef finalists in 2011 and is a committed vegetarian.
Her latest book is called My Vegan Travels. Jackie has travelled a lot in South East Asia and picked up a ton of great ideas for cooking vegetarian and vegan food. Her previous book Vegan Street Food was along a similar theme, but her new book is focussed on super simple, comfort food recipes.
I got to munch my way through: shitake mushroom croquettes, bombay veg sandwiches, beetroot and watercress samosas and artichoke torta. All rather lovely. But the icing on the cake for me as a greedy sugar fiend, were the chai doughnuts with raspberry jam and soft pecan cookie ice-cream sandwiches (with a vegan malted coconut and blueberry ice-cream). Scrumptious.
The book looks absolutely superb, so if you want to buy an original Christmas gift for a cooking enthusiast, My Vegan Travels is a great shout.
a) be so overflowing with vegetables and ingredients
b) that I would be quite so excited about unpacking the goodies
Jamie and I rummaged through the intriguing ingredients in the box which included kefir, dill, harrissa and beetroot, I wondered what they would all be for. I was particularly delighted about the kefir – I’ve heard a lot about the health benefits of kefir lately and was keen to try it.
Within the box there was a bag cooled with ice that contained the items for the fridge, and as well as the veg, there were little pots of spices measured out precisely for the recipes.
We didn’t waste anytime and cracked on with a recipe for our Thursday night dinner. Sweetcorn and leek fritters with tomato and onion relish and alfafa salad (see photo above). Easy to assemble and cook and a delicous combination of fresh flavours. This wasn’t any old average meal, it was exceptionally good.
Friday’s mealtime I would say was my favourite though, harissa falafels with spiced beetroot, kefir dressing and pittas. I’ve had falafels many times before but I often find them a little dry, but these were so moist, the beetroot mix was beautifully spicy and sweet and the kefir dressing was a lovely creamy herby addition.
Harissa falafels with spiced beetroot, kefir dressing and pittas
Saturday lunchtime we cooked our final meal: chimichurri and roasted mushrooms with baked sweet potatoes and lentils. OMG I am now a convert to chimichurri (a spicy sauce made with parsley, chilli and garlic) – it was the perfect compliment to the veg and really lifted the dish.
What was noticeable about all these dishes was that they were so imaginative and well thought out. I’m quite a recipe snob and we eat a lot of excellent homecooked food, but the three meals were exotic and brilliantly flavoured. They were a real joy to prepare and then eat. The recipes cards were so easy to follow too.
I think these recipe boxes would be such a treat for people who love their food and want to eat healthy, inspiring and varied meals, but just don’t have the time to:
a) be looking up interesting recipes
b) sourcing ingredients
c) spending hours in the kitchen measuring out ingredients
Riverford have got it spot on!
Chimichurri and roasted mushrooms with baked sweet potatoes and lentils
Thanks to Riverford for providing the vegetarian recipe box. All opinions and words are my own.
We signed up to weekly Riverford veg boxes three months ago as part of my bid to be more environmental. We haven’t looked back since. I am now a Riverford evangelist. The produce is delightfully fresh and flavourful and it’s given us the opportunity to cook some cracking meals that really focus on the veg. I’ve been especially pleased that we’ve been confronted with foods we wouldn’t normally cook – eg daikon radishes, kolrabi and corn on the cob. We’ve had to dig deep and work out what to do with the stuff, and without fail, the outcome has been delicious.
I was looking forward to the Riverford Pop Up Feast in Upper Mill as it was another excuse for me to gorge myself on Riverford veg and learn more exciting ways of celebrating veg in dishes. The meal was part of a number of events Riverford were running to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Riverford’s Yorkshire farm. Riverford itself has been running for 30 years, but the Northern franchises have been a newer addition. Riverford customers were invited to attend at a bargain price of £15 a head.
A marvellous feast of veg!
