Cheese and onion pie

 

How are you all getting on in this pre-Christmas time? I’ve been busy at work, so can’t wait for some quiet time at home and in the nature. That’s probably what it will have to be, as all places are closed. I’m quite looking forward to it though. First there are still three working days to go.

A cheese and onion pie is currently one of my candidates for the Christmas table. It would be a very filling thing, even if I made them on this smaller scale like here. I might make the pies on Boxing Day or on the between days rather than on Christmas Eve or Day. I served these pies with steamed sprouts, fondant potatoes and a side salad.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

 

Roast dinner with vegetable loaf

I’ve made a couple of cooking practice runs until now to be able to decide what I want to cook for Christmas. This year there won’t be Christmas parties, where you could eat all the Christmas food in advance. I wanted to know, if I am the only one doing this, practising for the big day? There are so many good veggie options that it’s hard to decide. I think some roast potatoes and vegetables are a must, but what will the main show be?

I got this new product, vegan Farsbrød, that is a vegetable loaf made from beans, mushrooms, cranberry and rosemary. It is very convenient to make, a frozen product that you just bake in the oven until it’s done. This is definitely something that would save me some time on Christmas Eve. It was tasty too, so I got a spare one for the freezer in any case.

 

I served roast potatoes, parsnips, squash and carrots, onion gravy, lingonberry jam and little sprouts and tomatoes with the loaf. It was a perfectly good meal made with fairly little effort.

Please share your vegan or vegetarian Christmas favourites with me in the comment section. I think I’ll make a nut roast again this year, but maybe also some other veggie surprises.

 

 

YourVegHog

 

Christmas porridge

It’s December and I have made a practice run of Finnish style rice pudding, which we also call Christmas porridge. The porridge is traditionally eaten with sugar and cinnamon and there is usually also a hidden almond. Whoever gets the almond on Christmas eve, can make a wish. This time I didn’t put an almond in. I cooked the rice in oat milk, so this is also a vegan version.

Are you getting prepared for Christmas? How will your Christmas be different this year? Are you anxious, happy or something else? I would like to hear a little bit about your feelings when we are going towards the festive season. For me Christmas this year will be very different. I have always spent Christmas at home in Finland, but this year I won’t be able to travel, so my partner and I will spend Christmas in Copenhagen. It will be just the two of us and no doubt it will be quite quiet and calm apart from a few video calls to family members. I will try to bring my Finnish Christmas traditions here as much as I can and we will make the best of it. 

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Christmas porridge

In pre-Christmas time and on Christmas Eve we eat Christmas porridge, which is a salty rice pudding served with sugar and cinnamon on top. Some people also like to add butter to it, but I have never tried that variation. It's quite a Nordic tradition, in Finland we have riisipuuro and in Denmark risengrød. I really like eating this rice porridge in this season, but never really eat it outside of the season.

I made a vegan rice porridge this time. I used the thick and creamy iKaffe from Oatly, and it worked out perfectly. Here is my recipe.

Christmas porridge

Ingredients

2 dl water

2 dl pudding rice

1 l oat milk

1 tsp salt

Sugar, ground cinnamon and 1 almond for serving

Method

Heat the water with the pudding rice in a pan. I always use a cast iron casserole for this one, as the porridge can burn quickly, if it gets too hot.

Once the water has absorbed to the rice, add the milk and simmer very slowly for at least 45 minutes.

Season with salt and serve with sugar, cinnamon and a hidden almond. Whoever finds the almond, has a free wish.

Your VegHog

Mushroom and lentil shepherd's pie

The weekend has started rainy. There would be a lovely Christmas market nearby, but maybe it's better to leave it for tomorrow, in case the weather improves. I need to buy a couple of Christmas presents for the children in the family, so I might just be brave and head for the shops. I know it will be crowded, but it probably doesn't get any better towards the holidays.

I haven't made a vegan shepherd's pie for quite a while, but somehow it belongs to this season. I might make one for the Christmas table too, but haven't decided that yet. The only twist here from my usual lentil shepherd's pie was using portobello mushrooms. They added a really nice earthiness to the dish and I can only recommend this combination. The filling really doesn't look too appetising, but I promise you, it was tasty. So here comes my recipe.

