Vegan Onion and Carrot Soda Bread with Rosemary

Following my last post, I still had lots of peeled carrots leftover. Lots. I could've made one of the other million recipes that called for carrots, but I'm enjoying this vegan/dairy free baking lark. And actually I find that (although this may have lots to do with my rubbish oven) using leftover white/rose wine actually gives me bread with a better texture than the thinned yoghurt I've had to use in the absence of buttermilk in London. Strangely, I bought it in Belgium often by mistake- it's easy to get buttermilk there- fresh milk, less so. Still struggling to understand that... But back to the subject at hand. This bread is definitely savoury but not pungent in flavour. It would be brilliant, thinly sliced, with cheese.  

You need:
Two cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax
Half cup white/ rose wine (great way to use up leftovers a little past their prime). 
1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds, soaked in water
Baking soda (I teaspoon)
Salt (I teaspoon)
2 inch sprig of rosemary, chopped finely (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
One cup finely grated carrot, loosely packed (approx three small carrots)
One onion, finely grated.

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, making sure you add in the bits too big to go through the sieve.
2. Add the carrot and onion and stir through well
3. Make a well in the middle and add the wine (this will evaporate off and I used up some old wine here). If you need more than the half cup and water until you have a dough where all flour is absorbed but not any stickier.
4. Place in a tray or bowl in the bottom of the oven on greaseproof paper and let it bake until when a life goes in and comes out clean.

In light of the uselessness of my oven, I cooked this at the bottom, in a tray sitting in a tray of water, so that it wouldn't just dry out and burn. I also had to cover the top. I just want a new oven! It would take about 40 mins at 220 in a normal oven. Shove in a spike or sharp knife and if it comes out clean the bread is done :)

Makes one small but action-packed loaf which feeds many more than you'd expect!

Carrot and Orange Nutty Soda Bread

Vegan wholewheat carrot and orange soda bread with sunflower seeds and cinnamon. Like a cake but not. Simpler than a cake, less fatty and jam-packed with stuff that's good for you! A hint of sweetness, but not sugary. I've been experimenting with soda bread for a couple of months and this one is a winner! It's easy, it doesn't need time to rise (great when you are living in shared accommodation and cannot just leave things around for hours!). Vegan because it uses wine instead of buttermilk. No alcohol (and surprisingly no wine flavour) is there at the end...

You need:
Two cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax (v healthy)
Half cup white/ rose wine (great way to use up leftovers a little past their prime). 
1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds, soaked in water
Baking soda (I teaspoon)
Salt (I teaspoon)
Zest of two oranges
Level teaspoon cinnamon
One cup finely grated carrot, loosely packed (approx three small carrots)

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, making sure you add in the bits too big to go through the sieve.
2. Add the carrot and orange zest and stir through well
3. Make a well in the middle and add the wine (this will evaporate off and I used up some old wine here). If you need more than the half cup and water until you have a dough where all flour is absorbed but not any stickier.
4. Place in a tray or bowl in the bottom of the oven on greaseproof paper and let it bake until when a life goes in and comes out clean.

In my rubbish, one temperature, oven that was about 2 hours, covered - in a normal oven on 220 it should be about 40 mins.

Makes one small loaf- delicious with honey, butter or marmalade or as an accompaniment to a bowl of carrot soup :)

Quick and tasty sausage penne

This is so simple- other than the sausages it used things in my store cupboard or that needed using up : )

This feeds four

I used:
400g Penne (any shaped pasta would be good)
6 normal sized sausages
2 onions
grated cheese
Fresh tomatos and/ or tinned tomatos (one or two tins)
pinch of sage
pinch of pimenton
1/4 chicken stock cube
two cloves garlic, crushed
Good handful of spinach or rocket
Glass of red wine.

To make:
Dice and saute the onion. Add the sage and pimenton. Chop the sausage into bite sized pieces (this meal should be able to be eaten with a fork) and brown with the onions.

Boil the water for the pasta.

When the sausage is browned, add any fresh, chopped tomatoes, the tinned tomatoes, garlic, red wine (I had a half bottle left over from another evening) and the stock cube. Obviously, you can use all fresh or all tinned tomatoes, the wine and stock cube are optional extras. If you are not using the stock cube, add some salt. If you don't have any wine, just add a glass of water. Stir in the spinach/ rocket.

