mushroom

Asda Mushroom and Spinach Polenta Bakes

| Rhiannon

This is probably the “burger” with the longest name I’ve tried yet. Not only does it have a long name in the first place, but it also has a subtitle. This is the Asda Mushroom and Spinach Polenta Bakes with creamy mushroom sauce – and believe me, the packaging is a lie. Yes, alright, the bake does look sort of like that, but that’s about one-tenth of the sauce there, and since there are only two bakes in the packet, I guess the other plate was swimming.

Asda Polenta Bakes

The preparation involves first putting the bakes in the oven, then defrosting the sauce in hot water. Finally, you combine the two by pouring the sauce haphazardly around, hoping that you aren’t ruining the taste by doing so. It’s a big trend at the moment to have this extra sauce packet, and I just hate it. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. We have the technology to put sauces INSIDE bakes, people. It’s been happening for a while now.

Asda Polenta Bake with mushroom sauce

So, about the taste. The bake itself has a nutty, warm flavour with a cheesy taste. I wouldn’t say that you would notice it’s made of polenta unless you read the packet and knew. It just seems more like potato or that “mystery substance” that most veggie burgers seem to be made of (especially the cheap ones). It’s quite a thick slice even if it is somewhat small, so it manages to be quite substantial. It’s not very filling, however. I found myself wanting a bit more to eat, though probably not more of this bake. 

The mushroom sauce is quite rich and combines well with the flavours of the bake. I just still don’t get why they don’t make the bake that flavourful in the first place to get rid of all of this hassle. Notice also how the bake is not quite the perfect square as described on the packaging. Not that I’m surprised, it’s just that they really did a number on this one. They even served it on a tiny side plate to make it look huge, which it isn’t.

Asda Polenta Fake

On the VegBurge scale, I give this…

Taste – 6/10

Price – 6/10

Rest of experience – 4/10

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Vine Recipe: Mushroom Nut Loaf

| Rhiannon

Recently we decided it was time to do the proper Sunday lunch thing. Let’s have a traditional veggie nut loaf, we thought – something to enjoy with roast veggies and mash! I tracked down this amazing recipe, which was so easy to make and so, so rewarding. Give it a try if you are after that classic Sunday dinner that is going to last you days and days!

I made a bit of a mistake while putting this together – I misinterpreted the quantity for the rice. It’s supposed to be already cooked at the weight given here, not dry! In the end, I had so much extra rice that we ended up having it as a side serving with our nut loaf, so maybe not quite the traditional Sunday lunch after all!

It’s great for leftovers and keeps easily for a few days. My favourite trick with anything like this is to cut off a nice slice and fold it into a wrap. You can include any leftover veggies as well that will fit, then heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. It’s especially delicious with peas. There you have an easy and delicious lunch solution for a couple of days after you make it!

Here’s the Vine, and scroll down below for the recipe:

Mushroom Nut Loaf
A traditional nut loaf recipe incorporating mushrooms and rice.
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Ingredients
  1. 1 red onion, chopped
  2. 2 cups finely-chopped chestnut mushrooms
  3. 1 cube frozen garlic
  4. 5 tsp mixed Italian herbs (Schwartz)
  5. Splash of red wine
  6. 2 cups cooked basmati rice
  7. 1 cup almonds, ground
  8. 1 cup cashews, finely chopped
  9. 5 eggs
  10. 1 cup cottage cheese
  11. 1/2 cup grated red Leicester (feel free to substitute for any other melty cheese)
  12. 1/2 cup Italian Herb mix (Schwartz)
  13. Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. Sauté the onion until it begins to soften.
  3. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until the mushrooms release their juices and become soft.
  4. Add the garlic and dried herbs, and continue to cook.
  5. When the pan begins to dry out again, add a good splash of red wine and cook until it is moist but not swimming in liquid.
  6. Remove from the heat and let cool a little.
  7. Butter or oil a roughly 9-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper or foil.
  8. In a large bowl, toss the rice and nuts together.
  9. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the cottage cheese.
  10. Add the egg mixture to the rice/nut mixture, then stir in the cooled mushrooms, grated cheese and fresh herbs.
  11. Mix well.
  12. Fill the loaf pan with the nut mixture, rap a few times on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and smooth the top with a spatula.
  13. Bake for about an hour or until the loaf is firm. Remove from the oven.
  14. Leave to cool for ten minutes, then lift the loaf from the pan using the excess parchment paper or foil.
  15. Peel off the parchment or foil and serve.
Notes
  1. You can pretty much mess around with this recipe as much as you like. More or less rice, more or less cheese, different cheese, different herbs, sherry instead of wine, white wine, different kinds of mushroom, more veggies, different nuts - whatever you want, give it a try. It's likely to work!
Adapted from The Kitchn
Adapted from The Kitchn
VegBurge https://vegburge.com/
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Vine Post: BB8 Pizza

| Rhiannon

Like pretty much everyone else, J and I have both seen the new Star Wars film and loved it. It’s an exciting time for the franchise, and after seeing some really creative BB8 cakes, we wanted to get in on the action. That’s why we decided to create a BB8 homage that is true to our tastes… a pizza!

