Sleepy Sunday - Bean Potato Cakes

Today, I've had my first vegan mofo disaster in the kitchen! It had to happen today of all days too! I only had a small window of opportunity this morning to create another 'Sleepy Sunday' dish and I was all up for it. But I only had an hour tops to create something. We were going to Mum & Dads to celebrate my sisters birthday with a family meal, which I was really looking forward to it. But more about that later.

After checking my cupboards and fridge I came up with what needed using up more than anything and then figured out what I was going to do with it. I had some potatoes that had started sprouting and some runner beans which I'd picked earlier in the week that needed using up. I knew that the dish would have to be potato based and decided on a bean and potato cake. Easy heh?

This morning was a cold one and although the weather report was better for later in the day I needed warming up and what better way than to use some heat in your food. 

After mixing all my ingredients together I had a quick taste before the 'cakes' were formed and put in the oven, it tasted good and I had high hopes. That, my friends, was too good to be true and as soon as I opened the oven door my heart sank. I just had a tray full of gloop!

After re-forming the cakes, turning them over and returning to the oven I kept my fingers crossed. When I next opened the oven door I didn't have a tray of gloop just 5 blobs of gloop!

I will remake these again as they tasted so darn good but next time I might try adding a flax egg, adding flour, replacing the cheese with nutritional yeast or baking them in metal rings. The vegan cheese had melted causing the 'cake' to be a soggy mess. Here is what NOT to do!

Ingredients - Serves 5-6
400g potatoes
215g Spicy refried beans
180g Runner beans
80g Vegan cheese
2 Tsp Balsamic Glaze
Salt & Pepper

Method
Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes, the smaller the cube the quicker the cooking time. One cooked, drain and mash.

Add the tin of refried beans and mash again.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, top and tail the runner beans and cut into small pieces. Add to boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes, until a knife can pierce them but still leaves a bit of 'bite'. Drain the beans and add to the bean and potato mash along with the cheese.

Fold the mixture so everything is combined, then add salt and pepper to taste, and add the balsamic glaze. I'm using this quite a bit in my cooking recently but I find that it just perks up a dish and gives a tangy like flavour. Give the mixture another good stir so that everything is well combined.

With wet hands (maybe I should have used flour hands) form the mixture into 'cakes' I made 5 fairly big cakes but you could easily make bigger or smaller 'cakes'. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes and flip the 'cakes' over before returning to the oven for a further 15 minutes.

I didn't take a photograph of the tray of gloop, I was frantically trying to recover the dish to worry about taking photos! But after reforming the 'cakes' they looked like this.

Bake for a further 15 minutes and after the second bake in the oven the 'cake' didn't look too bad.

Serve with baked beans or fried mushrooms. I served mine with beans as I'd used all the mushrooms up in yesterdays dish. But they would have tasted good with fried mushrooms.

After the 'cakes' had cooled the vegan cheese had solidified and you could pick them up as the were fairly solid. I'm guessing that once heated up they will return to gloop, ha ha ha. Must try harder.

I ran out of time to post this 'not to be tried recipe' this morning, so it's a little late in the day. We had a fantastic time round Mum & Dad's celebrating my sisters birthday and I was spoilt rotten. My sister had made me sweet potato balls (similar to falafels but no chick peas in sight) which were mighty tasty especially with a sprinkling of mint sauce on them. Hopefully my sister will give me the recipe, but like me she cooks from the heart and doesn't tend to write everything down. Perhaps she should start a blog to record her recipes, it's worked for me. For dessert my sister had made two apple and black current tarts, one vegan just for me. She tells me she made the pastry out of olive oil and I must say it was the shortest shortcrust pastry I've ever had. I was stuffed after my main meal so I only had a little bit, but I've brought some home to enjoy and she is going to freeze the rest for me.

Tune in tomorrow for the last day of vegan mofo, till then bye for now...................