Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness…

Basket with onions, carrots and beetroot in — Some of the lovely veggies in season in October
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

…and my absolute favourite, savoy cabbage. Yum. Perhaps not quite what Keat’s had in mind, but Autumn (and savoy cabbage) is something I look forward to every year. So it’s October and I thought it would be a nice idea to investigate what’s seasonal (a.k.a. cheap!) this month. This is based on the UK, but I would imagine is similar in most of the Northern hemisphere.

Let’s start with the fruit (and some tasty ideas for what to do with it).

Apples – my absolute favourite is apple crumble with Bird’s custard, and to be honest, I don’t often get much further than that.It’s so straight forward and no need to faff about with pastry – but if you do have a bit more time/inclination, apple pie is also gorgeous. You can use dessert apples for cooking (just use slightly less sugar than if you were using a cooker), but nothing quite beats the warm, fluffy, appley clouds of Bramleys in a crumble or pie! Apple butter is another favourite of mine when I have the time – it’s not complicated to make – it just sits cooking in the oven for a long time. A taste of autumn in a jar. And of course, if you don’t want to cook with apples, you can always just eat them! (Not the cooking apples, obviously…)

Blackberries – you might find some still hanging on in the hedgerows. They marry perfectly with apples in a crumble or you could have a go at bramble jelly. The last lot that I picked made a lovely compote for my morning porridge with a bit of lemon juice and sugar. Wild blackberries are very pippy, so I tend to cook and then sieve mine for jelly and compote. I don’t like waste, so I really push them through the sieve and scrape the pulp off the bottom of the sieve and stir it in too. So I suppose it’s more of a jamly than a true jelly!

Some blackberries on a bush in varying stages of ripeness — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Elderberries – more hedgerow fruitiness, perfect as a jelly or you could have a go at making your own wine!

Pears – You can pretty much do what you do with apples to pears, though pears poach better than apples. Eat them in crumble, poached in a light syrup, upside down cake or just on their own.

Veggies

The root veggie stalwarts are still in season – potatoes, onions, carrots, but they’ve been joined by swede and celeriac. Sounds like the start of a lovely vegetable stew to me, especially when celery is added into the mix! Leafy greens continue in the form of rocket, watercress, spinach, kale and spring greens. There’s brassicas in the form of Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli And of course it’s nearly Halloween, so where would we be without pumpkins and turnips!

Swede – mashed or as wedges, I love the earthy taste of swede! (And if that’s confused you, you probably know it better as a rutabaga. It’s definitely not a person from Sweden!)

Sweetcorn – If you can find somewhere to pick your own, grab the opportunity and fill your boots (and the freezer!) with cobs. Freshly picked sweetcorn is divine, but the sweetness lessens quickly after picking. I love sweetcorn chowder, sweetcorn relish, succotash and just eating it on it’s own with some vegan butter melting over the top.

Beetroot – lovely roasted with a bit of balsamic vinegar to bring out the earthy sweetness, I also like to make mine into a pasta sauce with vegan cream and some lemon juice or to blitz it with some chickpeas (see my hummus recipe and just add 2 roasted beetroot to the blender) for bright pink hummus. ‘Bag puss’ beetroot (aka chioggia) makes a nice decorative change if you aren’t going to be blitzing it. For those of you that don’t remember Bagpuss, first time around or on a re-run, try this…

Sliced beetroot on a plate — Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Butternut squash – I often find that butternut squash is a bit watery, but my favourite thing to use it for is Thug Kitchen’s Queso-ish sauce. It’s lovely (but the language in the recipe is quite ripe, so if you are easily offended, don’t go looking for it!)

Aubergine – I have never yet been able to master cooking aubergines in a way that doesn’t leave them tasting bitter and/or rubbery – so if anyone has any ideas what I am doing wrong, answers on a post card please! So as you’ve probably guessed, aubergines are also in season – baba ganoush and Imam biyildi are apparently very nice and if you are better aubergine cook than I, give them a go!

