Vegan MoFo 2014 #19 - Robin Robertson Rocks: Party Vegan

This year was the first time in three years I had a chance to celebrate winter solstice. In 2011 and 2013 I was in the US, so I got to have an extra summer solstice, and in 2012 I was studying for some major exams, so I wasn't paying attention to anything else. Food is central to every celebration for me, so I marked the night by cooking a big dinner for my family and a friend. I chose the 'Christmas' menu from Party Vegan.

Mixed Greens with Caramelized Walnuts and Balsamic-Pear Vinaigrette is an fresh start to the meal. I used a 150g salad bag of mixed greens, which used half of the dressing. The dressing in question is a blended pear and vinegar concoction - very nice! Caramelized walnuts and sun-dried tomatoes are nice add-ins. I used some rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes instead of oil-packed.
Rating: :)



Porcini-Stuffed Seitan is the impressive centerpiece of this menu. It is amazing!! The stuffing made a bit more than I could fit into the seitan, but not by much and leftover stuffing is always great. I used cremini rather than white mushrooms in the stuffy, because that is what I had. The seitan roll was quite flat, but that didn't affect the taste. I took the suggestion to make the roll in advance so I could cook it, then slice it (it slices better cold than hot), then I wrapped it all up in alfoil and reheated at 180dC for one hour to reheat. It is served with a delicious brown mushroom sauce, which is amazing poured all over the sides as well.
Rating: :D




Herb-Mashed Potato fulfills the potato requirement for all holiday dinners. This creamy mash is studded with fresh chives, parsley and tarragon. I left the skins on the potatoes because I am lazy and I don't mind some texture in my mash.
Rating: :)



Wilted Baby Spinach with Dried Cranberries comes together very quickly. I only made a half batch, which made a small amount so definitely make the full recipe.
Rating: :)



Let's have a look at it all together!





Spiced Two-Apple Tart with Cider Creme brings it home in spectacular style. I was quite taken with how pretty this tart looked, especially as I am trying to get better at pastry. I didn't need to use all the water in the pastry to get a good dough. I used a total of 5 apples rather than 6 to cover the tart, and I brushed the finished tart with apricot jam as apple jelly could not be found anywhere. I used juice rather than cider for the creme (as the only apple cider available here is bubbly and alcoholic), which had a lovely taste. I had to chill the creme in the fridge for a while to thicken it up enough, though you can see it was still quite runny. I used a 9-inch fluted tart pan.
Rating: :D





This menu is a bit involved, but there is lots that can be made ahead. Here is how I did it:
- Wednesday: Make sauce (it can be kept in the fridge for up to three days)
- Thursday: Had to be at work all day, so no cooking
- Friday: Make the roast and make the pastry
- Saturday morning: Make the tart, make the dressing for the salad
- Saturday lunch: Make creme, chop everything
- Saturday evening: Finish everything and eat!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



As I mentioned, Petunia has a home now. I miss her, but I am so glad she now has a place and a family to call her own. Petunia is the master of pretty poses, but she can also do an impressive funny pose.

Vegan MoFo 2014 #12: Robin Robertson Rocks - Party Vegan

Great news everyone! If you remember the lovely Petunia? I posted a photo of her back on my #6 MoFo post. She got a home over the weekend! I am so happy for her. Though sad for me because I will miss her and I wasn't working when she went so I didn't get to say goodbye. But she has gone to some amazing people. Yay!

So, back to food. I love menu suggestions in cookbooks, so a book that is full of gorgeous menus was always going to be on my radar. I won this book during a MoFo competition a few years ago, super fun. :) Of course I don't often have time to make full on menus, so I haven't used this book as much as I would have liked. But I will share with you the Curry For Company menu that I made for Father's Day last year.





Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Let's have a closer look.

Curried Pakora Puffs are amazing. They are make ahead and then baked, rather than deep fried. They taste like fancy potato puffs and are highly delicious.
Rating: :D



Mixed Vegetable Curry is full of vegetables and kidney beans in a coconut sauce. I chose a mild curry powder to make this.
Rating: :)



Spinach-Flecked Chapati takes the meal up to something special - homemade flat bread is always a good thing! I had to add a little bit more flour to it so that I could work the dough properly.
Rating: :)



Mango-Mint Chutney calls for fresh mango. Of course my dad's birthday is in the middle of winter, so I used a 1kg bag of frozen mango chunks. This chutney is quite sweet, as it has quite a bit fo sugar, so you may want to decrease that a bit if that suits your tastes more. It also has ginger, golden raisins and mint. Yum.
Rating: :)



Coconut Basmati Rice with Cashews rounds out the trio of carbs the curry is served with. I made this in the rice cooker because all my stove hobs were taken up, and it worked fine.
Rating: :)



Cardamom Rice Pudding is the dessert for this menu. I didn't make this at the same time as the rest (see below), but I made it later on. I found it a touch dry, I had to add a bit more soy milk. The pistachios are optional, but I highly recommend it!
Rating: :)



I mentioned that I didn't make the dessert with the rest of the menu, because it was my dad's birthday so of course he wanted cake!

