A Departure

I feel like a bit of a flake, but I'm afraid I have to announce my retirement from the challenge. My apologies, Raven and the Vegan Culinary Institute, it was a lovely idea but after 2 weeks I've come to the conclusion that this challenge just isn't, well challenging enough! I'd consider myself an intermediate to advanced amateur cook, and the recipes in La Dolce Vegan are just a wee bit tame for me. I feel, rather than being inspired, that I'm wasting my time and my money.

I do plan to take up anotyher similar challenge at some point in the future, though - this time I'm going to go way over my head and cook my way through the vegan and veganisable recipes in Terre a Terre's gourmet vegetarian cookbook!

 

There are about 52 by my rough count, which gives me one recipe a week. Easy, you may think, but some of these recipes are several pages long and involve up to six or seven sub-recipes! And some of them involve making pickles, home-made stock and so forth. I hope I can inspire a few others to join in with me.

Day Four (aren't we getting along!): Gerry's Artichoke and Basil Pasta

Ok, it's not difficult to make something delicious from artichokes, basil, tomatoes and pine nuts, is it. So as tasty as this dish was, I don't really consider it a great culinary achievement! Alas not very photogenic either, sorry about that. I used really small pasta because that's what we had in the cupboard, and it worked rather nicely. The sauce:pasta ratio was a little meaner than intended as I cooked far more than 2 portions. Well, far more than Sarah's idea of 2 portions. I'm rapidly coming to realise that her '2 large portions' is significantly smaller than my 2 large portions... If I made this again I think I might give it a bit more of a twist - some tamari, a drop of tabasco and maybe even a squeeze of lemon juice.

Day Three: Portobello Pot Pie and All Purpose Crust

MMMMMMMMM...... Pie! Us Brits love a good pie. And this was a good pie. I had to resist adding a pastry case though, it's not quite right over here to just have a lid and no sides!

What I also found very difficult to resist was ignoring the pastry instructions altogether and just going my own way (it's one of those things I make a lot and rarely follow a recipe for). I made one change, which was to use olive oil instead of margarine, but followed the rest to the letter. Except that I found I had to double the amount of soya milk to get the dough to come together. I've got to say though, Ms Kramer, that I'm afraid your recipe doesn't produce quite such good results as my usual method - a combination born of Nigella Lawson and Isa Chandra Moskovitz. It was perfectly respectable, not soggy or flabby, but a tiny bit more on the chewy side than the flaky side for my taste.

The filling was really excellent though, I made no changes to it at all and it came out delicious. I luuurve mushrooms and so rarely take the opportunity to go all out with some really big meaty ones. They can be hard to find and alas I had to forsake the local shops this time and go to the hated supermarket to get my portobellos. I bought double the amount though, while I was there (in for a penny and all that), stuffed mushrooms coming up next!

Day Two: No Salt Shaker

Today's challenge recipe is very simple, and here it is, pictorially, for your viewing pleasure:

I had a lot of trouble getting these pics to line up like this, horizontally instead of vertically, and in the end I resorted to grafting them in GIMP before uploading the whole thing as one image! And even then I couldn't get around blogger's stupid automatic image borders *tooth grind*. My intention was to have the ingredients = the seasoning, but clearly I was far too frazzled by the whole operation to realise they were the wrong way around until I (feeling rather pleased with my handiwork) hit save for the final time. D'oh. Still, as a logical certainty it works either way around! Now, what shall I sprinkle it on first...

I'd forgotten about...

the blueberries.

T -6 days, and the first week's schedule is revealed! Exciting, nay? Yes, and I rush to the book to check out the recipes. Oh, wait, what is that? Blueberries. They cost a lot. In America I think they must be pennies, because all American cookery books seem to involve them in copious quantities!

Looks like I'm going to have to start tightening my yarn belt in order to purchase ingredients :(

Never mind all that potential knitting time I'll be spending in the kitchen instead! I wonder if there is a way to knit and cook simultaneously... *envisions a nuclear facility-style set up involving rubber gloves and plastic bags*

Ok, so I need to focus on the up side of all that lovely food we'll be eating! Consider, if you will, artichoke and basil pasta, and peanut butter fudge. For starters. Not literally. And not together. Ok it's clearly much to late for blogging, I'd better get back to my knitting while I still can!