I can confirm that the food was exceptional, and here’s the menu:
Sweetcorn with romesco
Tomato, pickled peppers and feta panzanella
Courgette and bean salad with orange, tahini and poppy seed
New potatoes with tarragon butter
Beetroot, rhubarb and blue cheese salad
Macerated nectarines with brown sugar meringues
Jamie and I were lucky enough to sit with Greg Penn, Business Development Manager for Riverford’s Home Farm in Yorkshire. We really bent his ear. I wanted to know everything about Riverford, the farming and the franchises. It was fascinating hearing all about it and we also spent a long time raving about Riverford vegetables and our favourite recipes. This might not be everyone’s idea of a good night out, but I was in my element!
Yet more veg!
I went home very full and inspired. I also came away fired up to spread the word about Riverford and other organic farms, so that more people can join me in evangalising about beautiful organic vegetables, and of course so that farms and companies that are helping the planet get more support.
Thanks to Riverford for inviting us as guests. All opinions and words are my own.
So why vegan? If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’ve recently become a lot more curious about how I can make my own contribution to helping the environment – and going vegan would definitely be a good step – or eating more vegan food at least.
My other motivation is actually that I think it could be healthier – the more I read about the meat, fish and dairy industry, the more wary I am of what animals and fish are now eating (animals are fed antibiotics amongst other things and it sounds like all fish in the oceans are eating particles of plastic).
And my final reason is I’ve been increasingly inspired by the vegan food I’ve been eating lately. Having previously dismissed vegan food as dull and worthy, I’m enjoying the current explosion of exciting vegan restaurants, cookbooks and general noise around innovative vegan food. So I thought, why not give this cookery course a whirl and see if I can discover some interesting new food.
The gorgeous Vegetarian Society Cookery School building in Altrincham
And as it turns out, my choice of cookery course was EXCELLENT!
Between 9.30am and 3.30pm we cooked 17 dishes. And not 17 versions of tofu and vegetable burger, but properly inspiring stuff: mayonnaise, meringues, meaty (but not meat of course) suet pudding, pizza, chocolate cake, paella, ackee and tofu stir fry, wonton dumpling soup, a vegetable pastry plait and a load of other stuff too.
Suet pudding – very indulgent and definitely my favourite dishVegan pizza
Not only did everything we cooked taste delicious, but Alex, the chef and trainer, was such a font of knowledge and enthusiasm. We bombarded him with questions – about veganism and health (in particular vitamin B12!), about where to get ingredients, about the Vegetarian Society, and he generously shared his knowledge. He was a truly infectious teacher. And not only did we have a lovely snack break at midday (quesadillas, bruscetta, scrambled tofu and a crazy spicy tofu pate called Soloman Gundy), but we also got a second ‘full’ feast to dive into of everything else we cooked at 2.30pm. Eating all this food made me an extremely happy lady.
Whilst I don’t have any plans to go fully vegan, I’m very keen to try more vegan food, and this course has given me a confidence boost. In fact I can feel a new challenge coming on! How about I commit to cooking at least one delicious vegan meal a week? And obviously I’ll blog about my meals. Watch this space and please give me your favourite vegan recipes to try.
Well I’m pretty excited to tell you about what I’ve been eating this week. It’s been adventurous.
Let’s start on Tuesday when I went to the new healthy cafe that opened in Altrincham a few weeks ago. It’s called Common Ground and it’s run by three retired Olympians. That in itself makes it worth a visit. It’s a gorgeous venue – it’s utterly instagrammable with a beautiful minamalist interior and a lovely bright yard with colourful furniture. Oh and it’s got cute real life dogs. They specialise in great coffees and healthy cakes, although apparently they will be serving healthy food and (not so healthy) booze soon. I loved the vibe of the place, it was relaxed, friendly and inspiring. And the sugar free, gluten free pistachio and rose cake I ate was truly excellent.
