Vegetables E-Book

Mat Follas

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

This collection of wow-factor vegetable dishes can all be enjoyed by flexitarians, vegetarians and non-veggies alike. It's time to turn foods that used to be relegated to side dishes into the stars of the show. In this book, chef Mat Follas uses his culinary skill and understanding of flavour to bring together a selection of wow-factor plant-based recipes to be enjoyed by flexitarians, vegetarians, vegans and non-veggies alike. Organized by produce type, there are delicious ways to enjoy everything from roots, squash and brassicas to shoots, stems and funghi. Choose from Smoked Parsnip, Pear & Stilton Salad, Moroccan Roasted Cauliflower, Kale Gnocchi with Kale Crisps, Goat's Cheese & Marjoram Ravioli Marinara, Rainbow Chard & Comté Quiche, Artichoke Frittata and Champagne Mushrooms. Vegan substitutions are suggested wherever possible and Mat's ingenious recipes for Dairy-free Cheese and Cream and No-egg Mayonnaise make switching out the dairy easy. Mat also shares the secrets of his Chef's Storecupboard — tasty recipes for sauces, relishes, pickles and dressings — designed to give your veggie dishes a flavour boost.

Leseprobe

VEGETABLES

VEGETABLES

DELICIOUS RECIPES FOR ROOTS, BULBS, SHOOTS & STEMS

MASTERCHEF WINNER 2009

MAT FOLLAS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE PAINTER

Photography, Design and prop styling

Steve Painter

Editor Stephanie Milner

Production David Hearn

Art Director Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Publisher Cindy Richards

Food stylist Lucy McKelvie

Indexer Hilary Bird

First published in 2016. This revised

edition published in 2020 by

Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields

London WC1R 4BW

and

341 E 116th St

New York NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text © Mat Follas 2016, 2020

Design and photographs © Ryland Peters & Small 2016, 2020

Printed in China

The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

eISBN: 978-1-78879-266-0

ISBN: 978-1-78879-210-3

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

US Library of Congress CIP data has been applied for.

Notes

• Both British (Metric) and American (Imperial plus US cups) measurements are included in these recipes for your convenience, however it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two within a recipe.

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

• All eggs are medium (UK) or large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra-large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. See page 6 for more information. We recommend using an oven thermometer.

• Whenever butter is called for within these recipes, unsalted butter should be used.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water before using.

• To sterilize preserving jars, wash them in hot, soapy water and rinse in boiling water. Place in a large saucepan and cover with hot water. With the saucepan lid on, bring the water to a boil and continue boiling for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the hot water until just before they are to be filled. Invert the jars onto a clean dish towel to dry. Sterilize the lids for 5 minutes, by boiling or according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Jars should be filled and sealed while they are still hot.

• Cheeses started with animal rennet are not suitable for strict vegetarians so read food labelling carefully and, if necessary, check that the cheese you buy is made with a non-animal (microbial) starter. Traditional Parmesan is not vegetarian. See page 8 for more information.

Contents

Introduction

Vegetarian and vegan subtitutions

Vegetable juices

Roots

Brassicas and greens

Tomatoes, peppers and aubergines

Bulbs and alliums

Potatoes, squash and corn

Peas, beans and pulses

Stalks, stems and soft leaves

Fungi

Chef’s storecupboard

Resources

Index

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I’m a Kiwi (New Zealander) living in the UK, for 20 years now, and I still find the English a strange bunch when it comes to eating. They always finish every plate of food, no matter how much there is on the plate, whereas I grew up with a South-east Asian influence where you always leave a little food on the plate to show your host they have served enough food. The English consider it an insult to leave anything as it implies they didn’t like it. As a restaurateur and chef it’s incredibly satisfying, I love that the plates are clear and there’s no wastage but I personally see every clear plate as a message saying I didn’t serve enough – I just can’t win.

