Carrot & Thyme Tart

This was lovely - light and flaky puff pastry spread with almond feta and topped with caramelized red onion and soft and tender thyme glazed carrots. I was inspired here by this Carrot Tart Tatin dish on BBC Good Food. Like most people I am drawn to anything in pastry but I loved the idea of carrots taking the centre stage here as they are usually confined to a side dish or are just another component  like in a stew. And why shouldn't they take centre stage? Carrots are awesome! 

Now, I made a few changes to the tart tatin recipe - both with the ingredients and cooking method. I've replaced the reblochon cheese with the awesome almond feta, I omitted the sun-dried tomatoes as I just didn't see them going in this and instead of making a tart tatin which is an upside down tart, I made a regular, right side up tart :-) 

I also kept thinking of other flavours that go really well with carrots and considered adding them to the tart. Things like walnuts, orange and parsley for example. I was thinking some chopped roasted walnuts in the tart would work well or even some orange zest stirred into the almond feta would be nice. In the end I decided to add all those flavours to the side salad instead which worked really well. It's a wonderful accompaniment to this tart with mixed baby leaf, roasted walnuts, fresh parsley, orange segments and my go-to balsamic dressing. A wonderful meal!

~ Recipe Notes ~

• The size of this tart is really up to you, I unintentionally made mine smaller than I wanted. What you see in the photos here only served 4 people and they were pretty small slices at that. You might prefer to make this rectangular as that is how ready rolled puff pastry comes. It would be a better size and that way there would be no leftover pastry to waste. In my head however this was a round tart so I went that way but it's totally up to you. The amount of carrots given here will be enough either way....and if you have leftover carrots they reheat just fine or throw them in a stew. If you have too many onions they go great in the side salad!

• The first time I made this I used the almond feta after it has been drained but before it's baked. This way it is much easier to spread onto the pastry and it still gets baked in the oven. The second time I made the tart I did use already baked feta. This was harder to spread onto the pastry but I do think it had slightly better flavour. So basically, you can use it either way! :-)

• Most store bought puff pastry is vegan but of course, check your labels as all brands are different.
• Apologies for not providing the nutritional information on this one but it will entirely depend on what size you make the tart - particularly with how much pastry and almond feta you use. FYI -my small tart worked out at 298 calories for 1 slice out of 4.

Carrot and Thyme Tart:

375g peeled carrots
1 tsp light brown sugar
4 sprigs thyme leaves 
2 Tbsp vegan butter
1 red onion, sliced (can use white as well)
Freshly ground black pepper
Almond feta, drained but not baked (see recipe notes above)
Ready rolled puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F with a baking sheet inside.

Melt 1 Tbsp of vegan butter in a frying pan and add the sliced red onion. Add about 9 grinds of freshly ground black pepper and fry on low heat until very soft. Pop a lid on now and again and if it starts to look dry add about 1 Tbsp of hot water and allow that to cook off. When the onions are very soft and lightly caramelized transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Put the carrots, other tablespoon of butter, sugar and thyme leaves in a wide shallow frying pan with a lid. Note: ignore my photo here and add the thyme leaves not the whole sprig as I discovered they are hard to remove after cooking!

Add enough water till it just comes up to the carrots.

Cover, bring to a simmer then cover and cook until the carrots are almost tender. Remove the lid, turn up the heat and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the carrots are soft and lightly glazed looking. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. 

Unroll the puff pastry and either leave it as a rectangle or cut out a circle (mine was 23cm). Place on a sheet of baking paper. Score another smaller circle inside, leaving a 1½” border (or do the same with the rectangle). Make sure you don't cut all the way through here, you just want to score it. Pierce the inner circle with a fork to stop it rising while baking. 

Spread the ‘forked’ area evenly with some of the almond feta, a thin spread will do as it's so flavourful.

...then scatter over the onions. Note to self: cooked red onions can look like worms....don't use in photos! lol...

Lay the carrots over top in a nice design - make sure you overlap them well as they will shrink up in the oven a bit.

Lastly, carefully brush the top of all the carrots with some melted butter, this will help stop them drying out in the oven. (I just melted some in the same pan I just cooked the carrots in.)

Remove the preheated baking sheet from the oven and carefully slide the baking paper with the tart onto the baking sheet. Pop it all into the oven and bake for 25 mins or until the pastry is golden, puffed around the edges and cooked through.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for a few mins. Transfer to a cake stand or serving plate. Serve warm with the Baby Leaf, Roasted Walnut and Orange Salad with Balsamic Dressing.

