Mushroom Pie

September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

Autumn is here and that means only one thing: pie! With that in mind I thought I’d share one of my old pie recipes with you. Instead of going for creamy, I’ve gone for a super savoury rich sauce which will have your taste buds dancing on the ceiling.

Let’s get the ingredients sorted:

A tablespoon of all purpose flour
A tablespoon of corn flour
Two carrots, peeled and diced
One onion, peeled and diced
One stick of celery, diced
Pre-rolled puff pastry (I used Jus Rol.)
Vegetable stock (I used a tablespoon of paste.)
Salt & pepper to taste
Two different types of mushrooms. (I used chesnut and dried shitake.)
Vegetable oil
5 bulbs of garlic, peeled and diced
Tablespoon of dried parsley

Let’s get going:

Chop and mix the mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the vegetable stock and all purpose flour. Heat some vegetable oil in a pan and add the mixture. (The picture below is before I added the flour and mixed.)

cof

Stir fry for about three minutes, or until mushrooms are soft. Remove the mushroom mixture from the pan and place in a bowl of about 250ml of water. This will create a lovely rich stock.

Now place the onions, garlic, carrot, parsley and celery into the pan, making sure you scrape up all that lovely flavour left by the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and stock back in. Mix everything together and then add the corn flour, mixing continually. Turn the pan right down, cover and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

selfp selfp bmd

Check on the mixture occasionally to make sure it has not become too thick. If it has, add some water and stir.

Once the carrots and celery are nice and soft, take the pan off of the heat and allow to cool.

Roll the pastry out and cut into shapes larger than the dishes you plan to use. Heat the oven to about 3/4 of top heat. Fill the dishes and cover the mixture with the puff pastry. Don’t forget to poke some holes in the pastry to allow steam to escape.

After 20 minutes in the oven, your pie(s) should look like this:

selfp

Serve with green beans and mashed potato. Enjoy as a small pot pie or a a huge slab of deliciousness.

selfp selfp selfp selfp selfp selfp selfp selfp

selfp

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s one of my favourites!

Frankie 🙂

Brunch Burrito

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

I’m a big fan of jack fruit and this recipe is perfect for it. A burrito needs to be flavoursome and filling. Jack fruit takes on any flavour you give it but like tofu, doesn’t taste of anything on it’s own. Let’s pack in the herbs and spices!

Spice mix

1 tsp dried chilli
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp cumin

Make up your spice mix and place to one side.

Filling

1 onion, chopped
2 peppers, chopped
1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained
100 grams of cooked brown rice (cook this yourself first if needs be.)
1 avocado
Juice of half a lime
Salt
Half a tsp of dried chilli
BBQ sauce
1 tin of jack fruit in salted water. (Do not get the one in syrup.)
Pack of wholemeal tortillas

Method

Dry fry the onion and peppers until they start to soften.
Add the sweetcorn and brown rice to the pan and mix in.
Turn heat to low and stir every couple of minutes.

Now it’s time for the jack fruit. I warn you if you haven’t used it before, it’s some weird stuff. Drain the can in a sieve. It should look like this:

Weird huh?

Pull it apart into shreds and add to the pan. (This can take some time if you haven’t done it before.)

Add your spice bowl and mix in.

Keep the heat on low, stirring occasionally.
Now let’s make some awesome mashed avocado! Peel the avocado and mash with the chilli, lime and salt to taste.
Heat yourself a tortilla in the microwave or in the oven.

Mash some avocado onto your warm tortilla then place the filling along the middle. You may wish to add some sauce now too. I used Levi Root’s BBQ sauce.

Wrap into a burrito by folding both ends in. Then slice down the middle to make it more manageable to eat.

Eat that baby warm. I managed two before I was stuffed up to my eyeballs.

Variation: Don’t add the jack fruit until wrapping burrito. Make sure you give it some flavour though. 😉

Where do I get jack fruit?

You’ll often find jack fruit in Asian supermarkets and the world food isle of the bigger chain supermarkets, depending on where you live.

Chorizo & Rosemary Pearl Barley Risotto

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 / Frankie Mouche / 4 Comments

I love risotto and I love chorizo, but I’d honestly not thought of combining them until recently. I’m so glad I did because the flavour and texture of this dish is unrivalled.