Following on from our The Revenant bear claws, we just had to vine the process of making our BB8. We used white cheddar cheese along with red Leicester, and the silver parts just had to be mushrooms. Finally, a dollop of barbecue sauce (our secret ingredient for making any pizza amazing) was BB8’s “eye”. This was a lot of fun to make, as you can no doubt tell from the video! In order to get the head and body effect, we bought one medium pizza and one mini one (unfortunately we couldn’t get a blank pizza base at that size, but this one just had tomato sauce and cheese). Then we sliced the bottom section off the mini pizza in order to make it the right shape! We also “drew” the design based on a reference photo first, using a knife to gently mark out the different areas where we would be laying the cheese.

Unfortunately we got way too excited about eating it and didn’t take any photos. I can verify, however, that it was delicious. Well… full disclosure, we added some more vegetables and Quorn pepperoni before eating it – just to make it a bit more interesting. Still, no matter how much you try to disguise a droid, it’s still the same underneath.

Enough of all that: let’s finally get to the Vine!

So, what do you think? Are we pizza art geniuses or what? We’d love to see your foodie Star Wars efforts too!

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A Very Vegetarian Christmas 2015

Christmas lunch
| Rhiannon

It’s that time of year again! After last year’s Christmas post, I couldn’t let the occasion go by without another round-up of our Very Vegetarian Christmas. We always eat such amazing food at this time of year – I’m in awe of my Mum’s menus – and this year was no exception. This time around I even helped out to make Christmas lunch, which means I can proudly say I helped make and then plated up the starter below…

Christmas Day starter
Christmas Day starter

This was roasted halloumi served on a bed of baby spinach and roast vegetables with a harissa dressing. Zingy, delicious, and served absolutely beautifully even if I do say so myself. (Alright, I’m exaggerating my own skills. But we all dream of being on Masterchef and serving up that beautiful plate, don’t we?)

Christmas Day starter
Christmas Day starter

I’ve already told you about the mushroom pie we made for the main course, and here it is in full glory with pastry lid. This was just glorious – so rich – and it was served with some fantastic sides. Celeriac mash was just sweet enough, roasted parsnips are always my favourite, and hiding under the mash were carrots and a vegetarian sausage. There’s also red cabbage and apple in some kind of crazy-good mixture that tasted better than you would believe, and a (broken up) little Yorkshire pudding.

Christmas Day main
Christmas Day main

This was all so good. As always there was tons left over, but some of it (like the cabbage) made it into our next meal on Boxing Day. The rest of it found itself put inside wraps, heated up, and eaten as my lunches for a few days. You would not believe how good it tastes warmed up – although the best on that front was yet to come.

Christmas Day main
Christmas Day main

Around this time we also made a gingerbread sleigh, which I’ve also Vined already. That was pretty hilarious and only mostly successful, but we continued to nibble on it (and there is actually some left even now!). It was pretty tasty, even if it didn’t hold together for very long.

Gingerbread sleigh
Gingerbread sleigh

Next we move on to Boxing Day. For us, the sit-down meal on this day is just as big as the day before. We don’t really start getting into leftovers until the 27th, and then it’s only a short while before New Year. What I’m saying is, a lot of food ends up in tupperwares in the fridge. 

Boxing Day starter
Boxing Day starter

 

The starter above was a Welsh rarebit-style topping served on a large field mushroom, with a bed of rocket. It was cheesy and delicious. So much cheese. So good. The rocket worked really well with the starters, providing that little bit of zing to bring all of the flavours together. 

Boxing Day main
Boxing Day main

The main course included this amazing loaf/stack/awesome thing. Parsnip slices on the bottom, a layer of stuffing, then cranberries in a home-made cranberry sauce (which was actually the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever tasted), and the same mirrored on top. Oh, also the stuffing had chestnuts in it. I love chestnuts. They are the king of all nuts, and this is the perfect time of year to eat them.

