THESE SALAD DAYS...

Roast pear and grape salad, yes please!

Topped off with some crumbled blue cheese,

Drizzled oil, and some honey

And you're right on the money

The sublime taste makes me weak in the knees!

Roasted pear and grape salad with blue cheese and walnuts

How fitting are these 'salad days', with me as green as I am with blogging!!  (According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable the phrase apparently comes from Shakespeare, referring to days of 'youthful inexperience').  Well, perhaps youthful is a stretch, but an inexperienced blogger I am!

Though this is not a 'meaty' vegetarian dish, sometimes you just want to eat salad.  And okay, my intention for The Vegetarian Butcher is to move beyond salads and get to the really hearty fare, but after pretty much gorging myself on veggie haggis for a few days, i just needed something light.  Well, not TOO light...it does have some deliciously rich and creamy blue cheese in it !!!  Mmmmm....cheeeeese..... Let me tell you this may be a pretty simple looking meal but it has the loveliest combination of flavours and I've enjoyed it so much I simply had to share.

bizarre pigeon sculpture

customary Pisa photo op

Chef and I first encountered this salad together on an extraordinarily dull and rainy day in Pisa, a few years ago and discovering it was actually one of the highlights of the the day.  Hardly the picturesque weather I was hoping for, the surprisingly small leaning tower is lovely, but it was overall an unexpectedly disappointing first experience of this famous Tuscan city.  Other highlights included watching Chef's awesome uninvited haggling incident over a 'bargain' Rolex watch and discretely sharing the last of our opened vineyard bought wine out the side door of the tiny airport in front of the bizarre and grotesque giant pigeon sculpture.  They don't show you that in the travel magazines!  But I digress... 

And now, while I research recipes for my next hardy main, I offer the salad...No doubt there are many possible ingredient variations and perhaps more interesting ways to serve this salad but not wanting to waste any time, I simply plated it  and ate it, straight up.  You could most likely recreate this salad from just looking at the above photograph, but for a little general guidance, here is what I did...(sorry I didn't measure anything!). 


ROASTED PEAR AND GRAPE SALAD

• pears
• grapes
• walnuts (lightly toasted if you like!)
• olive oil
• honey
• salad greens (arugula, baby spinach...your choice!)
• balsamic reduction
• blue cheese

Mix sliced pear and grapes in a bowl with a little olive oil and honey.  Once lightly coated, put on a baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 250 degrees until they are just starting to brown, turning once, (approx 8min).  You may also choose to toast the walnuts slightly (as above), or I have also seen it made with pecans.  Add the roasted fruit and nuts to a plate of your favourite salad greens, crumble your blue cheese, drizzle with a wee bit of olive oil and some balsamic reduction and buon appetito!!

IN THE COMPETITIVE KITCHEN...

We both spent our Burns night a' cooking

Good thing we'd not taken a booking

For t'was so long t'il we ate

From the stove to our plate

And Chef's haggis was much more good looking.

Chef's Pin & Puy Haggis Patties 

Since Chef and I are also working on our Vegetarian Butcher book he suggested that although he would give me a hand in the kitchen or advice where I may need it, this is the opportunity to develop his own unique recipes and see how the finished products compare to those I choose to make. So now we have a bit of healthy competition in the kitchen!!!

After scouring the internet for the most appealing vegetarian haggis recipe I could find, I came across a terrific one developed by Carl Legge.  With good clear instructions and much positive feedback about its texture and strong flavours I was convinced this was the place to begin.   And indeed it was! However, be warned, even with halving the recipe this dish takes a fair effort and rewards you with MUCH tasty haggis!  As suggested, I intend to incorporate the remainder of this delicious mix into other dishes.  To follow his recipe and give feedback:  http://www.carllegge.com/2012/01/vegetarian-haggis-recipe/.  The only difference in my haggis was using almonds and walnuts.

As I was nearing the end of the process a few doubts crept into my mind about its sloppy consistency, but Chef encouraged me to stick to the directions and have a little faith.  And lo and behold, as the mixture thickened, it all seemed to come together.  The flavours seemed to balance out (it started out very 'mushroomy'), the texture of the pearl barley popped in your mouth like a grainy caviar and I was suitably chuffed with myself.  Sorry to have doubted you Carl!  Chef was also pretty impressed.      

Haggis cupcake

The question I kept asking myself while following this recipe, and considering Macsween's traditional haggis, was how best to package this as a shop product one might take home to steam.  I had decided to remove a small portion of the batch halfway through and baked it into haggis 'cupcakes' while I continued with Carl's direction.  Although they developed a crunchy outer layer this way and were nice for immediate consumption, it wasn't ideal for reheating from the Vegetarian Butcher. Next step to simulate the casing...cling film! 

Cooled haggis ready for steaming

With some of the cooled haggis that remained we shaped it into a ball with wet hands and rolled it in 5 layers of cling film, rolling and tying the ends like a savoury bonbon and kept it in the fridge.  When ready to consume,  microwave on 50% power for 5 minutes then full power for another 5 min.  Serve immediately and cut with the ceremonial knife.

Veggie haggis with tatties and neeps

It was late on Burns night when we finally dined on our tasty new creations with tatties and neeps, a scotch for Chef, and Guinness for myself.  Although quite different they were both a success, and had I only tasted my own, I would have been pleased to stop there.  However the bar was raised further when Chef created his pan fried Pin & Puy Haggis patties.  Most telling is that as an ardent fan of traditional meaty haggis, Chef actually found his tasted very like the real deal and we found ourselves dining on them all weekend.  Now, having had more than my fill of delicious vegetarian haggis I think a few salad days are in order before the next challenge!