Baby Leaf, Roasted Walnut and Orange Salad with Balsamic Dressing:

80g mixed baby leaf: spinach, lambs lettuce, red chard etc...

handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, torn

1 - 2 navel oranges, segmented

50g walnuts

1/4 tsp olive oil

pinch of sea salt

Dressing:

1 ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ Tbsp balsamic dressing

½ tsp Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F. Using your hands toss the 1/4 tsp of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt with the walnuts until fully coated. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast for 5 minutes, giving the pan a shake halfway through. Remove and let cool.

Mix together the lettuce, parsley, orange segments and cooled walnuts. Whisk together the dressing until smooth then pour over and toss it all together. Serve immediately.

♥

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Garden Vegetable Almond Cream Cheese

Yay! It worked!! *sigh* I've been wanting to make a vegan garden vegetable cream cheese for so long now, styled after Philadelphia's. Since the Baked Almond Feta recipe works so well I decided to base it on that but tried to remove the 'feta' elements from the cheese, mainly the extra salt and the garlic and then I added quite a bit of nutritional yeast to give it a more "regular" cheese flavour. I then drained and baked it off as normal then blitzed it with some veggies. For those I went with what was listed in the ingredients for Philadelphia's Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese - mainly green and red peppers, cucumber, celery and carrot.

Now, I loved the flavour but I was left with more of a dip or spread more akin to houmous in texture. Not really a problem but it was a bit too runny for my liking. I put it in the fridge thinking well, we'll use it as a dip instead when in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep as usual I thought, hmmm, what if I drained it off AGAIN in cheesecloth?

So the next day I did that and left it overnight. In the morning I was saddened to see very little liquid had drained off but the cheesecloth itself was heavy with liquid, it had simply absorbed it from all around and when I removed it I had a ball of "cheese"! 

This is still soft of course as it is supposed to be like cream cheese and it is just the texture I was originally after - soft and spreadable. I was also happy that doing a second draining did not affect the flavour in any way, it just helped the texture.

This does add another day to the process of course but you can just stop after blending and use it as a dip. Both versions are just packed with flavour - this stuff is so fresh tasting, you can taste all the gorgeous veggies in there and makes for an awesome sandwich spread - especially with flavours that are not in there - avocado, tomato and lettuce :-)

As usual, my Froothie 9400 high performance blender did an amazing job here, from the first stage of making the cream cheese to adding the veggies. I wanted it smooth so blended them fully in but with the froothie you can just pulse the veggies to have a chunkier texture - it's wonderfully versatile that way!

Garden Vegetable Almond Cream Cheese:

1 x recipe almond cream cheese, baked and cooled (recipe below)

1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1 whole small carrot, peeled and sliced
½ stalk celery, sliced
4" cucumber, de-seed but leave skin on
¼ whole red bell pepper, chopped
¼ whole green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic

½ Tbsp chopped chives

Almond Cream Cheese:
150g ground almonds
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup water
½ cup nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

First make the cream cheese: Place everything in a blender and blend until really smooth. Transfer to cheesecloth, tie up and place in a sieve over a bowl; refrigerate overnight to drain and set. Transfer to a greased dish and bake at 180C for 30 min. Let cool.

Note: there are step by step photos of this process in the Baked Almond Feta post.

Place all the veg except the chives into a blender and pulse blend until finely chopped. Crumble in all of the almond cream cheese and pulse blend some more until well blended and pink-ish/orangey in colour. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the finely chopped chives. 

You can chill it now and have....

Great for use as a dip, especially with an assortment of veggie crudites and breadsticks....

.....or, transfer the mixture again to 3 layers of cheesecloth, tie up and place in a sieve over a bowl and place in the fridge overnight. Remove the cheesecloth and place the ball of cheese smooth side up on a plate for a spreadable Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese :-)

It's also great at breakfast simply spread on a toasted wholemeal bagel alongside a cup of coffee.

Enjoy!

♥

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links with Froothie UK.

Nutritional Information: per 100g

Calories: 358

Protein: 11.5g

Fat: 29.4g

Sat Fat: 3g

Fibre: 6.2g

Carbs: 14.5g

Sugars: 3.1g

Sodium: 602mg

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Cheesy Parsnip & Sage Beer Bread

This is a variation on the Herbed Beer Bread already on the blog which I've been making for years (and it was always vegan!) The other day my father in law came up with some parsnips from his garden and truth be told they are not my favourite veg. I do love them maple roasted as part of the Christmas dinner but that's usually as far as I go with them. He brought so much I did make a curried parsnip and carrot soup which was good but not bloggable good.