Creating vegetarian dishes is similar. I’ve been restricted by my upbringing and preconceptions about food. I grew up with traditional ‘meat and two veg’ meals. I expect to see something on a plate that is meat, to the extent that my idea was to write a cookbook of vegetable-based meals not restricted by only using vegetable products. I was thinking like a typical chef, there’s a standing joke in many kitchens that any vegetarian dish can be improved with bacon, but the reality is that it shows ignorance of the options and flavours vegetables can produce.

I started cooking and testing, I realised that very few of the recipes used meat as I had initially expected them to. I could always find vegetarian alternatives that were just as good to use, if not better, and the whole process has been inspiring. For me personally it has been a journey of discovery to the amazing flavour combinations available when I have stopped being mentally limited by the requirement of a meat product on every dish. I now reach for an aubergine/eggplant, fennel bulb, some mushrooms or anything fresh from my garden for inspiration long before I reach for meat. I have written vegetarian meals that I want to eat. Meals that I would like to eat over a meat dish. One of my bestselling dishes is the simple Red Onion Tarte Tatin with Goat’s Cheese and Dandelion Sauce on page 68 – it’s delicious, savoury, sweet and cheesy with hints of bitterness from the dandelions in the sauce, a perfectly balanced meal that my customers love.

A real bugbear of mine is vegetable dishes that imitate meat. I spent ages trying to make a good bean burger. What I found is that as I replaced the beans with mashed potatoes it tasted better and better, so I then tried it with no beans at all before realising that what I had achieved was a version of one of my favourite quick lunches, a ‘chip butty’. Next, I tried smoked mashed potato, something I serve in the restaurant that’s hugely popular, and it got better. I then decided to try a smoked potato rosti to get the crunch of chips – it was amazing and became the basis for The Best Burger on page 145. It’s a burger on its own merits, not a meat imitation, in fact it’s better. The same applies throughout the book, where I’ve used vegetables in place of meat like the Mushroom Toad-in-the-hole with Onion Gravy on page 146 or the Aubergine Lasagne on page 61. I’ve made the vegetable the star – it’s not hidden or trying to imitate the flavour of meat.

With all the amazing ways we treat meat to enhance the flavour and texture, like smoking, griddling, and so on, unsurprisingly, if you apply the same processes to vegetables, they taste amazing, too. I have used many of the processes in the book, griddling the cauliflower in my Cauliflower Cheese on page 33, and smoking the tomatoes for my Smoked Tomato Ketchup on page 160.

I’ve written in my acknowledgments about Jo Francis, who introduced me to mushroom foraging, but there are a few other foraged ingredients used throughout the book. Try to use some of the foraged ingredients – wild garlic/ramps is my favourite example, my first restaurant was named after it, but there’s also the sharpness of sorrel, the mushroomy flavour of ribwort plantain, aromatic horseradish – nothing in the animal kingdom comes close to these fresh and flavourful ingredients! Learn to forage safely from someone who knows what they are doing, don’t just use a book.

My recipes are written for fan ovens, so increase the temperatures according to manufacturer’s instructions if yours is conventional. Where seasoning is with salt, vinegars and chilli/chile, I suggest adding less and tasting because your palate is not the same as mine and the flavour and sweetness of vegetables will differ depending on the weather and ripeness. Most of all, enjoy trying the recipes from this book at home using fresh produce.

Vegetarian and vegan substitutions

I’m a huge cheese fan, the variety of flavours and nuances even within a single variety of cheese is vast, I would argue comparable to wine. I’m lucky enough to be a judge for The Guild of Fine Food’s World Cheese Awards on a regular basis, which gives me great insight into some of the fantastic cheeses produced around the world. It is a huge shame that some cheeses, sadly Parmesan being one, are, by their definition, not vegetarian – they use animal rennet in the formation of the cheese.

There are now so many good vegetarian alternatives and most of my favourite cheeses are vegetarian. The British Cheese Awards Supreme Champion 2015 Barkham Blue is a great example of vegetarian cheese, a sublimely delicious blue cheese, sadly only produced in small volumes or I would feature it in recipes in this book.

