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!

Vegan Moussaka

Tom here,

This is a recipe from one of the rare times that I manage to persuade my housemates to cook vegan for an evening, and is actually gluten free as well, but sadly Jess wasn't there to appreciate it.

My family have a very obscure relative that none of us have ever met who has an apartment in Bulgaria, and for the last few summers they've been kind enough to let us go out there and use it. It's in the little seaside town of Ravda. Lots of amazing fresh fish and beaches and sun, I'd probably struggle to eat as a vegan now but at the time it was great. One of our favourite dishes was the moussaka at the nearest restaurant called cremi (spelled cvemi of you're ever in the area - near the luki apartments on the sea front, very nice and even better they have good service!)

Anyway hunger induced ramblings aside - here's my attempt at recreating this dish. I didn't use any lentils or meat substitute but these could be easily added and (green particularly I think) would make a nice addition.

Ingredients:

3 Aubergines
2 Courgettes
1 Pepper
1 1/2 cans Chopped Tomatoes
1 medium Red Onion
2 cloves Garlic
1 small glass Red Wine
1 tbsp fresh Thyme
1 tbsp Tomato Paste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 pack of Clearspring Firm Silken Tofu
120g Pine Nuts
1 clove Garlic
1 tbsp Arrowroot (or cornflour)
More Salt and Pepper

Method:

First off cut the aubergines into slices a centimetre thick, rub with salt and the place in a colander with a weight on top
Leave theme for a couple of hours (This is to remove the bitterness from the aubergines)
Halve the pepper and grill or bake until soft
Next slice the courgettes lengthways onto strips and place on a grill tray
Rub the aubergines slices with garlic and then coat thinly with flour
Place the aubergines next to the courgettes on a grill tray
Grill on either side until browned, then heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius
Now for the sauce, chop the red onion into slices and fry in a little oil until soft
Crush the garlic and add, and fry for another minute or so
Add the tomato paste, wine and thyme and reduce for a minute or two
Add the chopped tomatoes
Chop up the pepper finely and add
Stir through, season and simmer for 15-20 minutes
For the topping, toast and crush the pine nuts using a pestle and mortar
Blend the tofu, garlic, seasoning, flour and pine nuts together with a hand blender
Once everything is ready, start to assemble the moussaka in a baking tray
Place a layer of aubergines, then courgettes, then cover with the tomato sauce
Repeat until you run out of ingredients or you are an inch from the top of the tray
Cover with the tofu mixture
Bake until the tofu is set and golden around the edges, around 30-40 minutes
Serve and enjoy! We made some wedges and salad to go with it

Hope you enjoy the recipe, let us know any comments at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

Walnut, Lentil and 3 Mushroom Pate

Tom here,

Sorry guys! It's been quite a hiatus over the exam period but Jess has managed to get a few recipes up, and now I have a bit more time I'm hoping to get a few more up. Got a few new recipes to upload over the next few weeks (including the dinner I made on actual christmas day at my parent's) This is a part of four different recipes I made for a wine and cheese evening we had to celebrate the new kitchen we've had installed in our university house! It's amazing, I would happily marry that oven and never look back. Sadly that's illegal. I think. Or at least frowned upon.

Obviously a wine and cheese evening presents a slight problem for veganism (and an even bigger one for gluten intolerants) but I managed to whip up a vegetarian pate, an attempt at vegan boursin and a couple of different types of truffles for something sweet.

Ingredients:

150g Walnuts
120g Oyster Mushrooms
120g Chestnut (cremini) Mushrooms
120g Shitake Mushrooms
100g Red Lentils
100g Shallots
2 cloves Garlic
1 tbsp Butter (I used sunflower, but usually prefer soya)
1 tbsp Thyme
1 1/3 tsp Sea Salt Flakes
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

This recipe is an adapted version of one I found online, I've used different mushrooms for more flavour, but each of these were purchased in sainsburys in fallowfield so they should be pretty easy to get hold of. The lentils added give a bit of a texture boost, but could be omitted easily.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius/ gas mark 4
Boil the red lentils until soft
Toast the walnuts for 5 minutes until browned and fragrant (they smell amazing!)
Leave the walnuts to cool
Dice the shallots and fry in the butter until soft
Chop the mushrooms and add to the pan
Crush the garlic and fry as well
Remove the stalks of the thyme and chop and add to the frying pan
Crush the walnuts in a pestle and mortar (may require a few batches)
Add all the ingredients to a jug and blend using a hand blender
Spoon into a bowl and refrigerate for a few hours
Stir in the soy sauce just before serving to give a nice flavour boost
Serve with crackers or use as a spread for sandwiches

This should keep in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. This is quite a simple recipe, and can easily be adapted with more herbs, or even changed entirely if you wanted to make a different style. The mushroom types can be substituted for any really, I just happen to like these three (and they were all available) using a large amount of two or one type would be fine, but the pate would definitely loost some of it's flavour.

As always let us know any suggestions or tweaks you come up with at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com.

And hope you all had a nice christmas/January, will definitely not leave it so long for a new recipe this time!

As you may notice I got a bit carried away cooking and forgot to take photos. Sorry! Next time I will take some more I promise!