Rose and pistachio cakeCommon Ground’s utterly Instagrammable yard
And on Tuesday evening I embarked on my own healthy cake project. I’d been browsing through my Love Bake, Nourish cookbook and liked the look of the chesnut and chocolate cake. Instead of flour you use chestnut puree (500g of the stuff) and ground walnuts. I can confirm that it tastes as delicious as it looks. Very moist, sweet and fudgy. I will be baking this again as it’s one of my favourite cakes of 2017 and guilt free too.
Chestnut and chocolate cake
Things got even more experimental on Wedsnesday. I have wanted to try deep fried courgette flowers for a long time as I’d heard they are rather exceptional. So as our abundant courgette plants were flowering this week I pounced on the opportunity. We used a Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall recipe which involved stuffing the flowers with ricotta and fresh herbs, dipping them in a flour and sparkling water batter and deep frying them for a few minutes. We served these crispy delights on a plate of our own home grown nasturium leaves and flowers. We were pretty amazed at a) how good they looked and b) how incredibly tasty the were.
Deep fried courgette flours with ricotta and herb stuffing
On Saturday we ventured into town to test out the newly opened Mayfield. Basically this is a bunch of lovely street food stalls hosted in the old Mayfield Railway Depot by Piccadilly station, featuring different cutting edge street stalls every week. Have a look at the photo of the top of the blog to give you a flavour. It was a fab friendly atmosphere, and whilst there weren’t a lot of stalls (perhaps six or seven in total), the food on offer was top notch. I opted for a healthy and delicious mung dahl with roasted cauliflower, Jamie also went vegan but junk food vegan! He chose a Vietnamese vegan hot dog and fries. I resisted the doughnut stall but when Jamie appeared with a cornflake and custard doughnut, I ended up scoffing an awful lot of Jamie’s!
Mung dahl with roast cauliflower
On our trip home from Mayfield’s because I hadn’t had a ‘full’ pudding having only had bites of Jamie’s doughnut, I felt I deserved a treat, so I nipped into the new Leon at Manchester Piccadilly and grabbed a gluten free brownie made with coffee, dark chocolate and orange zest. It was lovely!
That’s it for this week, if you have any tips on interesting foodie places to go in Manchester do comment below, I’m always looking for ideas.
I will set you straight right now. I failed to complete my week of veganism. I failed within the first half a day. By 12.30pm on Sunday I’d taken a big bite out of a courgette cake (full of butter and eggs). I hadn’t forgotten about my challenge, I just wanted the cake.
I thought because I love A LOT of vegan food (especially curries with coconut milk in) that not eating meat, butter, milk, eggs and fish for a week would be fine. But I was instantly bored and frustrated at the prospect. It felt like I was restricting and punishing myself, and I didn’t like it.
However, on a positive note, I did have a few delicious vegan meals and treats during my week, so I will celebrate those occasions with you:
Homemade vegan millionaire’s shortbread from the Foodie Teen cookbook. The shortbread was made with ground almonds and coconut oil, the ‘caramel’ from dates and peanut butter and the top layer was 85% cocoa chocolate. They were very delicious. And as they were ‘sort of’ healthy I decided they were also an appropriate breakfast item!
Dinner out at the new Cambodian restaurant Angkor Soul in Marple. On Sundays they do a vegan only menu. It’s a modest little venue, but the food is amazing. I ordered a noodle and tofu dish which was tasty, but not as incredible as Jamie’s ‘Cambodian kari’ – a curry made with lemongrass, sweet potatoes, peppers, peanuts, coconut milk, seitan and served with chilli fried rice. I was so envious that Jamie agreed to swap dinners with me. He is the best boyfriend.
Coconut dal with spring greens from my ‘Riverford’ Spring/Summer cookbook. The coconut milk made this dish so creamy and rich. I challenge any carnivore to crave meat after eating this for dinner.
Spicy spinach and chickpeas with rice. Not as more-ish as the coconut dal, but still a really nice dinner.