Cabbage – I love cabbage lightly boiled until it’s just tender (I know I should steam it, but I use minimal water…) with just about anything, but cabbage is more versatile than just a side dish – white cabbage is great in stirfry and fantastic layered up with white sauce and nuts in a cabbage bake, whilst stewed red cabbage is fabulous. You could also make sauerkraut if you’re feeling adventurous – very good for your gut flora is sauerkraut!

A head of savoy cabbage — Savoy cabbage – my favourite!
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Kale – I love kale crisps – quick and easy and very tasty! Kale is also good in soups. I made a lentil, kale and pasta ‘soup’ (well, that’s what the recipe I was following called it! It was actually more of a stew) last week and it was lovely. A slow cook of the kale means that the leaves won’t be tough.

Pumpkin – good as soup, in pies and roasted. And obviously you could make a Jack O’ Lantern out of them. Unless you are being traditional and in the North, in which case, you’d be using a turnip, which brings me nicely on to…

Turnip – a bit of a neglected vegetable really, which is a shame. Mustard glazed turnips are divine and if you can get the turnips with their greenery still attached, you can eat that too! They also work really well in a stew.

Rocket and watercress – let’s not forget these two green stars whilst we’re on the leafy greens kick! Peppery and fire-y and good sources of vitamin C and iron. What’s not to love? Make a pesto out of them (use the leaves instead of basil) or make a white sauce and stir in the leaves a minute or two before the end of cooking and then stir through pasta. You can add other veg in as well – some grated carrot and slice red pepper works well (and then you’r almost eating a rainbow!)

Cauliflower – Obviously cauliflower Scheese (other brands are available, but this is my favourite…), but also stuffed cauliflower with almonds, onions, chilli (also seasonal) and served in a cumin infused tomato (still seasonal) sauce…oh, alright, a can of tomatoes simmered for about 10 mins to thicken with 2 tsp of cumin added!

Parsnips – even better after the first frosts have worked their magic on them to make them sweeter, I love them roasted, in curried parsnip soup, mashed, in a stew – just about any way you can think of really. We grew loads of parsnips when we had an allotment – with varying degrees of success. One year, the parsnips got carrot root fly – who knew the little blighters would enjoy parsnip as well as carrots!Anyway, it didn’t put me off and I look forward to parsnip season every year.

Leeks – I find cooked leeks strangely comforting (maybe it’s an echo of my quite-far-back Welsh ancestry). Their warmth and delicate flavour always make me feel better! In leek season, I often use them instead of onions, but their also great in potato and leek soup (never served cold in our house), or smothered in white sauce and with some sort of cheese substitute on top.

Sliced leeks — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

You’ll still find other veggies from September hanging around as well – chicory, courgettes and marrow, cucumber, lettuce and Swiss chard, peas and runner beans, and radishes too – but they’ve been joined by (drum roll please…)

Chestnuts – I was at Beamish last week (fab, but very wet) and there was a coal fire burning which took me straight back to my childhood and my nan roasting chestnuts on the coal shovel on her fire. Of course, we’re talking about sweet chestnuts here, not horse chestnuts aka conkers (because they are poisonous and if you eat enough of them, they will kill you…) Sweet chestnuts however, are lovely peeled and eaten straight from being roasted on the fire. If you manage not to eat them all, they work really well in vegetable pies and you can even use them in sweet recipes too.

So there we are, a whistle-stop tour of what’s good in October – although damsons, strawberries and mangetout are out, there’s more than enough plant based goodness to make up for it and I shall be eagerly awaiting my first roasted parsnips of the year.

Watch out for some of the recipes that I’ve mentioned over the coming weeks – happy cooking and eating!

(As ever, all opinions are my own and there are no affiliate links)

Sheep Friendly Shepherd’s Pie

Ewe and a lamb standing in a field — **No sheep in this pie!**
Photo by Adrian Dorobantu on Pexels.com

It’s been a busy fortnight for me – I’ve just become a student again and so this week was a whirl of induction activities and field trips to some exciting sites. Our last field trip of the week coincided with rain that set in for the afternoon. Even though I had waterproofs on (remember, there is no bad weather, just the wrong clothes 😉), after three hours, the rain began to seep through. It very kindly brought the cold with it… Today has been wet too – though I didn’t have to stand outside in the rain, which was nice! So with all this damp, I think it’s time to pull out my recipe for vegan shepherd’s pie and get cooking. It has the added advantage of making enough for 4 large portions and it keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, so I don’t have to cook when I get in late tomorrow. Bonus!