This book is mostly vegetarian (cheeses aside) and many of the recipes are also vegan or easily modified using vegan cheeses, cream and mayonnaise. I’ve written recipes for my versions of these vegan basics opposite.

It is not difficult to find a vegetarian substitute for any brand or variety of cheese that isn’t vegetarian. For example, in the UK, there is a fantastic hard cheese called Old Winchester that is similar in flavour and texture to a Parmesan cheese, it is also vegetarian and superior to many Parmesan cheeses in my opinion. Talk to your cheese monger at a specialist cheese shop or market cheese counter and enjoy finding some great alternatives.

My recipes list Parmesan, Cheddar, Comté and other well known varieties of cheese. A decent cheese counter will have vegetarian versions of these but, for simplicity, I have used the common names of cheeses with the appropriate flavours and textures in the recipes. You can substitute them wherever necessary.

Many ingredients also contain animal products and it’s not widely known that they do. To maintain a meat-free diet, beware of many products containing anchovies especially, from tomato sauces to miso pastes or bases. The use of anchovies is very common, so check you are using a vegetarian version. Other animal products are often used in food processing or for clarifying beers and wines. Read the labels carefully before you buy these kinds of ingredients.

Dairy-free cheese

PREPARE: 5 MINUTES COOK: 10 MINUTES (PLUS RESTING TIME OF 12 HOURS) MAKES: 800 ML/28 OZ.

There are many vegan cheeses about that use nuts to provide a similar texture to dairy cheese and are great to eat but they lack the flavour profile of a dairy product. This, however, is a great cheese to eat. I love it as a dip or a base for sauces and it works well used in place of dairy cheese in most recipes.

400 g/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes

300 g/2½ cups unroasted cashew nuts

4 teaspoons dark miso paste

50 g/3½ tablespoons dried onions

½ teaspoon table salt

50 ml/3½ tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

a dash of Tabasco sauce

50 ml/3½ tablespoons unrefined coconut oil

Add all of the ingredients, except the coconut oil, to a saucepan, set over a low heat and bring to a low simmer. Stir to combine, then leave in the fridge overnight.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor and purée until smooth. Slowly add the coconut oil, then continue to blend until the mixture is combined and smooth.

Press the mixture into a container and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours until firm.

Use in place of cheese for cooking, or serve on its own. It makes an amazing cheese on toast with a healthy glug of ‘Shire’ Sauce (page 159) on top.

Dairy-free cream

PREPARE: 2 MINUTES COOK: 10 MINUTES MAKES: 150 ML/5 OZ.

I love the flavour of this cream. If you have an ice cream machine, it makes delicious ice cream with a little vanilla or some puréed fruit stirred through it. Xanthan gum is available in health food shops and larger supermarkets, usually in the gluten-free or baking section.

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

3 teaspoons rice flour

150 g/11/2 cups unroasted cashew nuts, softened overnight in water

Pour 200 ml/¾ cup of water into a saucepan, set over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Pour into a food processor and start the motor.

Add the xanthan gum and rice flour, then slowly add the cashew nuts. Blend to a smooth cream.

Cool, then chill in the fridge for a few hours. Keep refrigerated for up to 4 days, or freeze in ice cube sheets for later use.

Vegetable juices

This book is about celebrating the wonderful and diverse choices for cooking with vegetables, but vegetables can also be transformed into delicious tasting, health-giving, bright coloured juices. These recipes use vegetables that are available year-round. Enjoy them at home with breakfast, on the move or as part of a picnic spread.

Kale and carrot

PREPARE: 5 MINUTES SERVES: 4

This juice packs a punch and is healthy and tasty! The sweet oranges and the strong iron flavour of the kale work wonderfully together.

2 large bunches of kale

200 g/7 oz. carrots, trimmed

grated zest and juice of 2 oranges

Add the kale, carrots, orange zest and the juice of 1 of the oranges to a juicer. Process until smooth, adding a little more orange juice as necessary.

