Vegan MoFo Day 20 - Creamy Pumpkin Pie

Another AWESOME recipe from Vegan Vitality

Next time I'm gonna leave out the sugar 'cos this is a bit too sweet for me even though there's only 100g in the entire recipe.

So I'll just have to make another one to make sure it'll taste OK.

Oh the sacrifices I make

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo IV Day 24: Leek and Not So Chicken Pie

This is a leftover pie but don't confuse that with thinking it got leftover because no-one wanted to eat it. No siree. This pie used all the leftovers in mah fridge.

I sauteed some onions and sliced mushrooms in a little oil then I added a minced clove of garlic, some chopped up Vegan Dad's Sausage and leftover carrots and potatoes which I just chopped up to bite size pieces. Took that off the heat while I made my sauce which is so easy peasy it's insane.

Melt some marg in a pan, about 2 Tablespoons. Add a GOOD 2 Tablespoons of regular flour and whisk like a MoFo'er. Whilst whisking I gradually poured in about half a pint of warm vegetable stock until I got a nice thick consistency. This might take more or less stock depending on how thick you like your sauce to be. Then I added a Not Chick'n stock cube and gave it all a really good stir.

I added this to the pan with the veggies n tings in then added a sliced up leek and some ground black pepper and salt and gave it all another good stir.

I made some wholewheat pastry thusly:

Wholemeal Pastry
Ingredients
12 ounces  wholemeal flour
6 ounces vegan margarine
10 Tablespoons water

Method
Place the flour into a bowl and add the margarine. Rub the margarine into the flour until it resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the water and gather together to form a dough. If the dough is too sticky just add some more flour until it all comes together nicely.

Roll out half the dough and use it to line a pie plate.

Add your scrummy pie filling and top with the remaining rolled out dough.

Bake in the oven at 200º for 30-40 mins.

Easy as Pie!

Vegan MoFo 2009 Day #4: Full moon=full tummy

In honour of the full moon I made a full moon pie (as you do). Although admittedly the pie is adorned with half moons - full moons would have been just round circles, and whilst there's nothing wrong with that and in fact Kittee would have positively loved it, I had half moon cookie cutters that I really really wanted to use. Ingredients serves 8 For the Pastry: 8oz flour pinch of salt 4oz margarine 5 Tblsps water For the filling: 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks handful of green beans, trimmed and chopped into bite sized pieces 1 leek, sliced and washed 4 Tablespoons olive oil 3 large mushrooms, thinly diced 1 small onion, diced 1 cup of good red wine 1 clove of garlic 4 Tablespoons Bisto gravy granules (Bisto is a powdered gravy granule that thickens when you add water so you get a nice thick gravy. Not sure of versions available across the pond) 1 Tablespoon Marmite half teaspoon dried sage Salt and pepper to taste half a cup of frozen peas cup of cauliflower (I had some frozen in the freezer that needed to be used up) Method For the filling Put the carrots, green beans and potatoes into a pan of slightly salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins. After 10 mins add the sliced leeks and cook for another 5 minutes. While that's doing heat the olive oil in a pan and add the mushrooms and onion. cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat stirring every now and then. Add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 mins. Add the red wine and cook for 10 mins until the wine has reduced. By now you will have taken the potatoes, carrots, beans and leeks off the heat so take a litre of the cooking water from them and add this to your mushroom and wine pan. Boil rapidly for 10 mins. With a stick blender blend everything up for 30 seconds - lumps are GOOD so don't go blitzing barmy. Add to this the Bisto gravy granules and whisk. Add the Marmite, sage, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes. Then add the potatoes, carrots, leeks, beans, peas, cauliflower and any other veg you want/have really. Simmer for about 10 mins. If you need to add more Bisto to thicken it more then go ahead - nowt wrong with a thick gravy in't pie. Leave to cool slightly. For the Pastry Make the pastry by sifting the flour and salt into a big bowl, add the margarine and rub into the flour with your hands until it resembles bread crumbs. Add the water and gather it all up with your hands. Knead for a few seconds until it is smooth and elasticy. Grease an 8 inch pie dish. Flour a work surface and roll the pastry out evenly. Use the rolling pin to carry the pastry over to the pie dish. With your fingers; gently push the pastry into the pie dish. Take the pie dish in one hand and with the other hand use a knife to chop off the excess pastry, set this to one side 'cos you need this for the pie top. Place the slightly cooled pie filling into the pastry case. Wet the top edges of the pastry with some water. Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie pressing down firmly with your thumb along the top edge. Chop of the excess pastry and use it to cut out shapes to decorate the pie with, you will have to brush water onto the bottom of the shapes to stick them to the pie. With a knife, make two slits in the centre of the pie top - this is to allow steam to escape, and brush the whole pie with some unflavoured soya milk. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for about 20-30 mins. Because all ovens vary in their cooking performance - check on the pie quite regularly to make sure it's OK.

YUMMERS!

GO VEGAN! GO MoFo!!

What do we want? We want PIE.......

When do we want it?

NOW! OK so this wasn't the cries of my Salad overdosed family but they wanted something good and hearty and by gads they were going to get it! Served with Salad of course. In all honesty this isn't really a Pie. It is a Tart. But there's something about saying "I made a Pie" that deeply satisfies me where as saying "I made a Tart" just doesn't cut it. So I shall name this Tarty Pie. It's a Pie with it's summer wardrobe on - i.e no top. Or a skimpy tarty little top at that. I was inspired to make this from a little book called - 101 Veggie Dishes but that recipe called for Feta Cheese - YUK! So in true heathen vegan style - I completely re-worked it and me and my family were totally bowled over by it's deliciousness. You shall be too. Ingredients serves 4 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 2 large yellow Onions, thinly sliced half teaspoon Salt 1 tablespoon Demerera Sugar 1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar Sheet of ready made Puff Pastry 4 Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil, drained a little bit 8 Black Olives, sliced Fresh Basil to garnish Method Preheat your oven to 200ºC or 390F. Heat the Olive Oil in a frying pan and add the Onions along with a teaspoon of Salt. Fry gently for 10-15 minutes until the Onions are caramelised. Add the Sugar and stir then add the Balsamic Vinegar and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring all the time. Roll out the Pastry and use it to line a rectangle dish 6 inches by 10 inches or there abouts. Chop the excess Pastry off so as the crust is only about an inch and a half high. Of course if you have a swiss roll tin then this would be even better to use. Cover the base of the Pastry with the Onion mixture, scatter over the Sundried Tomatoes and Black Olives and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Scatter over the Basil Leaves and serve.

served with Patatas Bravas (recipe to come soon) and fresh Corn Salad

GO VEGAN!

Chocolate Pie

I really should stop with the Vegan baking experiments. "Why?" I hear you cry. Because someone has to eat them and I share my house with a diabetic so that duty is left solely to me. A tough job I know - but someone's gotta do it. Whilst I always reduce the sugar content in all the recipe's I make - they are still not diabetic friendly. Though friendlier than most admittedly. My partner will treat himself to a slice or two of cake for his mid morning snack but he does have to limit himself. Bless. Anyhooo....I made Chocolate Pie for pudding tonight (I don't usually make puddings - we are a one course household unless it's a special dinner party) and my beloved saved himself from eating a load of pasta which we had for our main course, so as he could have a slice of Chocolate Pie. He was glad he did. The verdict? "That's Chocolate Pie that is."