Tasteful Scotland

On Taste.



First, an apology for my silence over the past month. I have been otherwise engaged with my studies, making cooking and blogging somewhat more difficult. Exams are over, however, and I am free once again.

This weekend, I have been in Edinburgh visiting my brother, and to attend the Taste Restaurant Festival.

Taste is a series of national festivals which showcase the best food Britain has to offer. With a stick, a ball and a pocket full of dreams, the brothers doughboy set off in search of deliciousness. The festival offered a selection of food from the best restaurants in Scotland (one, my loyal reader will be happy to know, was even vegetarian/vegan). We tried a selection of the treats of offer, including suckling pig, salmon fishcakes, pig's cheek with scallops, Italian pasta dishes, tiramisu, esspresso icecream, sorbets, beer, summer cocktails cheeses, oils, breads, whiskey and (of course) macarons.

The food was generally excellent, as was the atmosphere and (thankfully) the weather. I would heartily recommend next years festival, or get yourself some tickets to the upcoming London festival.

Below are a few photographs of some of the food, taken by my brother, as well as some links to a few of my favourite stands from the festival.

Links:
The Rutland Hotel
Kin Knives
Stewart Brewing ltd
Bougie Macarons & Tea

Cooked Cream and Balsamic Berries

On Panna Cotta.



Panna Cotta (literally translated as "cooked cream") is one of my favourite desserts. Deliciously creamy and rich, it goes well with a tart berry sauce. The most basic version of the dessert is a combination of cream, milk and sugar, boiled together with gelatin; I usually add orange zest and vanilla to mine as I think these flavours really lift the whole dish. Obviously, a dessert comprising of dairy and gelatin is not all that friendly to The Vegan, and so to keep my lovely and loyal reader happy, I've also included a recipe (and photograph, below) of a vegan panna cotta.

Panna Cotta - Makes about 6 Large Panna Cotta

1.2 litres Double (heavy) cream
150 ml Milk
60g Caster (superfine) Sugar
2 Vanilla Pods
The zest of two oranges
4 Leaves of Gelatin

1. Place the gelatin into the milk to soak, and set to one side.

2. In a large heavy bottomed pan, heat about 800ml of the cream with the sugar, vanilla pods and orange zest, and simmer until the cream has reduced by roughly one third.

3. Add the milk and soaked gelatin to the hot cream, stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the strain into a large bowl to cool. Preserve the vanilla pods.

4. Split and de-seed the vanilla pods, and place the seeds into the remaining cream. Whip the cream until thick, and fold into the boiled mixture.

5. Pour the mixture into ramekins, and leave for at least 3 hours to set.

Vegan Panna Cotta (adapted from here)

300ml Soya Milk (unsweetened)
150ml Soya Cream
1 Vanilla Pod
40g Caster (superfine) Sugar
1 ½ tsp Vege-gel
Zest of one orange

1. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod, and reserve.

2. Place the pod into the soya milk, and warm through, but do not boil. Leave to one side to infuse for about an hour.

3. In a separate pan, whisk the vege-gel into the soya cream, then add the vanilla seeds, orange zest and sugar. Strain the infused milk into the cream, and slowly bring to the boil, stirring continuously.

4. Allow to boil for about 30 seconds, and then remove from the heat. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer the mixture to ramekins and leave to set for at least 2 hours.

Balsamic Berry Sauce

100g Raspberries
100g Blueberries
50ml Good Quality (3 leaf+) Balsamic Vinegar
25g Icing (confectioners) Sugar

Put all the ingredients into a food processor, and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve or muslin cloth, and it's ready to serve.

The above photograph is the non-vegan, and below is the vegan version of the pudding.



Enjoy.

Cheesy Puns and Cheese-Free Bread

On Bread.



Bread is the food.

Bread is somewhat of a basic human right. It is one of the foods which is pretty much universal around the globe, and as such I think it is high time I devote some column inches to it. Baking my own bread is one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen, as it is always delicious and satisfying.

There's lots one can do with bread, and the recipe below outline the basic method of baking a traditional risen loaf.

Basic Bread

500g Strong White Bread Flour
20g Fresh Yeast (or 7g Dry fast-yeast)
60g Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt

1. Rub the oil and salt into the flour. If using fresh yeast, crumble it into the flour and rub through with your fingers.

2. If using dried yeast, mix with a little warm water and a pinch of sugar, then add to the dry ingredients.

3. Add about 150-200ml of warm water, and mix the ingredients to a dough. Add a little more flour if it is too wet, or a splash more water if it is too dry.

4. On a clean, floured surface, knead the dough thoroughly for about 10 minutes. Put the dough into a covered container and allow to rise for about an hour. If you're not adding anything else to the bread, you can allow it to rise on a tray or loaf tin and bake directly after it has risen.

5. Take the risen dough, and knead it once more. If you are adding something to the bread, add it now and knead it in.

6. Put the dough into your loaf tin or on a baking tray, allow to rise for roughly an hour, and bake at 200C/390F for about 35 minutes.

7. Allow it to cool , and serve warm with lots of butter (or margarine for our Vegan friend)

Possible additions to the dough are caramelised onion, olive or sundried tomato (all of which are shown below).