Ingredients

1 pack of VBites chorizo style pieces
1 large onion
2 large cloves of garlic
Approx 300g of dry pearl barley
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 stalk of fresh rosemary
1 can of higher end chopped tomatoes

First up get a nice big pan on the hob, warming up. Soy based chorizo isn’t as fatty as it’s pig’s flesh alternative, but it still produces a small amount of oil when heated up. Pour the entire contents of your chorizo pack into the pan and allow to frazzle for about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place to one side in a bowl.

Now the pan should have a thin coating of oily, spicy, paprika goodness. Chuck in your chopped onion and minced garlic. Allow them to brown a little before adding in the pearl barley. Stir well ensuring that the barley is well coated. Add in your chopped tomatoes. ( Look I don’t normally go in for high end products, but I would recommend a higher end tinned chopped tomatoes in this recipe, because they tend to use vine tomatoes and they give a more intense flavour.) Mix and then add all of the vegetable stock. Unlike arborio rice risotto you can chuck it all in at once, but you need to sir it often.

You may have to add extra water as the sauce thickens because the pearl barley takes about 30 minutes to cook.

When you’re happy that the barley is cooked and the sauce has thickened to your liking, add the chopped rosemary and chorizo. Turn off the heat and serve.

Full of punchy flavours for you to enjoy. X

Spiced Butterbean & Sweetcorn Soup

October 4, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

It’s certainly Autumn here in the Welsh valleys. I’m wrapped up nice and warm with a cup of tea whilst I write this.

With the cold in mind, I came up with a delicious and hearty soup to warm your cockles.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 can of chopped tomatoes (and then fill the can back up for a can of water to add too.)

1 can of sweetcorn, drained

A large handful of dry red lentils

1 tbsp of chilli flakes

1 tbsp of cumin

Salt and pepper to flavour

1 can of butterbeans, drained

A handful of fresh baby leaf spinach

A dollop of vegan mayo to cool if needed

Method:

In a large pan, fry the onion and garlic in the oil for approximately 3 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan, with all the herbs and spices, mixing well and keeping the heat medium.
Add the lentils and water and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Now add the sweetcorn and butterbeans, mixing throughout.
Does it smell great yet? If not, add more herbs and spices to get it to your liking.
Turn up the heat for the last five minutes of cooking and add the baby leaf spinach.
Enjoy with a good dollop of creamy mayo, sour cream or your own homemade aquafaba goodness.

This dish is full of protein and will fill you up for sure.

Jerk Pulled “Pork” with Banana Salsa & Peach Cobbler Pudding

August 30, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

This was a bit off the cuff. I just decided to take pictures of a two course meal I cooked my friends. The pictures therefore aren’t amazing, nor is there enough of them showing different elements. I’d like to apologise for that now. However, I couldn’t deny you this recipe because it was so damn good.

Ingredients

Salt

300 g brown sugar

4 cans of braised tofu

4 tbsp of jerk seasoning or hot fajita spice

A small glass of pineapple juice

50 g golden syrup

2 cans of black beans or pinto beans (Or a mix of both)

Lots of soft flour tortillas

Natural soya yoghurt (I just used one small pot)

3 medium bananas, not quite ripe, peeled and chopped

1 red onion, peeled and chopped

2 just ripe avocados

Juice of half a lemon

Juice of half a lime

Fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Method

An hour before, mix the salt, sugar and drained tofu in a large bowl and leave to marinate.

Once the hour is up, mix in the jerk seasoning, pineapple and golden syrup into the bowl.

Place in a hot pan and stir occasionally until the liquid starts to evaporate. Then turn down to a low heat whilst you break apart the tofu into pulled strips.

Leave to slowly cook off the rest of the juices whilst you make your salsa,

Put the diced banana in a bowl with onion. Peel, chop and stone the avocado and add that too. Mix in the lemon, lime and coriander and you’re done.

Reheat your beans and warm up your tortillas and your done.

Check it out.

Serve with natural yoghurt for a cooling effect.

My friends had 3 each of these bad bois. I was stuffed after two.

When this has gone down you can serve your pudding. Obviously you would have had this prepared and in the oven before hand because you’re sensible like that right?

Being me, this is a super simple pudding and not too heavy on sugar.

Ingredients

2 tins of sliced peaches in juice

The zest of one lemon

2 tbsp golden syrup

140 g plain flour

50 g porridge oats

25 g cold vegan butter (I used vitalite.)

Method

Get your oven on at about 200 degrees.

Drain the peaches and reserve the juice. Tip them into a deep baking dish. Toss with the lemon rind and 1 tbsp golden syrup.

In a bowl, combine the oats, flour and butter. Add the remaining golden syrup and peach juice.

Mix with a spoon until you have a crumbly mixture.

