Vegan Spring Roll Freestylin’

21 Feb 2015 6 Comments

by sammysfood in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , ,

I’m sorry to all of my readers who are still in the tail end of winter, but this post will contain some envy-inducing summer-y scenes. I got back to London a few week ago after spending one glorious month in Australia with my family, and whilst there, managed to pull together some fine veg cuisine and take some, albeit sub-par, photos of some marvelous and creative Aussie vegan fare from Eumundi to Noosaville, from Melbourne to Healesville. I’ll be putting more photos up over the next few posts, to spread the southern love out a little, and to keep you all (myself included) yearning for our turn of the heat; it’s on its way!

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We traveled quite a bit throughout the country whilst there, but one of my favourite places to be is on my parent’s farm in Northern Victoria. They have a small organic garden with a variety of vegetables and they also have a whole bunch of fruit trees including an orange grove whose fruits provided us with morning OJ everyday – holy shnikeys I miss it! One of the best little treasures in the garden though is the basil, and it features in these sweet lil’ spring rolls I whipped up one day for lunch – kinda perfect for the 40 degree days we were getting!

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Makes: about 15, but remember we freestylin’ here – could be anything

  • rice paper spring roll wraps
  • 3 or 4 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
  • 1 pepper (bell pepper) chopped
  • couple of mushrooms, chopped
  • large handful of fresh basil and/or any others
  • any other veggies
  • toasted sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • a few fresh buttery lettuce leaves

Method:

Heat some sesame oil in a wok pan on high heat and add the onion, garlic and chilli and saute them for a minute. Add in the pepper, mushrooms and any other veggies and cook for a further few minutes (less for a fresher, crunchier spring roll).

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Turn off the heat and throw in a big dash of soy sauce and torn-up basil leaves (coriander here would be great too). Place in a bowl and allow to cool slightly. Now, to roll: Fill a wide bowl with warm water and dip a single rice paper wrap in until it becomes just soft (about 15 seconds). Lay it flat on a board and lay a lettuce leaf one-third of the way in and add about two tablespoons worth of filling and wrap up it up! Once you have done all of them, place in the fridge for about 10 minutes and then serve with sweet chilli sauce or more soy sauce.

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I served these with my (obviously) favourite side dish. Mung beans! Cooked and tossed with raw onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Heavenly mung beans…

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Stay tuned for more inspiration from down under!

Rich n’ Creamy Vegan Tomato Pasta – Vegan MoFo

19 Sep 2013 23 Comments

by sammysfood in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The weather has made a turn for the worse here in ol’ London town, and after my run this morning through the wind and rain, I really felt like something warm and comforting and seen as though my Italian man would never say no to a pasta – I started experimenting. This is what I came up with! A beautifully rich and hearty tomato sauce with creamy pine nuts and warming sun-dried tomatoes. I threw in some of my basil pesto that I had made a few days ago, but if you don’t have any, it’s still great without – just throw in some extra basil leaves!

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Makes: Enough for two

  • 2 big tomatoes
  • 3 large sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons basil pesto (optional but awesome)
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts or cashews (I used a mixture of both)
  • A splash or two of almond/rice milk or water
  • A handful of chopped black olives
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • Salt and pepper
  • Pasta of your choice (I used gluten-free fusilli)

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Method:

Get a big pot of water boiling for the pasta, add salt. In a small pan, heat some olive oil and add in the garlic cloves. Let them saute until they are a little golden. In a processor or blender add the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, sautéed garlic with the oil, a splash of the milk or water and salt and pepper. If you are using the pesto, add this now. Blend until everything is combined.

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Now add in the pine nuts/cashews.

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Blend until the nuts are incorporate well and you have a nice creamy sauce. Now put the sauce back in the pan that you fried the garlic in and heat gently for a few minutes. Add to this the chopped olives and basil leaves. At this point, you may want to add a little hot water to thin it out.

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Whilst the sauce is heating in the pan, cook your pasta according to pack directions. Once done, drain and return to the pot.

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To this, add your sauce and stir well. Top with fresh basil leaves and cracked pepper. Enjoy!

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Tips and Tricks: Window Sill Herbs – Vegan MoFo

15 Sep 2013 13 Comments

by sammysfood in Tips and Tricks Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

As summer is coming to an end, I thought I might post about my success (and failure) at growing my own herbs in this little studio of mine in the city. I always thought that it wouldn’t be possible to do in this climate, but with the price of fresh herbs being crazy in this country, I thought it best to actually try and see how successful it could be. To begin with, I chose a selection of herbs that could last the summer and maybe longer and also ones that I used on a regular basis in my cooking.

