Category: books

Reveiw: An Opinionated Guide to Vegan London

On By ClareIn books, london1 Comment

We go to London a couple of times a year and we’ve never been short of places to eat when we get there. I’ve been know to make detailed maps showing the best routes between eateries, shops and our other appointments. And by ‘known too’ I mean each time, even if our visit is four hours long. Point is that I’ve never felt the need for a guide book before. But two things sold this book to me, sight unseen: the first is its title and the second is the author. It’s written by Sara Kiyo Popowa who wrote the brilliant Bento Power.

I was really excited when it came. Hoxton Mini Press wrapped it in the cutest paper and sent a little thank you card for ordering them straight from them. I recommend it. It’s a stunning little book filled with 53 restaurant recommendations, each one with at least one stunning photo. It’s almost pornographic.

As for the recommendations: well, I’m looking forward to trying a bunch of them on our upcoming trip. Some of them I’ve had on my radar for a while – I’m still bitter that La Fauxmagerie opened two days after our last visit – and some completely new to me. I couldn’t resist a little sneaky visit to one place though. I had an hour and a half’s wait between two trains coming back from Paris and I took the opportunity to jump on the underground and pick up some Crosstown Doughnuts.

I recommend both the doughnuts and the book. You can order Vegan London directly from Hoxton Mini Press.

Vegan Mofo 2019: Spring Salad / Review: Show Up For Salad by Terry Hope Romero

On By ClareIn books, veganmofo19Leave a comment

I’m actually really bad at salads. I’m not great at improvising. That’s not true. Actually I’m great at improvising. Only I need clear guidelines and a structure to work with. Very clear, detailed guidelines, recipes almost. Only recipes aren’t great for salads are they? Because you want to use the freshest stuff, not just what’s on a list. I know, I’m going in circles right?

Show Up For Salad is the perfect middle ground. In fact it’s split pretty evenly down the middle between general advice guidance and mix and match recipes to help you put together your own salad combos, and more traditional salad recipes. For this review I thought I’d try one of each: a recipe, and throwing my own thing together.

spring

The Bright And Spicy Spring Asparagus salad was the first one to try. You have the choice of five salad dressings to make this one with and I went for the Tahini French Dressing. I also substituted the mix of greens suggested for the organic salad bag I’d got that week in my Riverford box because it was there and it was fresh. I enjoyed the salad although I did wish I’d made a dressing with more heat.

sidesalad

Tonight I made myself a side salad. For the leafy bit I mixed some bitter leaves with cos lettuce. I dressed it with Sunflower Ranch Dressing which is creamy and perfect and topped with Root Bacon. Yeah. Root Bacon. Bacon made from a bunch of carrots. It’s lush. And then I popped some seeds on top for crunch.

I can’t wait to explore more salads. I’ve got a row of beetroot in the garden destined for beet prosciutto. I’d honestly advise anyone to go out and buy a copy of Show Up For Salad.

Vegan Mofo 2019: Cake / Veganising The Nordic Baking Book

On By ClareIn books, Nordic Baking Book, veganmofo19Leave a comment

I’ve only explored a couple of the recipes from the cake chapters. I’m still a little bit confused by the whole concept of coating the baking pan with breadcrumbs. But I put my fears behind me for a couple of simple bakes.

Kardemummakaka – Cardamon Cake

Veganised by replacing the butter with Naturli block, removing the egg and replacing the sour cream with Alpro yogurt (the extra liquid that the yogurt contains works to replace the egg as well as the sour cream).

cardamon

Who can resist cardamon cake? Soft beautiful sponge with the beautiful fresh taste of cardamon and sprinkled with pearl sugar.

Mannagrynskaka – Semolina Sponge Cake

Veganised by swapping out the yogurt with Alpro and the butter with Naturli block.

rasberry

Just looking at this picture makes me smile. It’s a beautiful summer cake with a brilliant texture from the semolina and the bright burst of raspberries. I think this one is going to go into my regular rotation.

That’s all from cakes, for now. Tomorrow is pastry!

Vegan Mofo 2019: Biscuits / Veganising The Nordic Baking Book

On By ClareIn books, Nordic Baking Book, veganmofo19Leave a comment

I first saw The Nordic Baking book in real life in Portree in a shop called ÒR. I couldn’t actually afford it at the time because I was busy buying about five other books (and the rest of the stock — everything in there is gorgeous!) but the Nordic Baking Book played on my mind. I ended up buying it full price in Waterstones in town as soon as I got paid — I couldn’t wait for our next trip to the Hebrides.

The Nordic Baking Book is a collection of baking recipes from around the Nordic Region. Obviously. It’s a documentary book so all the recipes are in their traditional form. You know, not vegan. But I can work with that. I’m trying to veganise one recipe a week out of there. Both this week of Mofo theme and my experiments started with biscuits.

Blondkakor – Peasant Shortbread Cookies

Veganised by replacing the butter with 1/3 vegetable fat (Trex) and 2/3 margarine (Vitalite)

Buttery shortbread studded with whole almonds. Leaving the skin on is something I wouldn’t think of doing for a cookie but it really brings the almond flavour. The only issue is they don’t keep. Turns out that isn’t a problem though.

Chokladsnittar – Chocolate Cuts

Veganised by replacing the butter with Naturli Block

choccuts

Chocolate shortbread studded with pearl sugar. These babies didn’t last very long either. So delicious. They aren’t strongly chocolatey, just light and sweet and perfect with a hot drink.

Mandelskopor – Almond Rusks

Veganised by using Naturli block instead of butter, and eggs replaced with 4 teaspoons of flax, 6 tablespoons of oat milk and an extra 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.

almond rusks

I needed another almond hit. The idea leaving the skin on the almonds is something I haven’t come across in my usual Anglo-American baking. It’s the best thing ever though. I worried if the skins would add a funny texture but you don’t notice it. All you notice is the incredible almond taste. So I had to try these Almond Rusks, and they did not disappoint.

I’m afraid that’s all of my biscuit experiments for now but I’m having so much fun here that I doubt they’ll be the last.