National Vegetarian Week 2012

Blog post by Monica Shaw

Monday 21st May 2012 marks the start of National Vegetarian Week, the UK’s annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle. To give us some inspiration for the week,  Monica Shaw, guest blogger at Great British Chefs, talked to two of the UK's leading vegetarian chefs to get their ideas for incorporating more vegetables into our lives.

We know most of you are committed omnivores, but we also know that even meat eaters are clamouring, not just for more veg, but for more veg that actually tastes good (the popularity of Yotam Ottolenghi's The New Vegetarian column in the Guardian and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg is testament to that).

To give us some inspiration for National Vegetarian Week, I talked to two of the UK's leading vegetarian chefs to get their ideas for incorporating more vegetables into our lives.

Rachel Demuth, owner of Demuths Vegetarian Restaurant and The Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath, knows that one of the biggest factors in cooking with more vegetables is time, and it's no surprise that her "Fast & Delicious" course is one of her best-selling cookery classes. She explains that one of the keys is keeping a well-stocked cupboard of basic ingredients from which to build a meal:

"The basics should enable you to rustle up a risotto, tasty snack, or warming stew without having to go shopping for special items. For starters: olive oil, canned tomatoes, canned beans, quinoa, couscous, lentils, and a good spice rack. For a quick solo supper, I love couscous with stir-fried seasonal veggies, topped with halloumi or marinated tofu and a sprinkling of seeds."

Rachel suggests that a good place to start is with a simple vegetable frittata, which can be made with any variety seasonal vegetables - wild garlic, French beans, asparagus, courgettes, carrots, broad beans - whatever you happen to have. 

photograph by Monica Shaw

Daniel Acevedo, head chef at Mildred's vegetarian restaurant in London, suggests signing on to an organic box scheme: "I get my organic fruit and veg delivered by Riverford, which takes the guess work out of having to go to the supermarket and think about my food menu for the week.  I find if I always have a fridge full of fresh fruit and veg, throwing something together after a long day at work isn't a hassle."

But what to throw together? Here, Daniel's a big fan of soups and salads: "an easy way for even the biggest of meat eaters to get more veg into their diets is to start with more soups and salads, both quick and easy to make and don't require a lot of bother." 

For some inspiration, check out Daniel's vegan recipes for Borlotti Bean Soup with Pico de Gallo or Chunky Puy Lentil Dahl.

There are loads of events going on all over the UK to celebrate National Vegetarian Week, from special cookery classes to veggie menus at restaurants all over the country. Or if you're like me, take this opportunity to try a few new vegetarian recipes at home (I for one have plans for Wild Garlic Pesto and Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos).

For more vegetarian recipe ideas, visit Great British Chefs' Vegetarian Recipe Collection.

Look out for a competition to win a copy of  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day! and Veg Patch River Cottage Handbook coming to Great British Chefs site soon. If you're not a vegetarian, how often do you eat vegetarian meals? For the vegetarians amongst us which dishes are favourites for your non veggie friends?  Let us know over on Great British Chefs Facebook Page.

Celebrating National Vegetarian Week 2012 - Great British Chefs

Londons Top Veggie Restaurants

Am proud to announce that Mildreds restaurant has been nominated for The Jellied Eel magazine and the Ethical Eats network competition to find the best vegetarian restaurant in London. 

To tie in with National Vegetarian Week (21 – 27 May), Jellied Eel magazine are asking Londoners to tell them which is the best exclusively vegetarian eatery in the Greater London area.  

Judging the eatery primarily by its food, but naturally expect you to take into account the service, venue, atmosphere and ethics of the place.

Not only will the winning entry get the credit they deserve, but if your choice is voted top, you have a chance of winning a meal for two at the winning restaurant. 

The competition is open until 27 May.  A short-list of those with the most public votes will be put to an expert panel, with the winning restaurant being announced in early July. 

Check out the link to vote and give us your support

Straw wars

Mildreds has joined the strawwars, the idea is simple, it aims to either get rid of straws completely or provide a straw only when requested by a customer. 
We have chosen to join this movement as billions of straws are discarded every year, filtering into landfill and littering the oceans.  This is extremely detrimental to the environment, as plastics cant biodegrade, they last indefinitely, breaking down into smaller pieces, feeding into the food chain and potentially ending up on our dinner plates.  there's food for thought.

not only have we decided to join this movement but are also now only providing customers with Bio-degradable drinking straws when requested.

 
For more info on how to be a part or to sign up check out strawwars.org

Best Burgers In London

Our burgers hear at Mildreds continue to be the best Veggie burgers in London.  We were recently paid a visit from Ten Lifestyle as they were writing an article about the best burgers in London, we were more than happy to be included in their top 5.  