This time I had billionaire’s shortbread at Leon’s restaurant. They do a range of ‘healthy-ish’ snacks, but this was the only vegan one I could find. The description read a ‘date and polenta shortbread based top with date caramel and dark chocolate’. So pretty similar to my millionaire’s one and extremely melty and chocolately and amazing.
Millionaire’s shortbreadCambodian kari at Angkor Soul in MarpleCoconut dal and spring greensSpicy chickpeas and spinachVegan billionaire’s shortbread
Despite not succeeding this week, I will continue to experiment with vegan recipes as there are some tremendously tasty and creative vegan food ideas out there. And the added bonus of vegan food being healthy and good for the planet gives it an extra feel good factor.
This week’s environmental challenge is to ‘shop locally and ethically’ by going to the Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton. I will also endeavour to chat to staff and find out a bit more about the shop’s values and how they operate. I’ll be back next week to fill you in.
As part my series of food challenges to be kinder to the environment, this week we’ve been playing ‘Ready Steady Cook’ in an attempt to use up the leftovers in our cupboards. Normally I’d choose a recipe, buy a shed load of ingredients and sadly be left with creme fraiche/yoghurt/herbs/celery or something or other that would end up rotting in the fridge. Not this week though, this week we would be food waste heroes.
I grabbed the various packets languishing in our cupboards and plonked them on the kitchen top so I could assess what we needed to get through. Here’s a little sample of what we had: an abundance of lentils, several kilograms of chickpea flour and rye flour, rye grains, black beans, bulgar wheat, pearl barley, various pastas, noodles, spirulina and a load of other weird stuff. Not altogether inspiring really.
The rules of this week were not so strict that I couldn’t buy additional food items, but I wanted to try and choose some recipes that would start using these bits and pieces up.
My proudest meal was definitely the first. We made potato curry and chickpea flatbreads and we only had to buy coriander and tumeric. It was insanely good and it felt exotic and fancy too. I found both recipes by googling around.
Potato curry and chickpea flatbreads
We chipped away at the rye flour reserves by making a delicious rye bread from The Green Kitchen cookbook. We undercooked it slightly, but nothing a bit grilling couldn’t sort out.
Rye bread
Another tasty inspired number was Turkish barley and lentil salad with tahini dressing from Molly Brown’s Grains cookbook – we had to buy tahini and rocket, but we made a signifiant dent in the barley and lentil stocks. I honestly thought this sounded unbelievably boring – lentils and pearl barley and some carrots – how dull can you get? How wrong I was – it was in fact the very best Middle Eastern spice party in your mouth.
On Thursday our Riverford vegetable box arrived – not very Ready Steady Cook, but it’s good for the environment so I decided to incorporate it. We got clever with the butternut squash we received, we baked it and then stuffed it with leftover Turkish barley and lentil salad from the night before – it looked and tasted superb.
Turkish barley and lentil salad with tahini dressing
Butternut squash stuffed with Turkish barley and lentil salad
Finally Friday saw us making a quinoa, chicken and black bean number from the Grain cookbook – I got a bit cocky and decided to use bulgur wheat instead of quinoa and completely demolished our black bean supply. What a victory – bulgur wheat worked, the dinner was ace and our shelves were feeling positively minimalist compared to the beginning of the week.
Pearl barley, chicken and black beans
Ready Steady Cook-ing our recipes has been a revelation to me. It’s made me approach cooking in such an inventive way. I’ve started looking on ingredient packaging for cooking ideas and scouring cookbooks by the pulse, grain or vegetable I have to hand, not just picking the meal I fancy. I would argue that it’s a much more creative process than just deciding on any old recipe and buying the ingredients because you have to be so much more resourceful and imaginative. In fact I’ve enjoyed it so much I’m going to carry on for another week – I’m feeling a bit addicted to concocting amazing dinners with weird looking lentils and flours.
If anything the pace of my eating exploits has intensified despite my good intentions to diet. However I’m pleased to report that I have lost a pound, so I must have made some decent food choices.
