Hazelnut and Carrot Loaf

This is the recipe that I made with my family on actual christmas day. It went down extremely well with both me and my non-vegan family who enjoyed it as a kind of stuffing-esque side dish. It made a nice change from the parsnip and cashew nut roast (which I love but have made every roast dinner since I went vegan). This made two small loaf tins, both of which I cooked and one which I froze for a later date (which worked fine!).

Ingredients:

125g Chopped Hazelnuts
125 Wholemeal Breadcrumbs
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 medium Onion
2 large Carrots
2 sticks Celery
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Sage
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Nutmeg
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Courgette
100g Red Lentils
1/2 cup Mushrooms

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Chop the onion roughly and fry in oil until soft
Grate the carrot, and chop the celery, mushrooms and garlic and add these to the pan
Fry these until soft
Add the nuts, breadcrumbs and spices and mix thoroughly
Cook the lentils in salted water until soft, strain and add these to the pan
Remove from the heat, and stir through the soy sauce
Place half into a loaf tin (/a quarter into two tins if making two)
Using a peeler, make thin slices of the courgette
Layer these onto the first layer of the loaf
Cover with the rest of the mixture, and then smooth down
Bake for 40 minutes, until browned and relatively set
Either turn out into a plate and serve or leave to cool and then freeze

Not much else to say with this recipe. If you think it's lacking in seasoning a bit crumble half a vegetable stock cube on before the soy sauce, or use a teaspoon of Bouillon. I didn't think it really needed t though. I'm sure other nuts would work with this as well, almond would go nicely I think! Let us know how yours go at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

And a very belated happy Christmas from the Scurr household!

Gluten Free Christmas Stuffing

Hi, Jess again.

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blogging recently. Since the beginning of December, a truly horrific amount of food and wine has been consumed, leaving me very little time to do anything other than eat and drink (and pass out at 8pm). Oh, aside from working, having exams and assignments and travelling up and down the country for interviews. All of which I have definitely not been hungover for.

So anyway, my flat had a christmas dinner this week. I'm not going to patronise you with instructions of how to cook a christmas dinner, we all do it differently. We had seasoned roast chicken and potatoes and roasted the carrots and parsnips in agave nectar - amazing. And all gluten free. But my biggest issue with roast dinners is stuffing, I love the stuff but obviously it's not gluten free. So this year I decided I would make it myself, rather than cheat with one of the gluten free packet mixes (which I'm sure are nice, but I can't blog about a packet mix). The following recipe is adapted from the dietary specials website, and uses their gluten free brown ciabatta rolls (fellow gluten free people will understand that these are the best). It makes 8-10 stuffing balls so perfect for 3-5 people.

100g gluten free bread/2 gluten free brown ciabatta rolls
1 onion, chopped
1 apple, chopped
50g ready to eat apricots, chopped
2 tbsp cranberry sauce
10-15g butter, melted
50ml (or more or less, whatever you need) orange or cranberry juice
Sprinkling of nuts (I used pine kernels)
Mixed herbs to season

Crumble the bread/rolls until they resemble breadcrumbs. Chop the onion and apple, and fry until soft and slightly browned. Add the butter, onion and apple to the breadcrumbs and mix. Add the apricots, cranberry sauce, nuts and seasoning, followed by the fruit juice. Mix together, ensuring everything is evenly spread and you have the right consistency. Use the amount of juice you need, I didn't really measure it out, I just added what looked right (wine's fault, sorry). Use the herbs you want to use - I didn't want a particularly strong taste so went for mixed herbs but some fresh sage or parsley would go nicely too. Roll the stuffing into small balls, place on a baking tray and bake at 180C for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.

This recipe is so easy and goes really well with christmas dinner. The different fruits make it quite sweet, which makes a nice addition when you roast the veggies in agave or honey. You can substitute different juice or nuts depending on your tastes, but less us know how it goes and what you change when you make it!

Christmas dinner, served on a plastic plate, student style.

The most important part of any meal.

Maple Orange Turkey, Sweet Potato and Vegetable Bake

Obviously, due to the turkey bit, this is Jess' recipe (Tom did suggest i make this with 'furkey' but as of yet, I am unable to source this or decide if it even exists). (Tom: actually it's tofurkey http://www.tofurky.com/tofurkyproducts/holiday_products.html IT EXISTS)

So, since I'm guessing I've probably visited more states than the average American, I thought I'd make a turkey dish in celebration of thanksgiving. Yes, I made it alone, and ended up drinking half a bottle of wine with it whilst discussing my girly emotional issues with my flatmate (yay for me!). And yes, that wine is still in my system, so this may need editing in the morning. Tipsy blogging is always a good idea.

Ingredients (roughly 2 servings worth):
2 turkey breasts
2 carrots, chopped
2 mini/1 large courgette, chopped
150g mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small sweet potato, cut into wedges
1 red pepper, sliced
3 vine tomatoes, halved
1 red onion (optional)

Glaze:
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 an orange, juiced and zested
1 tbsp soy sauce
1tsp honey

Preheat oven to 190C.
Firstly, make the glaze recipe up in a cup and pour over the turkey to marinade, leaving in the fridge until ready to cook (leave longer - say an hour or two - if you're organised enough to prepare in advance). Leave about a tablespoon of glaze in the cup for the veggies.
Chop and prepare all the vegetables, potato and garlic (except the tomatoes, add these later) and place in a pyrex/baking dish. Drizzle a little oil over the vegetables, pour a tablespoon of glaze over them and roast for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add the glazed turkey on top of the veg, and pour any remaining glaze over the dish. Bake for another 15 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until turkey is golden and veg are softening. Serve straightaway.

 The wine isn't essential, but a glass of white (or two or three) never hurt a turkey dish...

The glaze i made wasn't particularly thick, I'd recommend using a little more syrup and a little less juice if you want a thick sticky glaze, however I wanted something lighter that covered all the vegetables too. Obviously, as usual, you can vary the vegetables up, try it with chicken, whatever you fancy. This is just what I fancied. But it makes a really tasty, filling and nutritious gluten free meal at roughly 350-400 calories a portion (alcohol calories do not count, OK).

Enjoy. With wine. Lots and lots of wine.