Garlic and Black Pepper Pickled Onions – Technique of the Week!

I’ve never pickled anything before but I love pickled onion, beetroot and gherkins! It’s about time I learnt how to make them myself! I don’t eat them enough to count this as a money saving exercise but I do like the feeling of satisfaction it brings to create your own food and know exactly what is in it.

I felt a little silly this weekend when I set out my ingredients and thought “I’m looking forward to some pickled onions with my lunch tomorrow”…then I read the recipe and realised that onions don’t get pickled over night! These take 1-2 months before they are ready to eat. So I’m looking forward to eating pickled onions with my lunch next month

Peeled shallots ready for pickling

Since this is something I have never tried before I followed this recipe from the BBC Good Food. The method was very simple but needs a little patience. First soak the onions, I chose shallots and small red pickling onions, in boiling water and leave it to cool. This makes it incredibly easy to peel the skins off, just slice each end off once soaked and then either peel the skin off or squeeze one end and the shallot will pop out.

Then place the onions in a bowl and salt them lightly and leave over night. In the morning you have to rinse them well and then pat dry ready to be pickled.

The pickling liquid is a very simple combination of malt vinegar and honey. I used sugar instead because I did not have any honey so I’m hoping this doesn’t affect the flavour too much, I assume it was just a sweetness needed.

When we were having a chat with our friend I happened to mention I was making pickled onions which led to an enthusiastic comparison of our favourite pickled items and he mentioned that he puts a red chilli in with his pickling liquid. When you eat the onions you get a warm heat mixed with the pickled flavour.

I’m too cautious (and a bit chicken) to add a chilli but it got me thinking about flavours I could try instead, I love garlic so this was an absolute must! We also decided that black pepper could be good to add some heat without the chilli burn.

I added 4 garlic cloves to one jar and I didn’t have any peppercorns so I ground pepper in to the vinegar of the other jar. In 1-2 months I will post again with the verdict on the recipe and the taste!

What is your favourite pickled vegetable? Any suggestions on what I should pickle next? I’d love to hear any unusual suggestions as well as the good classics!

My favourite recipes from 2012!

2012 has been a great year, I’ve enjoyed it so much, travelled, learnt loads, experienced lots and generally just had fun. Today is New Year’s Eve and for most this means reflecting on the year just gone by and planning for the year ahead!

Reflecting on the year gone by for foodies like me means looking at my favourite recipes and posts! Here is my top 10 recipe posts from veghotpot 2012:

1. Vegan Four Seasons Pizza. This is one of my favourite recipes because I really experimented with flavours and was happy with the results. Also it was part of the vegan month of food which I really enjoyed. I met loads of new bloggers and learnt so much about vegan food!

2. Braised Cabbage with Butter beans. I just love this recipe, it started off as a fuzzy idea in my mind but as i started cooking my instincts kicked in and it turned into this yummy unique way to serve cabbage. Even of you don’t like cabbage I promise this recipe is a million miles away from the bland boiled cabbage often served up!

3. Tomato soup with basil gnocchi. This was part of my Friday challenges own recipes and is a great way to serve up gnocchi. I love a good tomato soup and this one is very simple and quick to make.

4. Lentil and spinach meatballs. I used to love spaghetti and meatballs when I did eat meat so I decided it was time to make a healthy vegetarian version, I love the colour and the texture and flavour is filling and meaty enough to be a satisfying meal.

5. Beetroot and Feta Burger. I loved this recipe so much I turned it into my new logo! I’ve made it quite a few times now and each time it has been yummy! The bright pink colour makes it really interesting and is a real crowd pleaser!

6. Baked Beans on toast. They look like Heinz baked beans but the sauce is made from sweet potatoes, red peppers and seasoning. They are much more filling and nutritious than the canned variety and you can make a big batch to put in the freezer so they’re just as convenient.

7. Butterbean Nicoise Salad with a caper dressing. This is one of the first times I’ve experimented with salad dressings and I really like this one, its tangy and rich but the salad balances it out brilliantly.

8. Vegan Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagna. This recipe uses a white sauce made from beans and dairy free milk to make it vegan friendly. A really nice evening dinner which feels like a treat but is actually quite healthy!

9. Virtual Vegan Potluck Canapés. This was the second vvp of the year and once again it was a huge success! I enjoyed taking part and being introduced to so many great bloggers. I did two canapé recipes consisting of a mushroom polenta bake and also a beany bruschetta.

10. Coconut, chocolate and cherry cake. I made this cake again but with strawberries for Christmas Day and it was a big success everyone really enjoyed it. It’s a delicious, moist, sweet cake full of gooey fruits…what’s not to like! Plus it’s my first ever own recipe for a cake – big achievement in becky world!

I also went on honeymoon to Canada and America in June which was amazing and we can’t wait to return to Toronto! I visited my mum in France and practised my photography at a French Market we also went to Download Festival and got very rained on but had a rockin time!

I really hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and I want to wish everyone a very happy new year!! Xxxx

Monday Night RAW: The WWE fan and the Raw food fan in me combined

When me and Scott first moved in together around 4 years ago he watched the WWE wrestling and I definitely didn’t. In fact I’d never watched it before in my life, so I used to walk past and poke my head round the corner to see what it was like, mainly out of curiosity and also all those bright colours are so distracting! But I never actually sat with him to watch it!

Around 6 months ago I finally decided that I wanted to watch one of the shows with him to see what it was all about, also there seemed to be SO much wrestling on that I decided if I wasn’t going to get into it then I may never see him. So we sat down and I was reminded not to take the mick and keep an open mind. I watched, I squealed, I laughed, I chanted and I hid behind a cushion and now I’m hooked.

I’m a sucker for a story so I try to not watch any shows I know might take over my life, once Ive got into it I have to keep watching until they literally take it off the air (dam you friends I am in a never ending loop of your loveable characters!). Now I’ve only gone and done it, this isn’t like getting into something which shows 1 hour a week…..this is FIVE hours a week….and I can’t escape because “Next week, so and so will be fighting and we will reveal more about this storyline…”

I do love it though and I found my self sitting watching Monday Night RAW and glancing up at my newly acquired RAW food recipe books and thinking “that would be a fun little feature”. I have a terrible sense of humour so I thought I would capitalise on that and make you all cringe with some WWE referenced jokes

I only post about Monday Night RAW on facebook and twitter (thats where lots of random fun happens) but I thought Id share some of my horribly terrible jokes which accompany some pretty cool Raw food finds!! the idea here was to high light some great raw recipes out there on the internet!

WARNING: The following recipes are AWESOME! Don’t eat all at once unless you want to be the size of The Big Show!

RAW Romantic dinner for two from Sweetly Raw blog…. Maybe John Cena and AJ may be needing this ….or Daniel Bryan and Kane!

Raw romantic dinner for two by Heather over at Sweetly raw blog

RAW Gingersnap cookie bon bons from Diet Dessert n Dogs….. To quote my all time favourite wrestler Sheamus “Have you ever seen a ginger snap?” hehe well we have but never raw ones! These look delicious

Raw Gingersnap bon bons from the blog diet, dessert and dogs

RAW Witches fingers from Fork n Beans Blog….Almost as scary as watching Eve work her evil magic causing trouble with the divas…BOOO to Eve, YAY to Cara!

Raw witches fingers from Cara at fork n Beans blog

RAW Apple Pie from Farmers Market Vegan blog…. Apple pie is the champion of all puddings but unlike the WWE champion this one deserves some respect!

Raw apple pie from The Farmers Market Vegan

RAW Maple Caramel Apples from Raw Food Recipes website…….three little words to sum this one up! FEED ME MORE! FEED ME MORE! FEED ME MORE!

Raw maple caramel apples from rawfoodrecipes.com

RAW Pizza Tag Team match! We have Pizza Bella from the Taste Space blog and their tag team partner RAW Cream cheese pizza from The Copycat Cook blog.

Raw portobello pizza from the taste space blog

Raw Pizza from the Copycat cook blog

Do you watch the wrestling? Do you love RAW foods? Do you have a RAW food recipe you want to be immortalised along side my epic humour on this fun little feature?

Vegan MoFo: The Final Round-up

Well it’s the end of the month which also means it’s the end of Vegan MoFo! I have enjoyed reading all the other participants interesting (and delicious looking) posts and it’s been very inspiring. Throughout the month I have kept my blog vegan and although not every post has been shouting out loud “I’m doing Vegan MoFo” I feel like the changes I did make have been positive ones. For example, by posting more often I have found that actually it has been exciting to find things to talk about, and when that pressure to post is applied I have actually found myself researching things I want to know more about or coming up with topics I may not have addressed in the past.

I’ve mentioned a few times now that in November I am going to do a personal month on a vegan diet so I decided to set my Vegan MoFo theme as “making the transition”. I feel like I learnt quite a bit from my research and also I have bookmarked tonnes of great recipes to help me through.

Here is what I learnt through my own Vegan MoFo posts (excuse my awful sense of humour with the titles here!):

“Some Gouda Ideas for Cheese Alternatives”

I don’t eat a lot of cheese but when I made a conscious effort to cut it out completely I discovered I eat a lot more than I realised. Even though I am sensitive to lactose a lot of cheeses such as goats cheese and hard cheese’s have never really been off limit to me. I thought really hard about this and realised that without buying “vegan cheese” (which I can never seem to find in the supermarket in the UK anyway!) you can still be really creative. I look forward to lots of avocado toasties, cauliflower sauces and I can’t wait to finally try making cashew cheese!

“Some Udderly Great Ideas for Milk Alternatives”

I’ve been drinking soya milk instead of cows milk for a long time now however after reading very mixed messages about the health benefits of soya milk I decided to research other types of milk available including health benefits and a taste test. I actually think my favourite was oat milk although I am still to make my own almond milk which I can’t wait to do.

“Some Eggcellent Ideas for Egg Alternatives”

Baking is not something I do often but the only things I can make are cakes and biscuits which are packed full of butter and eggs. The whole idea of vegan baking was a scary and alien world to me but I feel like by researching some alternatives to eggs I understand a bit more behind the science of it all. I think transitioning to vegan baking will be something I need to just dive into one day and learn along the way.

“Vegan Sausages: Where are you?!”

I felt a bit silly when I realised that Quorn was not vegan as it in fact is made of eggs. I did a quick search for vegan sausages in UK supermarkets but didn’t find much straight away so I dug around for brands until I found enough to keep me happy in November! As I mentioned in this sausage post, I don’t eat many meat alternatives really but I just find meat free sausages so convenient and a great accompaniment to beany casseroles or mash and onion gravy at this time of year. From all the lovely comments I concluded that Linda McCartney’s range seemed to be the most popular so I have bought a pack but I’m yet to try them!!

and here are some of my most viewed vegan friendly recipes from the month:

Vegan BLT (BBQ Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato)

My answer to one of the most common meaty favourites!

Pumpkin and Greens Lasagna with a Vegan  Butterbean Bechamel Sauce

A different take on lasagna using a butterbean puree to create a thick and creamy bechamel

Vegan Four Seasons Pizza

Spring – Asparagus, Lemon and Chilli. Summer – Tomatoes and Basil. Autumn – Mushrooms, Thyme and Truffle Oil. Winter – Carrot, Coriander and Spices

Butternut Squash “Enchiladas”

A very simple vegan take on a family favourite

Vegan Savoury Cooked Breakfasts: A Recipe Round Up!

In November I am going vegan for the month, mainly because I want to see what effects it has on my health, but also because it is World Vegan Month in November and I think it will be good to raise awareness and of course to learn!

I think it will be a fairly fuss free transition because I already eat a lot of vegan foods but my main concern is breakfast! At the weekend I am not a fruit/ granola/ smoothie kind of person…I am an eggs on toast kind of person! Religiously every weekend I wake up and make scrambled or fried eggs on toast with plenty of ketchup and a big cup of tea. It’s my treat for surviving on green smoothies and salads for the week

I know there are plenty of options out there that will help me give up those eggs for the month and supply me with an animal free wholesome hearty well deserved breakfast! Here is a round-up of my favourite finds that I can’t wait to try! Please click on the titles to see the recipes on the original bloggers website.

The Bear and The Blackberry: Tofu Kale Scramble

Delicious kale and tofu scramble

My tummy is literally rumbling like crazy looking at this photo! I’ve seen a lot of tofu scrambles around but what made this one stand out was the rich colour and all the spices. I like the healthy addition of kale and the fact they have served it with sweet potatoes. This could easily become my new regular weekend breakfast.

Farmers Market Vegan: Savoury Oatmeal

Savoury Oatmeal Goodness!

In Ali’s post for this recipe she urges you to keep an open mind and I’ll do the same At the weekend I’m usually eating my breakfast around 10.30am (not 6.45am) and it almost feels like lunch so I like a good savoury flavour packed breakfast and I think this version of oatmeal is fab! I’m seeing a trend here too – kale for breakfast is more than acceptable!

Turning Veganese: Vegan Breakfast Burritos

Tofu Scramble in a breakfast burritos YUM!

I remember drooling over this recipe when they first posted it in June so when I found it again I got all excited and ready for November! Again I love the added spices and flavourings to the tofu, I can almost taste it now! I think for breakfast I would possibly omit the beans and just have that tofu, tomatoey, herby goodness wrapped in in a tortilla. Low fat, low cholesterol but high protein – perfect start to a busy saturday.

Jigsaw’s Kitchen: Spinach Pancakes

Highly Nutritious Egg Free Spinach Pancakes

I love this recipe because it’s only got a handful of ingredients and it looks quick enough to whip up after a Friday night out on the town! I’ve made spinach pancakes before but mine had an egg in them (surprise surprise) so it was really interesting to see how its done without the egg. I’d be tempted to serve this with a big pile of sautéed mushrooms and serve with a big glass of orange juice…its all “big” on a saturday morning Hehe.

I think that will keep me going for a few weekends, do you have any favourite egg free breakfasts? Whats your ultimate cooked breakfast?

Pumpkin and Greens Lasagna with Butterbean sauce: Meat Free Monday

Remember back to my post about cheese alternatives I mentioned using white beans such as butter beans to create a mock cheese sauce? Well this recipe is a great example!

Two layered vegan lasagna

This lasagna has been a work in progress for a while but I think it is now good enough to be showcased! I love the idea of a very neat lasagna with two defined layers, here we have one layer of roasted pumpkin and onions in a tomato sauce and the second layer is a leafy greens and courgette layer in a creamy butter bean sauce.

Even better is that I used this beautiful pumpkin that my mum bought home from her garden in France for me -

I have made mine so that the top layer of pasta is a little chewy and browned however if you like yours softer then simply add more sauce to the top! The best thing about this recipe is that you kind of build it up in the lasagna dish as you go, the first layer of pumpkin is roasted in the dish, tomatoes are added and it’s put back in the oven, then you create the layers on top! I have done some step by step photos for you below!

I love colourful food!

The other thing I love about using butterbeans in the sauce is how firm the sauce becomes, its creamy and delicious but also sliceable! and it goes perfectly with the green veg, I’d be tempted to make just that again with some rice as a nice comforting dinner.

Serves 6

450g Peeled Pumpkin (1 small pumpkin or enough to cover the bottom of your dish)
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
1 tblspn Chilli Powder
1 Can Tomatoes
2 Courgettes
1 Stick Celery
Large Bunch Spinach|
1 Can Butterbeans|
240ml Soya Milk (1 Cup)
8 Lasagna Sheets (I used the spinach variety)

Peel and cut up the pumpkin into large chunks, roughly all the same size. Roughly chop the onion and put into a lasagna dish with the pumpkin and a drizzle of vegetable oil and the chilli powder.

Pumpkin, Onion and Spices – The way a lot of my recipes begin!

Roast in an oven heated to 200c for 20 minutes uncovered. Take it out of the oven and add crushed garlic, the canned tomatoes and a little seasoning, stir to combine everything then add back into the oven for 10 minutes. This forms the base layer of your lasagna.

Canned tomatoes added to create the sauce

While the lasagna is in the oven blend the butterbeans and milk together and put to one side.

In a frying pan heat a little oil and add the thinly sliced celery and courgette and fry until softened, add a splash of water if it starts to brown too much. Add 3/4 of the butterbean sauce and spinach to the frying pan and simmer for 10 minutes. You leave the other 1/4 of butterbean sauce in the blender until the lasagna is assembled as it will be poured over the top.

Spinach pasta!

To assemble place enough lasagna sheets to cover the tomato pumpkin mix. A little bit of over lap is ok but not too much! Press the sheets down unto the sauce a bit.