Simmer until your sauce until nicely thickened and whilst your pasta is cooking (about ten minutes). Drain the pasta, mix into your sauce and serve immediately. Sprinkle cheese to taste!

Red Pork Casserole

This casserole was a lifesaver! My eyes were bigger than my brain when I went into the supermarket after Christmas- I bought lots of pork on special offer, and lots of peppers. We had also had a party, and ended up with three bottles of red wine. For some reason, a glass full had gone from each, and there was a limit to how much wine we could reasonably drink during the week!

I used:
Pork- I used 6 loin chops (chicken would also work- 6 thighs)
Peppers (4- red and yellow)
Pimenton (smoke paprika)
Garlic (4 cloves)
Wine (I used 3/4 bottle)
one stock cube (chicken)
Two medium onions
Couple of bay leaves

Would also be great : )
Tomatoes (tinned or fresh, chopped)
Chick Peas
Potatoes

To make:
Saute onions and peppers with a generous heaped teaspoon of pimenton. Add pork when they are transparent, and brown. de-glaze pan with the wine. Add stock to cover everything. Add garlic. At this stage, you could also add chick peas and/ or potato, and any tomatoes. Adding chick peas would mean that you could feed more people with less meat!

To serve:

I've been eating this from a bowl- could with some fresh bread, or re-heated in the microwave with a generous handful of baby spinach which can be stirred in. It would also be great with rice.

After Party Turkey/ 2

Following on from this delicious version, and having also stocked up on Turkey steaks at Morrisons, I made another version of my After Party Turkey.

I marinaded the turkey steaks (4 thin slices) in the leftover wine (in this case, red, about 1/3 of a bottle or two small glasses) with two peeled garlic cloves, about 8 squished tomatoes (they had mysteriously frozen in our amazing fridge and had thawed to a pulpy splat) and half a teaspoon of pimenton (smoked paprika).

The next evening I browned the turkey and also sauteed a medium sized onion. When done, I added the wine, tomatoes and garlic and simmered until the wine was well reduced, created a lovely sauce.

Great meal from two ingredients that would so easily have ended up in the bin- the tomatoes and wine : )

Hum Hum Bean Soup

I needed to make space in the freezer the other day- I had made a much larger batch of fruit compote (rhubarb, pear and apple) than I had intended which needed freezing so that it didn't go off, so I took out the load of cooked beans that I had put in there before for similar reasons.

I had about a kilo of large white beans, boiled, once I had soaked them overnight out of their dry state (by far the cheapest way to buy beans is dried- you're not carting loads of water around) if I remember, with pepper, onions and dried red pepper flakes. Probably a sprinkling of chili flakes went in, maybe some herbs and a couple of bay leaves.

Also found in the freezer- delicious home made chicken stock (don't bin anything until all the goodness has been taken from it!). I had cooked this up with some herbs, bayleaf and some wine that noone was going to drink.

Combining the beans and the stock in a pot with some water, some more unloved red wine, another onion and some of the canned tomatoes that I always have on hand, it came together into a lovely bean stew, which I blitzed to turn into a nourishing and delicious soup. I even gave some to my veg- detesting colleague (he had dated a vegan) and he was surprised to find himself enjoying it.

Now I need a way to use up 2l of fruit puree! Ideas, anyone?

After Party Turkey

Turkey is cheap, but it is difficult to desire. It is never quite chicken, and it is often tough and tasteless.

After party Turkey is delicious and adaptable. The key ingredient is a load of wine. That opened bottle of plonk that is not quite drinkable three days or a couple of weeks later is actually just what you need.

Put your turkey steaks in a bowl. As you put each one in add some ground black pepper and any other spices you would like to use (I used some crushed red pepper flakes and some thyme. I also added some chopped garlic and a diced shallot). Cover the turkey with the wine (Do not worry if you don't have enough- just make sure that all the turkey gets covered) and marinate. I marinaded mine for 24 hours.

When the time comes for you to cook the turkey, pop some olive oil in a frying pan and lightly coat with some flour (I used wholemeal). Fry until it is no longer pink in the middle and for no longer!

It should be deliciously succulent!

The same but different- After Party Turkey 2