Scatter over the peaches and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with any leftover natural soya yoghurt you have.

I hope the pictures weren’t too bad and you have a rough idea of what I’m on about.

Enjoy. X

Spiced Squash Pasta: A Thai-Italian Fusion

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

This is entertaining made easy and it’s extra tasty.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Red curry paste to taste (I used roughly 100g)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 can of coconut milk

Fresh coriander

1 tbsp lemon grass paste

500g tagliatelle pasta

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok.
Add the curry paste, squash and lemongrass. Fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat.
Pour in the coconut milk, stir well and bring to the boil.
Allow to simmer for about 25 minutes. Add extra paste and coconut milk if sauce becomes too thick.
When the squash is almost done, cook the pasta according to packet instructions, then drain well.
Pour half the sauce from the pan into a big bowl and mix with the pasta.
Plate up and place remaining squash and fresh coriander on top.
Add siracha if you fancy some extra spice, which I always do.

Cheesy Tofu Pie

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

Traditionally in the UK the summer seems to only last a couple of weeks and then we have lots of rain and a few mild days before it gets cold again. Well at least for the past ten years anyway and they tell us the climate isn’t changing yet! This means we still get to have pies in the summer to keep us warm and fill us up.

I wouldn’t say this is a particularly healthy recipe, but it’s a lot better than it’s non-vegan counterpart.

The best thing about my recipes is that you don’t need anything fancy to make them work. All the ingredients should already be in your house or easily available.

Ingredients:

2 tins of braised tofu (I got mine from Holland & Barrett.)
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder
Half a carton of passata
Water as needed
2 large potatoes
Half a block of Violife original cheese, grated
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon Vitalite dairy free spread
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

Method:

Get the oven on full whack.
Have a pan of salted water heating up to boil.
Fry the onion, garlic and carrots in an oven proof pan, for about three minutes.
Empty the contents of the tofu tin into the pan, including the juices. Break up the tofu into smaller pieces and allow everything to simmer for about two minutes.
Add the bay leaves, red wine vinegar and passata and turn down the heat. Allow to bubble gently for about 10 minutes until the carrots have softened.
Taste the mixture. Add salt and pepper if desired. Turn off the heat.
Slice the potatoes thinly and boil in salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and place back in the sauce pan where you mix in the Vitalite and any extra salt and pepper you require.
Place on top of the tofu mixture, layering if you need to. Cover in grated Violife and nutritional yeast.
Put in the oven, in the oven proof pan for approximately 15 minutes or until the top has a nice crunch.

Enjoy on it’s own or with some steamed vegetables. It’s very filling!

Slow Cooker Saag Aloo

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

I made this to liven up my midweek meals. All you need is a slow cooker. I picked mine up from an ethical house clearance charity near by for £5.

Please feel free to pin the below image on Pinterest.com. 🙂

Ingredients

800 g potatoes, chopped (I don’t peel mine, but feel free if that is your thing.)

1 tbsp of oil

1 tsp mustard of choice

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp garam masala

140 g frozen spinach

Stock

Method

Place all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on a medium heat for 5 hours. When it comes to the water, use as much as you need to fill up the slow cooker pot. Serve with garlic bread.

Nice and easy. 🙂

Vegan Poached Egg

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

As someone who has been vegan for near on a decade, I’ve never really missed eggs. It’s only because a newbie vegan said they were missing them, that I even considered making them.

I can’t take all the credit for this. I got a lot of inspiration from the internet on ways to make this actually happen.

Also because of where I live, lots of fancy ingredients just aren’t available here. I wanted to make a poached egg any one, anywhere could make. I’m also unable to eat the Vegg due to production methods. (Made in the same factory as crustacean products which I am allergic to.) With that in mind, here are the ingredients for the yolk:

120 ml water

1 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder

1 teaspoon of cornflour

1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric

2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

1/2 a teaspoon of English mustard

1/2 a teaspoon American mustard

1 tablespoon of vegan butter (I used Vitalite.)

Blend everything in a food processor, except the butter and pour into a hot pan. Turn the heat off and melt the butter into the mix straight away. Drain into a small bowl and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the white:

600 g of firm silken tofu

3.5 tablespoons of arrowroot powder

2 teaspoons of vegan gelatine powder (I used vegan non-sweetened powder.)

1/4 teaspoon of salt. (If you can get black salt, even better.)