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It actually all started with a pot of basil that I bought at the local supermarket (Sainsburys, for those fellow UK dwellers). They usually die soon after I have used all the leaves, but on one occasion I noticed that it continued to grow, even whilst sitting in the original small pot that it comes in. So I bought some soil and a larger pot and replanted it and it thrived on my window sill in the summer sun that we were lucky enough to get this year!

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So after this success, I decided to go down to the local nursery and buy some more herbs. I settled on oregano, chives, parsley, stevia, thyme and some catnip for my little fluffy boy :). I also got a tomato plant and a strawberry plant. I planted in a long rectangular window box the chives, stevia, strawberry, parsley and oregano.

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However this picture was taken after the parsley and strawberries hopelessly died! Now, I have, by no means, a green thumb, (I grew up on a cattle station, as funny as that may seem for a vegan! So I was never taught really how to grow plants) so perhaps someone else could tell me why they didn’t work out. Those that DID work, however, were the stevia, oregano, chives and thyme. The catnip probably would have been fine if it were not for my over-zealous kitty cat who devoured the plant in one afternoon.

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Check out the mega cheekiness of this little guy… Once the catnip was gone, he started on the basil!

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As for the tomato, I managed to get quite a few big and juicy ones before the sun and heat subsided and they were lovely in my salads and pasta dishes.

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The real surprise for me was the stevia. Such an amazing plant! I could not believe how sweet these little leaves were! I have yet to dry them and crush them for my sugar replacement, but for now I’ve been adding a leaf or two to my tea and cold drinks for a burst of sweetness.

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I highly recommend growing your own stevia, you’ll be amazed at how well it grows and how sweet it is. As for the basil, which is by far my favourite herb – I decided to make some cuttings and re-plant them as they were growing so well in the heat of this little studio. To do this, I cut a few long stems from the basil plant and allowed them to sit in a glass of water for a week until they started to grow roots.

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Once they had some lovely roots growing from the bottom, I planted them next to the stevia and chives and they flourished! It’s so wonderful to be able to just pick off the leaves and use them in my recipes, especially on pizzas, pasta and salads.

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This is just one of them here, next to the thyme. Obviously it would be better to plant them next to each other in a larger pot, but this was just the first test run – and it grew SO fast! Of course, the best thing to do with your own basil? Vegan pesto! Check out my recipe here.

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Vegan Basil Pesto Using a Mortar and Pestle

17 May 2013 29 Comments

by sammysfood in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

My boyfriend gave me a beautiful granite mortar and pestle for my birthday and I’ve been experimenting with it. So today I thought I would share with you one of my all-time favourite uses for it – Basil Pesto! I have always made this with a food processor and never really thought that there would be a difference in taste or texture; boy was I wrong! This pesto had an amazing rich flavour and I hardly needed any oil because the toasted pine nuts release a lovely fragrant oil of their own and using the pestle really allows the juice from the basil leaves to mix everything together nicely.

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I had this with pasta but it would also be wonderful spread onto some nice crusty Italian bread with tomatoes or mixed with roasted vegetables for a great entrée.

Makes: Enough for two people

  • 50 – 60g fresh basil leaves
  • 40g pine nuts
  • 2 small garlic cloves
  • A pinch of coarse sea salt
  • Freshly cracked pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Method:

First, wash the basil leaves well. Now lay them in a single layer on some kitchen/paper towel and let them dry naturally – don’t rub them, it won’t take long! Whilst they are drying, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until lightly golden and you can see that they are releasing oils; you’ll smell it.

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Turn the heat off and leave the pine nuts to the side. In your mortar place the two peeled garlic cloves and the then the salt. It’s really best that the salt is coarse as this will help the grinding action of the pestle. Now add in the dried basil leaves a little at a time and work the pestle into them with a circular motion whilst pressing down with the pestle against the sides of the mortar. Keep doing this until you have used all the leaves and you should be left with a dark green mushy mess.

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Add to this the pine nuts and continue in the same way, pressing them into the basil and garlic mixture until everything looks creamier. Now add the oil and pepper. The smell is heavenly.

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Stir this into hot pasta, spread onto bread for an awesome bruscetta, drop onto hot grilled vegetables, use in a salad dressing…your options are endless!

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Buon appetito!

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