Halloween Recipe - Roast pumpkin linguine with sundried tomatoes and a chilli, basil, walnut pesto.

Happy Halloween!

I love pumpkin - not quite as sweet as butternut squash and very versatile. But I bet there's a few people who carve one up for Halloween and don't know what to do with the flesh?! Oh! what a waste :(

So, no excuses now, I've come up with this delicious Vegan creation especially for you - perfect for a cold autumnal eve before sitting round the fire and telling ghost stories until the witching hour.........

Enjoy!  

Chantal xx

roast pumpkin linguine with sundried tomatoes & a chilli, basil, walnut pesto

[serves 2 - 4 or 2 generous suppers & 2 light lunches the next day]

Gather:

ingredients gathered - i used half of this pumpkin

Roast veg

Chopped flesh of a small - medium pumpkin.

2 small - medium red onions sliced into 8-12 (leave root intact so slices hold together)

1/2 jaror deli pack of sundried tomatoes in oil - tomatoes cut into 4 pieces each

freshly ground black pepper

salt (I use pink Himalayan - expensive but wonderful and toxin-free)

Pesto

2 cloves of garlic roughly sliced

1 small pack of fresh basil - roughly torn (reserve a few leaves for the garnish)

1 handful of walnuts (approx 10 halves)

1 red chilli deseeded and roughly chopped

extra virgin olive oil or light rapeseed oil (or oil of choice)

Other

150g dry linguine pasta

1 slice stale bread (I used granary sourdough)

A little oil for frying

Create:

Set your oven to high - 220C, 200C fan, GM 7, Aga 'hot'.

1.  Chop the pumpkin, onion and tomatoes, add to a roasting dish, season and pour over about 2 tbsp of the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Mix well to coat.

veg ready to roast

2.  Roast in the oven for approx 25 mins (stiring half way) or until the pumpkin has caramelised around the edges.

3.  Add the pesto ingredients to a blender and whiz to your preferred consistency - adding oil as you go - again to the consistency that you prefer. Season if you wish.

chilli, basil, walnut pesto

4. 15 minutes into roasting your veg bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the linguine according to packet instructions - usually for about 9 minutes for the perfect 'al dente' texture.

5.  Whilst this is cooking heat some oil in a pan and fry the bread cubes until golden brown and then drain on kitchen paper.

granary sour dough bread made incredible croutons

6.  Remove the roast vegetables from the oven, drain the pasta, add to the vegetables, pour over the pesto and stir to coat and mix in well. Serve topped with the croutons, fresh basil leaves and condiments as below!

Enjoy:

I can't resist serving any pasta dish with added Nutritional Yeast Flakes as sprinkles (good for your B12 intake too). I also added some Vegan bacon flavour salad sprinkles - which were incredible with this! And lashings of Vegan mayo on the side made my trio of condiments complete!

Cooks Tips:  This would also be lovely with other cucurbits such as courgettes and with pumpkin other herbs such as rosemary and sage work well roasted with it (although they are very pungent and pumpkin has quite a delicate flavour - so use sparingly).

Learn to love this veg and don't just cook it for Halloween (see why below!)

Health benefits of Pumpkin

• It is one of the very low calorie vegetables. 100 g fruit provides just 26 calories and contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich in dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins. The vegetable is one of the food items recommended by dieticians in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs.
  
• Pumpkin is a storehouse of many anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin-A, vitamin-C and vitamin-E.
  
• With 7384 mg per 100 g, it is one of the vegetables in the Cucurbitaceae family featuring highest levels of vitamin-A, providing about 246% of RDA. Vitamin A is a powerful natural anti-oxidant and is required by the body for maintaining the integrity of skin and mucus membranes. It is also an essential vitamin for good visual sight. Research studies suggest that natural foods rich in vitamin A help a body protects against lung and oral cavity cancers.
  
• It is also an excellent source of many natural poly-phenolic flavonoid compounds such as α, ß carotenes, cryptoxanthin, lutein and zea-xanthin. Carotenes convert into vitamin A inside the body.
  
• Zea-xanthin is a natural anti-oxidant which has UV (ultra-violet) rays filtering actions in the macula lutea in retina of the eyes. Thus, it helps protect from "age-related macular disease" (ARMD) in the elderly.
  
• The fruit is a good source of B-complex group of vitamins like folates, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin and pantothenic acid.
  
• It is also rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus.
  

Halloween Recipe: Death by chocolate with frozen brains... (cake)

Happy Halloween!

This is the best vegan chocolate cake I've made yet! And 'death by chocolate' is an ironic name really cos nothing died in the making of it - as with all that I now create it's dairy-free, egg-free and cruelty-free all round. I guess you could explode, and hence kill yourself, if you ate a whole one - but hey, fun tryin!

Have a spooktastic Halloween 13!

