Mushroom stout stew with potato dumplings

May 19, 2013

We had friends for dinner on a chilly Sunday night and Cindy had the perfect PPK recipe bookmarked - doubly perfect given our morning was taken up mushrooming on the Mornington Peninsula.

Sadly we didn't forage quite enough mushrooms for this stew recipe, but we had a good stash of button mushrooms on hand to cover the deficit. It's a very hearty recipe - rich with gravy, beans and mushrooms, but really topped off by the glorious dumplings on top - perfect for a cold winter's night. The stew itself has a nice flavour - peppery and herby, with some sweetness from the carrots and a bit of a celery tang. It's really all about the dumplings though.

There's a bit of time involved, but it's not particularly complicated. Probably best to leave it for a weekend. We took a few shortcuts - swapping in a mushroom stock cube for porcinis and skipping all the dough kneading for the dumplings - the dish didn't seem to suffer for it.

Mushroom stout stew with potato dumplings

(slightly adapted from this recipe at Post Punk Kitchen)

stew

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

150g button mushrooms, sliced

50g pine mushrooms, sliced

3 celery ribs, finely diced

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 teaspoons dried thyme

250g carrots, sliced into thin half moons

1 1/4 cups of Coopers stout

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 cans kidney beans, rinsed

3 cups veggie stock with a cube of mushroom stock powder crumbled through it

1/3 cup flour whisked into 1 cup of cold water until there are no lumps

dumplings

1 cup mashed potatoes (however you like them - we mashed ours with a bit of soy milk and a splash of oil)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and throw in the onion with a shake of salt. Cook for about ten minutes, until the onion is soft. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or so.

Add the mushrooms, celery, thyme and rosemary. Cook for another ten minutes or so, until the mushrooms start to cook. Throw in the carrots, stout, tomato paste, pepper and salt and bring the mix to the boil. Boil the pot for about eight minutes, until the liquid has reduced substantially.

Add in the mushroom/stock mixture and bring it all back to the boil and cook for another five minutes or so.

Gently pour in the flour mixture while stirring the stew.  Cook for about five minutes until the stew starts to thicken up nicely.

Kill the heat and add the beans, preheat the oven to 220°C and get cracking on the dumplings.

Combine the mashed potatoes with the oil and water and stir well.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the potato mixture into it. Mix together to form a loose dough.

Transfer the stew to a baking tray and then dollop big spoonfuls of the potato mix on top.

Pop the whole thing in the oven and then bake for roughly twenty minutes - the dumplings should be nice and brown on top and deliciously soft in the middle. Let it all sit for ten minutes to cool and before serving.

Snag Stand II

May 18, 2013

It feels like forever since we first visited Snag Stand outside Melbourne Central. I've developed a taste for the Lord of the Fries hotdogs and we've even got into the habit of making our own versions at home (pro tip: potato crisps on a hotdog are surprisingly excellent). Still, we've been meaning to return for ages  - the veggie chorizo has been well-loved and everyone raves about their chips.

So on a lazy Saturday afternoon in the city we decided to stop by. The menu hasn't changed too much but it's clearer about what's vegetarian and they've added the chorizo to the original potato, smoked apple and sage dog. Neither of their designed dogs are vegan, but you can build your own from components (be warned: at last reckoning neither the onions or the mushrooms were vegan-friendly, and I'd be surprised if that had changed).

We stuck with the standard menu option - a veggie chorizo with semi-dried tomatoes, rocket, chipotle aoli and shredded Spanish goat's cheese on a brioche bun ($9.90), with a side of chips and herbed aoli ($3.90 + $1 for the dipping sauce).  The chips were small but excellent - crispy and heavily seasoned with plenty of aoli for dipping. You can see why they've got such a great reputation.

As for the hot-dog - first up: don't order the brioche bun. At least I wouldn't next time. Though Cindy disagrees, I don't really understand the appeal of it as a hot dog bun and would much prefer a basic roll. Second up: this chorizo is pretty damn good, possibly even better than our homemade attempts. It doesn't have the dryness that you sometimes get with a veggie dog, and it had some nice smoky flavours going on as well. The whole mess worked okay, but I reckon I'd go for a simpler option next time - just a dog, some mustard and some onions in a standard roll. We'll see.

It's great that there are two vegan dogs on offer at Snag Stand (and good ones too - probably pipping the Phat Brats versions) but kind of a shame that they don't go the extra mile and offer up some more vegan toppings to go with them. As a vego though it's worth a stop - a $10 hot dog is a bit extravagant but you can be guaranteed something pretty delicious.

