Smokey Spanish Brekkie Beans with Thyme Mushrooms

This recipe is a great variation on my usual garlic and white bean breakfast mash. Inspired by a friend's recipe, it is smoky, filling and best served with a few nice slices of bread.

Ingredients:

1/3 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 can of cannellini beans
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 tomato puree
1 heaping tsp smoked sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
squeeze lemon juice
a good olive oil
1 tbsp (plus more if necessary) of nuttelex
some parsley, chopped (optional)
6-8 Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
some thyme, chopped


First, melt some Nuttlelex in a frypan. Once melted, add the onion and garlic. While that is cooking, drain and rinse the beans, adding a drizzle of olive oil and the vegetable stock. Put on medium heat. Once the onion and garlic are nice and soft (about 5 minutes, with stirring), add to the beans.

Now add another tablespoon of Nuttelex to the frypan and, once melted, add the thyme. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring, then add the mushrooms. Stir again and go back to your beans.

Add the tomato puree, paprika and cumin. Stir, then add a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir and adjust the consistency - add more water if too thick, and some nutritional yeast if too thin. Cook for another 5 minutes, smushing with a fork so it's a bit mashed up, then turn off the heat and add the parsley.

The mushrooms are cooked once they're soft and earthy-smelling. Serve the beans on some nice sourdough, with a drizzle of olive oil, mushrooms on top and a sprinkling of flake salt and some sumac or pepper (or sumac pepper!)

Phat Brats, Fitzroy

I was more or less dragged to Phat Brats with the promise of a vegan option. I am always up for trying out any new restaurant that caters to veg*ns. The menu has one dog clearly marked "vegan" and a total of two clearly marked "vegetarian". Even though it sounded more appealing, I couldn't be bothered inquiring about ingredients of the second (bean, lentil, and vegie) so I went with the Superfood Dog, the one clearly marked vegan.



The first thing we realised after sitting down is that we missed the "meal deals" described on the board, and could have saved about $5 if we had been offered to order a deal, instead of drink, chips and burger separately. Oh well. I drank my delicious Holgate ESB and tried to forget about it.

The dogs came out pretty quickly, and were honestly a bit smaller in portion than I'd expected. The Superfood Dog is a curious blend of sweet potato, quinoa and tamarind with the equally odd toppings of minted peas, sour cream and sprouts. I can say I didn't really have high hopes (not a fan of minted peas at all!), but it turned out to be quite good. Not amazing, but good. The ingredients, though pretty wacky, worked together harmoniously but there was no strong flavour punch. The sprouts were refreshing and the bun light and fluffy (yeah, full of sugar I'm sure but sometimes a heavy bun is just too much.)

The fries were awesome.

All in all, the dog was good but, at $9.50, pretty overpriced - even for Brunswick Street. I was hungry again not longer after I finished my meal. I won't be running back, but may give them another try if I'm in the 'hood, with meateaters, and not in the mood for LOTF.

Sloppy Joes

An classic of American cuisine, the Sloppy Joe is not a Sloppy Joe if your hands stay clean. This recipe is simple and yummy. I prefer to use the softest, junkiest buns I can find. Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Sanitarium nutmeat (or equiv. TVP)
• 1/2 cup brown onion, diced
• 1/2 cup green capsicum, diced
• 1/4 cup liquid vegetable stock
• 1.5 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp. agave nectar (or 1 tbsp dry sweetener)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 400g can of diced tomatoes 
• 5-10 drops of liquid smoke (can probably sub smoked paprika)
• 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• few pinches of pepper
• cooking oil, as needed

Heat some oil in a large frypan. Food process (or hand-smush) the nutmeat until mince-like. Fry the nutmeat in the pan with the oil for a good 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nutmeat has reached your desired level of brown.

Push the nutmeat to the outer edges of the pan, heat a bit more oil, then cook the garlic, onion and capsicum in the oil for about 5 minutes, until soft. Combine everything in the pan and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and combine. Simmer for about 10 minutes, adding water if needed to reach the consistency of a very thick pasta sauce. Taste, then add extra bits of ingredients as necessary (I found I wanted more vinegar and liquid smoke) and cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve on toasted or soft burger buns spread with vegan mayo, side of fries and coleslaw or pickles.

Springtime!

After a long hibernation, I am back. Inspired by springtime, I have lots planned for the Vegan Month of Food (and beyond!). Posts coming very very soon...

Home-Marinated Mushrooms

Marinated mushrooms are probably my favourite deli-bought snack food. When I was younger I would actually eat a whole jar for lunch. I have a little bit more control over my gluttonous urges these days, but I've been craving these things big-time lately. A small jar is usually around $4-5 dollars at the shops, which seems like a big rip-off so I thought I'd make my own. I found a few recipes online and took bits from them to create this recipe, based on ingredients I already had. (I think fresh parsley would have been a great addition, but unfortunately, I was out.) This jar needs to be refrigerated in a few weeks, so I will update then.

Ingredients:

• 300g button mushrooms
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
• a few fronds of fresh dill
• 1/2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 3/4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely diced

Pour all ingredients except the mushrooms in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil (the boil?). 

Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down and add the mushrooms. Stir with a spatula to coat all the mushrooms in the mixture. Cook on low for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

After 10 minutes or so, turn off the heat and transfer everything to a sterilised jar. Let cool and then put the jar in the fridge for a few weeks. Serve cold with crackers and vegan cheese and sundried tomatoes!

Oh, and don't forget to warn anyone you live with that you have mushrooms marinating in the fridge and not a science experiment!

Crazy Brussels Sprouts

So-called crazy because the ingredients basically consist of whatever stuff I had lying around that needed using up. The combination of flavours may not sound like they would work together, but they totally do! Apologies for the shocking picture quality on this post - I think I accidentally set the ISO too high without realising...

Ingredients:

• 2 handfuls of Brussels sprouts, washed and halved
• 1/2 large red chili
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 a lemon's juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Chuck the chili, garlic, parsley and coriander into a food processor. Blend until all finely chopped. Whilst the speed is on low, pour in the olive oil and lemon juice. Scrape the sides with a spatula then add salt and pepper and pulse a few times until you reach your desired consistency - not pureed, but all blended.

Pour the oil/herb mixture over the B-sprouts in a bowl and mix with the spatula until all coated in oil.

Transfer to a baking sheet and roast until nice and crispy. You may need to remove the tray about 10 minutes in, just to make sure the oil is still evenly distributed and/or turn the sprouts over.

Remove from the oven and serve hot! Also works with mushrooms: