DAY FOUR: Cheese bake with crispy oat topping

Oats make fabulous, fill-you-up, healthy sweet snacks, but they can also work extremely well in savoury recipes. This is an area in which I need to do some more research and investigation as I am typically more comfortable with ‘sweet’ oat based baking…still so much to learn, all in good  time.

I love the way oats are so hardy and robust, with most recipes simply calling for them to be ‘mixed through’ or ‘mashed in with’. They never cause a scene or disappoint…oats are a dependable friend!

Today I have a savoury recipe. You can use this topping for anything vaguely savoury, though its best serves as a baked topping over a sauce…but  filling and the sauce itself are totally up for grabs. Throw in some spices to compliment, and you’re well away.

If you change up the spices and flavouring you would also have a sweet bread or streusel topping, the key things is to make sure the chickpeas are well mashed and flaky otherwise it’s a dead giveaway as to what the topping contains! The consistency you are looking for is a coarse crumbly flaky one.

It’s Day 4 of MOFO and I feel as though I’m missing out…I’m currently on holiday in Turkey and as I write this post before I leave (Sunday morning scheduled for two days time) I’ve got no real idea how much internet access I’ll get…hopefully all will be fine and I’ll be able to log on and get involved…but it’s always best to be safe, right?

Recipe: Cheese bake with crispy topping

Serves 3

Ingredients

Equivalent 3 cups cooked chopped veg of choice- I used broccoli, cauliflower and peas.

Sauce:

¾ cup soy milk

6tbs nutritional yeast

1 tbs coconut oil

1 ½ tbs cornflour

2 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp garlic powder

½  tsp salt and pepper

Topping:

½ cup mashed chickpeas

½ cup oats

1 tsp dried mixed herbs (I used Italian herb mix)

2 tbs nutritional yeast

2 tbs crushed nuts

Method

Cook the veg until just cooked using steaming or boiling.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Meanwhile make up the sauce. Melt the coconut oil in a small pan over the hob. Whisk the flour and milk together in a separate bowl ensuring there are no lumps. Add the milk mixture plus all remaining ingredients to the pan and whisk well. Simmer and whisk for approx. 5 mins until thick.

In a medium oven dish place the cooked veg in an even layer and cover with the cheese sauce so that all vegetables are fully coated.

Mix the topping ingredients so that you have a coarse slightly sticky mixture and crumble over the sauce giving an even covering.

Bake at 180C for approx. 20 minutes or until the topping is nicely golden.

What Vegan MOFO means to me.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Cheezy crackerbread

Recently I’ve been testing out some new ingredients courtesy of Real Food Source, and this little recipe was a great way to do so.

The main ‘new thing’ for me is red palm oil, there are loads of links to shops and resources out there, but for further reading I came across this article. Red palm oil has a very strong deep yellow/orange colour and a distinctive savoury taste that’s hard to describe, I would suggest using this for savoury foods instead of sweet unless you have a very strong dominant sweet flavour such a chocolate or spices. It can be used in place of coconut (or other oils of choice) and has amazing health properties in part due to its rich red hue which is rich in carotenes.

I really wanted to exploit its colour and so a ‘cheezy’ recipe seemed the obvious answer. Teamed up with nutritional yeast and some spices… these little dipping crackers have a lovely mild and nutty cheesy flavour, perfect served with a dip, relish or chutney. I also went one step further and made a cheezy roll using  a combination of salsa, sundried tomatoes and fresh and dried herbs spread across the rolled out dough, and the wrapped this up into a roll. If you do this be careful as the dough is quite fragile and will also expand as it cooks so it is likely to will get cracks across the surface of the roll. The sundried tomatoes tasted amazing in this combination so you may like to simple roll some chopped sundried tomatoes onto the surface of the dough, score into slices and then bake as slices instead of rolling it up.

As you can see from the photos, these crackers are soft and more like a dense bread slice than crisp crackers. I have used coarse coconut flour here, but regular coconut flour (or other  GF grains) should work although it may alter the texture, I haven’t tried this. You could also sub part polenta meal if using regular coconut flour as this should assist with creating a grainy texture if desired. The recipe itself is ideal as a basis for experimenting with alternative types of flour and oils. If you give it a go let me know how you get on.

