Suma Bloggers Network - Broccoli & Cauliflower Mornay

It's that time again, when the lovely folk at Suma Co-op send me a parcel of goodies that I have chosen and I whip up a recipe with the said goodies.

This is my fourth recipe for the suma bloggers network, check out my other three recipes:

• Trio of home-made vegan cheeses
• Blueberry cheesecake
• Vegatable tagine

This time I'm still craving comfort food and this is my go to recipe for just that. While my dad was poorly in hospital I made this a lot as it is really quick and super easy as the recipe uses store cupboard ingredients for the sauce. In fact I use this sauce quite a lot! The sauce poured over broccoli and cauliflower resembles a cauliflower cheese or the usual broccoli & cauliflower bake on pub menus for vegetarians!

You won't need all the sauce for this recipe, but the left overs keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, just shake before using. You can use the leftover sauce to make a vegan macaroni cheese or as a base to another pasta dish, just add other ingredients to tweak as you feel fit. I love adding mushrooms and basil and using as a pasta sauce. You will have around 250ml of sauce left over, unless of course you want more sauce to your mornay!

Broccoli and Cauliflower Mornay

Ingredients - Serves 4  

1 small cauliflower, broken into 8 florets
1 head of broccoli, broken into 8 florets
750ml Almond milk, unsweetened
125g Cashews
1 Tbsp White miso
50g Nutritional yeast
2 Tsp Mustard powder
1/8th Tsp Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Salt
20g Panko breadcrumbs

Method

Boil the cauliflower florets for 5 minutes, add the broccoli florets and boil for another 4 minutes. Drain straight away and return to the pan to steam dry.

Meanwhile make the sauce, which is easy as 1, 2, 3!

Pour the almond milk into a blender, (I use my fantastic Vitamix) and add the cashews, white miso, nutritional yeast, mustard powder, turmeric and salt. Blend until silky smooth, don't worry if you think the sauce is too thin, it thickens as it heats up.

Place the vegetables into an oven dish.

Pour over the sauce and sprinkle over the panko breadcrumbs. Bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes or until the breadcrumbs have gone golden brown and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

You can see how the sauce has thickened, it almost looks like a batter! 

Enjoy on its own or serve with a few chips and peas.

I've just noticed that 3 out of my 4 Suma recipes are 'cheese' based! I'll try and steer away from 'cheese' for my next recipe for Suma, perhaps another dessert? Anything you would like to see more of? Let me know in the comments.

Jasmine x

Summer Solstice Salad

Happy Summer Solstice!

This morning I set my alarm for 4:30 am, yes 4:30, so I could watch the sunrise on the longest day of the year. I was hugely disappointed as it was so cloudy I never actually got to see the sun but the sky was pink, orange, yellow and a smokey purple just beautiful.

As I watched the sun rise through the clouds I completed 8 repetitions of the sun salutation yoga sequence as a celebration to Summer Solstice; the doorway to the second half of the year.

But before we all start thinking about the nights drawing in and Winter fast approaching as we've reached the longest day of the year, stop and immerse yourself in the glorious season we call summer.

Invite your friends around and throw a party, sit outside and enjoy the long days and warmer evenings. If you're a kitchen gardener like myself you'll be harvesting plenty and enjoying the fresh tasting home grown food you have put all that care and attention in.

Today I made my Summer Solstice Salad, I don't just eat this once a year, that would be silly! But as this is the longest day it is packed full with colour, flavour and of course health benefits.

Ingredients - Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side

100g Broccoli, cut into florets 
85g Salad leaves
75g Carrot, shredded
135g Mixed peppers, cut into strips
¼ Cucumber, cut into ½ moons
6 Cherry tomatoes, halved
Juice of 1 lemon
250g Cooked grains*
75g Basil tofu, cubed
1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp White wine vinegar
1 Tsp (heaped) Vegan Pesto
4 Tbsp Soy cream - I used the light version
Salt & Pepper

*As I was busy in the garden I didn't have much time to spend in the kitchen so I used one of my go to store cupboard ingredients; A packet of "Waitrose Love Life Spelt, Quinoa, Red Rice & Wild Rice". It can be eaten hot or cold and is a blend of 4 grains.