I adapted the recipe from a plain veggie shepherd’s pie recipe that I’d found and an article about an Indian version of a meaty shepherd’s pie that someone had cooked for the Queen. After a bit of experimentation, here is my version. Warm enough to drive out the damp and the winter chill, but not blow-your-head-off hot, feel free to add chilli powder if you like more heat.

Don’t let the long ingredients list put you off – it’s mostly spices which you chuck in at the beginning – peeling and chopping the veg is the most time consuming part!

Serves 4

oil for frying
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cinnamon
1” (2.5cm) ginger, grated
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, sliced thinly
8oz (200g) green lentils, washed and picked over for small stones
¾-1 pt (375-500ml) stock
1 tbsp tomato puree*
2 lb (1kg) potatoes
plant milk
vegan margarine or oil

Fry the bay leaves and cinnamon in a little oil until it smells fragrant. Be careful not to let it burn! Add the remaining spices and then the onion and garlic, carrot and celery. Fry for 2-3 minutes more.

Add lentils, stock and tomato puree and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 mins, topping up with water if the lentils are looking a bit dry, until the lentils are cooked and then cool slightly.

Meanwhile, cook 2lb of potatoes and mash until smooth with a splash of plant milk and a knob or drizzle of your fat of choice. Whip the mash potatoes with a fork to make them fluffy.

Put the lentil mixture into a large ovenproof dish if making one large pie, or divide between two smaller dishes if making one to save as well. Spread on the mashed potato and rake across the surface with a fork to give a ‘rustic’ appearance.

Bake for 30 mins at Gas Mark 5/190^oC/370F until golden brown and crispy and then serve with green veg, mango chutney and lime pickle

*no tomato puree? Use a can of tomatoes and decrease the amount of water used in the stock accordingly. If tomatoes don’t agree with you, leave out the tomato puree – it’s still very tasty! If you have Henderson’s relish, you could add a couple of tablespoons of that instead of the tomatoes to give it some more depth.

Banana (N)ice-cream

I don’t know how often the late Summer Bank Holiday is actually hot – but it’s definitely a hot one this time around! In the interests of keeping cool, healthy and plant-based, here’s a super quick recipe for banana ‘ice-cream’ with just one ingredient (go on, guess…) You’ll need a blender and a freezer too. One banana is enough for a small serving, but it’s really easy to scale up and make more – just don’t refreeze it once you’ve made it…

Chop your banana into fairly thin slices and freeze until firm. The thicker they are, the longer you will have to wait, so I always cut mine fairly thinly 😁

Just enough frozen banana slices for 1 serving!

Remove the banana from the freezer and leave for 5 or so minutes to soften. Blend until the banana takes on a whipped cream type consistency (hard to believe, but it really does!) If the banana doesn’t start to come together, leave it for another couple of minutes and then try again. Et voila! Banana nice cream – serve immediately.

If you want to make it more exciting, chocolate, strawberries, chopped nuts, and coconut and pineapple all go really well with bananas. Sprinkle your choice of flavourings over the top or mix them through the banana.

Quite ripe bananas work well in this recipe – they taste less sweet when they’re frozen – so it’s a good way to stop bananas going to waste and the bananas store well in the freezer for a while.

Enjoy!

Quick Chickpea ‘Hummus’

I love hummus and often make this for lunch with homemade oatcakes or as a sandwich filling. It’s quick because it’s made with a tin of chickpeas (though you could cook your own first – use 4oz/100g dry weight and save electricity by doubling up the quantities and freezing the cooked chickpeas that you don’t use) and it’s ‘hummus’ because it doesn’t have any oil or garlic – but don’t let that put you off! Feel free to add both if you want to, but you know what? It’s great without too – and no garlic breath either (which let’s face it, is great if you have an important meeting after lunch…)

The garlicky taste in this recipe is provided by asafoetida aka hing, so you still get the hint of garlic without the whiff! it’s widely used in Indian cookery and this recipe is inspired by one I found in a Hare Krishna recipe book. You can find asafoetida in the spice aisle in Sainsbury’s these days – it’s bright yellow as it also has a little turmeric in it. If you are gluten free, you’ll want to check whether it is mixed with wheat flour as well. You’ll also find it in Oriental and Indian supermarkets where it is more likely to be called hing. For those of you that are interested in that sort of thing, the word asafoetida comes from the Latin word for fetid – and it really is pungent, which is why you only need a small pinch!