Recipe: Cheezy crackerbread

Makes approx. 7 strips (or double the recipe and roll into a pinwheel)

Ingredients

¼ cup coarse coconut flour

¼ cup fine almond flour

¼ tsp baking powder

3tbs nutritional yeast

¼ tsp salt

Pinch garlic powder

Pinch mustard powder

2 tbs red palm oil- melted

2 tbs ground  chia plus 5 tbs hot water

1 tbs sesame seeds (optional)

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl then add the wet ingredients and mix well to form a dough. The dough should be neither too crumbly nor too sticky to roll out on a piece of baking parchment. The dough may crack as it is rolled, but just aim to get as even a sheet as possible.

Slice the rolled dough into inch thick strips and bake at 180C for approx. 10 mins until golden at the edges. Allow to cool before serving.

Great served with a dip, relish or chutney.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Pesto

I know what you’re thinking…. pesto is all about the cheese.

Well not this version and I guarantee you won’t miss it. What’s more I’ve included a few cost saving and tips and healthanizing (hmmm that’s really not a word!) tips to reduce the oil content if you are that way inclined (personally I am not since pesto is used in such relatively small quantities).

I first made this batch up a few months back and had almost forgotten about it since I had portioned it in to an ice-cream tray and frozen it. It’s a great way to ensure you have fresh pesto on hand at all times as it can be used in so many ways…. one great option will be coming up in tomorrow's post…but for now let’s just talk pesto!

This recipe is so simple (as you know I’m not generally a fan of over complicated instructions),  it’s another one of my ‘whack it all in a food processor and go’ type recipes, so there’s no excuse for not giving it a go if you have the ingredients to hand!

It’s also a pretty flexible recipe, and as you can see from the list of ingredients, spinach can used to sub part of the basil if necessary without compromising the flavour, similarly in the past I have used both walnuts and cashews instead of pine nuts as they are so expensive, but feel to use either, or even almonds…go a little crazy with your combos! Obviously some nuts have more of a dominant taste than others, so go with your preference.  The nutritional yeast and miso paste are what gives the pesto the deep mellow cheesy nutty touch so don’t leave these out if you want to achieve a pesto that is more reminiscent of the real thing. As with many vegan foods, don’t expect it to be an exact replacement for it’s traditional counterpart . Embrace the (healthy) differences and enjoy it in it’s own right and appreciate the unique but equally satisfying flavours and textures.

Recipe: Pesto

Makes one jar

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh basil (or 1 ½ cups and omit the spinach)

½ cup spinach plus ½ tsp dried basil)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbs soy milk or silken tofu

1 cup walnuts/cashews/almonds (cheaper than the traditionally used pine nuts)

4 cloves garlic

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp miso paste

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Note: You could sub half the oil for silken tofu (not tested)

Preparation:

Grind nuts and garlic in a food processor until nuts are coarsely ground. Combine with remaining ingredients and grind until you have a medium grained paste- it should not be to smooth!. Add more salt and pepper if preferred.

Store in the fridge for a few days or freeze in batches- I used an ice cube tray.

 (here's your little teaser....pesto polenta bruschetta)

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Speedy seedy crackers

I love to have something on hand to pick at… whether it be my home made ‘nakd’ bars,  or a bowl of chocolate frosting hiding away in the fridge waiting for a spoon to come a-dipping! But, sometimes  I just fancy a savoury kick to keep me going till tea time (particularly if I know there is dessert not far away). 

These crackers are perfect…. on their own, with this dip, or a dollop of nut butter. The inspiration came from this post on Oh She Glows, so simple and quick to make and so many possible variations of flours, seeds and herbs to investigate now I know how good these crackers are.

The essence of the recipe also inspired an alternative twist that I just couldn’t wait to test out…but more on that tomorrow!

Recipe: Speedy seedy crackers

Makes approx. 20 crackers

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup ground almonds (if making your own do not over process so that oils are released)

2 tbs tapioca flour
2 tbs polenta (this just gives it extra cruchiness)

2 tbsp ground flax

1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp Italian herbs

1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda

2 tbs sesame seeds

2 tbs poppy seeds

1/4 cup water

1 tsp olive oil

Method

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix well with spoon. Knead dough with hands until it comes together. Place ball of dough on parchment paper or a non-stick mat. Roll out dough until it’s about 1/8th inch thick, or as thin as you can get it without ripping. With a  sharp knife slice into squares.

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with parchment. Bake for 18-20 minutes until slightly golden in colour. Cool on baking sheet, then store in air-tight container once fully cool.