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Green Gourmet Giraffe seems to be a regular visitor, while Louise By Degrees has an excellent (if slightly old) run-down of what's vegan on the Snag Stand menu.  Live Blissful went to the Brisbane store and enjoyed their vegan offerings.

Meatier bloggers are mostly positive about Snag Stand - see The Blog of Sharlene K, Food Made With Love, Eat. Play. Shop., Melbourne Date Night, hypothesesofagradstudent, The Very, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Yellow Eggs, Sarah Cooks, We Love Melbourne, table to tummy, Ichigo Shortcake, two munch, Kran & Nina, Suchgoodlife, HEARTLEA, Seminmalista, egg tarts and apple pie, food.loves.my.mouth, Let's Get Fat Together, Gastronomical ramblings and We Dare Food.

tirache and lunchosaurus were less impressed.

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Snag Stand
corner Latrobe & Swanston Sts
vegetarian hot dogs $6.90-9.90
http://snagstand.com.au/

Accessibility: Snag Stand opens directly onto the Swanston St footpath, which is reasonably flat and without too many obstructions. Ordering and pick-up occurs at a low-ish counter. The few tables available are high set.

Yim Yam II

May 17, 2013

Last Friday we made a long overdue return to Collingwood's Yim Yam. Though they looked busy out the front and it was too cold for the courtyard, a waiter led us downstairs where there were still plenty of tables available. The menu doesn't appear to have changed substantially though it's difficult to tell when it runs to 91 items, many of them helpfully annotated with vegetarian-friendly Vs. (Vegans and others with dietary requirements are encouraged to speak to the staff, though Yim Yam don't guarantee 100% gluten-free food.)

Though I knew I should be ordering something new for the amusement of our readership, I selfishly returned to the toasted rice & coconut salad ($12.90). Sweet and chewy misshapen hunks of crusty rice are as darling as they sound deformed, elevating fried rice to centrepiece status. I really must insist that you order this too.

We backed it up with coconut rice ($4) and Gang Khi Lek ($13.90), "a curry dish made with khi lek (cassia leaves) which are very bitter, but when cooked with coconut milk and curry spices alchemically transforms to deliciousness". Indeed there was no bitterness and plenty deliciousness to be had.

I topped off the meal with a couple scoops of coconut ice cream ($5). The sweet elastic gelato-textured ice cream held the occasional bite of young coconut flesh, and a sprinkling of toasted coconut added crunch and nuttiness - this was coconut in brilliant 3D.

Yim Yam turned out an excellent, low-key meal - BYO and eat vego and the cost's very reasonable too. Though the service was courteous, it wasn't conscientious - a couple of items were unavailable (intriguing Thai waffle, why do you forsake me?), our entree order didn't make it to the kitchen, waiters rarely checked in on the downstairs dining room, and our bill wasn't correctly itemised on our exit. But our bellies were filled with great food, staff were responsive when we hailed them and for the most part we were happy to dine unattended. We're content to keep it casual at Yim Yam.

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You can read about one of our previous visits to Yim Yam here. The Collingwood restaurant has since received positive write-ups on Fitzroyalty and foodie about town.

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Yim Yam
76 Smith Street, Collingwood
(also in Yarraville, Ascot Vale and Moonee Ponds)
9419 3985
veg dishes: $6.90 - $13.90
http://yimyam.com.au/

Accessibility: The front area has a flat entrance but is fairly crowded. Access to the courtyard and other rooms (plus the toilets) require you to negotiate at least a few steps. The toilets are spacious enough but not necessarily designed with accessibility issues in mind. Ordering takes place at the table, then payment is at a relatively high and crowded counter out the front.

'Turkey' sandwich slices

May 11-16, 2013

This installment of my sporadic adventures in home-made seitan is inspired by a newly purchased cookbook - Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day by Celine Steen & Tamasin Noyes. This book is cute, with a friendly tone, fresh veges and home-made mock meats and few difficult-to-source ingredients, wholesome wraps and veganised classics, sweet stuff and charming colour photos.  

The Gobbler Slices are a DIY seitan clearly intended to imitate turkey meat. The dough works white beans, white wine and some green herbs into the gluten. I'm still battling a disconnect between U.S. recipes' 'vital wheat gluten' and Aussie groceries' 'gluten flour' and this time I took Mel's advice, dramatically reducing the liquid involved. The seitan was very dense and tasted pleasantly of poultry herbs; it reminded me of Sanitarium's Vegie Roast, though it was far less salty. (I might try kneading it more, aiming to develop the gluten strands, if I made it again.)

Having doubled the recipe, we've spun the seitan out over many sandwiches. We started by making 'razz-elnut spinach' sandwiches (pictured above). These layer the mock slices with spinach, hazelnuts and a silken-tofu based dressing that's flavoured with white miso and raspberries. It's tart, toasty and savoury, unexpectedly brilliant.

We also took inspiration from the Double-Decker Deluxe (picture above), originally intended for the book's beef-style seitan. Here the seitan is marinated in stock, coffee and garlic, fried, and then smothered in a dressed that consists primarily of blended cashews and vinegar, plus a little chilli and parsley.

Since this seitan is dense and subtly flavoured, I'm not inclined to take it beyond the realm of sandwiches.  But sliced thinly and lavished with condiments, it's a delight and potential packed-lunch staple.

'Turkey' sandwich slices
(slightly adapted from the Gobbler Slices in
Celine Steen & Tamasin Noyes' Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day)

1 x 400g can white beans, drained
1 cup white wine
juice of 1 lemon (about 5 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 1/2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 1/2 cups gluten flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
4 tablespoons besan/chickpea flour
4 tablespoons arrowroot
1/2 cup water

In a food processor, blend together the beans, wine, lemon juice, oil and spices (onion powder through to celery seed) until smooth.

In a medium bowl, stir together the gluten flour, yeast flakes, besan and arrowroot. Pour in the wet ingredients from the food processor and stir everything together into a dough. Dig your fingers in to mix it well and develop the gluten strands! Gradually add water as needed to incorporate all the flour into the dough.

Roll out two large pieces of foil. Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a thick cylinder about 15cm long. Roll each dough-log in foil, completely covering it and twisting around the ends.

Steam the rolls for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow them to cool completely before you use them. Slice the rolls as thinly as you can for sandwiches.

Tofu-ricotta cheesecake

May 12, 2013

This cheesecake is my May calendar recipe. It's a funny one, a tofu cheesecake that isn't vegan. It is full of protein; the tofu is backed up by ricotta and eggs. And it's sweetened with honey rather than white sugar (though there's no doubt some of that in the biscuit base).

I made a few substitutes for convenience - I didn't have the full quantity of almonds so supplemented them with cashews, I likewise topped my quarter-cup of honey up with maple syrup, and I used canned rather than fresh passionfruit. All of this worked out just fine. The use of a food processor for both layers made construction awfully easy, yet the major revelation was the baking technique. There's a water bath, but you don't put the cheesecake in it. Instead the water sits in a tray in the bottom of the oven, creating humidity. I have never seen such a serene cheesecake, smooth and barely coloured by the heat, gently pulling away from the sides of the tin all on its own.

The recipe includes the kind of sour accents I like - a gingernut base, limes in the filling and passionfruit on top. The more unusual ingredients still assert themselves effectively - there are overtones of tofu and honey (even at a half-quantity of the latter), while the tofu and ricotta team up to create a light and velvety texture I have not previously experienced in a baked cheesecake.

Tofu-ricotta cheesecake
(original recipe on the Woolworths website)

155g packet gluten-free gingernut biscuits
50g almonds
70g butter
500g ricotta
250g silken tofu
finely grated rind and juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup honey
170g can passionfruit pulp

Line a springform tin with baking paper.

In a food processor, grind together the gingernuts and almonds; transfer these crumbs to a bowl. Melt the butter and pour it into the crumbs, mixing thoroughly. Press the mixture into the base of the springform tin, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate.

Preheat an oven to 140°C. Fill a deep baking tray at least half-way with water and place it on the bottom shelf of the oven.

Clean out the food processor, then use it to blend together the ricotta, drained tofu, lime rind and juice, vanilla, eggs and honey. Keep blending, occasionally pausing to push down anything unmixed on the walls of the container, until the filling is smooth.

Retrieve the base from the fridge and pour over the filling. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour, it should be smooth, just barely golden and pulling away from the tin at the edges, and a bit wobbly in the middle. Turn the oven off but keep the cheesecake in there for a further hour. Next, let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a bench and finally, cover it and refrigerate it overnight.

Pour the passionfruit over the cheesecake before serving.