Simple Tofu Scramble with Grilled Tomatoes

I decided to try tofu scramble for my breakfast the other day. I’m in two minds about this recipe because I don’t feel that tofu/ Soya products are that good for you but at the same time it is a great alternative to scrambled eggs, it tastes nice and it is very versatile! I suggest eating this as a treat once a week rather than every day.

The great thing about scrambles is that you can add anything to it, recently I’ve been adding spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, paprika, garlic, chillies, fresh herbs and even some veggie sausages…yes sometimes all at the same time! I have done a basic recipe here keeping the flavour quite simple so that you can add whatever you fancy! I’ve based it on my previous breakfast offering of Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Tomato Sauce which is still my favourite

Scrambled Eggs with tomatoes

Feel free to add asparagus to the list of things to serve with your tofu scramble!! Tofu scramble really is very simple, take a block of tofu, slice off the amount you want to eat and then mash it in a bowl with a fork. I added my flavourings whilst it was cooking so first heat a pan with a little oil if you want or just use a good non stick pan and add your tofu scramble. Then add a sprinkle of Dried Basil, Garlic Powder, Torn Fresh Basil and Salt and Pepper. These flavours just take the edge off the tofu flavour and create a nice base for your toppings.

I’ve recently been cutting down on carbs so I have been bulking up my scrambles with vegetables which works really nicely. I find that if you cook your veg first then add your tofu it is better than cooking them all at the same time because your veg are then nice and soft and your tofu is not too broken down. You can cook it however you like!!

Tofu Scramble with Grilled Cherry tomatoes and fresh basil

I haven’t actually started my month of vegan yet because I went to see a dietician and I left feeling absolutely confused and to be honest a little down trodden about where I should go from here. We decided that I needed to at least postpone my vegan month because my food diary showed that, even though on the surface I’m eating quite healthy, when you dissect it I am just eating fruit, veg and carbs with hardly any protein and any good fats. I need to get myself to a point where I am in the habit of bulking up my meals with more vegetarian friendly ingredients such as nuts, seeds, flax, hemp, oils, lentils and beans, iron etc.

Sigh, I’ll probably post again regarding this but for now I think my blog is going back to being vegetarian, still with plenty of vegan recipes because my ideas naturally gravitate towards the more plant-based natural foods.

What is your favourite vegan breakfast? Have you tried Tofu Scramble before?

Tofu, Lemon and Tomato Soup (Or Mock Seafood Soup): Meatfree Monday!

Mock Seafood Soup with lemony Tofu, rich tomato soup and griddled lemon slices

For all you Seafood lovers out there, please forgive me, for I have made a delicious but very vegan mock seafood soup! Seafood soup is my all time favourite dish but I decided I needed to try a version without the seafood. I haven’t cut fish 100% out of my diet yet but I always enjoy making veggie versions of the classics I used to eat all the time.  Should this even be called “Seafood Soup” since it is entirely devoid of seafood? I’m not sure but it has the fundamentals of my favourite recipe, ie rich tomatoes, hints of lemon and fennel and soft white tofu instead of white fish.

If anything it is just a really beautiful lemony tofu soup!

The seafood soup would usually contain some form of white fish like cod, maybe some salmon, small prawns, large prawns and mussels! I couldn’t think of a prawn and mussel replacement so I kept it simple and just focused on replacing the fish.

Silky Smooth Tofu is a perfect match for the soup base

The base of this soup is very similar to my Tomato Soup with Basil Gnocchi   but I made some subtle changes to keep it in line with the seafood soup we have on holiday.

Serves 2 – Soup is freezable but I’d recommend frying fresh tofu each time.

1 Onion
2 Sticks Celery
1/2 Red Pepper
1 Large Garlic Clove
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
1/2 teaspoon Chilli Powder
8 Cherry Tomatoes
1 Can Tomatoes
300ml Vegetable Stock
2 Lemons – one for juice and one for the garnish slices
200g Firm Tofu
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

To prepare the vegetables finely dice the onion and red pepper and finely slice the celery and garlic clove. Halve the cherry tomatoes

In a large pan heat some olive oil and then soften the onion and celery for 5 minutes untill it starts to brown (don’t let it get too brown) then add the red pepper and garlic. Add a splash of water if it is browning too fast.

Once the vegetables are all softened add the spices/ fennel seeds and stir, cooking for a further 1 minute, untill everything is completely combined.

Add the canned chopped tomatoes, halved cherry tomatoes and the vegetable stock. Simmer gently for around 20-30 minutes. Taste and season to taste (season after adding the stock as stock cubes can be quite salty.