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas, drained with the liquid reserved
Juice of half a lemon
3 tbsp (45ml) tahini
pinch of hing (I use the wrong end of teaspoon to take out a little of the powder)
1 tsp paprika (optional)

Put the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, hing, and the paprika if using, in a blender with a little of the reserved liquid and run until all the chickpeas are well blended. You’ll need to stop and push down the puree in the blender occasionally and probably add some more of the liquid as you go. You want a consistency that is between runny and stiff so that you can either put it in a sandwich or eat it with oatcakes and veg. Once you are happy with it, serve! Super quick, non garlicky ‘hummus’ – easy chickpeasy…

If you want to use oil, add it at the beginning and use less of the liquid from the can or drizzle over some oil at the end. I love paprika but it’s just as good without. If you do put paprika in it, it will end up with a pinkish tinge. Or you could shake some paprika over the hummus before you serve it if you prefer.

It keeps well in the fridge for 24 hours or so and feeds 2-3 people as a main meal, more if you are serving as part of a range of dips.

What’s the opposite of Synth Pop?

I can’t say for sure, but I reckon it would be something natural and without bubbles! In honour of plastic free July (and the fact that it is July, and well, hot!) I made some lemonade this week, which had no plastic packaging for any of the ingredients (hence the natural…). The lemons came in my veg box (no plastic netting here), the sugar came from a paper bag and the water came from my tap. I had a search around for some a quick recipes as I’d never tried making lemonade before and this is what I came up with – two recipes that I found smooshed together to make an even better one.

The blended lemon makes the recipe super quick, but just bear in mind that the bitterness from the pith will develop over a few days. It’s not unpleasant, but might be a bit unexpected. If you don’t want bitterness at all, you could juice the lemons and zest them rather than using the whole thing.

This recipe makes about a pint but the ingredients are easy to scale up or down and it’ll keep well in the fridge for a few days.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lemons – unwaxed and organic
3oz (75g) sugar – caster or granulated is fine
1 pint (500ml) water

What to do

Put the water and the sugar in a pan together and heat over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool slightly. Chop up the lemons and add them and the sugar syrup to a blender. Blend for about 30 seconds, until the lemon is chopped very small. Pour the lemony syrup through a sieve and into a jug. Press down on the pulp with a spoon to get as much juice out of the pulp as you can. Chill and serve.

And there you go, easy-peasy lemon-squeezy (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

What Goes Green Then Red?

Gooseberries starting to ripen off on the bush
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Gooseberry jam (hands up all of you that said Kermit in a blender…) Other half and I went off to do some Pick Your Own this weekend at a local fruit farm – haven’t done that for years! We ended up with a kilo of gooseberries and a kilo of blackcurrants (and the punnets were cardboard – yay!). The gooseberries have already been turned into pie and jam (more of that later) and the blackcurrants wait patiently in the fridge until tomorrow evening when they will be turned into more jam and some blackcurrant cordial. Never tried to make cordial before, so wish me luck because that could be interesting!

A punnet of gooseberries and a punnet of blackcurrants

Whilst at the fruit farm, I spotted a polite notice that asked you to wash fruit before you eat it as the plants are sprayed to keep them healthy, ie, they use pesticides. So knowing that, I did some research into getting pesticides off fruit and veg and I found this website which suggested washing them and using a baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda) solution to get rid of the residue. The research was carried out on apples, but I figured it was worth a try. I rinsed the gooseberries thoroughly first and then soaked them for 15 minutes in a solution of 1/2 oz bicarb and 2 and a half pints cold water. Then I rinsed thoroughly again and drained before topping and tailing and using to make the pie and jam. I’ve just eaten a slice of the pie with soya cream and am pleased to report that it doesn’t taste of bicarb, so I will try it with the blackcurrants too.

