Bitzer Meal

Every so often I like to just gather bits and pieces from the refrigerator and make a meal. So long as there are cracker biscuits of some sort in the pantry you can generally fill the table with sufficient to satisfy: gherkins, olives, cheese, grapes or sliced apples, perhaps firm pears. But I always can't resist making something to add to it all.

Tomato and Nut Balls
I sauteed a chopped onion and garlic clove in olive oil until soft. While it was cooking I peeled and chopped two tomatoes. These went into the pan for about 5 minutes. In a bowl I now mixed this with about 100g nuts ground roughly in a pestle and mortar. The nuts I used were mainly hazel nuts but as there was insufficient I added some macadamias. It was now time to add breadcrumbs until the mixture firmed up sufficiently to roll it into ball shapes. I didn't have a lot of breadcrumbs so added some finely ground oats. I added a little salt, though not enough it proved later as we ate them.

The balls were now to be rolled in chopped parsley. Unfortunately what I thought was parsley was coriander. This was fine to use, but it wasn't sufficient so I picked some basil from the garden and made up the quantity with this.

I felt that these balls looked unattractive but they were crunchy (and quite filling) bites. The tomato flavour seemed to vanish in the nut mixture but added a touch of umami. I wish I had seasoned them a bit more.

Some were left the next day so I flattened them into rissole shapes, gave them a sprinkle of salt and fried them for lunch. I preferred them this way.

Tahini Dip
I crushed with salt 1/2 clove garlic and mixed it in a bowl with 1/4 cup tahini, 2 tablespoons olive oil, a tablespoon water. I now stirred in the juice of 1/2 lemon. The mixture immediately thickened so I now  beat in water little by little until I had the texture that I wanted. I added salt and pepper to taste and a little chopped parsley and the dip was ready.

Spread on cracker biscuits this was a wonderful base to add any other elements: olives, cheese, sun dried tomatoes. I only made a small amount so it all went.

Chile Con Queso
There was 115g fontina cheese left from a block so I thought this was a good opportunity to use it. It was grated and went into a small saucepan with a tablespoon chopped jalapeno chilli from the jar, a finely sliced spring onion and 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds. The mixture was stirred until it had melted and was then quickly brought to the table to be eaten straightaway before it went cold—I didn't want to set up a fondu set for this small amount of cheese.

Of these three items I made for the bitzer meal this was the one I think I enjoyed the most. Something with chillies will always appeal to me.

Cannellini Beans with Basil and Tomato Sauce

From The Vegan Diet, David Scott and Claire Golding, Rider, 1985.

This recipe originally was for butterbeans but I had cannellini in the pantry so decided to use those. I had just 100g left so after pre-soaking I put them in a saucepan and cooked them until done. They took roughly an hour.

While the beans were cooking I fried a chopped onion, a chopped garlic clove and a tablespoon of chopped basil until the onion was soft. I then added three peeled and chopped tomatoes with a little water. The recipe called for a can of tomatoes but I had fresh on hand. I also added a tablespoon of tomato sauce and a small piece of dulce seaweed chopped finely. These were cooked for about 5 minutes and then I added a teaspoon of miso dissolved in a little of the water from the pan. I took it off the heat and tasted for seasoning. I added about a teaspoon of soya sauce and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

When the beans were cooked they were drained and the tomato mixture was stirred in. A sprinkling of chopped parsley and it was ready.

This was used as an accompanying vegetable to go with cheese sausages and it worked well in this capacity.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mushroom Vol-au-Vents

From The Vegan Diet, David Scott and Claire Golding, Rider, 1985.

Occasionally I like to go back to look into an old cookbook. It’s like a sort of time machine for you get transported immediately to another era just by looking at the food that was eaten then. When I turned to this book I opened and found vol-au-vents that I don’t think I’ve seen for some time. Were they from the 70s or 80s? I do know they had their time and they do seem to have been relegated to a back seat. I knew I had to make them.

The puff pastry side was only a matter of preparing the two different pieces for the case. Once put together the cases were baked in a hot oven for 30 minutes. They puffed up well, though some of mine went lopsided, puffing up more on one side that the other.

The filling was made by chopping mushrooms and cooking them in oil and a little lemon juice. When they were approaching cooked a tablespoon of flour was added, stirred in and cooked for a couple of minutes. A little milk was added with some soya sauce and stirred until thickened. The mixture was tasted and seasoning added. Mushrooms always seem to need more salt.

The filling was added to the vol-au-vent cases and it was all ready.

This was a fun sort of dish. It was good to make and try, though I don’t think I can see myself making them again. Basically it’s a party dish to be handed around like canapés.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Savoury Potato Cakes

From The Vegan Diet, David Scott and Claire Golding, Rider & Company, 1985.

I’ve had this book on the shelf for many years and rarely used it. But it seems vegan is becoming much more prominent in the cooking scene. The number of vegan cookery books appear to be multiplying rapidly, whereas vegetarian ones are fairly static. So I thought I’d have a look at this book again. You never know; you often find surprises from the past.

The first thing I noticed was this recipe for potato cakes which I have always loved. Every time I find another recipe I have to make it to find if it matches or surpasses my favourites. This one didn’t.

To the grated potato was added grated onion and also some dried sage. As well there is a small amount of flour—in this case I used a little besan (chickpea) flour.

When they were fried the potato cakes didn’t crisp us which for me is one of the absolute musts. They remained a bit on the soggy side and this I attribute to the addition of flour. I wouldn’t make these again.

Taste: ✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.