Stuffed Potatoes

From Gourmet Cooking without Meat, Paul Southey, Marshall Cavendish, 1980.

Sometimes a few simple ingredients can make a tasty dish.

I took two large potatoes, wrapped them in foil and placed them in a 200ºC oven for about an hour, until they were cooked through. They were then taken out and let cool.

The potatoes were now cut in half lengthwise and the insides scooped out leaving about 1cm inside the skin. The scooped out potato was mashed in a bowl with a couple of chopped gherkins, a few chopped green olives and sufficient commercial mayonnaise to make a comfortable mixture that held together easily. This was tasted and did not really need any seasoning. The mixture was scooped back into the potato shells and put back into the oven to warm a little. When they came out some sliced black olives were placed on top as a garnish.

A satisfying dish.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mushroom Soup

From Gourmet Cooking without Meat, Paul Southey, Marshall Cavendish, 1980.

I wanted a mushroom soup to go with a mains course but didn’t want a soup that was milk or cream based. After a little searching I found this recipe that looked all right.

I cut up an onion and gently fried it in butter until it was soft. Then I added about 300g chopped mushrooms. These were stirred a little and let cook until the juices ran and they had darkened somewhat. A pint of water was added with a vegetable stock cube and the heat was turned up.

Meanwhile I took about 30g butter and mashed it with a fork into a tablespoon plain flour. I added a teaspoon Dijon mustard to this and continued mashing until it had become paste-like. When the water in the saucepan reached boiling point it was turned down to a simmer and the butter/mustard paste was added and stirred until it dissolved. About 50ml red wine went in and the mixture was let cook for another 20 minutes.

 

At this stage the soup had finished cooking so a teaspoon Vegemite was stirred in and the seasoning was checked. A little parsley was chopped and added.

It was good to have a mushroom soup that was not pureed and had no dairy in it. It was full of flavour and nicely textured with the finely chopped mushrooms.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Vegetarian Scotch Broth

From Gourmet Cooking without Meat, Paul Southey, Marshall Cavendish, 1980.

This book used to be a constant for me but has gradually dropped out of my cooking repertoire. I thought I might like to revisit it. In its time it was a very useful book because there were not a many vegetarian cookery books available. It is quite different now and cooking styles and cuisines have changed remarkably. However, the old recipes are still valid and it’s possible to vary them with some of the more recent variations.

I’ll always go for a soup when I’m flipping through pages so thought I’d have a look again at Scotch broth.

One of the most noticeable differences in this older recipe from more recent ones is the amount of time given to cooking the soup. It was actually cooked for 1½ hours, a time which I cut back considerably.

It was an easy cook. Onions and carrots were fried for a little while. Then all the remaining ingredients (turnips, parsnips, barley, water, thyme, bay leaves and seasonings) were added except for the leek. These were supposed to cook for an hour. I only gave it about 20 minutes, sufficient for the barley to be almost done.  The sliced leek was then added and cooked for another 30 minutes; 20 for me.

The result was a thick rather heavy soup. With ‘broth’ in its name I expected a lighter more watery dish. It was, however, a pleasant enough soup, and substantial enough to be satisfying.

 Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