Retro Saturday - Bean Stroganoff

You can't get more retro than a stroganoff in my book, so today I made a bean stroganoff with three beans. But before I give you the recipe let me tell you where I've been today. 

The small village where I grew up was holding a local food festival so I went along to show my support. I was told that it was a celebration of local food talent involving all sections of the community from near and far. There were tables full of local produce that had been grown by people from all ages, homemade preserves and flower displays. 

There was a lady there telling us all about hedgehogs and right up my street a vegetarian talk. Lance Bell, from the Vegetarian Society had been invited to give a talk on the benefits of being vegetarian. I was pleasantly surprised how many people attended. Lance, who is also a vegan gave a great talk on the social, economic and health benefits of being a vegetarian and the people attending were very interested in learning more about it. The approach Lance took was brilliant and he had people listening right from the start, people asked questions and we all had a fantastic time. It was a brilliant idea to invite Lance and include vegetarianism as part of the local food festival, a big round of applause goes to the organisers and of course Lance. 

At the end of the day there was an auction of all the local produce which was brilliant fun, I was outbid on nearly every occasion, but I'm pleased to report I did win two ball courgettes for a bargain price of 60p.  They were massive, see photo below, yes that's a ten pence piece! They will feature soon in a recipe, watch this space...............

Did I mention stroganoff? The green and purple french beans and the runner beans are out of my garden. I don't think the green and purple beans will be giving me any more food I think the harvest is over for them. On the other hand though, the runner beans are multiplying as I type. There is at least another 2 kilogrammes on my 6 plants, so I'm sure they will also feature in the remaining recipes for Vegan Mofo.

Ingredients
200g Green/Purple beans
200g Runner beans
250g Mushrooms
1 Red onion
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tsp Garlic puree
1 Tsp Dried thyme
3 Tsp Paprika
2 Tsp Garlic granules
1 Tbsp Flour
½ Tin of black beans
400ml Almond milk
125ml Soy cream
Salt & Pepper

Method
First prepare all your vegetables, cut the onion into half moon shapes, top and tail the beans and cut up into 3cm pieces and cut your mushrooms into chunks.

Fry the onion in a little olive oil for 3-4 minutes or until the onion is starting to go soft. Next add the green/purple beans and saute over a high heat for another 3 minutes.

Add the runner beans and continue to cook over a high heat for another 3 minutes. Next add the mushrooms and soy sauce, turn the heat down and cook for another 3 minutes.

Add the garlic puree and stir through the vegetables, then add the flour, paprika, garlic granules and dried thyme and stir to combine thoroughly. Slowly add the almond milk a little at a time, to prevent lumps. After adding ½ the milk add the black beans then the remaining milk and cook over a low heat until the sauce thickens, stirring regularly. This should take around 7 minutes. 

Slowly add the cream and stir to combine, do not boil as the cream may split. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with rice, pasta or as I did couscous.

Please excuse the mess I made of serving, I didn't mean to dribble the sauce over the couscous!