Serve in tall glasses or transfer to a bottle with a screw-top lid to take out. You may need to give the juice a gentle shake before drinking.

Tomato, celery and burnt pepper

PREPARE: 10 MINUTES SERVES: 4

This recipe has more than a nod to a Bloody Mary cocktail. The burnt (bell) peppers give it a unique flavour and I highly recommend it with a generous glug of tequila as a pre-dinner drink.

2 red (bell) peppers

8 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

4 celery sticks, thinly sliced, plus the tops to garnish

2 tablespoons runny honey

a generous splash of smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce

freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon

4 small lemon wedges, to serve

Over a naked flame, or in a very hot oven at 240°C (475°F) Gas 9, carefully blacken the outer skin of the (bell) peppers for 3–4 minutes, then brush away any loose bits of blackened skin.

Put the tomatoes, blackened peppers, celery, honey, smoked chipotle Tabasco sauce and lemon juice into a juicer and pulse to combine.

Pour the juice into glasses and serve immediately dressed with a few celery leaves and a wedge of lemon for squeezing.

Apple and beetroot

PREPARE: 10 MINUTES COOK: 45 MINUTES SERVES: 2

Beetroot/beets and apple is a wonderful combination that I often use in the restaurant as a purée or, with more apple juice like this recipe, as a delicious taster between courses. This is not an instant juice but the taste of the beetroot/beets cooked in apple juice makes it worthwhile and it will keep for a few days in the fridge.

6 raw beetroot/beets

500 ml/2 cups apple juice

50 g/3¼ tablespoons tomato ketchup

a dash of chilli/hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

Peel and slice the beetroot/beets into thin slices – you may wish to wear disposable gloves to do this to avoid staining your fingers. Put the slices in a pan and cover with about 300 ml/1¼ cups of the apple juice.

Bring to a low simmer and cook for 45 minutes until the beetroot/beets offer no resistance when prodded with a sharp knife.

Add the remaining apple juice, tomato ketchup and chilli/hot sauce. Pour into a juicer and process until smooth.

Cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour, stir then serve.

Pear, beetroot and elderflower

PREPARE: 5 MINUTES COOK: 5 MINUTES SERVES: 4

Pear and elderflower is a classic combination. Elderflower has a unique and wonderful flavour and aroma. The season only lasts a couple of months but the flowers can be kept frozen for a few months longer. The addition of lemon juice balances the flavours and stops the pear juice from oxidizing and discolouring. The beetroot/beet adds a depth of flavour and a lovely pink colouring.

6 pears

a bunch of fresh or frozen elderflowers

1 small cooked and peeled red beetroot/beet

freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

1–3 teaspoons runny honey

Pears vary in flavour and sweetness quite a lot depending on variety and level of ripeness; choose according to whether you like them hard and less sweet or soft and sugary.

Trim the tops of the pears to remove the stalks and any woody pieces. Roughly chop and place them in the juicer, add the elderflowers, beetroot/beet and lemon juice. Process the mixture until smooth. Add a little honey to taste, approximately 1–3 teaspoons, and process again to combine.

Fennel and orange

PREPARE: 5 MINUTES (PLUS RESTING TIME OF 1 HOUR SERVES: 4

I love the fresh, aniseed flavour of fennel and the combination of fennel and orange is an extraordinary blend of flavours that marry together well.

2 fennel bulbs

grated zest of 2 oranges

freshly squeezed juice of 6 oranges

1 orange, sliced

Trim the base off the fennel bulbs and discard; keep a few fronds for decoration and roughly chop the rest of the bulb into 5-mm/¼-inch slices. Put in a large mixing bowl with the orange zest and pour the orange juice over. Leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour for the orange juice to tenderize the fennel.

Pour the mixture into a juicer and process. Fennel can be quite tough so you might need to strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve/strainer to remove any larger pieces of fennel.

Serve over ice, decorated with fennel fronds and a slice of orange.