I then decided to try something different altogether and was inspired by a Delia Smith recipe for Parsnip, Parmesan and Sage Bread. That flavour combination just sounded wonderful and as hers was also a quick bread recipe (baking soda/powder not yeast) I immediately thought of my Herbed Beer Bread and just decided to adapt that one.

....and I am so glad I did, this is SO good! The addition of nutritional yeast to give it a cheesy flavour has really added to this recipe, in fact, I don't think I'll make this beer bread now without adding some :-) The parsnips give a nice subtle flavour, you do taste them, this isn't like carrots or zucchini in cake where they are just adding moisture, but, it's subtle and the sage is just perfect in there.

Cheesy Parsnip and Sage Beer Bread:

2 ½ cups plain flour (350g)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup nutritional yeast (20g)
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
1 x 330ml can or bottle of lager of your choice, I used Grolsch
150g grated weight parsnips (about 2 small/medium parsnips)
• vegan butter to brush over crust and to serve

Note: I used my food processor to grate the parsnips as it was easier but you can just use a cheese grater.

Grease a 1.5 ltr loaf pan with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 375F / 180C.  Whisk everything but the beer and parsnips in a large bowl. Stir in the parsnips with a fork until well mixed then pour in the beer then stir and fold in with a rubber spatula until fully mixed. It will be very thick! Scrape this mixture into the loaf pan and even off the top. 

Pop into the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until risen and golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean. 

Optional - I like to now brush vegan butter all over the top while it is hot to melt in, it just adds a lovely flavour.  Leave it in the tin for 5 minutes then remove onto a wire rack to fully cool.

Not optional - TOAST the slices then slather in vegan butter. Seriously, toasting is essential here!! 

I mean look at that! :-)

♥

Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy

I like to think of these as a "veganized and poshed up" version of Glamorgan sausages ;-) I was inspired here by a recipe created by my dear chef friend Stacey's recipe for "Pan Seared Aged White Cheddar Sausages  with Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy". I had them when I was working with her back in my vegetarian days and they were just gorgeous, especially with that gravy. (And a huge thanks to her for permission to post!)

In order to veganize the sausages I've had to change a lot but followed her recipe as a guide. I have made them tofu based and added my Vegan Parmesan recipe of nutritional yeast, ground almonds and salt for a cheesy flavour.

The gravy is pretty much the exact same though, I just swapped onions for shallots (as I had them for the sausages, you can use onion if you prefer) and used soy cream in place of whipping cream. It's a stunning gravy and goes perfectly with the sausages, perfect for a nice dinner with some mashed potato and side of broccoli.

Now, I have made these sausages with both soft and firm tofu. Either work but you have to prepare them differently and you do end up with different textured results depending on which type you use. In the photos you see here I have used an extra firm tofu.

First, with the soft tofu, and I do mean soft, for those of you in the UK/Ireland I used Cauldron's original tofu which is so soft it borders on silken (but don't use silken here!) Anyway, you end up with a softer, looser textured sausage much more reminiscent of traditional Glamorgan sausages which I always remember being very soft. They still hold together and fry up fine but are a little more tricky to shape.

With the extra firm tofu, and I have used quite a firm one here, Taifun's tofu which is even rubbery in texture; you end up with a much firmer sausage, more reminiscent in texture of traditional sausages. This makes them MUCH easier to shape and thus they have less margin of error.

Either way, both turn out well and taste great and I'll post both versions and let you decide which one to make :-)

Lastly, I do apologize for the not-so-great and rather "samey" photos here....I even failed to get a shot of them cut open! My family were eagerly standing in the background waiting for me to finish shooting this so they could eat so I was rather rushed ;-) My poor family always eating lukewarm meals, lol!