Mushroom and lentil shepherd's pie

Ingredients

700 g potatoes

2 large onions

3 garlic cloves

3 portobello mushrooms

2 carrots

½ cup green lentils

½ cup red lentils

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp vegetable stock powder

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp yeast flakes

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Method

Peel and cook the potatoes. Mash them, add some vegan butter and salt and set to side.

Cook the green lentils separately in water until they are done. Towards the end, add also the red lentils to the mix. Drain and set to side.

In the meanwhile, chop the onion, garlic, carrots and mushrooms. Start slowcooking the onion in vegetable oil in a pan under lid until it becomes soft and slightly browned. Stir occasionally. Then add the minced garlic and carrots to the pan and cook a while more. Then also add the chopped mushrooms and cook until they are done.

Add the lentils to the mix and season. Place the mushroom and lentil mix in an oven dish and cover it with the potato mash. Make some fork markings on top and bake at 180 for about 1 hour.

When the mash is nicely golden brown and crispy at places, serve the pie with a side salad and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Upside down brussels sprout pizza

It's time to start thinking about Christmas food, as it's soon December. I want to test a few center piece candidates before deciding the dishes for our vegetarian Christmas feast, and I think that it's nice to sample different seasonal food in this pre-Christmas period. So in this spirit I made a seasonal upside down brussels sprout pizza. The crust is a seedy thick crust and the toppings are potatoes, slow cooked onions and brussels sprouts with sage and other spices. I topped the pizza or pie with sea buckthorn and cranberries to add a splash of colour and they also added a nice flavour contrast. I think that this dish could be nice at the Christmas table. I just love sprouts and good ones have started appearing at the market, also the ones in the stalks. I need to make more sprout dishes in the near future, but here is this recipe first.

Upside down brussels sprout pizza

Ingredients

Dough

200 g wheat flour

1/2 cup seed mix

2 tbsp dry yeast

1 tsp salt

150 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Filling

1 onion

1 garlic clove

5-6 small potatoes

8-10 brussels sprouts

Vegetable oil for frying

2 tbsp vegan butter

1 tsp Cabbage Karma spice mix

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Fresh sage leaves

Sea buckthorn and cranberries for decoration

Method

Mix and knead the dough ingredients and let it rise for about one hour.

In the meanwhile prepare the other ingredients. Cook the potatoes and slice them. Steam the brussels sprouts and cut them to halves. Slice the onion and chop the garlic finely and slow cook them in oil.

Add the potatoes and brussels sprouts to the onions and spice the mix. I used Cabbage Karma spice mix that is a blend consisting of coriander seeds infused in orange oil with fennel seeds, sumac, black pepper and lemon thyme. I also added sea salt, ground black pepper and fresh sage leaves.

Arrange the vegetables in the pan. Use the same pan for frying and baking in the oven. I put the brussels sprouts on the bottom (meaning that they will be on top of the pizza once turned around), then the potatoes followed by the onions. Then place the dough on top. Hand stretch it over the vegetables and bake the pizza at 200 C for about 20 minutes. When it's done, turn it around on a plate and enjoy! 

I'm sharing this recipe with the last edition of Eat Your Greens hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen and co-hosted by me. Sadly this event will come to an end after this month, but you still have time to share your green recipe with us! It would be nice to get plenty of green recipes for the last round up. There are more details about the rules here.

Your VegHog

Pan-fried brussels sprouts with roast potatoes, beurre blanc and cauliflower cheese

One month to go until Christmas Eve! I think I'm ready, although time is flying awfully fast. I thoroughly enjoy this time of the year. It's nice to see streets getting Christmas lights and Christmas markets opening. It's dark and cosy and I think it's almost better than the big fest itself. What are your feelings about this? Are you already preparing for or thinking about Christmas?

Today we will put our lights up, and will heat the first mulled wine. I haven't fully decided yet, how to put the lights, but we will only have a couple of simple light chains.

Today's dish already fits the seasonal theme. It's something that I would happily eat as a veggie Christmas dinner, a dish of pan-fried brussels sprouts with roast potatoes, beurre blanc with green and pink peppercorns and cauliflower cheese.

