Saturday 18 June 2011

Vegan Baked Lentils with Sweet Potato and Cauliflower


There is something so hearty about baked lentils in winter and I'm always a fan of meals that you just throw together and leave in the oven for a while!

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced finely
1/2 fennel bulb, diced finely
500g button mushrooms, stems trimmed
1.5 cups puy lentils (also called bule lentils or French lentils by differernt companies)
5 cups of vegetable stock
500g sweet potato, peeled and diced
250g cauliflower (or however much you have in the fridge that you want to use up), chopped small (makes about 3 cups)
1 bay leaf
8 or so cherry tomatos
a small handful of pine nuts

To Make:
1. Preheat your oven to about 180 (you know your oven better than I do... or do you?).
2. You can start this dish by putting your casserole/baking dish straight on the stove to make this a one pot dish. Heat some olive oil in your baking dish and saute the onion and fennel until soft.
3. Set aside 8-10 of the mushrooms and slice the rest in thick bits. Add the mushroom to the cooking pot and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the lentils and the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Add the sweet potato and cauliflower and remove from the heat. Cover and put in the oven for 30 minutes, removing the lid for the last 10 minutes.
5. While it is baking you can wash and trim the mushies you set aside. Put them on a baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil.
6. When your 30 minutes is up take the casserole dish out of the oven and put it aside to rest. Put the tray of mushrooms in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes throw in a the whole cherry tomatos and the pine nuts and cook for a further 2-3 minute - keep your eye on it so they don't burn.

To serve, place some lentils in a bowl and top with the baked vegies and pine nuts. Serves 4, or two with leftovers. 

Thursday 9 June 2011

Winter Fennel and Pasta Soup


This recipe is a great base to adapt to whatever you have in the fridge and is so quick to make. It is great and warming on a winter day and never lasts very long when I cook it!

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped finely
5 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
1/2 big fennel bulb (or 1 small fennel bulb), chopped finely
2-3 sticks of celery, chopped finely
2 carrots, chopped finely
2 potatos or a small sweet potato (whichever one you have in your pantry that you want to use up)
4 cups (1 litre) vegetable stock
5 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tin mixed beans
1 cup small macaroni or any other soup pasta

To Make:
1. Heat some olive oil in a big soup pot. Add the onion and soften for 2 minutes. Add the fennel and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes until fennel and onion are well aquainted and transparent.
2. Add the rest of the vegies, the tomato paste and the stock and bring to the boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes until vegies are cooked (this will take longer if you have chopped your vegies larger, but that's your own can of beans). Speaking of cans of beans, drain the can of mixed beans now and rinse the beans before adding to the pot with the pasta.
3. Simmer gently until the pasta is cooked and then eat in copious amounts!!


This soup is also great with leeks, peas, pumpkin or anything else you have a little bit left of and want to use up. The last friend I made this for now asks me whether I'm making soup every time she comes over :) It's a very simple but very impressive thing to knock up (not in that way....) for friends!

Enjoy indulgently!

A love of Food: Amazing Vegan Recipes and Menus

Dear All,

We are such great lovers of food that we wish to share with you the wonderful food that we eat every day. Some people seem to think that special and delicious food is simply something for special occasions but we firmly believe that fabulous and cruelty free food should be eaten every day. We are starting this to share with everyone how great everyday vegan food can be.

If you like the look of our recipes please post them to facebook/twitter or whatever else and/or become a 'follower' of our blog. You can also follow us on twitter @Gormandize_AK.  Also if you do cook one of our babies (note:  not actual babies.) at home please post a comment and tell us how it went and what you thought because we love hearing feedback!

Therefore we invite you to gormandize with us!
Yours tastily,
A-dizzle and K-bobo

gor·man·dize

verb \ˈgȯr-mən-ˌdīz\
intransitive verb
: to eat gluttonously or ravenously