Vegan Parmesan, Rosemary & Shallot Sausages:

• 200g extra firm OR soft tofu *see above
• 2 cups (100g) breadcrumbs
• ½ cup (65g) finely chopped shallots
• 1 tsp dried mustard powder
• 1 tsp fine smoked sea salt
• 12 grinds freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 Tbsp finely ground nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 Tbsp ground almonds
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond or soy milk (omit if using soft tofu)
• olive oil to grease and fry

Instructions if using soft tofu:

Drain the tofu (there is no need to press). Place everything except the milk into a large bowl and just get in there with your hands, squishing the tofu through your fingers to mush it all up. When well mixed and thick in texture wash then grease your hands with some olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. I find it easiest to grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup and press the mixture in, scoop it out then squeeze and roll into sausage shapes. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

Instructions if using extra firm tofu:

Crumble the tofu (no need to press) into a food processor and add the milk. Process until fine in texture and well mixed. Add everything else except the shallots and blend well, it should just come together like a dough and should be able to grab a bit of the mixture and squish it together easily. Now add the shallots and pulse a few times until well mixed and the shallots are a little smaller - you still want bits of shallots in here though so don't overmix.

Grease your hands with olive oil and shape into 6 sausages. Lay out on a plate lined with cling film, cover with cling film and chill for at least 1 hour.

To Fry:

Add 1½ Tbsp of olive oil to a large non-stick frying pan and heat to medium. Add the sausages, turning to coat in the oil and fry, turning frequently until equally golden brown all over.

Sun-Dried Tomato Gravy:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 70g shallots, sliced (about 4 large shallots)
• 50g sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained (about 7 pieces)
• 2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock*
• 2 Tbsp soy cream
• 10 grinds freshly ground black pepper

*First, a note on the vegetable stock, it provides a lot of the flavour in this gravy so make sure you use one you really love the taste of. I've used a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot here FYI.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan then gently fry the shallots and pepper until the shallots are really soft and caramelized, a nice golden brown will do. 

Tip into a blender (I used my Froothie Optimum 9400 for the silkiest results) with the sun-dried tomatoes and half the vegetable stock. Blend until really smooth then add the rest of the stock and blend again. It will be really watery looking at this point, that's ok!

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to medium heat, reduce to low and simmer with the lid off for about 20 minutes until it has reduced in volume and is thicker. Pour in the cream and stir well.

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliated links to Froothie UK.)

♥

Nutritional Information:

Per sausage (after frying):

Calories: 122

Protein: 5.6g

Fat: 6.4g

Sat Fat: 1.0g

Carbs: 11.1g

Sugar: 1.1g

Fibre: 1.1g

Sodium: 337mg

Per 1/3 of the gravy (a generous amount for a serving of 2 sausages and sides):

Calories: 118

Protein: 2.1g

Fat: 9.4g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Carbs: 7.1g

Sugar: 2g

Fibre: 1.8g

Sodium: 787mg

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A Trio of Almond Cheese: Chive, Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil, Chili & Rosemary

Well, finally - a new blog post! I've just been so busy lately and these have been sitting on the rather large "to be blogged" pile for quite awhile now :-) These are all variations on the Almond Chive Cheese which is actually already on the blog from way back in 2009. It's one of our favourite homemade cheeses but I decided to make a few changes this time around. Mostly I usually find myself without any sweet white miso paste whenever I want to make this so I've omitted that here, swapped the rice milk to either unsweetened soy or almond (both work well) and then tried a couple more flavours.

First I tried a Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil version and we both absolutely loved it!! Wonderful flavour and such a nice variation. I was just going to blog the two flavours but figured everything should come in threes right?? So I thought a spicy version would be nice and opted for one of my favourite flavour combinations, chili and rosemary (similar to my socca recipe). Really love this one as well, good heat coming through with the chili but not too overpowering and I love the rosemary there, this one will become a regular as well. The great thing about these cheeses as well? They are SO easy to make and set and chill within an hour, no waiting days or even overnight for these!

All of these cheeses are based on ground almonds, nutritional yeast, olive oil, unsweetened soy or almond milk, flavourings and set with agar flakes. Using agar can be a little hit or miss but the great thing with these is it doesn't matter if they have trouble setting, you simply end up with a spreadable cheese instead :-) Mine end up as you see in the photos here, you can slice them, carefully, but they are also soft enough to spread - the best of both worlds! But please note these are not grating or melting cheeses. We love them simply sliced/spread onto crackers or bread in the evening with either a nice red or white wine and my husband loves them in sandwiches.

~ Recipe Notes ~

• The recipes make small portions of the cheese. Above are the ramekin dishes I use to make mine, they fit perfectly and measure 3" across on the bottom, 2" high and hold 180ml/ ¾ cup liquid. I just give the dishes a spray of cooking oil and the cheeses always come out easily after running a knife around the sides. If you are using a different type of dish and are weary of the cheese coming out, simply line the dish with cling film.