Pan-fried brussels sprouts

200 g brussels sprouts

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 garlic clove

Salt

Ground black pepper

Trim and cut the brussels sprouts into halves.

Cook them in water for a few minutes until almost tender.

Heat the butter and oil in a pan.

Press or chop the garlic clove finely.

Fry the sprouts with the garlic and season.

Roast potatoes

300 g potatoes

Vegetable oil

Salt

Smoked paprika

Peel the potatoes and half or quarter them depending on the size.

Cook them in water until almost done.

Drain the water and shake the pot a little bit to give the potatoes a fluffy surface.

Add some oil and season with salt and smoked paprika.

Place the potatoes on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes until they have a crispy surface.

Beurre blanc

1 small onion

150 ml white wine

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

125 g butter

Pink peppercorns

Green peppercorns

Chop the onion finely and heat it with the wine and vinegar.

Reduce until about the half of the liquid has cooked off.

Remove the onion with a sieve leaving just a clear liquid.

Add the cold butter into the liquid, a small piece at a time and keep whisking.

Finally add the peppercorns to the sauce.

Cauliflower cheese

1 cauliflower

1 garlic clove

1 onion

Vegetable oil

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

Salt

Ground black pepper

100 g grated cheese

Cut the cauliflower into florets and cook them in water until nearly done.

Chop the garlic and onion finely and cook them in vegetable oil until soft.

Add a little bit water to the onion mix and stir in the vegetable stock powder and season.

Place the florets in an oven dish or small ramekins, and add the onion mix on the top.

Cover with grated cheese and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

That was it, quite a bit of components, but nothing complicated. This dish is my EatYour Greens contribution for this month, and it's actually also the last round of 2018. You still have time to submit your recipes until end of November, if you want to take part! Eat Your Greens is a vegan and vegetarian cooking challenge hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen and co-hosted by me.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Lentil shepherd’s pie

Here is my rustic lentil shepherd’s pie. It’s vegetarian, but also very easy to veganise by just substituting the butter in the mash. I think that this kind of pie could be also nice for the Christmas table.

I used black garlic in this recipe, but also normal garlic would be fine. Also the broadbean crush can be substituted by more lentils or other pulse crushes. Have a look at the recipe below, if I got you interested.

Lentil shepherd’s pie

Ingredients

500 g potatoes

25 g butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup beluga lentils

1/2 cup red lentils

1/2 cup dried broadbean crush

2 carrots

4 onions

4 cloves of black garlic

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 tbsp vegetable stock extract

Method

Boil the potatoes until done and mash them with butter, salt and little of the potato cooking water. Set to side.

Chop the onions into half rings and caramelise them in the rapeseed oil until they are very soft and brown.

Chop the black garlic finely and add it to the onions.

Peel and cut the carrot into small pieces, and also add it to the pan.

Add the seasoning and the vegetable stock extract, and some liquid.

Add the lentils and broadbean crush. You can also cook the beluga lentils separately for a while, as they take a bit longer to cook than the other pulses.

Let simmer until everything is cooked nicely.

Place the lentil mix into an oven dish and cover it with the potato mash.

Bake at 180 C for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Roasted vegetables & Getting into the Christmas spirit

Are you fully getting into the Christmas spirit? I'm slowly getting there, although I've been very busy and there is still one toilsome day at work ahead. Then tomorrow evening we will be heading to Finland to celebrate Christmas with my family. Let's hope that there will be a lot of snow. I would love to hear what your plans are for Christmas?

I'm a little bit sad to leave my cosy Christmas nest behind, but it'll also be nice to be home and relax. I've got two trees in the apartment that we will be keeping well into January as per the Scandinavian tradition. One is only a tiny table tree, but it makes such a great dinner table centrepiece. We also got a slightly bigger tree, which is still quite compact. It has been decorated with diverse animal ornaments in a quite rustic way. Of course there are plenty of hedgehogs on there!

Then over to the food. 'tis the season for roasted vegetables, if any. I made this small platter of roasted potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts and served them with hummus. I'm still a little bit indecisive, which vegetables I should roast for Christmas. Are you having them on the side and what mix are you going with?

Have a lovely festive season!

Your VegHog