18 h. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for grated tomato and butter beans with olive pangrattato | The new vegan

Few things in life are as simple and mouthwatering as tomatoes on toast sprinkled with salt, but here they hit new heights with olivey breadcrumbs, garlic and butter beans, tooMy favourite breakfast is sliced tomatoes on rye bread sprinkled with sea salt. The best bit is neither the tomato flesh nor the bread, it’s the salted tomato water that runs down the back of my hands and threatens to meet my elbows. It’s liquid electricity and one of my favourite earthly flavours. It could make a great stock, or a delicious martini, perhaps even a marinade for ceviche, but here it’s thrown in at the end to refresh a dish of gently cooked tomatoes, beans and dill. Perfect for dunking anything but elbows into. Continue reading...

Society

59 h. ago My unexpected Pride icon: The Green Roasting Tin, a cookbook no lesbian vegetarian can be without

Sure, Rukmini Iyer’s recipes are not specifically aimed at queer people, but the first time I cooked one, it was with my girlfriend – and she is now my wifeWalk into a queer woman’s kitchen and the chances are that the lime-green spine of Rukmini Iyer’s The Green Roasting Tin will be poking out from a surface or a shelf – if it is not already on the counter and splattered with food. You are likely to find it in the homes of allies, too – this is the holy grail of what-to-feed-my-queer–vegetarian-offspring cookbooks.Not only does The Green Roasting Tin play into stereotypes about gay and bisexual women – all vegetarian recipes, half vegan and supremely practical (the USP of The Roasting Tin series is that all the recipes are oven-cooked in one dish) – but it is also full of indulgence. The tarts, gratins, salads and bakes are dotted with pomegranate seeds or fresh herbs and drizzled with truffle oil or honey. One recipe even has an entire camembert plonked in a tray of potatoes. And ...

Politics

7 d. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for black rice, red cabbage and tempeh salad | The new vegan

Renew your zest for life with this hearty salad that’s a nutritious meal in itselfI’m a subscriber to The Imperfectionist, Oliver Burkeman’s newsletter on building a meaningful life, in which he recently wrote about navigating life via “aliveness”, which he describes as “a subtle electrical charge”. I chase that feeling a lot in the kitchen, and it’s how I feel when I eat a great salad, all vibrant and energised, as if I’ve just cycled through gorgeous countryside or been on a hike. I find it hard to write recipes for such salads, though, perhaps because there are often so many ingredient variations and little precedence, but today’s one made the cut. If you make it, please let me know if it made you feel “perky” in any way. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for squash and fennel agrodolce | The new vegan

The sweetness of roast vegetables and raisins contrasts with balsamic, pine nuts and capers in a vibrant dish that you’ll want to eat on repeatBeing in the business of recipe writing means I am always seeking the new, always moving on and rarely resting on a single dish. Until summer starts knocking, that is. The sun makes me want to slow down, and I find myself wanting a variation of vegetables agrodolce on repeat. Agrodolce is Italian for sour (agro) and sweet (dolce), which in my kitchen translates to a pile of meltingly soft vegetables, all slick with olive oil, sweet with onions, and cut with vinegar and capers. Often, this takes the form of my husband Hugh’s oven-baked caponata, but I also love the comfort of squash and the liquorice sweetness of the cooked fennel here. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago How to turn aquafaba into a delectable vegan chocolate mousse – recipe | Waste not

Whip up bean water you might otherwise throw away, fold in some melted chocolate and you have yourself a quick, easy and healthy(ish) two-ingredient mousseI love the simplicity of today’s dish. Just two ingredients – chocolate and aquafaba – come together to create a waste-saving treat. Bean water has a mild savoury taste, but the dominant flavour here is chocolate, which, without the addition of extra fat (usually in the form of cream), becomes incredibly intense, amplifying its sheer chocolatiness.Aquafaba has magical properties that mean it behaves like egg whites when whisked, creating an airy foam that can be used for everything from mayonnaise to mousse. According to Ada McVean in an article asking What is Aquafaba? for McGill University in Montreal, the water-soluble proteins and sugars in the beans leak into the water during cooking, giving it a similar composition to egg whites; it also contain saponins, which help it foam so well. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for crispy black bean burgers | The new vegan

These vegan burgers are child’s play and fun to make, tooThis is exactly my kind of recipe. It’s easy, flavourful and, as a bonus, it’s crisp, too. In fact, it’s so simple, you could make the mixture with your eyes closed or, better still, give it to a six-year-old to do (they could also make it with their eyes closed). The key is the black beans, because they crisp up perfectly, and the condiments, which supercharge the flavour. There is one small catch, though: the onions need caramelising until they’re jammy, and ready to top the patty. You don’t have to do this, but I’m here to tell you that it is worthwhile (especially if there’s a six-year-old already making the burgers). Continue reading...

Politics