Potato, cheese and onion pasties

I might have a slight British cooking theme going on lately, perhaps some nostalgia. Or is lockdown reminding me of all the good dishes? There are quite many nice dishes in that country, regardless their reputation. Maybe it’s mainly comfort food, like these veggie pasties I made, but that’s how I like it.

I made these pasties with a crispy crust from homemade pastry and soft potato-cheese-onion filling, which I think is one of the best fillings for a pasty. They were very satisfying and looked rustic to the max. Here is my recipe that makes about 4 middle sized pasties.

Potato, cheese and onion pasties

Ingredients

Pastry

2 cups wheat flour

½ tsp salt

4-5 tbsp oil

5-6 tbsp water

Filling

300 g potatoes

3 onions

2 garlic cloves

150 g grated Cheddar

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Method

For making the pastry, mix the flour, salt and oil until it has a crumbly texture. Then add water little by little and shape into a firm dough. Don't knead the dough too much. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Peel and cook the potatoes in water. Break them up a bit after the cooking, but don’t mash them fully. I at least like to have some texture in the filling.

Peel and slice the onion and slow-cook it until browned. Then add finely chopped garlic.

Add the potatoes to the mix, season and stir in the grated cheese. Let the mix cool down.

Roll the dough out thinly divided into four round parts.

Fill in the pastry with the filling and close the pasties. Brush the closing seals with water, also brush the whole pasties with water.

Bake them in the oven at about 180 C for 30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Vegan fish & chips

It’s a nice and sunny Sunday. I’m baking rolls from local artisanal flour. Once we have tasted those rolls, we will go for a walk by the seaside. Luckily the place where we tend to go isn’t too popular, so it’s easy to keep distance from other people.

But before I’ll go, I want to share this dish with you that I made over Easter: vegan fish & chips. Sometimes it’s nice to cook a vegan or vegetarian version of a classic dish. I tried these new seitan “fish” filets that I happened to find in the shop. By the way, this Veganz range seems pretty good in general. I’ve tasted a few of their products. For example the nuggets are probably the best vegan nuggets I’ve ever had. This is just my opinion and not an ad, let alone sponsored in any way.

I pre-fried the filets, and then battered them with cider batter and fried again. They were quite good, just perfect for this purpose, if you want to make vegan fish & chips. The chunky chips were also twice-cooked, first boiled and then finished in the oven to get them nice and crispy. I served peas, radish and lemon with them.

Have you been cooking vegan or vegetarian versions of old classics lately?

Your VegHog

Purple sweet potato gnocchi

Another week has gone by very fast, and it has been another week of cooking a lot of food and pottering around the household. Some garden centres are open, so we managed to buy a few bigger plant pots. I have bought a red currant bush and a blueberry bush. We might not get any berries in the first year, but I just love having them on the balcony. I’m very excited that I can do some balcony gardening again. Some of you may remember my balcony from Southampton, where I liked to grow tomatoes, bell peppers, chillies, courgettes, strawberries etc. Of course the space was much more limited there, so I’m very happy about my new growing area.

I had some nice purple sweet potatoes from the market, so I made vegan purple sweet potato gnocchi. I fried the gnocchi in vegan butter with crispy sage leaves and served them with fresh lambs lettuce on the side. That is always a lovely combination. The gnocchi get such a deep purple colour from the sweet potatoes, so it’s a nice splash of colour on any plate.

This recipe makes quite a lot of gnocchi, it feeds four I would say, when there are also some sides or other courses. But I think it’s good to make a bigger batch and save some for later or even freeze some for days when you don’t feel like cooking or need a quick lunch.

Purple sweet potato gnocchi

Ingredients

700 g purple sweet potatoes

300 g wheat flour

75 g potato flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven, remove the skins and mash the potatoes. Let them cool down.

Mix the sweet potato mash with the flours, salt and oil to make a firm dough.

Shape small gnocchi from the dough and press each of them with a fork.

Boil the gnocchi in water. They are done when they float on the surface.

Frying the gnocchi is optional, but I like them when they are also fried. Serve them with the sauce and salad of your choice and enjoy!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

English muffins with vegan bacon

I have more lockdown comfort food for you, because there isn’t much else to do. I found a new vegan smoked bacon made from seitan and tried it with grilled English muffins as breakfast. It was actually very nice.