• All recipes can easily be doubled or tripled if you would like more.

• I used dried chili flakes for the rosemary and chili cheese as you get more consistent heat levels with those as opposed to fresh chillies which can vary wildly in heat levels. That being said, you can easily use fresh chillies and rosemary, I would say 1 small red chili finely chopped and 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary and just use as per recipe.

• As mentioned above, don't fret if they don't set, agar can be fickle and these are just as good spreadable :-)

• When I say to grind the nutritional yeast flakes to a powder I always use a mortar and pestle but you can easily just use your hands.

Almond Chive Cheese:

• 40g ground almonds (5 Tbsp + 2 tsp) also known as "almond meal"

• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a powder

• ¼ tsp garlic powder

• ¼ tsp onion powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 100ml unsweetened almond or soy milk (3.5 fl oz)

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbsp agar flakes

• ½ tsp lemon juice

• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the ground almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic and onion powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small saucepan whisk together the milk and oil. Sprinkle on the agar flakes and let it sit for 5 minutes (off the heat). Give it a good whisk now and turn the heat on to high. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking all the while, then reduce to a simmer and switch to a wooden spoon to stir. Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring often.

Turn off the heat then quickly pour it over the almond mixture. Add the chopped chives and lemon juice then mix really well. You should have a fairly thick mixture. Scrape it all into the prepared ramekin dish then gently press it in using a sheet of cling film until it's nice and smooth on top. Wrap the whole dish in cling film and chill until set. They set pretty quickly, 1 or 2 hours.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Cheese:

• 40g ground almonds (5 Tbsp + 2 tsp)

• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a powder

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 100ml unsweetened almond or soy milk (3.5 fl oz)

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• ½ Tbsp tomato paste

• 1 Tbsp agar flakes

• 2 Tbsp finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes (the type packed in oil)

• 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the ground almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small saucepan whisk together the milk, tomato paste and oil. Sprinkle on the agar flakes and let it sit for 5 minutes (off the heat). Give it a good whisk now and turn the heat on to high. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking all the while, then reduce to a simmer and switch to a wooden spoon to stir. Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring often.

Turn off the heat then quickly pour it over the almond mixture. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and basil then mix really well. You should have a fairly thick mixture. Scrape it all into the prepared ramekin dish then gently press it in using a sheet of cling film until it's nice and smooth on top. Wrap the whole dish in cling film and chill until set. They set pretty quickly, 1 or 2 hours.

Chili and Rosemary Cheese:

• 40g ground almonds (5 Tbsp + 2 tsp)

• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a powder

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 100ml unsweetened almond or soy milk (3.5 fl oz)

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• ½ tsp dried rosemary

• ¼ tsp dried chili flakes (also known as red pepper flakes)

• about 6 grinds of black pepper

• 1 Tbsp agar flakes

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the ground almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small saucepan whisk together the milk, oil, chili flakes, rosemary and pepper. Sprinkle on the agar flakes and let it sit for 5 minutes (off the heat). Then give it a good whisk and turn the heat on to high. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking all the while, then reduce to a simmer and switch to a wooden spoon to stir. Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring often.

Turn off the heat then quickly pour it over the almond mixture and stir well, you should have a fairly thick mixture. Scrape it all into the prepared ramekin dish then gently press it in using a sheet of cling film until it's nice and smooth on top. Wrap the whole dish in cling film and chill until set. They set pretty quickly, 1 or 2 hours.

♥

Nutritional Information

(all per 100g and using unsweetened almond milk)

Almond and Chive Cheese: 

Calories: 385

Protein: 12.3g

Fat: 33.3g

Sat Fat: 3.4g

Fibre: 7.3g

Carbs: 12.2g

Sugar: 1.8g

Sodium: 619mg

Calcium: 138mg

Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Cheese:

Calories: 308

Protein: 9g

Fat: 26g

Sat Fat: 2.7g

Fibre: 6g

Carbs: 12g

Sugar: 1.8g

Sodium: 502mg

Calcium: 106mg

Chili and Rosemary Cheese:

Calories: 411

Protein: 12.1g

Fat: 35.9g

Sat Fat: 3.8g

Fibre: 7.5g

Carbs: 12.6g

Sugar: 1.5g

Sodium: 665mg

Calcium: 151mg

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