Categories
Love food Vegan

Miso aubergines

or Nasu Dengaku, the Japanese name for this amazing dish. This is one of my two favourite dishes whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant. My second favourite is Black Cod, another miso marinated dish.

Ingredients for the miso glaze (for 2 halves of an aubergine)

  • 1.5 tbsp white miso paste
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp mirrin
  • 1/2 tbsp sake

Garnish

  • Spring onions
  • Sesame seeds

Method

  • Half the aubergine and score through (without going through the skin) diagonally in one direction and then in the other. Each scored line should be approx 1 cm apart.
  • Put some oil in a frying pan, one you have a lid for, and fry skin side up until the flesh has turned golden.
  • Turn over, turn the heat down to low and place a lid on top. The aubergines are now steam cooking through and are ready when the flesh is completely soft all the way through. This stage will take at least 15 mins but it can take longer so be patient.
  • While the aubergines are cooking, mix the miso glaze ingredients.
  • Once fully cooked, spread the miso glaze evenly over each aubergine half
  • Up to the previous stage can all be prepared in advance: when ready to eat pop in a hot oven for approx 10 mins
  • Serve sprinkled with spring onion and sesame seeds

Categories
Love food Salads Vegan

Winter slaw

I’ve renamed this recipe from Christmas slaw to winter slaw. It’s so good why would you only have it in December? This salad makes a regular appearance on our table at any time of the year

It’s made with white cabbage, carrot, red pepper, pecans, spring onions and mixed with a simple dressing. Other than that I don’t have a lot to say about it. You can find the recipe on BBC Good Food.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Vegan

Granola

This is easy but I won’t lie it can seem a bit laborious; there’s a lot of nut chopping and then regular turning of the Granola in the oven. It makes a lot though so you don’t have to make it too often.

You can eat this granola as is but you can also add dried fruit once cooked.

Ingredients

  • ½ tsp salt
  • 170g oats
  • 170g mixed grains or oats only (I get these from a health food store)
  • 200g mixed nuts, roughly chopped (you have to do this by hand with a sharp knife; don’t attempt to do it in a processor, you will end up with mostly ground nuts)
  • 50g mixed/sunflower/pumpkin seeds
  • 50g coconut shavings
  • 40g coconut oil
  • 120ml/172g runny honey
  • 1 large egg white

Method

  1. Put the dried ingredients into a large mixing bowl and give a good stir
  2. Put the coconut oil and honey in a microwaveable bowl. Heat until the coconut oil has melted into the honey
  3. Pour into the dried ingredients and stir until all are covered in the  oil-honey mix
  4. Fluff up your egg white and mix through the granola
  5. Spread the granola onto a wide baking tray (the biggest you have) and place in the oven on 150C. It will take approx. 40 mins to cook. You will need to stir it regularly to cook evenly. It is ready when it looks ready ie golden in colour.
  6. I leave for 10 mins before doing the first stir and then decrease the time between stirrings as I go.  
Categories
Love food Sweet stuff Vegan

Baked apples

This has been a family favourite winter dessert for as long as I can remember. It may feel old fashioned but it is easy, has a small list of ingredients and healthy. As well as being tasty what else do you need? Oh, I know – it’s gluten free and vegan too!!

The recipe can be found on BBC Good Food.

We used to call this dessert exploding apples because of the number of times I cooked it in the oven for a little too long in a slightly too hot oven. As they do need to be cooked in a low temperature oven for quite a while I now do this in advance of cooking the rest of my meal (without the fruit) and then just re-heating for 15 mins before eating.

I replace the blackberries in the recipe with a few spoons of fruit from a mixed bag of frozen fruit. Also, I don’t add the cinnamon, just personal taste.

A pic of the apples ready for baking.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Vegan

Spiced apple porridge

I have been converted to porridge over the past few years after a childhood (and adulthood) of avoidance. This spiced apple porridge from Waitrose (once again!) is so good. The recipe says it makes for two but I really don’t know how much porridge you can eat at one sitting but I definitely can’t eat what the recipe suggests.  In case you are wondering – nor can Liora or Andy. I make a batch at the beginning of the week and use it through the week. A word of warning though – it doesn’t look great cold and it will solidify but it tastes just as good as when made fresh. You will just need to add some water to loosen the consistency and then stick in the microwave.

The recipe can be found via this link. Having made this a few times I am a bit loose about the quantities. I always start with two cooking apples, chop them (small cubes) and weigh before cooking then add a proportional amount of porridge but it really doesn’t have to be exact. It is after all just porridge, not a cake.

Once you have cooked the apples give them another weigh and then keep half for the porridge mix and keep half aside for topping off your cooked porridge.

I always use a mix of semi-skimmed dairy milk and water, using much more overall liquid than the recipe suggests.

As well as spare porridge for another day, you should also have some apple left over for topping.

Enjoy ?

Categories
Love food Salads Vegan

Grated salad

A simple name for a simple salad but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It really is very tasty. Simply take three ingredients – beetroot (raw), carrot and apple – peel and grate into one bowl. I recommend wearing rubber gloves for the beetroot, unless you’re happy to have deep purple hands.

You can choose your own proportions depending on how earthy or sweet you want your salad, or what you have in the fridge to use up. I used two small bulbs of beetroot, one medium carrot and one medium apple.

To your grated mix add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper. You don’t want this salad swimming in liquid so add a little at a time, mix and taste until you are happy with it. I added some toasted mixed seeds which gives the salad a nice crunch. Some chopped mint and a few raisins would also be good additions. Both of those sadly are not favoured among my family.