Spiced Applesauce Cake is not from a Robin Robertson book, it is from Chloe's Vegan Desserts (by Chloe Coscarelli), but I will sneak it in here because I served it at the same time. This cake is amazing! Plus I love anything in a bundt tin. I needed to cook this an extra 20 minutes in my bundt tin. I also only made 1/3 of the quantity of icing, which was more than enough for a not-too-sweet drizzle.
Rating: :D





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My beautiful princess Dim Sim. I love this photo of her, it is often hard for cameras to take a clear photo of a black cat's facial features.

Mother's Day Brunch from Party Vegan

Every year for Mother's Day or her birthday I ask my mother what she would like me to make for her special dinner, and every year she tells me baked beans and cornbread. And I sigh a little because I want to make something new and exciting! This year my mother allowed me to choose (with her final approval, of course). We decided on brunch, so I pulled out a bunch of menu options from different books. Finally she chose the Mother's Day Brunch menu from Robin Robertson's book Party Vegan.

This was very exciting for me, as it was the first time that I had cooked from this book. I haven't had much time for making full menu plans lately. I actually won this book during the closing days of 2010's VeganMoFo from a competition - the only blog competition I have ever won. The book was sent all the way from Canada and arrived on the afternoon that the Brisbane floods began at the beginning on 2011. There's a certain amount of shock that sets in when you watch large parts of your city being swallowed up by water, so the book remained unread for a while.

When I finally got around to reading it (I read all my new cookbooks like novels first, and cross-reference recipes within them) I was very happy. Lots of exciting menu plans with lots of make ahead and quick options so you don't get overwhelmed trying to do everything at once! And being that Robin is one of my favourite cookbook authors, I knew that it would not disappoint.

Anyway, back to brunch!


It's a pretty beautiful spread, and was a lovely morning. The drinks you can see are virgin mimosa's, since I don't drink alcohol. Essentially just fresh orange juice (OK, I cheat a little and use Nudie's Nothing But Oranges so I don't have to squeeze it all out myself) with some soda water added for a bit of sparkle.


Strawberry Carpaccio with Balsamic Syrup
Brunch started with an elegant but simple plate of thinly sliced fresh strawberries with a sweet balasamic vinegar and fresh mint. The balsamic vinegar is really delicious (just don't over cook it as it will go a bit too thick) and I have a desire to try it over vanilla ice cream.


Asparagus Quiche-Me-Not
I was never really interested in egg-based quiches in my pregan days, but I love vegan quiche now. One of the great things about vegan food is that I can enjoy so many more options, as the so called 'traditional' versions would often make me feel kind of ill. Obviously my body knew I was meant to be vegan before I did! Anyway, this quiche has a filling of cashews, white beans and asparagus with a variety of seasoning in a lovely pastry crust.


Tempeh Bacon Triangles
Tempeh bacon is hands down my favourite smoky brunch addition. I know there are various pre-made vegan bacons, but they never really enticed me. Since my first bite of tempeh bacon, I knew it was love. I make every tempeh bacon recipe I come across. While this recipe isn't as quick as the recipe from Robin's 1000 Vegan Recipes, the marinading time is well worth it as you end up with amazing, juicy tempeh triangles. The recipe calls for 8 ounces, but here I get my tempeh 300g blocks, so to make up for the extra tempeh I used Australian tablespoons to measure the marinade, which are larger than American ones by a whole 5mL!


I don't think anyone would turn away this gorgeous plate - these are two five star rated recipes right here!


Raspberry Lemon Muffins from Colour Me Vegan
The muffin recipe was a departure from the menu, as my mother requested a berry muffin rather than the chai muffins in Party Vegan. Of course my very soul trembled at having to go 'off menu', but as it was her day I made these raspberry and lemon morsels from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Colour Me Vegan. They are very moist little muffins, and are quite small in the muffin cups, but have a good flavour.


These muffins are best eating the day they are made, as seem to get a bit soggy as time goes on.


Chocolate "Pots de Creme"
Back on the menu plan with a decadent finish. These little pots are made from melted chocolate, almond meal and tofu and are very rich. I couldn't make it through a whole one in one go, but it keeps well. These would also make some nice truffles, I think.

All in all, this was a great menu and my mum was very happy with it. I found it really easy to put together in time for brunch. The day before, I made the quiche and refrigerated it, as well as had the tempeh triangles marinading in the fridge. I also mixed up the dry components and wet components for the muffins into separate sealed containers. In the morning I took the quiche out of the fridge to come to room temperature, then I made the chocolate pots-de-creme first as they need to be in the fridge for at least two hours (you could make these the night before but the recipe said not to refrigerate for more than 12 hours so I made them on the morning, but the leftovers were fine in the fridge for longer). I mixed up the wet and dry muffin components and baked the muffins. Then all I had to do was slice strawberries, make the balsamic syrup and fry up the bacon. Easy! I even had time to go to the gym that morning!


Chai-Spiced Muffins
Because I wasn't able to make the muffins from the menu on the actual day, but I still wanted to complete the menu, I made the chai-spiced muffins the next day for work snacks. These have a really subtle spiced flavour that is really nice.

So one menu completed, and one Mother's Day brunch success! I'm really looking forward to making more menu plans from this book. I know I am late posting this (Mother's Day was back in May), but I hope everyone who celebrates Mother's Day had a really nice day with their mothers, or their children (including the non-human kind!).

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


A photo of our family kitty Possum, who is enjoying a morning recline in the bark underneath the palm trees.