Drain the tofu and slice it into pieces roughly 2 inches long (it really doesn’t matter but I’ve made mine rectangle). Place the slices in between some kitchen paper and press firmly to remove extra moisture. I use Cauldron’s Original Tofu which is quite firm so for the purpose of this recipe I don’t feel the need to press it too much.

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and add the tofu pieces so that they are quite spaced out in the pan. Squeeze half the lemon over the tofu and cook on one side for 2-3 minutes untill it has began to brown slightly. The lemon won’t let it brown completely. Turn the pieces over gently and squeeze a little more lemon juice over.

Add a few slices of lemon to the pan whilst cooking the tofu and allow them to brown on each side.

Serve up the soup into bowls and top each portion with the cooked tofu and some browned lemon slices and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with some good crusty white bread and definitely a glass of dry white wine!

Mock Seafood Soup

Summer Courgette Pasta: A recipe revisited

Ok so here is another “fix that dish” post, to be honest it has been really fun going over old recipes and giving them a new lease of life. I am still enthusiastic about the ingredients and the ethos of the recipes, it’s just now, after a year of blogging and learning about food and being inspired by the freshness of vegan dishes, I would execute the recipes differently!

For this week I am focusing on my courgette pasta dish which was created because we had an overload of courgette’s and I really wanted to make something very simple, quick and easy. This pasta dish was basically a “throw it all in” dish and it’s delicious.

26th August 2011

13th August 2012

The changes I made to this dish are minimal but they make a big difference, such as keeping a few of the ingredients raw to add a real summery freshness (and added vitality) to the dish that was perhaps missing before. I swapped onions for spring onions and used green courgettes instead of yellow but that was purely down to what was available rather than any big notion of health or flavour enhancement.

The juices from the tomatoes and courgettes make the pasta ‘saucey’ enough to not be dry and the soft mushrooms add another texture. I personally just love the flavour of all of these vegetables together but if you insist then a spoonful of pesto mixed into this tastes great!

Make sure you have really nice ripe tomatoes as the dish really depends on them being sweet, juicy, soft and full of flavour. If you’ve refrigerated your tomatoes then take them out a few hours before making this!

Serves 2 as a main meal

1 Large Courgette (from the garden) or a couple of courgettes from the supermarket. Green or yellow are fine! – grated
1 Garlic clove – crushed
Large handful Mushrooms – sliced
1 Lemon – zest and juice
Sprinkle of Chilli Flakes
2-3 large ripe tomatoes or 4-5 plum tomatoes – chopped roughly
Spring Onions – finely sliced
Black Pepper
Drizzle or Spray of Olive Oil
Cooked pasta (roughly 75g dried pasta each)

Once the courgette has been grated place it inbetween a clean tea towel or some layers of kitchen paper and squeeze out the excess liquid. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and add the courgettes and stir untill they start to cook down (around 3 minutes), add the garlic, lemon zest, chilli flakes and mushrooms and continue to cook untill the mushrooms have wilted. This shouldn’t take too long and as soon as it’s done take off the heat and stir in the cooked pasta and fresh tomatoes. The heat of the sauce and pasta will soften the tomatoes further.

Serve into pasta bowls and then sprinkle over the sliced spring onions, squeeze of lemon and a good grind of black pepper.

You could top with grated parmesan or stir in a dollop of pesto if you are serving this to guests, but if you are just after a quick, healthy, fresh lunch then this is perfect!

I have submitted this post to the Presto Pasta Nights event, see the round up at the end of each week here at Bricole blog! x

Tomato Soup with Basil Gnocchi Dumplings

I’m just going to be rather stereotypical now and start this recipe off by mentioning the weather – I started thinking about this soup recipe a couple of weeks ago when I started my gnocchi challenge, back when it was still raining and cold and summer hadn’t started for us Brits yet. However when it came to making it, it was the hottest day of the year so far! I nearly turned this into a gnocchi gazpacho it was that hard stood over the stove with the sun beating down on me through the window, but I continued and I’m so glad I did because this soup is wonderful and typical British weather…it got abit cold again!!

I’ve really enjoyed making gnocchi, I think it is something I will continue to experiment with and I’m proud that I’ve learnt a completely new skill. Gnocchi is so easy to make and theres plenty of room for additions such as cheese, herbs or spice. In this case I decided to combine a classic basil and tomato flavour, but with a twist – the basil is in the gnocchi!

I adapted the original gnocchi recipe I made from Gino D’Acampo’s cookbook (click here for my earlier post) because it has been perfect everytime I’ve made it, but I have changed a few things in his method just to fit better with how I like to do things. The tomato soup is my own recipe and I actually much prefer it to my previous tomato soup offering.