So let me talk you through the week:
Monday Lunch: chicken and avocado salad from Pret, starting the week on a healthy note. It was super delicious actually.
Tuesday Evening: I went to a Cracking Good Food talk about tackling food waste and we were treated to homemade coconut and butternut squash soup and a gorgeous freshly baked very oniony and moist focaccia. I must must learn how to succesfully make focaccia.
Wednesday Lunch: I was out and about in Didsbury and had a tremendous cheese board at Wine and Wallop.
Wednesday Evening: Jamie Oliver’s butternut squash curry. One of the best things I’ve eaten all year. A lot of coconut milk gave a very creamy melt in the mouth flavour.
Thursday Lunch: I went to This and That in the Northern Quarter for the very first time. Whilst it’s not high end dining, three vegetarian curries and rice for £3.90 is not something to argue with. I enjoyed the food and the communal eating vibe – it’s fun.
Friday Evening: I was invited to a ‘Cooking Together With The Chef’ evening at Food Sorcery in Didsbury. The delightful chef Jason Palin helped us cook fish tacos, peri peri chicken and beetroot and chickpea salad with baklava for pudding. It was such a lively, interesting night, helped along with some tasty prosecco and wine.
Saturday Lunch: I met a friend at Earth Cafe in the Buddhist Centre in the Northern Quarter. Huge quantities of veggie food for just £7, my plate was piled with dal, sweet potato pie, plantain fritter and beetroot salad. Tasty! And I loved the chilled out vibe of the place.
Avocado and chicken salad at Pret a MangerFresh focaccia and butternut squash and coconut soupWine and Wallop cheese boardButternut squash and chickpea curryThis and That rice and threeFish tacos at Food SorceryPeri peri chicken and beetroot and chickpea salad at Food SorceryBaklava at Food SorceryDal, sweet potato pie, plaintain fritter and beetroot salad at Earth Cafe
The embarassing or glorious fact of the matter, depends on how you look at it, is that I seem to eat more with every Weekly Eats blog post. Oh well, I will just celebrate how lucky I am to eat so much tremendous food. However in all honesty I’ve decided it’s time to tone up and lose few pounds. This won’t effect the delicious array of food I eat, I’m hoping I just need to moderate portions and do a bit more exercise. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Back to what I’ve been eating.
I won’t bore you with too many words – I’ll do you a listicle instead:
Saturday night – tremendous curries at vegetarian restaurant Sanskruti in Fallowfield. If you haven’t been, you really should! It’s incredibly fresh and delicious and very reasonably priced too. My favourite was the banana curry.
Sanskruti deliciousness – all vegetarian
Yes it really is a banana curry
Sunday – I attended a cookery demonsration with Mary-Ellen McTague at the Food Sorcery cookery school in Didsbury (arranged by Inca Pop Ups). It was all about how to make the most of a Riverford Veg box. At the end we get a 3 course sit down meal: mushroom and potato soup with wild garlic oil; chicken and butter fried greens, roasted cabbage and broad beans and banana chocolate cake for pud. What a treat.
Mushroom and potato soup with wild garlic oil and potato peeling crispsA superb cookery demonstration at Food Sorcery with Mary-Ellen MacTagueMy fave course at Food Sourcery – banana choc cake!
Bank holiday monday – I whipped up some gluten free parsnip muffins from my Clean Cakes cookbook and enjoyed them in the sunshine in the garden. They were possibly a little too healthy tasting for me, but Jamie loved them. In the evening we had a comforting brocolli and pasta soup using up a load of leftover food.
Parsnip muffin
Leftover pasta soup
Tuesday – a serrano ham open sandwich and a red velvet cupcake at The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon in Didsbury for lunch. Both were superb and what a friendly, upbeat venue. Dinner was a tasty chicken, potato and tarragon stew from my new Riverford Spring and Summer cookbook.