For Chef's Pin & Puy Haggis Patties please read on...

PIN & PUY VEGETARIAN HAGGIS PATTIES

You will find the process easiest if you prepare all your ingredients before you begin. Most time will be spent with the lentils, beans and toasting of the seeds.

1 medium onion

1 medium carrot

1 stick celery

4 sprigs thyme

40g butter

4 tbls oil (rice bran oil or olive oil)

3 tsp salt

1/2 tsp all spice

pinch cayenne

about 1/4 grated whole nutmeg

pinch cinnamon

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp dried sage

1/2 cup pinmeal oats (soaked)

1/4 cup 50% sunflower and 50% pumpkin seeds (lightly toasted and chopped in food processor)

2 cups puy lentils (cooked or canned, drained and lightly mashed)

1 cup aduki or kidney beans (cooked or canned, drained and lightly mashed)

2 1/2 cups stock (veg)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Finely chop veg in food processor. On low heat sweat the chopped veg, whole sprigs of thyme and 1 tsp salt in the butter and oil until soft, approximately 10min.  Add spices and and pinmeal, stir well for.  Remove sprigs of thyme and add seeds and mashed pulses.  Mixing well, add stock and stir over a low heat for approximately 10 min. Continue stirring and add remaining salt, sugar and vinegar.  Stir over a medium heat until it reaches a thick consistency and is coming away from the pan, (approximately 15min).  Add any further seasoning to taste.  

To make the patties, once the batch is cool enough to handle, roll in 4-5 layers of cling film like a salami sausage, twist the ends like a sweet wrapper (you can add another layer of cling film to prevent the twisted ends from unwrapping) and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  When ready, slice in 1 inch thick rounds and fry in hot oil, 1-2 min each side.  For extra flavour, try first frying extra thyme sprigs in the oil to flavour then remove and use the herb as a garnish.  Enjoy!

If you give this a try please let us know how it goes!!

TO A HEARTLESS HAGGIS...

'Pluck' wrapped in sheep stomach lining?

Surely haggis can not be for dining

Please take it away 

And give me the hay

It helps make my wool come out shining.

Recently I learned there is actually a sport called "haggis hurling" which seems to merely entail throwing a haggis as far as possible.   It is even included in the Guinness Book of World Records!  Had I not read the entire description, I would have assumed it was a bizarre digestive competition after consuming this dish and learning of its ingredients. Oh those Scots. 

Even before I gave up eating meat the very idea of haggis actually turned my stomach. (There is probably some irony in that.)  And so I was still reluctant the first time Chef suggested it for New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) dinner, a traditional one for him and a vegetarian haggis for myself; served with the customary "neeps and tatties" (mashed turnip and potato). But I needn't have feared. 

Though I still couldn't suffer looking at his plate with steaming innards bursting from the casing, the aroma of my own was enticing.  A delectably rich mixture of beans, lentils, vegetables, oatmeal, herbs and spices, it was superb! Both our haggises (or is it haggii?) were made by Macsween, the 'Guardians of Scotland's National Dish' and can be found at Waitrose every year from at least the early Christmas season until around now, on Burns night.

Many traditionalists may argue a veggie adaptation isn't justly called haggis and I leave this for another discussion of the 'faux meat' category.  However "haggis" or not, this is exactly the kind of dish that fills me with faith that vegetarians can still enjoy delicious hearty fare.  Macsween veggie haggis may be a difficult thing to match, but with many recipes to try, it is going to the top of my list of Vegetarian Butcher dishes I want to create. 

And so this evening, January 25th, as many gather to dine on haggis, celebrating the life and works of poet Robert Burns, I shall think of his ode, 'To a Haggis' and hope that my vegetarian version will inspire such poetry.

the Vegetarian Butcher begins...

 Though really I do like to eat

I'm averse to chewing most meat

In my search for fresh mains

Made of veggies and grains

Think a Veg Butchers would go down a treat!

And so finally it begins. 

Alarmingly (to me), I first joined Blogger back in November 2009,  my first post was in October 2011, (a 'coming soon' promise with full honest intent)...and it has taken until today to sit down and begin to write my vegetarian musings.  

Born from a conversation with my partner, Chef, who jokingly coined the oxymoron "vegetarian butcher", the idea perfectly fulfilled the void that exists for a vegetarian like myself, with little time to cook but who craves more substantial dishes without consuming meat. And selfishly, I urged him to open a vegetarian butcher shop.  A place where people could buy freshly prepared, high protein vegetarian 'mains' just as the eager carnivore might purchase a fresh beef sirloin or stuffed chicken breast from their local butcher. Offering something perhaps beyond just vegetarian sausages, burgers and other 'faux' meats.  But it was not his dream, it is mine. 

Thus, as my sister often admonishes me, instead of complaining and expecting someone else to do something, I am taking action myself. Currently on maternity leave from a full time career with a lovely little 6 month old, and having seemingly left my memory behind, now seems like a good time to write down my evolving thoughts. I have much to learn and although Chef is willing to assist me, it is my journey to explore this world beyond lentils and salads to find and create the most satisfying vegetarian fare for the Vegetarian Butcher.