See the recipe Tomato soup is the ideal comfort food. As we head into February, weather predictions are that we’re going to hit minus temperatures again here in London. So, when you come home from this cold, an easy but comforting tomato soup is just what you need to warm you up. There are probably as many recipes for tomato soup as there are fish in the sea at this point, and I’m sure everyone will claim theirs is the best. Recipes will vary wildly from using cream, spices, to using a vegetable base such as carrots and celery. Some people only use fresh tomatoes while others will swear that…
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Easy Vegetable Chilli (Vegan & Gluten Free)
See the recipe As a child I hated kidney beans with a passion. I would sit, hovering over my mother’s Chilli Con Carne, picking out every dark red, hated bean before even deigning to eat the dinner she had lovingly cooked. These days, I acknowledge that beans and lentils are part of a balanced vegan’s diet but it took hard work for me to get past my own legume phobia. That and cooking my beans from dried. I don’t know what it is about tinned beans but the texture just isn’t nearly as good as when you’ve cooked them yourself. It’s cheaper and, even better, with a pressure cooker you…
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Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Gnocchi Dumplings (Vegan, GF, NF)
When storm Francis hit a few weeks ago, cravings for bad weather food started. Foods like a warming soup, something comforting to sip while the winds rage outside. While the weather has now recovered, the soup that I came up with at the time is a great recipe and one I’ll keep coming back to as the weather gets colder. Roasting your peppers and tomatoes deepens the flavours. It’s not difficult, and takes very little effort but the massive flavour boost you get in return makes it so worth while. The tomatoes will emerge from the oven as little umami bombs of flavour while the peppers will add depth and…
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Vegan Shakshouka (with no tofu in sight!)
Shakshouka is one of those classic regional dishes that has as many different versions as it does regions who lay claim to it. A rich, spicy, tomato sauce with poached eggs, and plenty of bread for dipping. Traditionally it’s most commonly used for breakfast (and a great hangover cure!) but it works wonderfully for any time of day and we always used to love it for dinner. It’s one of those meals that made taking that final step towards being vegan and giving up eggs quite hard, so today I wanted to have a go at tackling a vegan shakshouka. There have been plenty of attempts to veganise this dish…