Serrano ham open sandwich at The Dish Ran Away With The SpoonRed velvet cupcake at Dish Ran Away With The Spoon
Chicken, potato and tarrogan stew
Wednesday – out again eating veggie food, this time at Greens in Didsbury – beetroot pakoras for starters, roasted cauliflower and lentils for main and peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. Such an excellent meal, and a what a gorgeous, welcoming venue.
Beetroot pakoras at GreensRoast cauliflower and lentilsPeanut butter cheesecake
Chicken pho at Volta
Thursday – and back to Didsbury for lunch at Volta. I’ve practically lived in Didsbury this week. So I had a chicken pho which was an excellent and healthy lunch – I felt quite virtous after all my stuffing my face this week. I love Volta, it’s just such a cool, stylish joint.
On Thursday afternoon we received our Riverford veg box (I got it as part of the cookery course), so I’m going to write a separate post on what we did with those goodies.
Looking back, I’m a bit astounded at just how much I’ve eaten this week. I’ll let you know how the diet’s going in next week’s ‘Weekly Eats’.
I’ve had a pretty epic and colourful week, including a 21 mile hike in the Peak District, hanging out in a beach hut in Lytham St Annes and some leisurely time in London. Luckily the food has been top notch and varied too.
Let me talk you through it:
Sunday night was a Diana Henry Change of Appetite number – kale pesto and wholemeal pasta – earthy, tangy and gorgeous. The perfect food for a hangover as we were recovering from a 40th birthday party the night before.
Then Monday and Tuesday were London days, and my foodie friend Lolita had lots of exciting venues in store for me, starting with Mildred’s the vegetarian chain where I had a truly exceptional Tokyo Bowl. Great flavour and fantastically vibrant to look at. Obviously we then had to have a pudding after our healthy lunch, just to even things out, so we popped to Ottolenghi in Islington. What a marvellous venue. Very sleek, minimalist and modern. And the cakes were excellent too.
Tuesday’s expedition was to Books for Cooks, the brilliant cookbook shop in Notting Hill. They have a three course lunch menu from their tester kitchen for just £7. It’s a great atmosphere -friendly and welcoming and rather theatrical. We were treated to butterbean and onion soup, ricotta and spinach dumplings and a roasted lemon cake. All so good.
Diana Henry’s kale pesto and whole wheat penneTokyo bowl at Mildred’sPlum crumble cake at Ottolenghi’s3 courses for £7 at Books for Cooks in Notting Hill
I was back in Stockport for Tuesday dinner and Jamie cooked up a healthy option to counterbalance all my London pigging out. It was an Inspiralized recipe: lemon, garlic, brocilli and bacon and it hit the spot.
On Wednesday I had more travelling exploits as I headed up to Lytham St Annes with friends and spent the day in a beach hut. It was freezing but glorious and what a fun day we had. Lunch was a picnic from Booths made up of quiches, salads, cheese and baba ganoush. Ideal beach hut fodder.
Thursday night, again I was feeling the need to up my healthy food intake so we did a ‘bikini bolognaise’ from the Inspiralized cookbook – made with courgetti and turkey mince. Very spicy and tasty.
Finally I finished the week on Friday with a 21 mile hike in the Peak District with Fresh Walks. A glorious and exhausting day. I was delighted to come home to a divine Diana Henry dinner that Jamie had rustled up: griddled aubergines with date, walnut and yoghurt salad with kisir (a pomegranate and tomato taboulleh). Definitely one of the best things I’ve eaten all year – the kisir was tangy and sweet, and the date and yoghurt salad was a creamy and delicious contrast. It was the perfect end to my mamouth day and week.
I’ll be back next week for more updates from my eating adventures – watch this space.
Lemon, garlic, brocilli and baconLytham St AnnesA Booth’s picnicLytham St Annes beach hutsInspiralized bikini bolognaisePeak District 21 mile hike – I have no idea where we were though!Griddled aubergines with date, walnut and yohurt salad with kisir
katyascakehole 