Meat Free Monday

I love "Meat Free Monday".  When we started down the path of questioning our meat eating it was such a revelation to me that I could give up some meat without necessarily giving up all meat! That sounds a bit strange, but being vegetarian is usually shown as such a passionate and total thing, being part way there doesn't occur to you!

We started (before Meat Free Monday began) with one day a week without meat as a trial - (it was Monday initially, but then moved to Tuesday). At first it was hard to think of ideas and adjust the way we planned meals but once we got our heads around it,  it shifted without much further thought to Monday to Friday without meat, and for a while there it became rare on weekends too. (Right now we are eating a little more meat on weekends after Christmas and our country holiday.)

So Meat Free Monday seems a great idea to me! It seems it may be a realistic stepping stone to much less meat consumption by many more people.


Now I have discovered the Meat Free Monday Cookbook! I borrowed it from the library last week and within 24 hours I had bought it for myself with a book voucher a colleague gave me for Christmas.

I have decided to try to cook my way through it in a "Julie and Julia-esque" way. Well perhaps not every recipe but some from every week. The book is laid out with a breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert as well as a packed lunch alternative and a side dish or two for each week, 13 weeks worth for each season.  They seem tasty and varied, yet simple enough to be achievable on a busy week night with a little added cool factor that many are recipes contributed by famous people. I really look forward to trying so many of them. I'll let you know how I am going along the way.

Nicola

Cookbook of the Month - "Vegetarian" By Alice Hart

I love this book!


I don't technically own it, but I feel I do. My library conveniently bought it but insists I leave it there now and then, though mostly it sits happily in a stack in my family room!


Last time I had it I made Smoky Blackbean and roast tomato soup and carrot and corriander fritters with haloumi and sweet lemon dressing and both were great and different and I was sold.


Over the past fortnight I have made:-
* Cumin Potato Skins and Guacamole - Thus was very tasty and pretty simple - I put potatoes in before starting the fruit co-op sort, then when I'd finished they were ready to hollow out, crispen up and fill (in about 20 minutes)
* Spiced Pumpkin and feta Puff Pastry Tarts - Eva made this. Simple and looked striking. Made great lunches too.
* Camembert, watercress & marinated figs with walnut dressing - We loved this. The figs and the dressing were the highlight - I couldn't get watercress and just did it with green oak lettuce but will do it again and get the cress next time. We are still using the sweet figgy balsamic leftover in dressings and loving it! Plus I got to use my home-made camembert.


* Smoky Blackbean and roast tomato soup (Again) - This is so good to eat (though the colour of the soup isn't stunning) The corn salsa that is served on it really lifts the dish. This will become a staple!




* Salad Potato Griddle cakes with olives and poached eggs - Yum, potato cakes! We always have a potato glut, many eggs in the neat and olives in the pantry so I can see this coming out again. I managed to make it whilst chatting to a friend whilst our kids ran through and only a small bit of attention was being paid to the process - and they still were great! A little salad, lemons from the tree, a whole meal!

I still have quite a few planned to try in coming weeks:-

• Their Entire Breakfast Chapter!!
• Butternut Pumpkin & corriander felafel with cucumber Yoghurt
• Potsticker Dumplings with Black Vinegar dipping sauce
• Spring Vegetable Pakoras
• Warm Salad of slow-roast Tomatoes, Labne, Almonds and Mujadhara (rice and lentils)
• Quinoa with parsley Pesto, Cranberries, hazelnuts and mushrooms
• White Gazpacho
• Winter squash and corn chowder
• Cashew fried rice
• Parsnip, sage and Mascarpone risotto
• Braised Aubergine with bok chot, peanuts and thai basil
• Sambal Telur (a Malaysian egg curry)
• Shredded root vegetable gratin with creme fraiche and gruyere

Sadly due to an oversight in returning another book this one can't be renewed now and the library want it back again! The sooner they accept it really belongs with me where it is loved the better!!

Nicola

Update 4 July 2012. I have now made the Spring Vegetable Pakoras, which were fabulous. Follow the link in the list above.

Cookbook of the Moment: "It Tastes Better" by Kylie Kwong

Tidying our bookshelves recently I rediscovered several great books that have been languishing on the shelves as I increasingly "google" recipes or get them from other blogs. I decided I would choose one book at a time and cook my way through the best of it.
Thus it's Kylie Month at our place!
The book is "It tastes Better" by Kylie Kwong. It was a Christmas Gift from Mia. It is all about the suppliers from whom she sources her sustainable and organic ingredients for her restaurant (Billy Kwong's) and a mix of her own and their recipes using the produce. They are very inspiring. It makes me want to leave the city and grow and make my own everything somewhere quiet - perhaps in retirement!!

Tonight was the highlight of the recipes so far - The Chicken Pho. (The "almost" in the blog title kicks in here)

It was a pretty big job to make but was delicious and loved by all. I made a second pot with all the ingredients except the chicken for Mia - and it was just as delicious - so maybe we'll do that version again. I think I'll blog this meal in another post it was so good!


Other highlights have been:-
* Dry fried green beans with miso sauce
* The soba noodle and marinated tofu salad (this may become a regular in our house - fantastic)



* the mussel omlete



* Beer battered flathead with a potato aioli



* Deep fried Silken Tofu with lemon sauce



* Fried cauliflower and spices (the original had chickpeas but as mine weren't ready we went without and loved it) and served it with Beetroot, Fig, Cumin and yoghurt salad



* Slightly Disappointing was the quinoa salad.

* I also set out to make the spring vegetable salad with ricotta - but the weather turned cold while I was cooking and I modified it to be a pasta dish with fresh ricotta, sauteed fennel, sugar snap peas and herbs and it was great, I'm sure the original salad would also have been good on a summery day!



Still to come over the next 2 weeks we have
* Corn Fritters with dill dipping sauce
* pickled eggplant
* steamed blus eye cod with cloud ear fungus and sweet and sour dressing
* Egg with pickled carrot and beetroot
* stir-fried chickpeas with blackbean and chilli
* seared tofu with caramelised tomatoes
* Kylie's fried rice
* Potato and egg salad with tamari and roast garlic
* Lentil, goats cheese and roasted tomato salad.


I have used more lemons, soya sauce/tamari, sesame oil, szechuan pepper and ginger in the last two weeks than I have in have ever used before - but love them!


Her book also contains amazing looking meat dishes that we would rarely use now - two of hers have been past favourites though - a lamb shank braise and her red braised pork.


Red Braised soya beans are also a favourite of ours from Kylie, though not in this book.


I'll let you know how the rest go.

Nicola