Boxing Day main
Boxing Day main

Now, THIS was absolutely the best thing to eat in a wrap the week after. All of those amazing flavours just work so well together. It looks beautiful too. Probably the most impressive thing is how it all stayed together when she took it out of the pan! It was served with the same kind of mash, cabbage, and parsnips as the day before, along with some stuffing, roast potatoes, and French peas with shallots. Mmm.

Boxing Day main
Boxing Day main
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Vine Post: Christmas Mushroom Pie

| Rhiannon

This is not just a mushroom pie. This is a mushroom pie from the Mildred‘s cookbook.

We tweaked a few details here and there, but this is more or less the recipe that you will find in the book – served with a pastry lid rather than as a whole pastry pie. I pitched in to help my Mum with Christmas lunch this year and this is what she wanted to serve on the day – from the brand new Mildred’s book I’d bought her! As luck would have it she was planning a mushroom pie anyway, and this one happened to be similar enough that she had the right ingredients already.

It was fun to cook with her – as I only really got the cooking bug after I moved in with J, we’ve never had the chance to cook together regularly. This was a great opportunity for me to show I’m not hopeless in the kitchen any more, and for some good old fashioned bonding too! The best part? It was delicious. 

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Planet Hollywood – Veggie Burger

| Rhiannon

As part of our recent trip to France – which you are all no doubt getting sick of hearing about! – one of the last places we visited was Planet Hollywood, over at Downtown Disney. We had spent the day shopping at a nearby outlet centre and popped down to Disney for the end of the day, a bit of souvenir shopping, and a quick meal. It was my birthday, so I spent the day doing things I love – shopping for expensive clothes and eating veggie burgers!

Planet Hollywood seemed the obvious choice, especially as they had a veggie burger option. It was a portobello mushroom burger, which always sounds good to me. It came in at 15 euros each, but was served with chips, so we gave it a go.

Me in Planet Hollywood!

When it arrived, I began to take a look with interest. There were two big mushrooms stacked one on top of the other, making a juicy burger wedge that was dripping with juices. Unfortunately, there was also a very thick slice of red onion – right across the middle of a large one – and a whole wedge of lettuce. There was a lot of everything, but each flavour was in turn too strong. For reference, EVERYTHING in the photo below above the cheese is salad. And the salad only consisted of lettuce, onion, tomato, and a gherkin.

The large slice of tomato and the gherkin I took out right away, as it was difficult enough to manage the red onion – and I really like red onion! There was stringy cheese which added a great texture however, and a soft bread bun with a thick and solid edge to it. It was a little difficult to eat the burger as by the time you got halfway through it, all of the mushroom juice was dripping out and soaking the bread – plus it was large enough to cause problems for your jaw. It got so slippery in the end that the main challenge was holding it together without losing half the filling.

Planet Hollywood veggie burger

It was not a terrible burger, per se, but it was certainly a victim of the Disney overpricing. It tasted like cheap pub food to me – and while I do love pub food, it wasn’t a patch on a Wetherspoons veggie burger. Still, at least it wasn’t undercooked or cold like other mushroom burgers I have had in the past – and it was served in an interesting setting, with a delicious milkshake, and with a game on the tablemat that allowed you to match up the celebrities with their yearbook photos. It wasn’t the best I’ve had, but certainly not the worst.

 

On the VegBurge scale, I give this…

Taste – 7/10

Price – 5/10

Rest of experience – 7/10

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Vine Recipe: Quinoa pizza base

| Rhiannon

This week we’ve finished off Alternative Pizza Month over on Vine, with a quinoa pizza base. I first came across this idea in Deliciously Ella’s book, and although I’ve never been a fan of quinoa, I’ve slowly started coming around. We decided to give it a try and see how it would turn out.

Quinoa base pizza ingredients

It felt a bit strange to bake this in a quiche tin, but actually it was the perfect option. The base is a bit squidgy – there’s no way you could put it out on a pizza tray with holes underneath, as it will just drop through, so bear that in mind. Even with greasing it up it did stick a little, but once we got a pizza cutter underneath it came out just fine. It’s odd, but you can’t necessarily tell the quinoa is there unless you concentrate. Otherwise, the flavours of the toppings really dominate the base, so while it’s not an exact match for a “normal” pizza, it is a good alternative.

Quinoa base pizza

It tasted pretty nice to be honest, and I would be happy to make it again. There is certainly a health benefit for choosing this base over a normal dough base, which is great for those (like us!) who want to eat healthy but just love pizza way too much to stop eating it.

Quinoa base pizza

We did of course Vine the recipe, so here’s the video. Be sure to click through and take a look at our other Vines if you enjoy it!

