Quaran-Cuisine - The Iso Kitchen Diaries III
- Tasha's Eats
- May 7, 2020
- 7 min read
A couple of musings from this week …
Firstly, I have really found cooking and listening to music to be my main source of meditation and stress-relief these last couple of weeks. Preferably together. There are quite a few cookbooks that explore the relationship between music and food. An example is Ben Lebus’ first Mob Kitchen Cookbook, which associates each dish with a song. I find this really interesting as the energy I get from cooking is most definitely tuned and enhanced by whatever is blaring from the speaker. There’s just something about the two that feeds the soul (in both senses). A particular marriage I would advocate is ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ and ‘Miso-Turmeric Tofu Ramen’.
Secondly, what I have been noticing and loving in the food industry is the creative ways that independent businesses are coming up with to make the most of their resources and facilities. Not that we have access to many out here in the country, but I have heard that in London the ‘Grape and Fig’ are sending out replications of their elaborate grazing tables in the post and that ‘Island Poke’ are now delivering ‘Make You Own Poke Bowl’ kits. I think this is a really great way to retain the business-customer relationship through engagement and interaction with the food, whilst also providing a new mode of at-home entertainment. I would certainly implore anyone in London or bigger towns/cities in the UK to check some of these out and support if you can. Otherwise, I am sure a few of your favourite locals - wherever you are - may be doing a similar thing that is worth looking up! I will list a few London-based ones below that looked particularly cool …
Antipasti: https://www.grapeandfig.com/grazing-boxes
Burgers: https://pattyandbun.myshopify.com/
Pasta and pastries: https://pophams.slerp.com/order
Chocolate tahini babka: https://thegoodegg.slerp.com/order/store/the-good-egg-pre-order-the-good-egg/chocolate-tahini-babka-recipe-kit
Italian: https://shop.linastores.co.uk/
Cheese survival kit: https://www.thecheesebar.com/the-truck/
Pasta: https://nonnatonda.co.uk/
Here are a few meals that I have been gorging on this week. Seems to be particularly stew-based now that I look at it, so much inspiration for some light veg and legume-based vegan stews…
Aubergine and tomato pasta with toasted pine nuts and a fennel and pear salad/Korean bibimbap with brown rice, kale, pickled radishes, carrot ribbons, soy-marinated dried field mushrooms and fried tofu/Red lentil chilli with Oatly sour cream and massaged kale/Whole roasted cauliflower with a green tahini sauce and pomegranate seeds/Buddha bowl with roasted squash, chickpeas, cauliflower and tahini/Globe artichokes with a herby silken tofu dip and an egg, beetroot and spicy roast chickpea salad/Miso-tumeric ramen with buckwheat noodles and tofu/Vegan aubergine bake/Vegetarian meatball (Linda McCartney meatballs) and cannellini bean casserole with braised fennel and spinach and roasted carrots
I am cheating by including two ingredients of the week, but they are of the same variety so I think they can be included together. The first is chickpeas. Now usually people would instinctively think ‘hummus’ or ‘hummus’. However, you can make chickpeas in so many ways so that you never get bored of them ... What’s more, they are very nutritious. Great for extra plant-based protein and a good healthy carb option. There is no doubt that hummus is life, and there are so many flavours of hummus that you could play around and get funky with. However, you could also consider roasting chickpeas in spices and adding them to salads or as a garnish/source of crunch in any meal. I often just include them raw in a salad to make it extra filling as well. This week I also blitzed them up as a base for beetroot burgers and used them to make vegan blondies! Don’t be put off. The starchiness works as a great, healthy alternative to a moist cookie dough. All you have to do is blitz up the cooked chickpeas and add vanilla essence, maple syrup, a tablespoon of nut butter, choc chips and salt. Either store them in the fridge and consume like cookie dough or add baking powder and bake in the oven to make blondies (add cocoa powder to make brownies).
Beetroot burgers with chickpeas
The second ingredient is Split Peas. Now this may be because they were the last dried legume on the supermarket shelves, but this has taught me to really consider them more often! They can be used as a great substitution for chickpeas as they are larger than lentils. First of all, I made a split-pea hummus. This differed to chickpea hummus in that it was a little drier and grainier, but I added more olive oil than usual to make it creamier and actually enjoyed the thicker texture. The taste was milder and a touch sweeter. Adding peas or mint would make for a great flavour as well! Or a zaatar version …
I also experimented with split peas by recreating Nourish by Noor’s ‘Spiced Mung Beans’ in the form of ‘Spiced Split Peas’. This was delicious and worked really well with the spices! I would recommend overcooking the split peas so that they are mushy rather than crunchy as they blend into the tomato and spices and add extra depth to the dish. The recipe is available on her Instagram stories if you are interested!
