Recipe Round-Up: Cafe Flora Cookbook

This is the final post in my current round up of the Cafe Flora Cookbook. See what else I've posted about from this book here.

Apple and Roasted Delicata Pizza with Sage Walnut Pesto and Smoked Mozzarella: This book has a whole chapter of pizzas! Most of them are not vegan, but they are so easy to veganise, like this one. First up though, I used butternut squash because I have never seen delicata squash here. The sage and walnut pesto was easy to make, but ended up being a bit bland and oily. It brought the overall experience of the pizza down, I'm afraid. Instead of mozzarella, I used cheddar shreds. I'm glad I did, as it needed a nice strong cheese flavour to cut through the sweetness and also the pesto. If you did have a vegan smoked mozzarella, that would be wonderful, but I only had plain so I went with cheddar. This pizza did improve the next day, when I ate a leftover piece cold.
Rating: :| (The pesto let it down)



Roasted Chanterelle and Leek Pizza with Roasted Garlic Pecan Pesto: Another easily veganised pizza! I should mention that each pizza recipe makes two pizzas, but I halved them all to make just one pizza. I had to substitute and use cremini mushrooms, I have never seen fresh chanterelle mushrooms here. But all mushrooms are good mushrooms! The pesto for this pizza was a lot better, giving a wonderful rich flavour! This recipe calls for two types of non-vegan cheese (smoked mozzarella and Jarlsberg), I just used some FYH mozzarella and it was great.
Rating: :)



Tropical Pizza: This is the only specified vegan pizza in the book. When I made this, I also made a half recipe of the Herbed Pizza Dough for the base. The other pizzas I just used the Coles pizza dough. It's a nice dough recipe, and you can add any herbs you want to it (I added coriander and parsley). The rest of this pizza has a base of macadamia roasted garlic spread, topped with sauteed shiitake, pineapple, and ginished off with coriander and a drizzle of sweet soy. It was a great pizza!
Rating: Dough :), Pizza :)



Cafe Flora French Dip Sandwich: This is one of the dishes I actually ate at Cafe Flora, so I was curious to see how it would turn out at home. First you need to make mushroom essence (very easy and I've made if a few times for different recipes, mushrooms and mushroom stems simmered to make a rich stock) and a french dip spread. The spread is a combination of sauteed shallots, garlic, and herbs mixed into some softened vegan butter, I used Nuttelex. The rolls are layered with sauteed portobellos and onions, the spread, and cheese (I used some Tofutti American slices), and served with the mushroom essence for dipping. These were very rich, but wonderfully savoury.
Rating: :)



Chickpea and Roasted Yam Wrap with Tahini Sauce: Obviously, in my world yam = sweet potato. This involves a mash of spiced chickpeas gently mixed with roasted sweet potato. The sweet potatoes were meant to be roaste with chili, I used paprika. A spinach wrap is spread with Tahini Sauce (a recipe from the staples chapter), then filled with the mash and, in my case, some baby spinach. I didn't bother serving with sweet chili dipping sauce, because spicy. This was a nice combination. I served it with some roasted broccoli, topped with extra Tahini Sauce.
Rating: Wrap :), Sauce :)



Teriyaki Tofu Wrap with Macadamia Roasted Garlic Spread: This recipe made use of some of the leftover spread from the tropical pizza I made above, as well as some more of the spinach wraps from the packet. I used a storebought teriyaki sauce to bake my tofu, and it was really super salty. I wouldn't use that one again, I think it was Ayam brand. After spreading the wraps with the macadamia spread, a layer of seasoned rice is added. The rice is seasoned with fresh coriader, ginger, garlic, mirin, and rice vinegar. I left out the japaleno. Then finished off with the tofu, shredded carrot, and sprouts (I used alfalfa).
Rating: :)



Cafe Flora Cheesy Grits: Another easy to veganise recipe! I used Flora Plant Cream and some grated Daiya Smoked Gouda instead of smoked mozzarella (the last of my Daiya stash, I didn't have any more to use on the pizzas above.. and Daiya doesn't seem to be here anymore. Please bring back my smoked gouda!). I also used polenta because we don't really have grits here and they seem like they are kind of the same? (I'm sorry Bianca, don't be mad!) I also left out the hot sauce. Served with some roasted zucchini and some breakfast patties I unearthed from the back of my freezer.
Rating: :)



Rosemary Lemonade: My fondest memory of eating at Cafe Flora was their delicious Rosemary Lemonade, so I was super excited to make some at home. I had a huge pile of juicy lemons from a friend's lemon tree, and I also have a large rosemary bush in the front yard, so the stage was set. And can I say, this was every bit as delicious as I remembered! The perfect flavour!
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yesterday (so the 30th of January here in Australia) was Abby's sixth birthday!