I made the dough whilst the soup was slowly simmering away and I love how the basil puree almost marbled the pale dough:

I chopped the dough into three pieces to be able to make smaller gnocchi (my table top wasn’t big enough to roll out larger amounts of the dough) and then I rolled each piece into a long roll about 1-2cm thick and I sliced the roll into small gnocchi pillows. I found it was good to use the first gnocchi I cut as a size reference for the rest, this way I knew they’d all be roughly the same size.

Once you have made the gnocchi (before cooking) place them on a lightly floured tea towel or cloth, this will stop them sticking to the surface (and each other) and makes it easy to pick them up and pop them in the pan when your ready to cook them.

My final tip before I share this recipe is to cook the gnocchi in boiling water and THEN add it to the soup, don’t cook the gnocchi in your soup as although it would work ok you will end up with a flour filled cloudy soup. By boiling the gnocchi before hand you can just pop the puffed up clean little gnocchi pillows into the soup and tuck in! Can you tell I love the word “pillows” at the moment, I really can’t think of a better way to describe them!

Serves 4 (generously)

For the gnocchi dough:
400g Potatoes, peeled and chopped into quarters
1 Egg
120g Plain flour
2 large handfuls of basil (The more you use the stronger the flavour will be)
drizzle Olive oil
pinch of Salt

For the Tomato Soup:
1 Large onion (or 2 smaller ones)
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Sticks of Celery
1 Red Pepper
8 Cherry Tomatoes
2 Cans Chopped Tomatoes
500-600ml Vegetable stock (see how to make it here)
Splash of balsamic vinegar

Start off by putting the potatoes for the gnocchi on to boil for 20- 25 minutes untill really soft.

Whilst these are cooking you can start making your soup, this will give it enough time to slowly cook and get a rich intense texture and flavour. Start by dicing the onion and slicing the celery sticks and sautee in a little oil in a large sauce pan for 2 -3 minutes then crush the garlic into the pan and continue to cook on a low to medium heat for 10 minutes.

Once the onions and celery are really soft, deseed and chop the rep pepper and add to the pan with the cherry tomatoes (left whole). Cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock, balsamic vinegar and some black pepper, turn the heat down, cover with a lid or some tin foil and leave this to simmer now for 30 – 40 minutes.

Next take your basil leaves and place into a blender with a good lug of olive oil and blitz untill you have a basil puree. Don’t add too much olive oil as you don’t want it to be too wet, just enough to help the basil blend is fine.

By the time you have prepared the soup and basil puree your potatoes should be cooked (or nearly cooked). Once soft, drain them and place back into the pan and mash them. I re-use the pan to save on washing up but you can also do this step in a large bowl. You need to make sure they are really well mashed and silky smooth. I have seen recipes which use a potato ricer or even a blender for this stage but I found good ole hand held potato masher was just fine!

Once smooth add the egg, plain flour, basil puree and a pinch of salt, mix well untill all the ingredients are combined and then place onto a floured surface and knead the dough gently untill you have a lovely soft marbled dough.

Cut the dough into two or three pieces depending on the size of your work top (the bigger the piece of dough, the longer the roll will need to be to get it quite thin). Roll the first piece of dough out into a roll around 1-2cm thick and then using a sharp clean knife slice the gnocchi into pillows and place onto a floured tea towel.

A few good tips here are to keep that knife really clean so you can cut through the dough without it sticking. Rinse the knife clean whenever it begins to get dough stuck to it. Also as mentioned earlier use the first piece you cut as a size guide for each roll. And finally, if the dough gets stuck to the table top then use your sharp knife to slide under it and lift it, this will keep it’s shape better than if you were to try and pick it off with your fingers.

Check on your soup and give it a good stir, if it looks like it needs thickening then take the lid off for the last 15 minutes or so.

Get another pan full of hot water on the go and bring to the boil. In batches drop the gnocchi pillows into the water and when they float to the top they will be ready. Use a slotted spoon to lift them out of the water and place onto a tray or plate untill all of the gnocchi are cooked.

Take your soup off the heat and using a fork go around and slightly crush all of the cherry tomatoes so that they release their juices.

Serve up the soup and then pile the basil gnocchi on to the top and drizzle with a little olive oil and give it a good grind of strong black pepper. The soup will re heat the gnocchi.

It may look like a long set of instructions but I promise you this is an easy dish to make and you alternate working on the soup and then the gnocchi so you are never having to multi task! I’ve really enjoyed my gnocchi Friday challenge month! Next month I’m back to completely unfamiliar baking territory and I’m going to have a go at making cakes! AH!
I have entered this recipe into the “Souper Sundays” event over at Kahakai kitchen.