Spiced split-peas with split-pea hummus, roasted carrots and a rocket and olive salad
Seasonal ingredient of the week is a classic – tomatoes. They have come into season a little earlier than usual this year due to the warmer climes. Nothing beats a simple Italian balsamic tomato salad, as there is no better way to enhance the sweetness and juiciness of the tomato. Granted, we have never been blessed by our tomatoes here in the UK, and everyone knows that the tomatoes in France and Italy taste 10 x better. However, if you are able to be picky about where you source your tomatoes, I would look towards the Isle of Wight for the sweetest and softest of the bunch. I also made a Mexican inspired tomato salad for one of this week’s lunches, with grilled red peppers, avocado, baked leftover tortillas cut into strips, and a dressing made from chipotle ketchup, chilli sauce, sherry vinegar, olive oil, lime, lots of fresh herbs and salt and pepper. I would also recommend roasting the tomatoes with garlic and blitzing it all up with lime and a splash of vinegar to make a salad, or the same but with raw tomatoes for a dressing. If you like me and are a fan of a Bloody Mary, try blitzing up your tomatoes and sieving them to make your own bloody mix … that could be fun.
Lastly, my food waste tip of the week is stolen from Diana Henry. It involved fennel fronds, which are the whispery, stalky bits that stick out of the top of a fennel bulb. Cut these off and store these aside to whip into a fresh, homemade aioli, or use as a garnish for fish. They are aniseedy but not overwhelming. They simply add a lovely, light touch of extra flavour.
Cookbook of the week
This week’s cookbook is an old favourite. Twin brothers Steve and Dave are my favourite leaders of the Vegan revolution, and it may be something to do with them being Irish. True story – a couple of summers ago, I persuaded my mum to make a pilgrimage down to the quaint seaside neighbourhood of Greystones, where they are based, to meet them. Only Dave was around, but he was truly lovely and as enthusiastic in person as you would expect them to be. They seem to have a superhuman store of energy, that emulates constant positivity and light-heartedness onto others. In Ireland, they have created a physical, virtual and retail hub of hearty, healthy and colourful plantbased food. Their first cookbook was one of my first vegan cookbooks, and I am constantly returning to it for inspiration of simple but comforting dishes. A favourite of mine is their ‘Fennel and Aubergine Stew’. There are a lot of spices involved, but the finishing result really blows your mind with its interesting flavours and revitalising effect. They also do a great range of sweet treats, such as the grain-free energy bars and flapjacks. Do look out for their ready-meals and products in Supervalu if you ever find yourself there, as these are really something to talk about as well.
Fennel and squash stew with split pea hummus and courgette ribbons
Blog of the week
Nourishing Amy is a ray of sunshine, and her blog reflects that. She is known for recipe development in partnership with other retail brands and products. She has produced an abundance of healthy creations, using products that you can buy online as a base for the recipe. Examples are nut butters, spreads, dips, etc. However, she also comes up with many of her own user-friendly plantbased recipes such as her ‘Pesto Tomato Homemade Cauliflower Gnocchi’. I also enjoy her monthly musings, which contemplate the current climate, trends, mood, mindfulness, with reflections on food interwoven within.
Recipe of the week
This week I experimented with Green Kitchen Stories’ (yup, again) ‘Vietnamese Crepes’. This was a fiddly piece of work. As the crepes were gluten free and didn’t include egg as a binding ingredient to make them vegan, they were incredibly hard to keep together when flipping. I did have to make a few substitutions, such as swapping chickpea flour for buckwheat flour and cornstarch for corn flour, which may not have helped. You had to use a lot of oil and a very high heat and wait longer than you would with normal crepes to flip. However, after my 6th attempt, I eventually mastered it. The result was delicious, though. The crepes contained turmeric, which was a lovely exotic flavour paired with the sharp Vietnamese dipping sauce. Though the filling on the recipe was vegetarian, I baked up some hake with spices and chopped peppers and onions for the filling and served it alongside a sweetcorn and radish salsa and avocado. It was not a pretty sight, but it was a pretty flavour and not like anything I had ever eaten before.
In need of some sweet, gooey, healthy goods with minimal and wholesome ingredients? Look no further than @doctorbowl ‘s page on Instagram. Her feed is loaded with recipes for baked goods that are all gluten, dairy and refined sugar free but all as drool-worthy as each other. Each is super easy but super satisfying. Her gooey blueberry muffins look amazing, as do her fudgy brownies. I have tried and tested her banana choc chip cookies, which were a dream, and her chickpea blondies. As long as you have banana, oats, almond butter, maple syrup and ground almonds in your store cupboards, you are pretty much set.
Doctor Bowl's Banana Choc Chip Cookies
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