Phil's Omelette with Soy-Braised Potatoes

Phil’s Omelette

from  Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn, Murdoch Books, 2008.

I keep returning to this book because I find the recipes not only well worth trying but I am entertained by the gossipy stories that accompany them. They are family type stories that give bits of information or background to where the recipes came from or who supplied them. It all gives a nice sense of history that brings back memories of my own grandmother’s cooking.

Phil’s Omelette gets its name from a boyfriend of the author even though she explains that she is sure that he never ever cooked it. It’s a little different from the usual omelette recipe so I thought I would give it a try.

This omelette has a slice of white bread included in it. It is soaked in milk and then mashed before it is added to the egg yolks, and then finally the beaten egg whites. I omitted the Worcester sauce as it does have anchovies in it and is a no-no for vegetarians.

The result was a very light, fluffy omelette cooked in a small size like large pikelets. They were a little difficult to turn in the pan because they were so light and tended to buckle a bit as you tried to slide the slice under them. Nevertheless, a welcome change to the usual omelette.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Soy-Braised Potatoes

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

Wanting something to go with Phil’s Omelette I settled on soy-braised potatoes. It was odd to cook them in a slow cooker but it did mean I could put them on and forget them for some time and give all my attention to the omelette when I was ready to make it.

They were an easy cook, not a flavour I felt went particularly well with potatoes, but certainly worth the try.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Corn and Capsicum Stir-Fry

Spicy Stir-Fried Corn and Peppers

from The Vegetarian Table: Thailand, Jacki Passmore, Chronicle Books, 1997.

Looking for a vegetable accompaniment to go with some rissoles, I decided on trying out these stir-fried corn and peppers. I have not been overly excited by anything that I have so far cooked from this book. They have been reasonable meals but have not seemed to really capture Thai cooking.

This stir-fry was a breeze to make and it went well with the rest of the meal. It was colourful and the spices added flavour to the corn and capsicum. It was a reasonable accompaniment which I will remember for future meals.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Jamie Oliver's Apple Pie

Apple Pie 

from Jamie’s Dinners, Jamie Oliver, Penguin Books, 2006.

Jamie’s Dinners is about everyday meals and in it Jamie Oliver has listed his top ten favourites. Among the top ten is apple pie. I’ve cooked a few apple pies before so I thought I’d give Jamie’s recipe a try.

I didn’t follow the instructions for the pastry completely as it calls for two egg yolks. Recipes that call for the use of a lot of egg yolks and leave you with egg whites left over I find a bit on the annoying side so I generally adjust them. I settled for one yolk.

The recipe called for a ‘tiny drop of water’ which left me wondering just how big a ‘tiny drop’ was but I found I had to use a bigger drop anyway because I had used one yolk less.

The filling included some extra touches like ground ginger and raisins which I don’t usually use for apple pies. It also called for one cooking apple and four eating apples—a slightly different combination from what I was used to.

The pie was baked in the bottom of the oven, which surprised me somewhat. It turned out to have nicely crunchy pastry but the top was pale. Perhaps I should have raised it up to brown it a bit more.

All in all it was a tasty pie—like all apple pies. Whether it rated better or less than others I'm not that sure but it sure went down well.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

All-American Pizza

All-American Pepper, Mushroom and Onion Pizza

from Vegetarian Dinner in Minutes, Linda Gassenheimer, Chronicle Books, 1997.

Vegetarian Dinner in Minutes has its recipes sorted out into what appear to be different cuisines: Flavours of the Mediterranean, Foods of the Far East, Cajun and Caribbean Cuisine and so on. The American section is somewhat confusing with its choices which appear to be anything but American: Fricassée with French Brie Salad, Mushroom Stroganoff with Buttered Egg Noodles and Lima Beans to name a couple. So I was interested to see what an All-American Pepper, Mushroom and Onion Pizza would be like. What makes this pizza ‘all-American’? I decided to ignore the panzanella salad which accompanies it.

I could not see a lot of difference with this pizza from other pizzas to give it such a name. It was made with a bought base, but this is a book that is about cooking fast meals. The topping was a little different in that the ingredients (red onion, red capsicums and mushrooms) were pre-cooked in a broth. The sauce was made from canned tomatoes, garlic and basil. And, of course, there was mozzarella on top.

Though I can’t see what makes it specifically American it was definitely tasty. And a few nights later I made another one as there was another base not yet used.

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.

Lentil Burgers with Country Salad

Armenian Lentil Burgers

from Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, Lukas Volger, Wakefield Press, 2010.

Being a great fan of burgers I was pleased to find this book. What a variety of vegetarian burgers are featured in it. There are burgers based on beans, grains and nuts; there are burgers with a vegetable base; and there are burgers made from tofu, seitan, tempeh and TVP. All in all I counted 30 different burgers. There’s enough there to satisfy any fan.

I decided on the Armenian lentil burgers because there were lentils in the pantry and I was having a bit of a lentil phase. Once the lentils were cooked the burgers were quite easy to put together. It was suggested that they be served with a cucumber-yoghurt sauce, an easy one to make.

The burgers were tasty and the sauce went well with them. They were, however, a little on the dry side and somewhat heavy.

I served them with a Country Salad with Peppers and Chillies from Tagines & Couscous.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Country Salad with Peppers and Chillies

from Tagines & Couscous, Ghillie Başan, Ryland Peters and Small, 2010.

This salad looked as though it would be a good accompaniment for Armenian burgers made with lentils. The salad was composed of red onions, red and green capsicums, green chillies, celery, garlic and mint and parsley. Oil and lemon juice finished it off.

The fresh crunchy salad went well with the lentil burger and its cucumber yoghurt sauce.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup

from Spice It, Murdoch Books, 2010.

Spice It is an interesting small-size book that examines the different spices and how to use them. It is organised into sections according to the varieties of spice: fragrant, intense, hot, sweet or blends. The section then includes recipes for the particular spices. Each recipe is on a double page spread with an accompanying coloured photograph.

I headed for the blends section to make the sweet potato soup. It was a simple to make soup and the blended spice in this case was madras curry powder. I used a bought curry powder because, unfortunately, I had not noticed that the section included instructions for making the blend. They were on the page prior to the soup. It would have helped if the recipe included a page reference for the blend. I will not make the same mistake now that I have discovered that the section includes instructions for a blend, a few recipes follow it before instructions for another blend, then recipes, and so on.

Despite using a commercial curry powder instead of the freshly mixed one, the soup was an enjoyable one. It was spicy but not overly so. A tip at the bottom of the page suggested that more curry powder be added if a stronger spicy flavour was desired. I was happy with it the way it was.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Corn Cake

Torta di Mais          

from The Vegeterranean, Malu Simões & Alberto Musacchio, Simon & Schuster, 2008.

Encouraged by the success of my palmiers I jumped at this recipe for what, I suppose, translates as a corn cake. Then I read that it was often given to recent mothers to assist them to regain their strength. I was not sure that it was something that I really needed but the photograph looked as though it could be eminently edible. And, so far, recipes from this book had proved good ones.

There was a lot of beating. The first came with whisking ingredients in a saucepan over heat for something like 15 minutes. This had to be cooled so there was time to rest the beating arm. Then egg yolks had to be beaten into the mixture, and beaten well to incorporate air. Finally the egg whites needed to be beaten until stiff and then folded in. From then on it was cooking in the oven.

The result was a very pleasant aniseed flavoured slice. Because of the cornmeal it had a slightly grainy texture that made for enjoyable chewing.

Worth trying—and worth repeating.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