So that brings me to this week’s recipe – Gooseberry jam. It’s fairly straight forward and you can adjust quantities easily up or down.

Gooseberries, rinsed, topped and tailed – then weighed before you put them in the pan
8fl oz (200ml) water per 1lb (500g) of gooseberries
Juice of 1/2 lemon for 2lb (1kg) of gooseberries*
The same weight in sugar as you have gooseberries
A big saucepan
A sugar thermometer is really helpful for testing for setting point
Saucer – put it in the fridge!
Jars washed in soapy water and sterilised by putting them in an oven at 140C for ten minutes or so.

*don’t worry too much about being really precise with the juice amount, as the size and juiciness of lemons vary – but 1/2 a lemon is a rough guide!

Put the gooseberries, juice and water in a pan and cook for about ten minutes until the fruit has gone soft and pulpy. Turn the heat to lowish and add the sugar. This is really important – you don’t want the jam to boil until the sugar is completely dissolved – unless of course, you actually like eating crunchy, crystallised sugar in your jam! Stir occasionally until all the sugar is dissolved. If you can hear a scratching noise when you stir it or you can feel crystals if you press the wooden spoon onto the base of the pan, you need to keep the heat low a little longer.

Turn the heat up once the sugar is dissolved and boil hard – the jam will rise up the pan which is why you need a big one. The jam will take about 10 to 15 mins to reach setting point, so make sure you stir occasionally to stop it burning to the bottom of the pan. You can test for setting by putting a teaspoon of the jam onto the cold saucer and then popping it in the fridge for a minute – make sure you take the saucepan off the heat whilst you do this. If you push the jam, if should wrinkle and that means it’ll set properly when you put it in the jar. If it doesn’t wrinkle, boil for another minute or two before testing again. Be careful not to let it go too far – it’s a fine line between jam and fruity chewing gum (ask me how I know…). It’s much easier if you have a sugar thermometer as you just need to wait until the temperature of the jam gets up to 105 C and then test for set.

When it has reached setting point, carefully take the jars out of the oven and let cool slightly. Pour in the hot jam and seal straight away. You could eat once it is cool, but it should store well for months in the unopened jar.

A jar of slightly pinkish gooseberry jam — A jar of pink gooseberry jam!

So to come back to my original question – why does gooseberry jam go red (or at least pink)? Apparently, it’s all down to the reaction between anthocyanins in the gooseberries and the heat – which explains why my pie filling went pink too. If you want green gooseberry jam, you should use slightly underripe berries – or so the wisdom of the internet decrees! (I’m sticking with ripe ones…)

Chickpea Citrus Chilli Pilaff

A plate of pilaff with a spoon on a gingham plate holder — Chickpea pilaff – cheap, quick and nutritious!

The thing about convenience food is that it’s convenient. So when people say that cooking a meal from scratch is just as quick as shoving something in the oven, they miss the point that the convenience food doesn’t actually require anything other than switching the oven on and putting the food in. This pilaff requires a little more effort than that, but not much – and leaves me free to go off and faff with some of the little jobs around the house that need doing while it’s in the oven. Preparing the veg and doing the pre-oven bit shouldn’t take any longer than 10 minutes, especially if you do the garlic and chilli bit while the onion is frying. If you use a casserole that can go on the hob, you’ll save on washing up too – what’s not to like? Minimal prep, minimal effort and minimal washing up!