Method

First make the dressing for the salad, in a blender add the basil tofu, extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, vegan pesto and soy cream and blend. Add 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice and a good grind of black pepper and a little pink Himalayan salt and blend again. Transfer to a screw top jar and store in the fridge until ready to serve. 
Note: If you don't want to use soy cream you could make a batch of cashew cream and use that instead but I chose to use soy cream as I had limited time.

Steam the broccoli until just cooked, drain and set aside to cool. Arrange the salad leaves on a large plate and sprinkle over the carrot and peppers. Top with the cooked and cooled broccoli and cucumber slices. 

Dress the cooked grains in the remainder of lemon juice and mix. Make a small well in the centre of the salad leaves and fill with the cooked dressed grains. Arrange the cherry tomatoes around the cooked grains and serve with the dressing on the side.

This salad is very filling and I only managed to eat a quarter of the above before I had to admit defeat! I think I was in too much of a rush to get back to my gardening :o)

Specials Board: Three "Cheese" Cauliflower & Broccoli Bake

Yep, it's another recipe from the specials board and this time it's a twist on cauliflower cheese. I don't know about you but the few pub chains near where I live always seem to have a cauliflower & broccoli bake on the menu, which for obvious reasons isn't suitable for vegans. So I thought let's make one and see what all the fuss is about.

Ingredients - Serves 2 as a main course and 4 as a side

1 Cauliflower
1 Head of Broccoli
1 Tbsp Vitalite
1 Tbsp Plain flour (heaped)
400ml Almond milk
1 Tsp Dijon mustard (heaped)
Good grind black pepper
2 Tbsp Soft vegan cheese (I used the Tesco free from creamy Cheddar Style spread)
80g Vegan hard cheese (I used the Tesco free from Soya one)
1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast



Method

Boil or steam the cauliflower and broccoli so it still has and set aside to drain.

Pour the almond milk into a saucepan and add the flour and vitalite and whisk continuously over a low heat until the mixture starts to simmer and thickens. 

Add the soft vegan cheese and stir to melt, turn off the heat.

Add all but a tablespoon full of the vegan hard cheese and stir to melt, the mixture will be quite thick.

Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine.

Tip the drained cauliflower and broccoli into an oven proof dish and pour over the cheese sauce. Sprinkle over the remaining hard cheese and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

Green Smoothie Update

My Green Smoothies to date have mainly been made with fruit and either kale or spinach. However, there are lots of other nutritional green vegetables out there and I needed to investigate. My palette is not quite there yet so I need to still add the fruit to give me a sweeter taste!

Having looked in my fridge after shopping yesterday, it was bursting with fruit and vegetables, I was actually spoilt for choice, but sitting on top was 2 florets of broccoli that looked a little lost. Now, what goes well with broccoli in a smoothie? OK next question what is also green? That was easier to answer, grapes, avocado, peas, etc etc. 

After deliberating for what seemed an age I went with the following.

Ingredients
¼ Cucumber
20 Green grapes
2 Florets of broccoli
1 Clementine peeled

Method

Add the ingredients to your chosen blender with ½ cup of cold water and blend until smooth. Add a sprig of mint for decoration, if you fancy it!

St Patrick's Pie

OK I may be a day or so late with this one! But after I'd made the pie I couldn't call it anything else it was full of greens. On returning home from work tonight my lovely friend gave me a bag of olives that she had bought at the edible garden show. They looked lovely and the cogs started turning as to what I could do with them. Of course, I could have eaten them on there own and I did eat a couple whilst contemplating what I could make. The first thing that sprung to mind was to make an olive tapenade, delicious as it is these olives needed to be turned into tonight's tea. I also had a delivery of my weekly graze box and lo and behold there were some more olives included in this weeks box. Both green and black in a lemon and rosemary dressing.