Tomato and Chilli Pantry Pasta: Meat Free Monday

For this weeks Meat Free Monday recipe I would like to direct you all to the lovely Jennifer’s blog “Down Home South Jersey” where she featured a recipe I made for her Pantry Pasta Challenge! Make sure you have a good browse over there as there is so much to read and see! Here are a few photos to get you in the mood for some good hearty pasta!

Thanks for setting an inspiring challenge and also for featuring me Jennifer Your a star!

Slow Cooked Tomatoes and Cheesy Polenta: Meat Free Monday

This idea started off as a completely different dish where I made a rich puree of roasted tomatoes then marbled it with the polenta and set it to become a beautiful marbled tomatoey slab of polenta….except it kind of looked like a smudged mess and the tomato flavour wasn’t intense enough to hold up when stirred in to the polenta. So I decided to keep the tomatoes whole and set them within the polenta to create little bursts of flavour when you eat it. It also looks much prettier than my original idea!

I would say that this dish is to be treated like a slice of quiche – best on a summers day, with salad as a nice simple lunch. It would be a great dish to cut into small pieces and serve with a buffet/ bbq or picnic with a selection of salads, breads and side dishes.

The tomatoes take about 2 hours in the oven to create the intense flavour and soft texture but once they are done it only takes a few minutes to make the polenta and then it can be set in the fridge and left untill needed, so a great one to make in advance.

Serves 4 as a lunch or 6-8 as part of a buffet.

6 Tomatoes (I’ve made it with just red tomatoes or with a mixture of tomatoes as in the photo above, either is nice)
Dried Basil
Garlic Powder
Olive Oil

150g Polenta
65g Parmesan or Mature Cheddar, grated
Large Handful Basil leaves, sliced
Seasoning
Rocket and Balsamic vinegar to serve

Preheat the oven to 100c. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them cut side up on a baking tray. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, dried basil, garlic powder and olive oil and then put them in the oven for 2 hours. At this point I went shopping and when I came back I had some deliciously roasted tomatoes

Once the tomatoes are cooked put them to one side.

Put 800ml of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, once boiling pour the polenta into the pan whilst stirring with a whisk. Cook on the hob for 4 minutes stirring constantly, be careful because it spits.

After 4 minutes take it off the heat and add the chopped basil and grated parmesan and stir untill the cheese is melted.

Place the tomatoes cut side down in a baking tray which measures roughly 10″ x 6″. Please note the picture below is from a time I used all red tomatoes but you can obviously use any tomatoes!

Pour the polenta over the tomatoes and using a knife or back of a spoon push it down over the tomatoes and smooth it on the top. Now let the polenta cool down, you can put it in the fridge if you don’t have loads of time.

Set the oven to 200c

Once cooled run around the edges with a knife to loosen it then turn the polenta slab out onto a baking tray and put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. The polenta won’t brown but it will keep firm yet when you cut into it it’ll be lovely and soft on the inside!

Serve with Salad leaves such as rocket and balsamic vinegar.

Seriously Simple Tomato and Fennel Pasta Sauce: Meat Free Monday

Sometimes I just really want a nice simple dinner which can be whipped up in no time and is still healthy. This usually means making a pasta dish! The flavours in this dish are so perfect for the nice summer weather we’ve been having over the weekend as the sweet apple juice brings the tomatoes to life and the slight tang to the fennel and its seeds help liven up the sauce!

A while ago a friend of mine had said how she couldn’t believe that people didn’t make their own pasta sauces as it’s so easy, and I felt a bit guilty because I often buy pasta sauce and when I did make it, it would just be a can of tomatoes with some basil and garlic in it! So I decided to experiment with flavours and textures and I think the key to this recipe is being patient with the onions and getting them really soft before adding the tomatoes. It makes for a more silky smooth sauce rather than being too chunky!

Theres not really much else to say about this dish other than here is the recipe:

This will make a big batch which will serve around 6-8. It is freezable so you can make a big amount and then save the left overs for a nice easy meal another day.

1 Onion
1 Fennel
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tspn Fennel Seeds
2 cans Chopped Tomatoes
2 tablespoons Apple Juice
Pinch Chilli Flakes
1/2 Lemon (juice)
Salt and Pepper
Spray oil or olive oil

Finely chop the onion and fennel and add to a saucepan with some spray oil. Cook them on a low heat for around 2-3 minutes then add the crushed garlic cloves and the fennel seeds. Continue to cook, stirring often, on the low heat untill the onion and fennel is soft and translucent.

Add the canned tomatoes, apple juice, lemon juice, chilli flakes and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Simmer the sauce untill the tomatoes have reduced and thickened.

Cook pasta of your choice and then stir the sauce into the drained cooked pasta. Serve with a bit of salad.