Squiddy cooks: Pumpkin 'roni and cookies!

I've been way, way into cooking this year. Since returning to school -which I love, by the way- my number one method of escapism (read: procrastination) has been getting into the kitchen and cooking up a storm. I'll do it all, soups, bakes, stir fries, sweets! And my new penchant for farmer's markets and organic foods (thanks again, school!) has meant the fridge is always full of fresh produce begging me to hack it the hell up and expose it to high temperatures.

Also I got a machine.

This, boys and girls, is what is known in the overexcited housewife trade as a "Thermomix". It's basically a blender on steroids, in that it chops ANYTHING in seconds - be it breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, ice, mills grains...bla bla. It also can heat things up, make icecream/sorbet, knead dough and kinda sorta cleans itself. It has a timer, and also levels of chopping speed and intensity. I like it best for making soups because you dont need to transfer to a blender, and I also use it for things like dips, pesto, crumbling up tofu, chopping nuts, mixing up muffins/cake/cookie dough and what have you.

Yes, revolutionary indeed.

BUT this is not the homeshopping channel, so lets resume with last nights dinner!

First up

Pumpkin 'roni with sage breadcrumb topping and a side of kale with garlic and capers and white beans and zucchini

Basically, it's two Veganomicon recipes (oh god how I love it). The pumpkin ziti, well I had no ziti so (gluten free) macaroni it was! I also topped it with breadcrumbs made with rye caraway bread so they were extravagantly tasty!

The green bit is done by replacing escarole (whata?) with kale in one of the recipes. YES I FOUND KALE! After days that seemed like years of searching, I located it at a farmer's market yesterday (the brand new Docklands one, check it out!) It's a brilliant recipe, quick and so healthy, and I love kale so much I must get more. I also topped it with "Liquid Gold" dressing recipe from Becoming Vegan nutrition book. Apparently it supplies you with wonderful doses of Omega 3 fatty acids and B12, and is also wonderful!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Look at this little cookies all lined up like soldiers prepared to die for their country, ie MY STOMACH.

This recipe was from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreen Burton. YUM! Maple syupy, chewy, easy cookie goodness.

Yes. I'm going to end this post now, as its started to sound like I have multiple sponsorships from all manner of cookbooks and spaceship like cooking machines!

End now.

Ancient stuff from old digicam (R.I.P)

So I swapped the 1 gig storage disk from my old camera into my new camera, y'know, for the days when I really eat alot and need the extra room both in belly and in picture storage.

Subsequently, I found a couple of bits of really old food pornage, so I'll post it here without too much fanfare just to get it out of the way!

Laksa Me

I'm big into laksa, huge into it, so I was really looking forward to visiting an establishment that actually wanted to laksa me! I'd turned up once and it was shut, and heartbreaking as that was, it was nowhere near as disappointing/ed as I felt when it was open.

To ease you in, let's start with the entrees? We had them, and they were incredible!

Coming out on a fancy schmance platter were little veggie filled money bags, and the second thing, not sure what, kinda samosa looking thingies...my memory escapes me, but it was six months ago!

Now these entrees were up there with the best of them, easily comparable to the stuff you get at Shakahari, but cheaper. Special looking, beautifully presented and delicious.

However, I was here for the laksa, and felt much glee at seeing it on the table in front of me...that is until I dug in.

This was more of a swampy quagmire than a laksa, truth be told. It was very, very heavy on too soggy rice noodles and very light on veggies and tofu. The soup was awfully spicy hot, and I'm no chilli baby either, but I could not handle it! Also it had a kind of grittiness to it, not like sand..more like undissolved icing sugar. I like my laksa juice smooth and fully liquidized thankyou!

I dont want to get too snitchy, it may have just been a bad day on the laksa front, or perhaps I just dont know good, authentic laksa? I was well and truly bummed. And jealous of Rocket's pad thai, which was amazing, by the way. No photo though.

Laksa Me
Shop 1, 16 Liverpool St
Melbourne


Montsalvat

So I went on a drive with my mother, and somehow we ended up at Montsalvat. Montsalvat was originally an artist's community, but now its mainly used for seminars, weddings, exhibitions and other such activities.

There is a cute little restaurant on site though as you can imagine, the vegan options are scarce so I ended up with the mixed mushroom pizza, drizzled with truffle oil and topped with lots of deliciously fresh rocket leaves. Hold whatever trendy cheese it also contained.