Blend all the ingredients until entirely smooth. Now get your poaching device and fill it with the white mixture. Make a well in the middle and fill with yolk. Depending on the size of your device, 1 or 2 heaped teaspoons. Cover the yolk with white until it isn’t visible and drop device into boiling water.

Cover the pan with a lid so the top is also cooked. (For about 15 minutes.)

The first egg was actually crap. Why? I put the yolk in whilst it was still warm.

The second one I thought I’d cracked (no pun intended) so I served it on spinach, maple bacon and an English muffin. It fell apart because I only cooked it for 8 minutes.

Then I made this little diamond. 15 minutes, gently simmered and lovingly turned onto a plate without breaking.

The yolk is thick and mustardy, just like a chicken’s egg. The white is soft but bouncy. It’s also not as fatty as an egg because you are not adding much fat, but it is still high in protein and B12.

I left some of the 6 I made, in the fridge and heated one up for later. Although it fell apart a bit, it was very tasty with a home grown herby freekah salad.

I hope this helps anyone craving chicken’s eggs as a new vegan and changes the lives of those of us long term vegans who never dreamed this would be possible.

(N.B I know it doesn’t look pretty. What do you want? A perfect vegan egg? Hahahahhaaha! 😛 )

Tomato Spaghetti With Smoky Bacon Tofu

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

If you get this recipe right, it will literally be one of the best things you’ll ever eat. The sauce has been in the making for several years. I use it in all Italian dishes now. The smoky bacon tofu is spot on. It actually tastes like bacon when warm and ham when cold. I destroyed my kitchen in a hurricane of destruction getting the recipe right.

First of all I was just going to do the sauce recipe for you and totally cop out on the bacon by using chorizo.

I decided against it. I used chilled smoked tofu to make some seriously awesome bacon. 🙂

Ingredients:

2 white onions, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp of chilli paste

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp oregano

Half a pack of wholewheat spaghetti

1 block of smoked, chilled tofu

Half a pot of paprika

1 tbsp salt (separate from previous salt.)

1 tbsp yeast extract

Method:

First of all get your pan on for the spaghetti. I am lucky enough to have a spaghetti pan. Fill with water and a dash of salt. Allow water to boil first if you don’t have a spaghetti pan. Otherwise throw it straight in.

Press the tofu. I’m not fancy. I use a large pot of sesame seeds and a sieve. Leave that pressing whilst you prepare the sauce.

Get the sauce going now. Fry off the onions, garlic and chilli for a few minutes until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, red wine vinegar, salt, sugar and oregano mixing frequently and keeping on a low heat.

(A good tip for chilli is to go to the supermarket late at night and pick up a big bag that has been reduced to 9p. Blend and then pickle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to get a lovely big jar of chilli paste you can spoon into multiple dishes.)

Get a frying pan on with a good amount of oil in it and your stove should look something similar to this.

Cut your drained tofu into pieces the size and thickness of your little finger. Pour the paprika and salt onto a chopping board and mix together with your hands. Place your yeast extract as a dollop on the side. One piece at a time, cover the tofu in salt and paprika. Then using your finger, smear yeast extract on both sides. Stick this in the pan and allow to brown for 2 minutes on each large side. Taste it as soon as it’s cool enough to put in your mouth. Does it taste like bacon? If the answer is yes, do the same with the rest. If the answer is no, add more yeast extract each time until the answer is yes. I went through quite a lot of tofu before I got this right. It’s not really an exact science unfortunately. One thing is true though, it bloody well tastes more like bacon than anything I have ever tasted since becoming vegan.

They should come out like this:

Not pretty I know, but don’t worry. Taste is what this dish is all about.

Drain your pasta and mix in with the sauce straight away. Sprinkle the top with your tofu bacon that you’ve now cut into cubes. (Do not mix the bacon through.)

Serve straight away or eat cold for lunch the next day.

The sweetness of the sauce should balance the smoky, salty flavour of the bacon.

I hope you enjoy this. I know it’s not the prettiest or the most comprehensive recipe in the world, but do you know what? The best ones never are.

Queer Vegan

Food, fitness and culture from a queer, vegan, metal head.

Main Meals

Mushroom Pie

Brunch Burrito

Chorizo & Rosemary Pearl Barley Risotto

Spiced Butterbean & Sweetcorn Soup

Jerk Pulled “Pork” with Banana Salsa & Peach Cobbler Pudding

Spiced Squash Pasta: A Thai-Italian Fusion

Cheesy Tofu Pie

Slow Cooker Saag Aloo

Vegan Poached Egg

Tomato Spaghetti With Smoky Bacon Tofu