grub, green issues and gays
Zut alors! Patisserie Valerie is best-known for serving delicious cakes and desserts, usually piled high with cream and chocolate. So I was surprised to see that they also do lunch, sandwiches and all-day breakfasts! We popped in to give them a try… First impressions: good […]
You know how it goes – it’s Boxing Day, you’ve eaten and drunk far too much, and you want something that feels at least a little bit healthy, compared to all the cake and booze you had yesterday. You also bought WAY too much veg […]
Glastonbury, being one of the most hippy-dippy places on Planet Earth, should have a wealth of vegetarian options, so we thought we’d make a start here! We stopped at Mocha Berry during a trip to buy mead at Shieldmaiden (worth the drive, it’s lush and you can pretend you’re a Viking) and decided it was time for the inaugural Bristol Veggie Breakfast Guide review. Yes, I know this is technically Glastonbury, but it’s fairly close, so shut up.
We went for the Full Veggie Breakfast option (why wouldn’t you) with wholemeal toast and tea. The staff at Mocha Berry are really friendly, and it’s lovely and bright inside. The service was really quick, and the cafe was crammed, so obviously popular.
Now, first off – those hash browns are a bit anaemic. A deep fryer is essential to any fried breakfast, and sadly it seems to have been sidestepped here. However, the veggie sausage was really nice, one of the best I’ve tasted, and the egg was well done. There’s two tomatoes here, but the breakfast only comes with one (my girlfriend doesn’t like them, so I get hers). Toast was really thick, and they supply plenty of butter – always a plus. The mushrooms were a bit underdone, and beans are, well… beans. But at least there’s plenty of them.
Not a bad start to our breakfast guide – I give Mocha Berry 6 out of 10!
Chicken parmo is a dish famed in the north-east of the UK (I guess it originated in Italy?) as the perfect end-of-the-night fuel. This version takes a little longer and is considerably better for you! It’s a one-pot dish as well – saves on washing […]
There’s nothing like fresh sausage rolls, hot out the oven. Perfect for lunches, parties, or taking on picnics! Using the ever- versatile proper sosmix, I made these in 10 minutes for a beach trip the next day. They’re lush hot, and they’re even better cold!
Aubergines seem to feature quite heavily in a lot of veggie recipes. Is it because they’re fairly meaty in texture, while also good at soaking up other flavours? Probably, I guess. They’re not something I’ve got much experience of cooking – if I’m honest, before I went veggie I’d probably only used them once or twice before. This easy-peasy recipe for a warming, thick chilli sin carne uses a whole aubergine, chopped up roughly. I used the slow cooker (because I’m quite lazy) in this recipe, and was surprised how thick the end result turned out – I usually factor in 15-20 minutes of oven cooking at the end of a slow cooker recipe to thicken the stew, but here it wasn’t needed! The smoked paprika gives an amazing depth of flavour, and I’d estimate you’d end up with around 4-6 portions (depending on if you go back for seconds…)
As the weather gets cold and I start feeling crappy, I crave stodge, as I’m sure we all do. I saw a recipe for a stew on BBC Good Food and thought I’d do my own version of it, which I’m pleased to say turned […]
Sosmix is something I remember from my dim and distant past. My mum’s friend used to fry balls of it for dinner, we’d have it with spaghetti and tomato sauce – it was lush. Searching for it recently uncovered the fact that it’s not made […]
As Autumn is rolling around, I decided it was time for that staple of British stodge, the cottage pie. Traditionally beef mince with mashed potato on top, but I used Quorn mince. I regret to announce that I have no photos of this fantastic pie, as we ate it all, far too quickly.
You’ll need a casserole dish, or big pie dish, or a medium-sized lasagne dish for this. I used a deep casserole pot without the lid – piling the potatoes up thickly works really well.
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