(cue evil laugh effect...) wa ha ha ha haaaaaaa .....

Chantal xx

death by chocolate cake with frozen brains....

[serves 1 to 16]

Gather:

Margarine for greasing (I use either Stork gold block for baking or Fry-Light 1 cal 'butter' flavour)

Cake:

300g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp salt
300g granulated sugar (Silverspoon is Vegan)

375ml soya milk (I used Tesco organic uht)
125ml rapeseed oil
7 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:

40ml soya milk

85g vegan dark chocolate broken into small pieces (I used Montezumas organic very dark chocolate)

60g icing sugar

1 tbsp maple syrup

fresh raspberries to decorate (mine were frozen from this summer's harvest - hence frozen 'brains'!)

Create:

1.  Heat oven to 180C  /  160C fan  /  Gas 4  /  Aga 'medium'.
     Line and grease a 23cm  /  9" cake tin.

re-usable liner with 1cal spray

2.  Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl and combine.

3. Add wet ingredients to a saucepan and heat gently until the jam has melted and whisk to combine.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.

5.  Pour the cake batter into the cake tin and bake mid oven for approx 45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

6. Leave the cake in the tin to cool on a rack while making the icing. Remove the cake from the tin once cool enough.

lovely rise but note the cracking means my oven was too hot!

7.  To make the frosting, heat the soya milk gently in a pan with the chocolate and whisk until melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup and icing sugar.

8.  Leave the icing to cool before icing the cooled cake and top with fresh fruit if desired.

just one more slice? go on, you know you want to...

Cooks tips: This could be made even more chocolatey and 'deathly' by adding chocolate chips in the batter and also on top. I think it would also be incredible made in a chocolate orange version - using marmalade instead of raspberry jam and crystalised orange peel to decorate. Yum!

Restaurant review: The Jack in the Green Inn - a Vegan taste sensation!

one of the stunning desserts to come...

In an increasingly fast paced, hectic, pressured world, it's easy to forget to take time out once in a while, 'reboot' yourself and create a perfect day. You know - the type of day that gets you through for the next month or so. Yesterday was that day for me :) A special one on the calender and, as it turns out, potentially a special one for veganism - allow me to tell you more...

I started out wafting around Totnes - the chilled-out hippy capital of Devon and an oh-so-lovely place to get into the right vibe for a perfect day. We enjoyed a delicious vegan lunch at Willow vegetarian restaurant (look out for a review later) and generally mooched in the crisp autumn air and low slung sunshine. Bliss. Next we went to Bovey Tracey on the edge of Dartmoor, to see an old friend, visit the stunning arts & craft centre and grab an afternoon tea - which turned out to be a soya cappuccino at the Flying Pig - a cafe whose new owner was extremely interested in vegan food and how she could either make, or acquire some, for her customers. 'Spreading the word' has never been so much fun!

Then a quick change and off to our final destination: The Jack in the Green Inn - Rockbeare.

I'd heard of their great reputation, but the plan this day (after much liaising with them by email and phone) was for an entire vegan meal. I don't mind telling you that based on some previous experiences elsewhere, I was both excited and nervous at the same time, because it's imperative that if plant-based foods are going to ever appeal to the masses they have to be contemporary, creative and tasty beyond belief.

the bar

The restaurant itself is quite unassuming from the outside. But once inside it could only really be described as traditional but with a modern twist! It's well presented and immaculate and if, as a vegan, you can get past the stylised pictures of hunting scenes (this is Devon) and the quirky, 'humourous' animal / food drawings, then trust me, you're in for a real treat.

The ambiance is soothed along with soft jazz and the welcome from the proprietor Paul Parnell could not be more warm, personal or professional.

'We said we'd give it a go for you, and here you are...' Paul said as he handed us a menu headed 'Vegan Tasting Menu'. My heart literally skipped a beat.

Here's what I read...

Whilst transfixed to the menu Paul proceeded to also tell us about the vegan wines he could offer and we opted for a light Beaujolais-style Brouille red.

10 minutes later, and full of anticipation, we were escorted to our quiet corner table where 3 types of warm fragrant seeded breads, balsamic and the lightest of olive oils awaited us.

A good start.

And so to the dishes. The only way for me to (calmly) do this is to work through them methodically and mentally recall every delicious stage.

The dishes...

Mixed leaves with hazelnut vinaigrette, roasted celeriac and apple.

Leaves, can, well, leave you pretty unimpressed at the best of times - but these microleaves packed a punch & the toasted hazelnuts and tangy vinaigrette on the sweet roasted celeriac were a perfect combination to start the meal in a light and very appetising way.

Salt and pepper tofu with mixed wild mushrooms and truffle oil.