Mmmm it was so good! The mushroom mix was something I've never had before, so many strong tastes and interesting textures, each mouthful was slightly different. However, I will have to keep my adoration under wraps, as the price was (if I remember correctly) close to $20. I guess thats the price you pay to eat in a location once inhabited by starving artists.

If you do come, make it a sunny day. Then you can go for a swim at the most excellent swimming hole down the road, Laughing Waters. Be aware that it is the Yarra though. And there's snakes. Apart from that, good!

Monsalvat
7 Hillcrest Ave
Eltham

And I'm back with a BANG!!

....quite literally, you could say!

The good news is twofold. This morning began with me picking up my brand spanking new (BLUE!) camera (if only I could use it to take a photo of itself you would be so enamoured with it! Stupid physics) aaaand within that same half hour, I was sitting down to a delicious breakfast preceded by some eager and crappy amateur (food) photography.

Bomb Cafe in Abbotsford was the carefully selected establishment in question. Many moons ago (last year) I resided just behind Bomb Cafe, the residence itself was actually a real life hovel, and the only good thing about it was the location. Well that and the possum that died in the cavities of the walls and produced odours and maggots. But if I had to choose one thing, it would definitely be the location!

Despite Bomb Cafe being so close to my house, it took me quite some time to visit it. You see, it looks really mysterious, one of those places that takes guts and determination to initially enter. On a strip of Johnston St, largely full of abandoned laundromats and old European man style coffee shops and no signage (except a little wingdings bomb) it took a fair few walks past to actually suck it up and go in. Anyway to cut a meanderingly long story short, I did go in! And discovered that they actually have the word "vegan" on the menu! As in, vegan fry up and vegan scrambled tofu!

Okay, onto this most previous visit! Probably the best thing about walking in after a years absence (besides the thought of tofu scram made by someone other than me) was being asked where we had been for the last year. It's nice to feel memorable!

So..the scram! We shared tofu scramble with sides ($8.50 ish) of avocado, mushrooms and spinach ($2.50-$3.50 each). For the tofu haters out there, you can choose to have a vegan fry up, a plate full of fried tomato, mushrooms, spinach and other assorted breakfastish vegetables.

But anyway...this is the scram:

And this is the bev. Long black and soy chai:

And it was allllll delicious! The scramble, big enough to share between two! Slices of sourdough bread soaked with tofu scramble juices (much better than it sounds), firmly crumbled tofu with sweet caramelised red onion, mushrooms and sizable quantities of spinach and avocado. The chai blend was just right as well.

Bomb Cafe are also more than happy to whip you up a vegan lunch! You can have a massive baguette filled with roast and marinated veggies (ask for the mega garlicky artichoke spread, dont forget!), and apparently they also do a mean risotto if you ask real nice.

There is a whole bunch of seating as well! Front inside is nice and cosy, and chatty if you want it to be as well, there is a middle ish area to spread out with your paper or buddies and make a good couple of hours out of it, and a gorgeous courtyard (that almost backed onto my hovel, exciting stuff).

And I forgot how to conclude these things, so here's a picture of my dog.




Bomb Cafe
229 Johnston St
Abbotsford
Ph (03) 9486 0699

promising update...

I'm making and eating so many good things it kills me not to be able to post them.

A new camera is definitely on the horizon.

I'm back, presently.

Yes! I have been bad and lazy, and so selfish, eating so much delicious food and not taking photos or even reviewing it, how rude! I know!

My camera is currently on the fritz, I'm fixing it this week, and I've also gone on a vegan cookbook binge which led to a cooking, particularly sweets baking, binge! Such things need to be documented!

So watch this space and expect some action!

PS. Can you get nutritional yeast and vital wheat gluten ANYWHERE in Melbourne?! I'm at a loss. :(

Roasts...Tuna...delicious

So I cooked some stuff over the last couple of months (of slack absenteeism).

Sanitarium Roast served with herbed wedges and avocado cucumber salad.

I was quite bemused upon opening the Sanitarium Roast packet...the cylindrical "roast" appeared to more resemble what I feed my dog (also known as "dog log") than something I would willingly choose to eat myself. But, being the brave warrior for the vegan cause that I am, I rolled that thing in the provided (luridly orange) herb and spice mix and wacked it in the oven, cosied up to some potato wedges.