It might seem odd to give the quantities for rice in fluid ounces, but trust me – it works. What you want is twice the volume of stock to rice, and the easiest way to work that out is to pour the rice into a measuring jug. That also means that the quantities can be scaled up or down really easily. You could add in other veg to give it a bit more colour and to make it go further – carrots chopped small would be good and peppers and/or mushrooms would work well too. Experiment with the basic recipe and see what you come up with 😊

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped small (or a pinch of hing – gives an onion-y taste without the odour)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 chillis (depending how hot you like it), finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 lemon or 2 limes, zest and juice
4 oz dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked or 1 tin, drained.
8 fl oz (1 cup) rice
16 fl oz (2 cups) stock

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

Switch the oven to Gas 5/190 (180 fan). Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole dish (or use a frying pan and then transfer the mixture to a casserole before you put it in the oven). Add the onion and fry for 5 mins. Add the garlic and chillis and fry for another 2 minutes or so. Add the turmeric, lemon or lime zest and chickpeas and stir well. Add the rice, stir well and fry for 30 seconds more. Add the lemon or lime juice and the stock. Mix well and put in the oven. Cook for 40-50 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the water is absorbed. I usually serve with green veg or mango chutney, and if I’m really hungry, chapati.

Chickpea and Mushroom Hotpot

Hotpot on a plate on a quilted gingham heat pad — Chickpea and mushroom hotpot with garden peas

It’s been unseasonably chilly today, and as I had some mushrooms that needed using up, it was the perfect opportunity to have a faff about with the chicken and mushroom hotpot recipe in this month’s Tesco magazine and veganise it. Other half says that just because chickpeas and chicken have ‘chick’ in the title, doesn’t mean that they are interchangeable. He has a point, but I think chickpeas work as the perfect substitution in this recipe!

1lb 2oz (500g) potatoes, scrubbed and sliced to 1/4″ (3-4mm) thickness
1 tbsp oil, plus an extra 2tsp
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic crushed
8oz (200g) mushrooms. Halve small ones, 1/4 large ones.
4 large carrots, peeled thinly sliced
2 cans chickpeas, drained – about 1lb 2oz (500g) if you’ve cooked your own
4 tbsp plain flour
14 floz (400ml) vegetable stock
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Preheat the oven to 220C (fan 200C), Gas 7. Boil the potatoes until you can stick a fork in them. It will take at least 5 mins. They need to be stiff enough that you can lay them over the top of the veg, so don’t leave them too long! Drain the potatoes and set aside while you do the next bit.

Heat the tablespoon of oil over a medium heat in a flameproof casserole. A wide one works well, as you can get a fairly thin layer of potato. Fry the onion until it starts to go shiny and a little translucent. Add the garlic, mushrooms and carrots. Fry for five mins and then add the chickpeas. Stir in the flour and mix well. Add the stock and the mustard and simmer for 5 mins until the sauce has thickened.

Veg and chickpeas in casserole, cooking on stove top. — Veg and chickpeas with mustard sauce

Remove from the heat and layer the potatoes evenly over the top so that the veg is completely covered. Drizzle the remaining oil over the top if you like (I didn’t bother) and bake for 30-35 minutes until bubbling and golden. It will be hot, so leave to cool slightly before serving and serves with some green veg and enjoy!

Substitutions I made from the original recipe (and a couple of tips)

Swapped the chicken for chickpeas
Peeled the potatoes (they’d been in the cupboard a while and had sprouted)
Used a white onion instead of a red one
Used chestnut mushrooms instead of button mushrooms. They were big, so some were cut into 6 pieces
Used Dijon mustard instead of wholegrain. As I was using Tesco own brand Dijon (which I discovered the hard way is actually quite hot!), I only used 1/2 tablespoon – adjust the quantities as you like.
Big tip 1 – use level (or level-ish) tablespoons of flour. If you use heaped tablespoons, the sauce thickens very quickly and you’ll probably have to add extra water. Ask me how I know… 😉
Big tip 2 – use the 2tsp oil if you want the top to brown more and take the lid off the casserole for the last 5-10 minutes too, but be careful it doesn’t dry out.

Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns

A pile of hot cross buns cooling on a wire rack — A tower of chocolate-y hot cross buns

I love the smell and taste of sweet spices like cinnamon, mixed spices and nutmeg, I love the smell of fresh bread and I really love dark chocolate, so making this recipe results in three things that I really love! I don’t tend to eat fruity bread very often during the rest of the year, so I really look forward to hot cross buns at Easter. It’s easy to make your own, given a little time and you can vary the ingredients as you like to vary the flavour – you could make them even more chocolate-y by adding 1oz (25g) to the dry ingredients. This recipe makes 6-12 hot cross buns, depending upon how big you like them. It’s easy to scale the recipe up by doubling the quantities of everything.