I raided my fridge to see what else I had or needed using up. I found half a bag of spinach and kale, some peas and a packet of purple sprouting broccoli. I've never bought purple sprouting broccoli before as its a regular in my raised garden but unfortunately last years plants haven't yet produced any and the local supermarket was selling it at a reduced price. I also had a packet of ready rolled puff pastry, the jus-roll is vegan, I bet you didn't know that!

No herbs or spices were added as I wanted the taste of the olives to shine

So that was it, St. Patrick's pie was born. Here's what I did:

Ingredients

½ packet of jus-roll puff pastry
1 oinion, sliced
1 packet of purple sprouting broccoli
Handful of frozen peas
30 mixed olives*
½ packet of mixed spinach and kale
400ml soy milk
1 tbsp plain flour
Salt and pepper

* The olives given to me also contained pickled garlic, jalapenos and peppers



Method

Saute the onion in a little olive oil until translucent, then add the purple sprouting broccoli and stir fry for around 5 minutes until the broccoli has softened. Add the washed spinach and kale and stir till the leaves have wilted. Add the frozen peas, and stir to combine. Be careful not to mash up the purple sprouting broccoli. Add the flour and mix thoroughly, then slowly add the soy milk, stirring all the time. Cook until thickened and add the olives, salt and pepper. Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the puff pastry. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Serve with a green avocado salad, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Cauliflower & Broccoli Bake

Well I didn't get round to cooking something from one of my 9 vegan cookbooks tonight!

All I fancied tonight was a plate full of vegetables, but my taste buds needed tantalising and a plate of cooked vegetables on their own just wasn't that appealing. In my days pre-vegan, one of my favourite dishes was cauliflower cheese, I couldn't get enough of it. I really was addicted to cheese! My Nan, bless her cotton socks was the best cauliflower cheese maker in the WORLD! Nothing ever came close that I made or indeed anyone else. The recipe was never passed on and we will never know what she did to make it so tasty. No-one can put their finger on the secret ingredient. My Mum has come close but never quite close enough. Since I've transferred to a vegan diet I no longer eat cauliflower cheese for obvious reasons but I still crave my Nan's dish! The reminiscing of Nan and her infamous cauliflower cheese dish had wet my appetite, I needed to veganise this dish and that's what I did!

Ingredients

Cauliflower

Broccoli

1 tsp Swiss vegetable bouillion powder

400ml soy milk

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vitalite

2 tsp English Mustard

4-6 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Black Pepper

Non dairy cheese-grated

Method

Turn on your oven to pre-heat at 180°C. Dissolve the vegetable bouillion powder in a saucepan of hot water and bring to the boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for 4-5 minutes, then add the broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the vegetables have cooked and still have a little bite. Transfer to an oven dish.

Meanwhile pour the milk into another saucepan and add the vitalite and flour, whisk over a low heat until the vitalite has melted and the flour has been whisked in with no lumps. Add the English mustard and stir through. As the liquid starts to thicken add the nutritional yeast and whisk. Have a quick taste and add more mustard, nutritional yeast as required. Add the black pepper whisking all the time. Once the mixture has reached the desired thickness to your liking pour over the cauliflower and broccoli. Grate over the non dairy cheese of your choice. I used cheesly melting (non dairy & non soy). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve with a garden salad, mash potato or chips and peas.

Vegetable Filo Pie

I was in the mood for cooking up a storm, the slow cooker was on for hubby's tea (this piece of equipment is an absolute god send for cooking his food. I just throw the ingredients in and turn it on)! I fancied something that was full of vegetables with a creamy sauce and this is what I concocted, it was very tasty, filling and filled the craving.

