Broccoli, Cauliflower and Kale Soup. An Autumnal Return.

Rocket Bean is back and here to serve you a fairly basic soup recipe that you can add to, chop and change and make all your own! My personal favourite version of this soup is basically the same recipe but with a bunch of Stilton added in to it, however for this post I decided to go with the healthier, vegan option.

When it comes to vegetable stock you can obviously just use store bought stocks (as I did for this recipe) however,  Rose Elliot's 'New Complete Vegetarian' cookbook has a good recipe for a nice and easy vegetable stock. This basically consists of simmering your veg (onion, celery, carrot, potato and parsley) for around 40-60 minutes before draining. The good thing about this stock recipe is that you can freeze or refrigerate until it is needed. 

Serves 6

Ingredients -

1x Head of Broccoli, chopped
1x Head of Cauliflower, chopped
1x Leek, sliced
2x Medium Onions, sliced
2x Cloves of Garlic, sliced
2x Medium Potatoes, sliced
1x Carrot, peeled and sliced
2x Large handfuls of Spinach
2x Large handfuls of Kale
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Herbs to taste (here I am using Thyme, Rosemary and Oregano)

Vegetable stock

Oil for frying
Water

As the soup will be blended at the end, the veg can be fairly roughly chopped for this recipe.

First up, chop your carrot, onions and garlic before adding to a large pan with a little oil, salt and pepper and your preferred herbs. Fry together for around 8-10 minutes over a medium heat to allow the onions to sweat and the flavours to infuse into the carrots. 

Next add in the chopped cauliflower, broccoli, leek and potato and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes. Note: You may want to make this in two batches if you don't have a big enough soup pot.

Now add in the kale and spinach, there's no real need to chop this up as it wilts down pretty quickly once the water is added to the pot and it will blend very easily once cooked as well.

Fill the pot with boiling water to cover the veg and add in your stock. Remember if you are making a large amount of soup to use the right amount of stock. For this large batch of soup I used 2 stock cubes. Bring the soup to the boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer for around 20 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Blend the soup, taste and add any more seasoning you may think it requires. Serve with bread.

Another thing to note is that due to the amount of soup made we had this for lunch over the next few days and it starts to taste even better when it is left for a day or so.

Hope you all had a good summer and are looking forward to some hearty Autumn recipes from RB.

JAB

Rocket Bean Goes on Holiday

We recently returned from a short break in a Tipi on Scotland's West Coast. Check them out here - Ardfen Tipis. We had a great time and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of camping.

Avalanche Ale, Fyne Ales.

On our first night I enjoyed a couple local(ish) Ales from the Fyne brewery. During our stay we had the joy of cooking on a 'First Nation Fireplace' within the Tipi. Well, we didn't try any exciting new recipes, just fried corn, Pasta, Veg, Smores and Potatoes baked in the hot coals of the fire. Pretty smoky but pretty tasty.

 Sweet, Sweet Corn.

 Pan fried Broccoli and Asparagus

Pan Fried Veg and Mushroom Pasta sauce.

Smores (With Vegan Marshmallows)

JAB 

Vegan Nut Roast and Gravy

So, it's December and time for a Rocket Bean nut roast (in plenty of time for Christmas), the best thing about this recipe is that it can be prepared well in advance (it should keep for around 3-4 days in the fridge) and served cold with hot gravy on the day for minimum effort. This recipe will make enough for 4 generous servings. Serve with all of the (veggie) trimmings.

Ingredients- 

For the Nut Roast-

For this recipe you will require a loaf/roasting tin for cooking the roast.

Oil, for frying

2x Small Onions, grated or chopped

3x Cloves Garlic, grated

4-6 Medium Mushrooms, finely chopped

200g Plain Flour

200g finely chopped Nuts (I'll be using a mixture of Cashews, Walnuts and Brazil Nuts)

300ml of Veg Stock

1x Slice of Bread, Made into Breadcrumbs

Dash of Dark Soy Sauce

Dash of (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

A Selection of Dried Herbs (My choice for this recipe is Rosemary, Sage and Oregano - roughly 1x tsp of each)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Extra Oil, for greasing the roasting tin

For the Gravy-

Oil, for frying

Onion, roughly chopped

2x garlic cloves, roughly chopped

4x Mushroom, Sliced (This makes for a creamier gravy)

1x heaped tbsp plain flour

1x tsp Marmite (or similar yeast extract)

450ml Veg Stock

1x tsp Dark Soy Sauce

1x tsp (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method - Firstly prepare your ingredients for the roast, the nuts can be purchased pre-chopped but I prefer to do it myself as you can have more choice over what mixture of nuts go into the roast.