Text below taken from Ten Lifestyle, to read the full  article go to tenlifestyle-best burgers

 

Mildreds 

45 Lexington Street, London W1F 9AN

 

At this cosy and busy vegetarian restaurant in Soho, you might expect dishes such as the organic energising detox salad, but not hearty burgers and fries. The chef makes a daily special with whatever fresh vegetables, herbs and spices he chooses, so you’ll never eat the same recipe twice. With a soya protein base and a crunchy outside, it’s great for vegetarians fed up with sloppy, disintegrating patties or a Portobello mushroom in a bun. Beetroot and Mexican-style burgers are among diners’ favourites, and all varieties are vegan, unless you add cheese. Another popular upgrade is sweet potato fries – wedges with crispy skin and sea salt. The accompanying basil mayonnaise – a secret vegan recipe – is absolutely delicious.

Salad Bar

with our salad bar proving to be a great new feature here at Mildred's, alongside the daily hot specials,  we are continually changing the salads and specials on offer to give customers a variety of ever changing healthy options, including vegan and wheat free choices.

if you haven't  yet come down to try some of the salads and specials on offer, do pop in as you wont be disappointed.

Salad Bar open:

Monday - Friday

12 midday - 3:30pm

We will be continuing the, salad bar, daily hot specials and take-away service from Mildreds Restaurant. 

Aubergine chickpea tagine

Aubergine, Chickpea Tagine with flaked almond cous cous & harissa

(Recipe by Daniel Acevedo)

2 cm ginger

1-2 red chillies

3 aubergines

200-300 ml sunflower oil/veg oil

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 star anise

1 pinch saffron

3 tins (720g) good quality crushed tomatoes

150g green olives pitted

2 tins (480g) good quality chickpeas

1 tsp salt

Before we start I would like to explain why this recipe contains no garlic or onions.  Over the recent years working as head chef here at Mildred’s restaurant I have noticed an increase in the demand for people requesting food not containing anything from the onion family.

This dish is fairly mild in spice so feel free to add more or less chilli to your liking.  The star anise and saffron in this recipe gives it a unique taste and makes it stand out above your regular tagine.

For better results with this recipe please source quality tinned tomatoes and roasted red peppers from your local deli or even better buy the equivalent weight in very ripe plum tomatoes and red peppers from the market, with tomatoes dice or give a quick blend in a food processor before adding to your tagine, with your red peppers lightly coat with oil, and roast on a high heat in the oven to blister the skin of the peppers, remove from oven and place in a bowl or plastic container covering with cling film to steam the peppers, allow to cool, peel and de-seed peppers ready to use for your harissa sauce.

Time allowing, your chickpeas can also be bought dried from your local deli and soaked overnight about half the amount of dried chickpeas will yield the same amount once cooked so approx 240g.  Drain and cook these chickpeas in 3-4 cups lightly salted water for 1 ½ - 2 hours or until tender.

Prepare your harissa first and allow to cool before starting your tagine and cous cous.

1. Pre heat oven at 180c, cut aubergine in half length ways then into quarters again cut these pieces in half again giving you aubergine wedges approx 7 cm long and 2cm wide, in an oven tray generously coat aubergines with sunflower/veg oil and toss to make sure all the pieces are oiled.  Bake for 15-25 min until aubergines are fully cooked.  

 

2.  Wash or peel the ginger to clean, then along with the chilli finely dice and crush with a chef’s knife into a smooth paste.   Alternatively you can blend this in a food processor to achieve the same result.  In a medium sized pot over a low heat lightly fry your paste for 7-8 min

3.  Lightly Toast your coriander, cumin, and star anise seeds in the same manner as your harissa spices, grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder and add to ginger chilli mix along with your pinch of saffron and fry further for a few min.

4.  Add crushed tomatoes, salt and simmer on low heat for 20min

5.  Drain your chickpeas and add to the tagine along with your cooked aubergines and simmer  on a very low heat for a further 10-15 min(at this time you’re ready to prepare your cous cous, see recipie below).   

6.  Remove Tagine from heat and serve with cous cous,  garnish with some fresh coriander  and a side of harissa.

Flaked almond Cous cous

400g cous cous

450ml water

2 tsp Vegetable stock powder

50g toasted flaked almonds

1 pickled lemon very finely diced

100ml lemon juice

100ml extra light olive oil

Pinch of Salt & Pepper

1. Boil water along with pickled lemons, salt and pepper
2. Once water has come to the boil remove from heat and add your cous cous along with lemon juice & olive oil, mixing thoroughly,  cover and allow to sit for 15-20 min.

Harissa

400g roasted peppers or good quality tinned roasted red peppers

2 chillies

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

50ml  extra light olive oil

To roast the peppers, simply scorch over an open flame, on a chargrill or under the grill in your oven until the skins are blistered and black. Put in a bowl and cover with clingfilm so they steam. When cool enough to handle, then skins should come away easily. 

1. Lightly Toast your cumin seeds in a pan on the lowest heat setting for 4-5 min, adding the smoked paprika  at the last min for a light toasting, remove from heat and grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder.

2.  Drain your peppers and blend in a food processor along with your chillies, spices, salt and oil for 5-10 min until you have a very smooth sauce.  You can also pass the harissa through a small to fine sieve for a smoother result.

3. Set aside and allow to cool

Serve all three together with some warm flat bread.