Marrow, mushroom, barley risotto

I whipped up this risotto today because I was given some wonderful marrows (like zucchini) and wanted to make a hearty meal with them. I much prefer barley to arborio rice - it's much lower GI and is all round better for you - it's also got a great nutty texture if cooked 'just so'. Anyway, it turned out delish so here's the recipe, it serves 4.

What you need;

1 large marrow
3 large field mushrooms
a bunch of asparagus
1 brown onion
1 cup of barley
3 cubes Massell chicken (or) veg stock
half a cup dry white wine
olive oil
3 garlic cloves
fresh thyme
fresh continental parsley
2 tablespoons Tofutti Sour Supreme
1 teaspoon Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese


What you do;

1) Heat about two litres of water in a large pot and add the stock cubes. Heat oil in a separate deep pan and fry garlic and onion til translucent. Add barley and toss for a minute or so before adding the wine.

2) Add the stock to the barley a few cups at a time. Keep it on a simmer, if it's boiling the barley will stick to the bottom.

3) When the barley's half done, fry the marrow, mushroom and asparagus till just under-cooked in a separate pan (yep, we're up to 3 pans now). Then set it aside. I added some chopped thyme to the barley at this point.

4) It's just a matter of waiting for the barley to cook through now. It can take up to 2 and a half litres of liquid, I just kept adding to it until it was as soft as I like it.

5) Once the barley's done, add the veggies and mix til heated through and the barley takes on the colour from the mushrooms. Then take off the heat and stir through the Tofutti creams and as much parsley as you like (I put heaps because I love it).

It should look something like this;

That's about it - enjoy!

Classic Potato Salad with Asparagus

I was at a BBQ a few weeks ago and there was a classic creamy potato salad. I never really ate potato salad but I've been thinking about it since so decided to give it a go. Here's a vegan version of the classic potato salad, using asparagus instead of egg and some vegan alternatives for the creamy sauce.

What you need;

potatoes, asparagus, spring onion, pickles (a.k.a. dill cucumbers or gherkins), capers, fresh dill, Praise 97% fat free mayonnaise (vegan!), Tofutti Sour Supreme (Better than Sour Cream), crushed garlic, lemon juice

What you do; 

I'm not using quantities because you can really make as much or as little as you like. It's a matter of how much tang you want = more or less capers, pickles and lemon.

Basically you boil the potatoes til just soft and let them cool (you don't want to overcook them or they'll just fall apart when you mix it up).

While they're cooking cut the spring onions and pickles into small pieces and chop the capers finely. Mix about 1 part Sour Supreme with 2 parts mayo in a bowl with crushed garlic and a bit of lemon juice to taste (don't go crazy on the lemon to start - too much lemon is hard to balance).

Steam the asparagus for about 2 minutes then refresh in cold water.

Once everything's cool, throw it all together and add finely chopped fresh dill. I put it in the fridge for a few hours before serving it so it's cold and refreshing.

Take it to your next BBQ and no-one will know it's vegan!