Here’s the recipe if you would like to recreate it yourself:

Quinoa base pizza
Serves 2
A pizza base made from quinoa - perfect for gluten free diets!
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Ingredients
  1. 195g quinoa
  2. 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  3. 2 teaspoons pasta herbs
  4. Tomato puree
  5. Cheddar cheese (grated)
  6. Cheddar with chilli (crumbled)
  7. 3 chestnut mushrooms
  8. 1/2 red pepper
  9. 1/2 red onion
Instructions
  1. Soak the quinoa in cold water overnight or all day long
  2. Drain any water from the quinoa and add to a blender with apple cider vinegar, pasta herbs, and a pinch of salt
  3. Blend until a smooth dough forms (it might take a bit longer than you expect!)
  4. Grease a pizza pan or cake tin with olive oil
  5. Place the mixture into the pan and smooth out to an even thickness
  6. Bake at 210c for 20 minutes - you'll see a big transformation to a darker and firm base
  7. Remove from the oven and spread tomato puree with the back of a spoon
  8. Add all toppings and return to oven
  9. Remove from oven when cheese is melted
  10. Serve!
Adapted from Deliciously Ella
Adapted from Deliciously Ella
VegBurge https://vegburge.com/
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Vine Recipe: Cauliflower Base Pizza

| Rhiannon

For the second of our alternative pizza month Vines, we made a base out of cauliflower. I’m sure you’ve seen this idea elsewhere – it’s been quite widely used as an alternative way to create a pizza base, making it gluten free. I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, so I had been approaching this one with a little trepidation – was it going to taste like an actual cauliflower, or would there be subtler tastes at work?

Cauliflower pizza ingredients

It took a little while longer to make than I would have expected, although given that we were making our own dough, it was not unreasonable. One word of warning: don’t use your favourite tea towel. It took two washes to get the smell of cauliflower juice out of ours, and leaving it for just one day before the wash was put on left it stinking in a way that I could barely believe. I thought at first the drains had somehow got blocked until I realised where the smell was coming from.

Cauliflower pizza

You can of course substitute your own toppings for those we have used here. One thing I had to notice is that it calls for a lot of parmesan. Perhaps a bit too much. You can definitely taste it in the base, but it is not very strongly flavoured. We had to put in a whole pot, which seems a bit excessive given the results. I’m not sure what the alternative would be, however.

Cauliflower pizza

How did it taste? Pretty much like a cheesy cauliflower pizza. It wasn’t terrible – far from it. If I had to get rid of gluten from my diet, maybe I’d try this recipe more often just to get my pizza fix. But this isn’t the best base we’ve had so far during alternative pizza month – the tortillas were so much tastier. I’d rate it somewhere around a 4/10. If you actually like the taste of cauliflower, then you will love this base. It’s also a bit crumbly though, so you might want to eat with knife and fork – although I did manage to pick up the slices by hand, it was a close thing.

Cauliflower pizza

Here’s the Vine, so you can see what it’s like to make!

And if you want to try it yourself, the recipe we followed:

Cauliflower base pizza
Serves 2
An alternative pizza base which is gluten free!
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Ingredients
  1. 1 head of cauliflower
  2. Handful of basil, shredded
  3. Handful of oregano, shredded
  4. 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
  5. 50g parmesan (powder)
  6. 50g mozzarella (shredded into small pieces)
  7. 1 egg
Toppings
  1. Spinach
  2. 50g mozzarella, broken up into chunks
  3. Sweetcorn
  4. 5/6 mushrooms
  5. 1/4 red onion
  6. 50g-ish grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven at 240C.
  2. Trim the leaves/stem from the cauliflower head and chop up to 2 inch chunks.
  3. Rinse cauliflower under running water.
  4. Put cauliflower into blender until finely ground and powdery.
  5. Put the cauliflower in a microwaveable bowl and cover the bowl loosely with kitchen roll. Microwave for 3 minutes.
  6. Spread the cauliflower across a dish towel.
  7. When it is cool enough to hold, gather it all up in the middle and use the towel to wring out the water from the cauliflower. This will take you quite a while, so keep going. You'll have a tiny bit of cauliflower left compared to what you started with.
  8. Combine cauliflower, mozzarella, Parmesan, oregano, basil, and garlic powder in a bowl with your hands.
  9. Add the egg and then combine until fully mixed.
  10. Put the mixture onto baking paper on top of a pizza tray and form the crust, around 1/4 inch think.
  11. Bake for around 10 minutes, until crust is golden brown and a little crispy at the edges.
  12. Put your chosen toppings onto the pizza, using the back of a spoon to spread the sauce.
  13. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, until mozzarella is gooey and the crust looks well done.
Notes
  1. We used fresh herbs, but dried ones work too.
VegBurge https://vegburge.com/
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Vine Recipe: Tortilla Pizzas

| Rhiannon

This month we’re kicking off our first monthly Vine theme, with alternative pizzas. Tortillas were our first choice of base: they are healthier and easier to eat than normal pizza dough bases, and also take less time to cook. That makes them a win-win for any work night dinner for us! 