Happy baking!

Lansdown and out?

On The Lansdown.



Another eatery review.

Although I am the one with the food blog, I am currently pretty much out of the catering industry (while at university, at least, but more about this later). The Vegan, however, has been working in the kitchen of a local pub for a number of months now, and during her time there has undertaken a little food revolution.

Deciding I should probably give it a try, I ventured up the road to the pub in question. Greeted by an extremely friendly barman, I ordered a pint of a pale ale, and the recommended vegan Caribbean Jerk Bean Burger.

The beer was fine, although the habit southerners have of not having any sparklers behind the bar to put a head on the beer always causes me to shed a single northern tear.

The burger was surprisingly excellent; Well seasoned, topped with fresh salad, tomato and pineapple. The texture was very pleasant - not the usual, grainy, soft texture which i so dislike in a bean burger. The only complaint i have about the burger is the pineapple; the delicate sweet fruit was somewhat lost behind the other big flavours in the bun. The side of chips were delightful too; chunky "rustic" chips with the skin on, well salted and fried to a satisfying crisp.

To follow, I was ordered to order a slice of the vegan carrot cake, and chose to accompany it with a coffee. The cake was excellent; moist, sweet and topped with a lovely lemon frosting, I thoroughly enjoy it. The coffee was about as good as can be expected from a pub espresso machine, although it was served undrinkably hot, a pet hate of mine.

Overall, I was very impressed with the food and service at the Lansdown, and encourage you to give it a try (even if you're not a vegan, or the friend of a vegan under duress).

Spawn of Seitan

On Seitan.

Again.

Not wishing to have it languish in the fridge any longer, it was decided the time to use us the Seitan. The Vegan was nominated guinea pig. Not really knowing what to expect from the glutinous mass, I went for a nice universal marinade - shish taouk, a Lebanese dressing of cayenne pepper, garlic, black pepper, cumin, lemon and olive oil.

1/3 tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
1/3 tsp Ground Cumin
1/3 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped or pressed
Juice of 1 lemon
A good glug of Olive Oil

To make the marinade, simply mix all of the ingredients together (I used a Jamie Oliver "Flavourshaker" - purchased in a sale out of curiosity. It pleasantly surprised me.) and leave to infuse for a few minutes. The dressing can be used on pretty much anything, although it goes best with lamb and chicken.

The raw seitan was boiled for roughly an hour in water - it is recommended to boil the seitan in a tasty broth, but as I was unsure as to the results of this little experiment, I didn't want to commit further resources to a possible failure. I now definitely recommend a broth. The texture of the seitan was quite good, if a little bread-y, but it remained too moist after boiling. I would like to try again, draining the seitan with a cheese cloth before further cooking; the excess moisture did detract from the flavour and texture somewhat.

After boiling, the seitan was diced into small cubes, and marinated in the shish taouk for about 20 minutes. The texture of the seitan means it very readily absorbs dressings of this type. The cubes were they fried for about 20 minutes over a medium heat with a little bit of olive oil. The seitan was then served along side a leafy salad with gapes, walnuts and a wine wine vinegar and olive oil vinaigrette.

Personally, I was a little disappointed in the dish. I don't think the problem was with the seitan itself; I just need a little more practice cooking it. The Vegan was generally quite positive about the whole affair, and would surprisingly like to try seitan again. I think she is just being polite.

Bubbly Twenty-Something Seeks Similar.

On bubbles.



Well, bubble tea.

Bubble tea is a popular modern drink, originating in 1980s Taiwan.
It comprises of "pearls" of tapioca, or occaisonally aloe vera jelly, in a variety of drinks (but as the name suggests, usually some sort of tea).

The pearls can be bought, semi-dried, from East Asian supermarkets, and boiled brefily, before adding to a drink. Bubble tea is currently very fashionable in many countries around the world, although less so in the UK.

The Vegan is particularly fond of this eastern import, and purchased some of the pearls. We added them to a smoothie of banana, coconut and pineapple. Although not the usual beverage, this proved pretty tasty.

Popular flavours include green tea, coffee, chocolate, the taro root and various fruits. Pictures of our bubble tea to follow.

Get Thee Behind Me, Seitan.

On seitan.

This post is again brought to you through the influence of The Vegan.

Seitan is a meat substitute, popular in the east, made from wheat gluten. It's pretty easy to make, if a little time consuming.

This recipe was found on a popular vegan forum:


Seitan

600g High Gluten flour (tipo '00')
200g whole wheat flour
4 tbsp brewer’s yeast
¾ tsp salt/seasoning of your choice
¼ cup soya sauce
500ml water

Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl, and mix together with your hands. Knead the mixture and leave to rest for 25 minutes.

Add enough warm water to the bowl to cover the dough, and knead until the water becomes cloudy. Replace the water and repeat until the water is no longer clouded. You should be left with a rubbery putty. This is your seitan.

The seitan can be cooked in a number of ways, the most frequently recommended is to boil the gluten in a broth. I am yet to test seitan's next step, but when I do, you will be the first to know.