Tuesday 11 February 2020

Lammas 2020

My only real food goal for this year is to still make food to celebrate each of the sabbats as they occur. It is a nice way that I can mark them, and the progress of the year (I'd say seasons... but where I live barely has seasons any more... sigh). You can see my previous sabbat posts here. This post brings my calendar year around full circle, as I started this goal with Lammas last year.

Lammas (2nd February, 2020):

Corn, grains, bread, seasonal fruits and berries... these are some of the foods associated with Lammas. Lammas is a harvest festival, celebrating the wheat harvest. It is also the time of the height of summer, and the knowledge that things are changing, and the days are getting shorter. Of course, here in Brisbane, the height of summer tends to be about 6 months of the year... so, you know. At least the days are getting shorter!

Roasted Corn and Sorghum Salad with Chipotle Dressing from The Great Vegan Grains Book by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes: While sorghum isn't typically a grain you think of, I had some to use up and it seemed like this summery corn-filled salad was perfect to mark this time of year. I cooked my sorghum in some stock (rather than water) and used my rice cooker to do so (less fuss and out stove is half broken at the moment). I also increased the amount of sorghum a little, and added a tin of white beans to bulk this up into a proper dinner. Frozen corn (I can't get white corn so I used yellow) is roasted in the overn to give a lovely sweetness. Of course I didn't use chipotle in my dressing, but rather used smoked paprika and it was delightful! I left out the scallions from the salad, and used garlic powder rather than raw garlic in the dressing to keep it Susan tummy friendly.
Rating: :)

Roasted Corn and Sorghum Salad with Chipotle Dressing


As you can see, I served it with some slices of sourdough bread spread with smoked sesame cheese. (Yes, the smoked sesame cheese is back and in supermarkets! Fenn has sold or rebranded it as Made From Plants. Unfortunately, while good, it is not as good as the original Fenn version. They have switched from smoking the sesame seeds to using liquid smoke, and it is a bit runnier as well. I guess something had to give in the change from small batch to mass production.) While baking bread is a traditional Lammas activity, I just didn't have time or energy. So this lovely sourdough on the side was my nod to that.

Blackberry-Sunflower Crisp from Blissful Basil by Ashley Melillo: Blackberries are a traditional Lammas fruit, and this blackberry crumble was a wonderful way to finish up a symbolic meal. I made a half recipe in and 8x8 inch pan. I used frozen blackberries rather than fresh, because although fresh blackberries are around and on sale and delicious at the moment, it would still cost a lot to buy enough fresh blackberries for this. But my frozen blackberries were deliciously sweet. As I was using frozen fruit, I increased the amount of arrowroot starch a bit in the filling. The topping is a blend of ground sunflower seeds and oats, with more oats, cardamom, maple syrup, and oil. It called for melted coconut oil (gross), I used canola. This was wonderful served with some vanilla raspberry ice cream.
Rating: :)

Spring & Summer Blackberry-Sunflower Crisp


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

Dim Sim


Speaking of blackberries, I think we all know who my favourite blackberry is. And she is so sweet as well!

10 comments:

  1. Happy Lammas!!! That looks like a perfect celebratory meal! We're still celebrating Imbolc over here (my witchy friends and I got together for a late Imbolc celebration this past Saturday, and there was lots of vegan cheese and milky vegan Bailey's consumed!).

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    1. I love that you have a group of witchy friends to celebrate with! I love that we had matching desserts as well.

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  2. That crisp looks SO GOOD. I used to live in a place where some describe the seasons as "summer, late summer, winter, and tornadoes," so I sympathize. Meanwhile I'm glad the days are lengthening and berries are coming around to my future.

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    1. I am glad we don't have tornadoes at least! I hope you can be enjoying berries soon.

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  3. That's too bad about the changes to the smoked sesame cheese. Your blackberry-sunflower crisp sounds perfect, though!
    P.S. Completely unrelated, but I have finally started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I'm enjoying it so far! :D

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    1. YAY BUFFY! Email me/message me/text me with all your thoughts/reactions/hopes/dreams because I will talk about Buffy all day every day!

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  4. I have never had a blackberry crisp, WHY?? It looks so beautiful and delicious!
    I am so curious about smoked sesame cheese! I tried to make it once, but I don't think it turned out as good as what I've seen on your blog!
    Hi pretty Dim Sim!!!!

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    1. I often overlook blackberries when berry season comes around, but they have been so sweet and delicious and actually on sale a lot here this year. So good.

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  5. Mmmm... sounds really good!

    As for lack of seasons, I remember hearing a podcast episode interviewing a Phenologist (a seasons specialist) and she was saying there are totally seasons in California (a place viewed at being seasonless) Anyways, it more about shifting your views from Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, and more about a dry and wet season. And clearly some plants thrive more in winter or summer.
    https://www.alieward.com/ologies/phenology

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    1. Oh, I listened to that podcast! I love Ologies. Brisbane has never had as clearly defined seasons as other places, but I have definitely noticed that summer has become the dominant season over my lifetime. Yay climate change? But I recently did see something about there being six seasons in indiginous culture, which I am planning on looking into.

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