Tortilla pizza

You don’t need much to make these delicious tortilla pizzas. Just the ingredients you would normally use, plus a tortilla for each pizza. And just like normal pizzas, you can buy a bigger or smaller base to suit your tastes.

Tortilla pizza

Just a few more images of these delicious and healthy pizzas, which were so good we barely even noticed that we weren’t just eating a super thin crust of the real thing…

Tortilla pizza

And now here’s the Vine, before you get bored – watch us whip up these great alternative pizzas!

If you’re curious about how we made them, here’s the recipe.

Tortilla Pizzas
Serves 2
A healthier spin on pizza, with a delicious tortilla base
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Ingredients
  1. 2 wholewheat flour tortillas
  2. 1/2 red onion
  3. Tomato puree
  4. Handful of mushrooms
  5. Handful of spinach
  6. Handful of pine nuts
  7. Gruyere cheese
Instructions
  1. Place the tortillas into the oven on a pizza tray for around 10 minutes at 200c to crisp them up a little
  2. Cut the onions and mushrooms, and wash the spinach
  3. Grate the cheese
  4. Take the tortillas out of the oven
  5. Spread tomato puree across them, using the back of a spoon to smooth it out
  6. Layer all of your toppings on top: cheese, then mushrooms and onion, then cheese again, then spinach and finally pine nuts
  7. Place back into the oven for around 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted
  8. Serve!
Notes
  1. Of course, you can substitute your own toppings for a wide range of varieties!
VegBurge https://vegburge.com/
Let us know if you try them!

Tortilla pizza
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Byron Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Goat’s Cheese Burger

| Rhiannon

Recently we headed to a branch of Byrons in the Strand area of London. They have two options for veggie burgers on the menu, so I opted for the “Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Goat’s Cheese Burger” served with “roasted red pepper, baby spinach, tomato, red onion and aioli” (taken from the menu). It’s a little disappointing that they don’t have a speciality veggie burger, or at least a few options. If they market themselves as a burger place, you might expect that they would provide alternatives. This is certainly the case in other burger joints that I’ve been to.

Byrons Portobello Mushroom Burger
I love mushrooms, especially of the Portobello variety, so it was exceedingly disappointing that there was not much taste to the mushroom. It was not hugely warm either, so I’m placing the blame for that solely on the cooking method. It needs to be done with a little more skill in order to retain that juicy taste. There was a strong goats cheese flavour which overpowered everything else, and while I do like goats cheese, it needed something else to balance it out. Perhaps a stronger mushroom flavour would have done the job! The whole burger was quite thin and small, particularly when you consider that the price covers a burger alone. You do not get any sides with it unless you order them separately. What’s more, with so many ingredients listed on the menu, I perhaps expected a bit more height at least.
 
 
The bread of the bun was not memorable at all. It was served as only a thin slice, and only a little crispy – again, better cooking could have helped here. I could just about taste the spinach and peppers through the goats cheese, but they were nothing remarkable. The rest of the ingredients may as well not have been there for all the difference they made to the taste. As I ate the burger, the juices of the mushroom soaked into the bread, leaving me with a mushy mess at the end.
Byrons Portobello Mushroom Burger
I had been meaning to try this burger for a while, as we had been to Byrons before at a lunch time for smaller meals, and to be honest I expected more. I was really quite disappointed. When a restaurant shoves you into tiny spaces like sardines and charges stupid prices for it, you at least expect the food to be good. This wasn’t, and I won’t be trying it again. It’s unfortunate that they were not able to deliver even at a time when the restaurant was mostly empty. I did try one of their milkshakes which was pretty good, but considering it cost about the same as the burger itself, it wasn’t a great measurement of quality.
Byrons Portobello Mushroom Burger

I recently wrote a post on AXS about Byrons in general. There you can check up on the three branches they currently have in London if you are interested in trying the burger for yourself.

On the VegBurge scale, I give this…
 
Taste – 3/10
 
Price – 4/10
 
Rest of experience – 3/10
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