Roots

CARROT • PARSNIP • BEETROOT/BEETS • CELERIAC/CELERY ROOT

Root vegetables are every chef’s secret weapon. They provide balance to dishes, with savoury flavours from beetroot/beets, swede/rutabaga and celeriac/celery root, and sweet flavours from carrots, turnips and parsnips. From simply roasting in a variety of ways to make the most of each root vegetable on page 22, to juicing on page 11 and a more technical agar agar-set terrine of carrot and beetroot/beets on page 14, I have tried to bring out the best of their wonderful flavours.

Like most people, I do love something deep-fried and the Tumbleweed Tempura on page 17 uses the sweetness of cooked carrots and onions to balance the earthy flavours of kale and potatoes – you will not be able to stop eating the tumbleweed parcels once you start!

I often serve the Beetroot Soup with Goat’s Cheese Cream on page 17 in my restaurant as a surprise course on our tasting menu, the surprise and delight from customers who have never eaten cooked beetroot/beets before is fun to see and to share with them. That and the shock value of a dark purple soup, make this a fun way to start a meal.

Carrot and beetroot terrine

PREPARE: 20 MINUTES COOK: 45 MINUTES (PLUS 6 HOURS SETTING TIME) SERVES: 8

This is not only vibrant in colour, it is in flavour too. Sweet and spicy carrots and earthy, deeply flavoured beetroot/beets make a wonderfully rich terrine. Serve hot, dressed with fennel fronds and topped off with a little freshly grated horseradish.

1 kg/2¼ lbs. fresh uncooked beetroot/beets, peeled

500 ml/2 cups beetroot/beet juice

200 ml/¾ cup ruby Port

1 kg/2¼ lbs. carrots, peeled

250 ml/1 cup apple juice

1 star anise

12 g/4 teaspoons agar agar (setting agent)

table salt, to season

TO SERVE

freshly grated horseradish

fennel fronds (optional)

a terrine or loaf pan lined with clingfilm/plastic wrap

Put the beetroot/beets in a saucepan with the beetroot/beet juice and ruby Port, add a little water if needed to just cover the beetroot/beets. Set the pan over a medium heat and simmer for approximately 40 minutes until the beetroot/beets are softened and cooked through. Remove the beetroot/beets using a slotted spoon and put in a large bowl to cool. Save the cooking liquor and set aside.

Meanwhile, put the carrots in a saucepan with the apple juice and star anise, adding enough water to just cover the carrots. Set the pan over a medium heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes until the carrots are soft but still hold their shape.

Remove the carrots using a slotted spoon and put in a large bowl to cool. Save the cooking liquor, discard the star anise and set aside.

Simmer the beetroot/beet cooking liquor until it has reduced by half its volume, season with a small pinch of salt and remove from the heat.

Finely slice the cooked carrots. Layer the carrot in the terrine or loaf pan to form tightly packed layers about halfway up.

Add 6 g/2 teaspoons of agar agar to 500 ml/2 cups of the carrot cooking liquor, set over a medium heat and bring to a low simmer. Whisk to combine, then pour over the carrot layer till just covered.

Put in the fridge to set – this will take 2–3 hours.

Once the carrot layers have set firm, slice the beetroot/beets and layer over the carrot to fill the terrine or loaf pan.

Bring the beetroot/beet cooking liquor to a low simmer over a medium heat. Add 6 g/2 teaspoons of agar agar and whisk to combine. Pour the liquor slowly, while hot, over the beetroot/beets until just covered. The hot beetroot/beet liquor will melt a little of the carrot jelly to bind the two layers together.

Return to the fridge to set firm – this will take 2–3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 70°C (160°F) Gas ¼ if serving warm.

If you prefer it to be served warm, return to the loaf pan and cook in the preheated oven for 5 minutes or so. Whether hot or cold, slice with a very sharp knife and serve with a tiny amount of fresh horseradish finely grated over the top.

Beetroot soup with goat’s cheese cream