 

I often make chilli salt tofu at home so, was curious to see how they approached this. Delicate cubes, dusted, seasoned, fried and served with tiny wild mushrooms - the flavour of which was totally enhanced by the strong tofu seasoning. The truffle oil and mushroom puree just made this an incredible tasting dish. I could have very happily eaten a huge bowlful of this as main course.

By this stage I was actually starting to swoon!

 Roasted pumpkin with curly kale, roasted nuts and seeds.

Small balls of sauteed pumpkin on the juiciest, sweetest kale topped with crisp parsnip tuille and fried noodles was yet another triumph and reason #73 why kale really is a vegans friend - when cooked so well!

 Thai vegetable curry. Served with steamed wholegrain rice.

Whilst the Thai curry didn't have the usual aromatics of Thai ingredients (I'm sure it contained an Indian-style curry blend instead) - the description was irrelevant really, because the mix of fresh vegetables was so vibrant, succulent and flavourful. There was a real bang of chilli heat at the end - that might of had some people wincing. Fortunately I love and can handle hot curries - so this dish really did it for me.

Caramelised pear with blackberries, almond and oat crumble.

After the kick of the curry, this delicately presented platter, again, was such a well thought through combination of all of those elegant seasonal dessert flavours - pear, almond, blackberry - the caramelisation was just right, the almond clusters adding nutty sweetness and the blackberries just adding the hint of sharpness to balance it all off - utterly perfect.

Chilled coconut rice pudding with raspberry sorbet.

Now two puddings always have to be better than one - don't they? I thought the pear couldn't be beaten by a cold rice pudding surely? How wrong a girl can be. Sweet coconut rice pudding with perfectly al dente grains, topped with toasted seeds, little balls of silky smooth mango and raspberry sorbet and crystallised rose petals. What a revelation! The portion was large for fine dining - but I have to say I was glad. We didn't actually speak one word whilst eating this (although some cooing noises were possibly coming from my side of the table) which I think speaks volumes.

And so to ... coffee and petit fours - a fabulous decaf and vegan blackberry and apple jelly cubes. A perfect ending.

 THE END ahhhhh........

I simply cannot fault any of the food that was served to us. It was all stunningly presented and delicious - the flavours rich, yet light, complex, yet simple. How is that possible? Well because they were cooked by a chef who clearly knows his food, who still has passion for his food and who still cares about delighting his customers.

Throughout this fabulous vegan experience at the Jack on the Green our server was attentive and genuinely interested in how we found each course. He even shared with us the fact that he loved the look of it and had enjoyed spending time cooking for an ex girlfriend who had been vegan. Paul also frequently checked in on us to seek our opinion. And when Matthew - the head chef came to talk to us at the very end it was with no shame that I gave him a full bear hug and kisses for making my perfect day - well, perfect. He sat with us for a while discussing the merits of vegan food with the type of enthusiasm that I wish I could bottle and send to every catering establishment in the world.

During our evening we also learnt that The Jack in the Green regularly have vegan business diners, can cater for main meals (with advance notice) and indeed are very happy to do so. This tasting menu was a first for them though and I hope that in spreading the word about it people will give it a try.

I've been lucky enough to eat in some world class restaurants - Hestons 'Fat Duck', Iceland's panoramic revolving restaurant at the 'Perlan' and Hong Kong's sky-scraping 'Above and Beyond', to name-drop but a few. But I couldn't be happier and more proud to find this gem of a place in my home county. It can be quite a rare thing to find such places where the desire to create and delight is so strong. These guys have it in shed loads and we'll be back with all of our carnivore friends - to show them, in no uncertain terms, just how exciting modern Vegan cuisine CAN be.

So thank you David for arranging this and to everyone at The Jack in the Green. Perfect.

£££ At £39.95 for 7 courses, this was incredibly good value, especially when compared with many other fine dining tasting menus. I have paid twice, if not three times, this amount for mediocre food in many city-based fine dining restaurants such as the 'acclaimed' Purnells - where the somelier was insistent there was no such thing as vegan wine and lacklustre dishes consisted of a bowl of mixed tomatoes, and carrots on a lettuce puree - I kid you not.

Good to know: To get the best experience from this incredible gastro-pub please phone in advance to discuss your food. They serve over 140 covers on a busy night and run 4 menus, so a little advance notice will help them to get it perfect for you too :)

Call 01404 822240, ask for Paul and please do feel free to mention me by name. I am the elated huggy vegan :)

Recipe: Super shoots and seeds salad.

Yes I know, I know, salad - in Autumn? (and a tricky one to say, at that!)? Well it does make use of the delicious apples that are falling now and it also makes a great 'sprinkle' for a hearty soup... so...

Omegas 3, 6 and 9 are nutrients that are vital to human health and well-being. 3 and 6 cannot be synthesised by the human body and therefore have to be obtained by diet. Typically on an omnivorous diet people are told to obtain Omega 3 by eating oily fish, eggs and grass-fed meat; Omega 6 by eating poultry and eggs.