Butterbeans are the base of this creamy sauce

Top the lasagna sheets with the creamy greens and spread out to form an even layer. The sauce will soak into the lasagna sheets making it lovely and soft after cooking.

More Spinach pasta then more sauce to finish!

Add more pasta sheets to cover the green vegetables layer and pour over the rest of the sauce. At this point you need to press the top lasagna sheets down so that all corners are covered by the sauce. This means they will go soft and not burn.

Once cooked the butterbean sauce firms up abit, the top pasta goes slightly chewy and the middle pasta goes beautifully soft! Serve with a nice green salad or some steamed brocolli and green beans! This recipe also freezes well so is a great one to make in advance for the week/ month ahead.

Lovely cooked lasagna!

National Curry Week 8th – 14th October: An easy way to celebrate vegan foods!

If your thinking of making the transition into becoming vegan then one of the easiest cuisines to begin with is curries! Spices, Lentils, Grains, Vegetables and Beans all lend themselves fantastically to the world of vegan food.

Making curries from scratch can be a lot easier than you think, especially basics like dhal’s or tomato based curries. Here are my favourite vegan curries that I have made in the past:

Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Dhal

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic are then pureed and stirred into lentils and stock to create this hearty dhal. A great way to use cauliflower which is in season at the moment!

Aubergine and Potato Curry

Aubergine and Potatoes create different textures and the creaminess comes from some light coconut milk. This is a much milder choice of curry and perfect served with fluffy white rice

Squash, Spinach and Red Lentil Curry

Brilliant for the Autumn Season, this curry is packed full of vegetables including Butternut Squash (or pumpkin!). This is a really low fat recipe

Carrot and Chickpea Curry

Another Creamy curry using the humble carrot! I experimented with soya cream in this recipe to make a really subtle mild curry. Really colourful too!

Aubergine and Tomato Curry

Another Aubergine Curry but this time made really low fat by using a tomato base and also made really simple by using pre bought curry paste! A great one for when you need something healthy but really easy

And then if you are after something a little different than your usual one pot curries, here are some different recipes I have come up with:

Roasted Cauliflower with Curried Dairy Free Yoghurt Dressing in a Naan Wrap

A really filling, nutritious and slightly different lunch recipe! The fun is in the eating with this one!

Twice Baked Curried Sweet Potatoes

The middle of the baked sweet potatoes are scooped out, mixed with all kinds of delicious curry flavours and put back in, then baked again to cook through. Delicious as a lunch or a side dish

BBQ no. 2 – Giant Cous Cous Salad, Sundried Tomato Humous and Beetroot Burgers!

We were really excited this weekend because we have been living in a house with a garden for over a year now and we are finally having a BBQ! Last year was very hectic and we didn’t invite people over for the first few months over summer because we had lots of belongings in boxes and the house wasn’t how we’d like it when we have guests (other than family). However we love socializing and hosting parties so it’s great that we have finally got into the swing of it!

My mum left behind a small barrel BBQ which we used to cook all of the food and I also made some cold items which we put out in the kitchen to all help ourselves. For everyone else there was marinated lamb, sausages and burgers which were bought last weekend (left over from our bank holiday bbq) from a local butcher in Tamworth.

We had a meat side and a veggie side! (My sides more colourful!)

I also made my favourite Beetroot, Feta and Chickpea burgers. It was interesting following the recipe again as it has been so long since I made them that I really had to follow my own instructions, it was a good test to see how other people would find it. They turned out good so I was pleased, although I used a different curry paste this time and it was much stronger so I think a milder curry paste is always better with these.

Beetroot, Feta and Chickpea Burger

Instead of a green salad I decided to make  a fruity giant cous cous salad. I decided to try giant cous cous because I had never cooked it before and it would look more interesting. Giant Cous Cous differs from the normal variety because you actually have to boil it in water or stock for 6-8 minutes then drain it before serving. I then ran cold water through the cous cous to cool it down ready to be made into a salad but you can also serve it hot.

Cous cous salads in general are extremely easy and a great addition to a dinner party or a buffet, I usually roast some vegetables such as courgettes, peppers and red onion then dice them up and stir into the cooked cous cous with some lemon zest and oil. However this time I wanted to make it more summery so I decided to add some fruit, similar to our holiday rice salad we have in Spain. You can add any firm fruit such as peaches or nectarines and you could even add chopped dried apricots or raisins.

