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: :)



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: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



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