Ingredients
1 large carrot
1 large onion
½ head of cauliflower
½ head of broccoli
150g green beans
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp English mustard
1 tbsp flour
4 tbsp nutritional yeast (or more if you want a more 'cheesy taste')
500ml soy milk
Salt and pepper
Filo pastry x 4 sheets

Method
Turn on your oven to 180°C. Dice the onion and carrot and cut the cauliflower and broccoli into small florets. Saute the onion in a little olive oil for 3 minutes and add the rest of the vegetables. Continue to saute until the vegetables start to go soft. Add the thyme and mustard and stir to combine thoroughly. Next add the flour and stir to combine, cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the milk whilst stirring until all the milk has been added. Next add the nutritional yeast and stir through the mixture. Slowly bring to a simmer and the mixture will start to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Try a little and add more mustard, nutritional yeast or salt and pepper to your desired taste. Spoon into a baking dish and lay the filo over the top creating waves in the pastry. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven. Whilst the pie is in the oven boil some potatoes ready to mash to serve with the pie.

Stirfry

My slow cooker had been on all week making dinners for hubby, he's been treated to all corners of the earth with his food! I wanted something with a bit of spice but not too much heat, some crunch and something different to what I had been eating. I was tired from a long day at work and I really needed something quick and easy. I looked through my store cupboard and fridge for inspiration. Lurking at the back of my cupboard was a chowmein stirfry sauce by Blue Dragon. The best before date had not been reached but it wasn't far off! I can't remember when I bought the sauce. There is a common theme running here, I always seem to buy food and then forget about it. The previous weekly menu planning only lasted two weeks, as I like to get creative in the kitchen as a stress reliever when I get in from work! 

Anyway, back to tonights tea, after spotting the chowmein sauce, I got a sudden urge to rustle up a vegetable chowmein. Let's face it, the ones you cook at home always taste better than a take away and I can't be 100% sure if the takeaway we use is 100% vegan not that I imagine they use dairy or eggs! Since turning vegan I haven't ordered a Chinese takeaway, in fact no takeaway has passed my lips, which can't be a bad thing can it?

This was easy to rustle up as I also had some Cauldron Organic Marinated Tofu Pieces in the fridge. An essential standby to have for nights like this. After a quick check on-line that both the sauce and tofu were vegan I set to preparing tea. The vegetables I used were: spring onions, green beans, baby corn, broccoli and sweetcorn, which I just threw in the wok with some groundnut oil, over a high heat stirring all the time. I added a little soy sauce when the veg started sticking to the wok, I don't think I use enough oil but then again I don't want to either. I stir fried for about 5 minutes, then added the marinated tofu and chowmein sauce. I'd also had a pan of boiling water ready for the rice noodles which only need 4 minutes cooking before you add them to your wok. Stir fry the vegetables, sauce and noodles for another couple of minutes to ensure everything is coated with the sauce and serve. Dinner is served in 15 minutes or less!

Broccoli and Cauliflower Risotto

As you can probably tell, even from the few posts I've done so far, we eat food from all corners of the earth, veganised of course with a twist! Tonight it was Italy, and on the menu was broccoli & cauliflower risotto. 

Ingredients:
600-700ml vegetable stock
50ml white wine
Splash of olive oil
1 onion - finely diced
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
2 cups of broccoli & cauliflower florets (the smaller the better)
2 cups of risotto rice - I use arborio rice
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp vitalite

Method
Fry the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent.
Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes adding salt and pepper to taste.
Add 50ml of vegetable stock and bring to the boil, stir until stock has been absorbed by the rice.
Pour in the wine and stir, cook for about 3 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.
Add the vegetable stock a little at a time, stirring occasionally, letting the rice absorb before adding any further stock. Repeat a further two times then add the chopped broccoli and cauliflower.
Continue adding the stock a little at a time and after about 20 minutes you should have used most of the vegetable stock.
Add the nutritional yeast flakes and stir thoroughly to combine, add a little more stock if the mixture feels to thick (or warm water if you have used all your stock).
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vitalite very fast, this creates a creamy texture.
If you're not vegan you can add grated cheese instead of the nutritional yeast flakes, but either is extremely tasty.