Giant Cous Cous is also known as Israeli Cous Cous

Serving this style of salad also means you can use up ingredients which you’ve made other recipes from, for example I had some feta cheese, red onion and chickpeas left over from the beetroot burgers so I added that to the salad. Here is a rough guide to the quantities I used for my salad:

150g Cous Cous (around 1 cup or half a pack of Merchant Gourmet Giant Cous Cous)
1 Peach or nectarine
1/4 Cucumber
1/2 Red Onion
1/4 Block Feta Cheese
1/2 cup Chickpeas (handful)
Small handful Sunflower Seeds (or pine nuts)
Small bunch Coriander
Drizzle Good Quality Olive Oil
Lemon Juice

Place the cous cous in a saucepan and pour over enough stock to cover the grains, bring to the boil and then simmer for 6-8 minutes untill soft. Drain and run through cold water to allow it to cool down. Pour it into a large serving bowl.
Chop the peach, cucumber, red onion and feta cheese and mix in with the cous cous. Add the chickpeas, sunflower seeds and coriander and stir. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and serve.

To go with the salad and burgers I decided to make some sun dried tomato humous and serve it in buns with strips of courgette and red pepper which had been cooked on the bbq. This was delicious and I loved mixing the humous with the bbq vegetables.

Sun-dried tomato hummus

I’d never actually made hummus before but my mum makes it a lot and home made always tastes SO much nicer than the shop bought varieties. I didn’t have any tahini but I did have loads of sesame seeds left over from my tofu salad recipe so I toasted them, then blended them with a little oil. I then blended chickpeas with garlic, lemon zest, oil from the jar of tomatoes and of course some chopped up sun-dried tomatoes.

I’m not going to share this recipe quite yet mainly because it definitely needs tweaking, I found it abit garlicky and I’d like to have another go with different quantities of the tomatoes! Watch this space!

My plate of food! Just waiting for the beetroot burger to be done

What are your favourite vegetarian BBQ recipes?

A Classic Victoria Sponge (LEON Baking and Puddings recipe): Friday Challenge!

I had a bit of a disaster when I set my self ‘Bread’ as my friday challenge subject a few months ago. I learnt how to make a pretty decent bread roll but when it came to adding my own flavours and trying to be abit creative I came up short and realised that it would take a bit more practise. With that in mind I decided to try the whole baking thing again but this time with cakes!

I like cake but I’m definitely more of a savoury person so I thought this would be a challenge for me, but I can honestly say that after eating this victoria sponge I am starting to think maybe I like cake much much more than I realised…

I decided to start with a Victoria Sponge because it is the staple cake recipe which has stood the test of time. It doesn’t have too many flavour additions so I can learn how to bake a standard sponge without being distracted by extras and well it is quintessentially British as it was named after Queen Victoria so it seems apt for these Olympic times! Also since I met Scott he has been asking me to bake him his favourite Victoria Sponge and all this time I have promised one day I will, and now 5 years later I finally have! Even if I did tie it in with some blog cooking, to be fair that’s even better for him as I’m now going to make 3 or 4 more cakes for the month.

The recipe is from my current favourite cookbook range ‘LEON Baking and puddings’ (The book I also made gooey chocolate cakes from). The recipe was really simple to follow and although it took a little bit of work, such as alternating adding the eggs with the flour and beating each time, I can honestly say that this was really quite easy to make! You can buy this book and others from the LEON range here. The recipe for this cake is in the Baking and Puddings book.

A big wedge of Viccy Sponge

I was so impressed with the height of this cake and also how light and fluffy the cake was inside, I’m guessing this was from the amount of times I had to beat the cake mix before baking it in the oven. I didn’t have any vanilla essence so I added some maple syrup to the mix, I was scared this would ruin it but it just added the sweetness that the vanilla would have.
I was alarmed at the amount of sugar and butter went into this cake (330g of each!!) but I guess it is meant to be a treat..to be shared…

The inside of my Victoria Sponge

What I have learnt about cakes:
From my first attempt at baking a cake I feel like this is going to be quite acheivable, it was quite simple and I think as long as you follow the instructions pretty closely then you can’t go too wrong. I left my cake in the oven for 30 minutes whereas the recipe called for 40 minutes however mine is a fan oven and I know from cooking other things that it usually takes a little less than the recommended cooking time. I also remember from watching “The Great British Bake Off” that you shouldn’t open and close the door often as you will cool the oven down and your cake might sink so I only opened my oven twice, once to check and the second time to take it out.
I would like to see what would happen when you mix fruits or nuts into the cake mix before baking, would it be too soggy? Would it tip the fluffy cake off balance? If anyone has any suggestions please let me know

Sunshine Pizza: Meat Free Bank Holiday Monday!