4 fl oz (100ml) hot water
4 fl oz (100ml) plant milk
1 sachet of dried yeast
1 lb (450g) plain flour (white, wholemeal or a mix of the two)
1 tsp salt
1 oz soft brown sugar
1/2 tsp each of ground cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg
1 oz (25g) vegan margarine or butter
Zest and juice of one orange or two satsumas (if it’s a very juicy orange, reserve some for the piping later)
3oz (75g) raisins or sultanas
3oz (75g) chopped orange flavoured dark chocolate
1 heaped tbsp flour and enough water or orange juice to mix to a smooth paste

Put the liquid in a measuring jug. I usually boil the water and add it to cold plant milk. It needs to end up hand hot and that seems to be a fairly good way of getting the temperature needed. Add a little of the brown sugar and all of the yeast. Stir well and leave to sit for 5 minutes or so until it’s frothy.

In the meantime, mix the rest of the sugar, the flour, spices and salt together and then rub in the butter or margarine. Make a well in the centre and then pour in the yeasty mixture and the orange juice. Bring the dough together with a spoon at first and then use your hands. Begin to knead the dough in the bowl if it’s big enough or on a floured work top if not. Knead for ten minutes until it’s soft, springy and pliable. It’s really important that you do this step for long enough – trust me, you do not want chewing gum buns… If you aren’t sure how to knead, this site has some instructions

Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise. it’ll take 1 to 2 hours depending on how warm the room is. When it is risen, punch the dough back down (it always gives me great pleasure to do that!) and knead the dried fruit and chocolate well in to the dough. I used orange flavoured chocolate, but you could leave out the zest and juice and use a different flavour to give a totally different taste.

Divide the dough into 6-12 pieces (depending on how big you like your buns) and roll into balls. Place on a floured baking tray and cover with a clean towel again. Leave to rise for 20 mins and switch the oven to 220C (Fan 200C), Gas 7 to warm up

About 5 minutes before the buns are finished rising, mix the remaining flour and any reserved juice and water to a smooth paste. It needs to be sticky, but pipeable. Using a piping bag (instructions for how to make your own can be found on this site), pipe crosses on top of the buns. Of course, if you don’t want to faff about, you can avoid this step and just have fruity chocolate buns instead.

Pop in the buns in the oven for about 20 mins. The buns should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped (testing now will avoid chewing gum bread later…)

Leave to cool and then split and serve with vegan butter as is or toast them first. They keep well in a an airtight tin for about week, but chances are they won’t last that long!

Crunchy Kale Crisps

A super speedy post for a super speedy recipe! I love kale crisps on their own or with a main meal, but I especially love the fact that it’s a really quick way to cook a lot of kale. So if you’ve got kale that is starting to look like it’s seen better days, use it all up on this.

Enough kale to it on your baking tray without being crammed
Oil
Spices of your choice, eg curry powder

Heat the oven to 180C/170C fan assist (Gas 4). Wash the kale thoroughly and tear out the tough stems. Drain well and if there is still a lot of water left adhering to the leaves, pat dry with a clean tea towel. Run a bowful of soapy water (all will become clear…) and then put the kale on the baking tray. Pour over a tablespoon of oil and then sprinkle over 1-2 teaspoons of the spice of your choice. Curry powder, Baharat, Ras el hanout, paprika, and chilli would all work well – but only you know how hot you want it to be! Massage the oil and spices through the kale until it’s all well covered…and then stick your hands in the bowl of water that you ran earlier and wash the oil off (you’re welcome – nobody likes greasy taps!)

Pop the tray in the oven for 5-10mins, depending how big your kale leaves are. Check after 5 mins and stir the kale if the kale around the edges is starting to look crispy but the kale in the middle is still a bit wet. You want the kale to be nicely coloured, dried and crunchy without being charred. Pop it back in the oven for a bit longer if necessary and when it’s done, pile into a bowl and serve. Yum!