We are now going for a walk in nature, another great activity. There are sheep and alpacas roaming in an area nearby, so it will be nice to see those creatures.

Your VegHog 

Cheddar, wild garlic and pasta pancakes

How has your week been? I’m still trying to get the new home sorted while working from home. It has been incredibly busy at work and the working days tend to stretch and overlap more than usual with the private life. I would prefer being able to return to the office soon, but let’s see what happens.

I’ve been cooking a lot this week. Food seems to be the main comfort in these times. I had some leftover pasta and I got the idea to make pancakes from them. My partner was a little bit skeptical when I presented this idea to him, but he ended up happily scoffing few of these away.

I made my usual waffle and pancake batter and mixed the pasta in there. I also added some mature Cheddar and wild garlic. I now have a wild garlic plant growing by the window in my kitchen, so it’s very handy to take some for cooking.

I would recommend using a smaller pasta shape for this recipe. I had wholemeal pasta in animal shapes, unfortunately they aren’t showing in the photos as I would’ve hoped.

Ingredients

1 ½ cup wheat flour

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ cup oat milk

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cups cooked pasta

100 g Cheddar

3-4 wild garlic leaves

Butter for frying

Method

Whisk the wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, oat milk and vegetable oil into a smooth batter.

Mix the pasta, Cheddar and wild garlic into the batter.

Make smallish pancakes and fry them in a pan until golden brown.

Serve with additional butter and/or Cheddar.

This dish will guarantee a comforting breakfast or brunch any day.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Vegan sushi and Easter Bunny onigiri

I was delighted to see all your comments about my new kitchen, thank you so much! I’m indeed settling in slowly, finding my way in the kitchen and cooking more and even more experimental food at the moment. I have found a couple of nice supermarkets nearby that cater to all our needs, so I’m more comfortable cooking here.

I hope you all had a nice Easter and got to relax a bit. I’m sure it was different from the usual for all of us. We just enjoyed a lot of nice food, drink and long walks in the nearby forest and seaside. The weather was great and sunny throughout, although yesterday it tried to snow a little bit! I also put some Easter decorations up, as most time lately has been spent at home. I couldn’t resist these cute chocolate bunnies.

We had some fun by making slightly Easter-themed vegan sushi featuring Easter Bunny onigiri. I tried to colour some of the rice with radish peels, but they are not quite as good at colouring as beetroot. However I left the pieces in the rice creating a "David Bowie bunny onigiri". Can you see the resemblance? 

The sushi rolls were filled with marinated tofu, carrots, radish and wild garlic. It was so nice to make vegan sushi after a while. Now I have the required kitchen space to make it properly.

Have a nice week!

Your VegHog

In My Kitchen in April

I hope you are all well and staying safe! I've been very quiet here on the blog, but I'm doing fine. I'm glad to see that my fellow bloggers are active, which is nice to see in these difficult times. It can distract a bit from the reality.

I've actually been occupied with many things, as in my kitchen in April, is a new kitchen! Yes indeed, we moved houses amidst a global pandemic, but luckily it all went well and now we are slowly settling in to the new place. We moved to a different part of town, which is quite pleasant with a large park and the sea close by. I still really miss our old apartment and the part of town, as it was our first home in Denmark.

I'm glad to be in the new place though, it's actually a brand new flat with a flashy and big kitchen. So just wait, once I'm more sorted, the recipes will start coming again. The new kitchen has a lot of storage space and a lot of light coming in. There is a large balcony next to it, we actually have two balconies now, and I'm going to get back to urban gardening. I already bought a tomato plant, which looks promising. I had to give up a gas stove and now need to learn how to use an induction hob. I've also started using a dishwasher. It's actually quite handy.

It has been a benefit working from home these days, as I've been able to organise the stuff from the moving boxes etc. on my breaks. We also had to buy almost all furniture, as we didn't move our stuff from the UK and the first apartment was furnished, but Ikea have been delivering very nicely. We are expecting more small stuff to be delivered in a few days.

So here are a few photos from the new place. I will show you more soon. 

And goodbye, my prescious old kitchen, you were such a great cosy cooking corner!

I'm glad that Sherry keeps the In My Kitchen event going, so I'm sharing this post with her.

Have a nice weekend everyone and take care!

Your VegHog