Heat some oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add in the onion, garlic, half of the mixed herbs and heat for around 8-10 minutes stirring frequently. Next add in the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes until they begin to soften. For breadcrumbs I tend to lightly toast one slice of bread and then chop very finely. Add the nuts, breadcrumbs and the rest of the mixed herbs to the mixture and cook for around 5-10 minutes at a low heat (this is not essential but I think the nuts have a better flavour if they are browned in the pan before adding the stock). Next add in the 300ml of veg stock, soy and worcestershire sauce and stir well.

This next part of the recipe is very similar to the burger recipe posted on Rocket Bean back in October. In order to thicken up the mix you need to gradually stir the 200g of flour into the mix, adding about 1 heaped tbsp at a time, ensuring to mix well after each spoonful added.

This is the messy part, so it is generally a good idea to preheat the oven to 140°c and grease the roasting tin before getting your hands dirty. Turn the mixture out onto a floured board, sprinkle some extra flour on top of the mix and knead it into one large 'patty' shape. See image below. 

Turn the floured mixture into the roasting tin and press into shape using your hands. Place in the oven, I find that the best method for cooking this roast is at a low temperature for a long time, around 1hr30mins to 2hrs. This allows the sticky mixture to dry out somewhat. However, leaving it to cool before serving can also help in the 'drying-out' process.

Note: If you don't have time to slow cook the roast preheat the oven to 180°c and cook for around 30-40 mins until golden brown. I just prefer the outcome when slow cooked.

Take your time to carefully remove the nut roast from the tin, I find the best method is to carefully pry the sides away from the tin using a spatula and then overturning the tin onto a plate and gravity generally does the rest. 

Now for the gravy, which is a personal take on a brilliant recipe for a vegan gravy from vegetarian cookery writer Rose Elliot.

There's no need to finely chop anything for this recipe as you can blend the final mixture for a rich, creamy gravy.

As before, fry the onions and garlic in oil at a medium heat for around 5 mins until they begin to soften, now add in the mushrooms and sprinkle over your plain flour allowing the onions to brown from the flour. It is important to make sure you keep stirring this mixture as the flour can make the onions become very sticky and in turn they will stick to the base of the pan if left for too long.

Now reduce to a low heat and add in the veg stock, Marmite, soy, worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Then, transfer the mixture to the blender and blend until smooth. The mixture can always be thinned down with water and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper after completion if you feel that the final outcome is too thick. The gravy can also be refrigerated for a day few days and reheated in a pan or the microwave.

Christmas Dinner - Vegan nut roast and gravy served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts and broccoli. A little personal addition here is a touch of mint sauce, you can always substitute this with cranberry sauce to make it feel that little bit more Christmassy. 

JAB

Walnut, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad

A personal take on a dish I had whilst on holiday in New Haven, CT. A nice and simple salad that requires very little preparation.

Ingredients - 

Spinach

Cucumber, sliced

Tomatoes, sliced

Apple, sliced

Carrot, peeled and sliced

Stilton cheese, crumbled or grated

Broccoli, cut into florets

Walnuts, finely chopped

Balsamic Vinegar to dress

Simply prepare the ingredients as listed above. Cook the broccoli for 5-7 minutes (or longer if you prefer it softer). Place all the ingredients into a bowl, with the cooked broccoli on top and finally sprinkle the chopped walnuts and blue cheese over the salad. Dress with the balsamic vinegar to taste. Note - You may wish to leave the blue cheese to melt for a minute or two over the cooked broccoli before dressing.

Can be made vegan simply by leaving out the blue cheese, still very tasty.

JAB