Whilst baking I prepared a simple salad consisting of an avocado that was going mooshy, 3/4 of a cucumber that was just wasting space in the fridge and some random tomato, spiced up with a healthy dash of balsamic and some olive oil. Simple, but delicious.

The roast emerged from the oven looking surprisingly edible, brown and crusty on the outside, a somewhat springy texture was revealed to my forky probings. Sliced and generously doused in packet gravy, it actually tasted not too bad! Not sure that it would have been quite so consumable minus the lashings of gravy and stuff on the side, but it worked well in this instance. I'd like to try it maybe in some sort of sandwich, with some sort of mustard..perhaps a pickle.

Mock Tuna Salad

I first spied this recipe whilst browsing http://yeahthatveganshit.blogspot.com/. I think mainly because the photo on Lindyloo's blog had a potato chip in it, and I quite like potato chips.

The recipe is remarkably simple to prepare, makes a decent amount, and you could probably use it in a whole heap of recipes

INGREDIENTS:

1(15 oz.) can chick-peas, drained (or 1.5 c. cooked)
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise (I use 97% Fat Free Praise, which is vegan)
1/3 cup minced celery
2.5 T. minced dill pickle (about 1 pickle-slice, give or take)
1/2 T. nutritional yeast
1 green onion, chopped
1 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. kelp powder (optional, I didn't, though I'm sure it would give it that tunaish taste)
pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, mash the chick-peas coarsely with a fork. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Use on sandwiches or on a bed of salad greens.

I served it in some cos lettuce leaves with some (rather pale) lemon fries. Just chips with herbs and lemon zest on them prior to baking. Tasted good but not enough crunch. I need to work on my baked chips routine, either that or resort to deep frying them. Any hints? I did parboil them first but it helped not a thing. Le sigh.

Anyway regarding the mock tuna, I've never actually tasted real tuna so I dont know how similar it is, but Rocket said it had a similarity, and it looked a damn sight like it! It was really tasty, tangy and nicely textured, would go well in sandwiches and just as a snack, and seems like it would be something that would keep well in the fridge over time.

You should try it!

Green Field Restaurant

It was one of the freezingest days of winter and I was feeling rather indecisive. I had made Rocket stroll up and down Sydney Road with me (from Albion St to Brusnwick Road and back again) searching for a yet undiscovered dining gem. Nowhere in particular, just something delicious. In the end, it was my bladder that made the decision and when it all got much too much for it, we entered the nearest establishment, which happened to be Green Field Restaurant.

Immediately it smelt like burning. But hey, burning means cooking, and cooking means food, so we sat down (after brief interlude with bathroom) and perused the menus. The vegetarian section was quite pleasing, and I did have difficulty deciding what I wanted. It was a toss up between some variety of eggplant deliciousness (I'm always tempted by eggplant dishes because it is something I am entirely shite at cooking whilst at home) and the incredibly genius sounding "tofu satay stack" or some such. I went the stack. Look at it!!

I was really, really impressed with this meal. For the most part, I'm used to meat serving Asian restaurants having a fairly okay range of stir fried vegetables with beancurd, or satay vegetables or some such, but I was so chuffed to be presented with this creative and delicious meal created exclusively for the enjoyment of vegetarians. Basically, it was a stack of about 3 square slices of deep fried tofu, layered with a spicy, coconutty satay sauce and a bed of vegetables on the bottom, included shredded carrot and lettuce, broccoli, some random peas, carrot, capsicum and baby corn. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy, the tofu crisp and the satay just bound it all together. I understand its not too far removed from the usual satay and beancurd dishes, but I am pretty easily impressed and it was a cut above the usual.

Rocket decided to go with the Monk's Bowl because he often strives to eat like a monk but then fails because I make him eat peanut butter chocolate icecream.


It was a simple and soothing dish of broth, noodles, puffy tofu and vegetables, exactly as described in the menu and delightful in its own way. Not as delightful as TOFU SATAY stack but hey, monks cant have everything.

We enjoyed some delicious asian broccoli with garlic sauce on the side, and this is what it looked like.


Mmm..delicious and most generous garlic studding.

Green Field Asian Restaurant was a pleasant surprise, well priced food and really a great variety for vegetarians and vegans alike. And the burning smell went away eventually.


Green Field Asian Restaurant
378 Sydney Road
Brunswick