My fingers and toes are crossed hoping that today is a sunny day for this post…but do you know what, if it’s not then this pizza will definitely bring a little sunshine into your life!

Maybe with the Queen’s Jubilee being celebrated in the UK I should have done a more quintessentially British recipe for today however I have wanted to make this pizza again for ages so I decided now was as good a time as any! The idea for this pizza started quite differently, as many of my recipes do, and it has been some what toned down from the original feisty Jerk Chicken inspired pizza that it started off as. I still plan to conquer that pizza but for now this is a perfectly acceptable substitute when you are wanting something sweet yet savoury and with a kick!

I have made a BBQ Sauce inspired pizza sauce, my usual BBQ sauce marinade would not have a can of tomatoes in it but I felt this worked well with the pizza, also I did actually use this for some Chicken for Scott as a marinade and he really liked it so keep any leftovers and slap it on some tofu or chicken and get grilling!

You can vary the type of chilli you want to use, if you love it spicy then add a Scotch Bonnet into the BBQ sauce and if you prefer things mild then you can omit the chillis all together (although personally I think this would be a shame!). If you don’t have any rum and don’t want to buy a bottle just for a pizza then you can also leave this out of the recipe.

For the BBQ Sauce you will need the following:

1 Can Chopped Tomatoes (roughly 400g)
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Red Chilli
1 tblspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 tblspoon Dark Rum
a Splash of Tobasco
1 tspoon Ketchup

Crush the Garlic and chop the chilli. Place all of the ingredients into a sauce pan on a medium-low heat and reduce down untill the sauce is thickened. Then blend. This will make more sauce than you need but you can freeze it, make more pizzas, use it as a marinade etc.

For the Pizza Dough you will need:

170g Strong White Bread Flour
1 Sachet Easy Blend Yeast (7g)
1 tblspoon Good Quality Apple Juice
Pinch Salt
85 ml Luke Warm Water – possibly a little extra if your dough looks too dry but only add any extra a table spoon at a time.

I got the idea to use apple juice instead of olive oil from the amazing Annie at An Unrefined Vegan. I asked her what would be a good substitute for oil in baking and she said fruit juices, I was very intrigued to see what difference it would make and it turned out perfectly. I don’t know if this was because of the change but I noticed that the base was much crisper which was fantastic.

To make the bread dough sift the bread flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the flour and into that add the apple juice and luke warm water. Mix it with a wooden spoon combining all the flour untill it has come together as a dough (add a little more water if needed). Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes then shape it into a ball, and place in a bowl covered in cling film for an hour or so to let it rise to double its size.
Once risen knock the dough back and then roll it out into a thin pizza base, I can’t really remember the diameter but I liked mine quite thin so it gets pretty big!

The Toppings you’ll need to bring Sunshine to the pizza: Amounts will vary – just fill the pizza up.

Handful Cheese
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Yellow/ Orange or Red Pepper
Large Handful Mushrooms
1 small can Pineapple Chunks (or a fresh pineapple if your feeling ultra exotic)
4 or 5 slices of Red Jalapenos from a jar
Spring Onions
Pinch Dried Chilli Flakes

Spread some of the BBQ Pizza Sauce onto the pizza base, then grate some cheese on top (vegan cheese if you prefer) and finally top with all of your sliced, chopped and diced veggies and sprinkle with a pinch of chilli flakes. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180c for approx 15 minutes. Serve hot with a rum cocktail and some loud music.

I’ve used different types of chillis, ie Jalapenos from a Jar (sweet), Dried Chillis (hot), Tabasco Sauce (savoury) to try and bring a real balance of heat to the pizza which is complimented perfectly by the juicy pineapple.