But the great news is that there are a whole host of delicious plant-based sources of these fabulous 'fats' - grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds and oils. They'll help to keep your body's cells ticketyboo, help you to absorb other vitamins and keep your metabolism thriVing.

This fresh vibrant salad will just give you a little boost, some added protein and some peace of mind that your yummy Vegan diet is also a nutritional powerhouse. Enjoy!

Chantal xx

super shoots n seeds salad with apple & marinated tofu

[Serves 2+ as a main or 4+ as a side.]

Gather:

200g (approx) mixed sprouted seeds (such as soya, aduki, chickpea, radish, mung, alfalfa) [I used a 180g pack Good4U lentil, pea and bean shoots from Sainsburys - which was plenty for 2 plus leftovers] 

1/2 pack marinated tofu pieces* [I use Cauldron brand]

70g dried apricots - cut into quarters [I opt for organic (minus the sulphites) - Crazy Jack are good]

50g walnuts roughly chopped

30g pumpkin seeds

30g sunflower seeds

30g sesame seeds

Juice + zest of 1 lemon

1-2 tbsp of Vegan Omega-rich oil [I use Biona 3-6-9]

Pinch of salt [I use Himalayan Rose Pink Rock Salt - expensive, but used sparingly & worth it]

Freshly ground black pepper

2 fresh apples - cored and finely chopped [I use Braeburns for crispness & sweet, sharp flavour]

*optional addition

Create:

1.  There's not much to this one. Add all of the shoots, seeds, apricots & lemon zest to a large bowl and mix to combine.

2.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad.

3.  Chop the apple and add to the mix along with the tofu pieces. Stir to combine.

4.  Tadah!

Enjoy!

This dish is great served fresh but will also keep well in the fridge for a day because of the lemon juice. If you want to add a greater carb element simply add some toast on the side. It would also be delicious with grains such as buckwheat and flavoured couscous.

leftovers as silky thai-spiced soup 'sprinkles'

Cooks tips: Save some to sprinkle on soups (like I did with this Thai spiced butternut, sweet potato soup below) or larger mixed green salads. Keep these three seeds - pumpkin, sesame, sunflower in your larder at all times & throw handfuls onto mueslis, cereals, porridge, cookies, loaves, coleslaws, salads, steamed veggies, pastas and crumbles. The oil is strong flavoured, but good for drizzling onto salads too.

For more info on Omegas please see here, 3 here, and 6 here.

Campaign Corner... where compassion counts.

Good news:

Shark fin banned at official Hong Kong functions:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24086294

Its' a start, and if they lead from the top, perhaps the rest will follow...

Amazon has stopped selling foie gras:

 http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=6205&catId=8&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Now if we can only get others to follow!

Work still to be done:

Campaign Corner pages get hundreds of click-throughs now - so if you have a campaign you would like featured / signed by many more people - please get in touch with me :)

Sign to ban the Spannish festival where a live bull is set on fire.

 http://www.change.org/petitions/live-bull-to-be-set-on-fire-spain-action-needed?share_id=dQJHoxAoPr&utm_campaign=twitter_link_action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition

Sign to ban farm animal castration without pain killers.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/950/011/548/ban-castration-of-farm-animals-without-anesthetics/#

Say no to GM farm animals in the UK.

 http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=22518&ea.tracking.id=a8368275&utm_campaign=raw&utm_source=shared&utm_medium=twitter

Support the EU citizens call to ban animal vivesection.

https://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/ECI-2012-000007/public/index.do?uid=1380206051115&oct_path=%2Fsignup.do&initiativeLang=en&oct_system_state=OPERATIONAL&oct_collector_state=true&currentLanguage=en&showMap=false

Stop the rhino killers.

 https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_the_Rhino_Killers/?wBtOWcb

Support the Peta Campaign to stop civets being cruely treated to produce 'coffee'.

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5039&autologin=true&utm_campaign=1013+Civet+Investigation+Action+Alert&utm_source=PETA+E-mail&utm_medium=E-News#.UlKTC6sq39A.twitter

In the US farm animals are excluded from animal welfare legistlation - meaning they can be treated cruely without fear of prosecution. Sign to put an end to this. [Better still, go vegan - let's talk...]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/556/263/943/#sign

Ask Harvey Nichols to stop selling fur.

 http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=23120

Urge Gumtree to stop allowing the advertising and selling of animals.

http://www.change.org/petitions/gumtree-stop-advertising-and-selling-animals?share_id=zVJLUYRFxs&utm_campaign=twitter_link_action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition

Help stop the illegal dog meat trade in the Phillipines.

 https://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=104&ea.campaign.id=20611

Campaign Corner pages get hundreds of click-throughs now - so if you have a campaign you would like featured / signed by many more people - please get in touch with me :)