now, i am not what you would call vegan or vegetarian. but my dear friend bec is, so you could say i’m a vegan sympathiser. you may remember bec from my vegan bolognese post- not only is she a vegan but she is also celiac. “no animal products or gluten?” you say. i know, those are my favourite food groups too.

despite not being nutritionally impaired (i believe this is the pc term for it), i do often enjoy a bec-friendly meal, but what i enjoy more is dining at a restaurant where she has more options than a) the garden salad, hold the dressing or b) the fries, though the latter is often a desirable meal.

with this in mind, and considering we were on her home turf (a city scattered with uber healthy options, and scientology “churches” incidentally) we went to a vegan restaurant called cru, which is not only also gluten-free but raw as well. all forms of dietary concerns quashed in an instant! cru is located in silver lake, along with several other cool food spots and a fedora-load of hipsters, as it turns out.

we started our meal with the tomato & basil bruschetta. considering it was not technically “cooked” and had no gluten, it was an excellent bruschetta. how refreshing!

of course, the joy of our delectable appetiser was to be hampered upon the arrival of our main meals. you see, when at least 75% of your diet consists of very starchy carbohydrates (as mine does) your appetite is distorted so greatly that no meal will satisfy you unless it has real bread/pasta/potatoes. get where i’m going? it’s really sad/worrisome for your health. so unfortunately, while joe king’s (see previous post) taco salad was delicious….

and my vegetable “curry” was positively flavourful, t’was sadly not enough for us. which is why, after dinner we went to a pub and i (shamefully) devoured this:

no, i’m not proud that i needed to eat a giant plate of pasta after a lovely, fresh vegan meal, but that’s what happened, okay? please note, this anecdote offers no indication of the quality of cru’s food, which is delicious, rather a troubling insight into my dietary behaviours. 

scary. oh well, on to the next restaurant!

vegan bolognese- grain of salt

this holiday period i have been delighted to have a dear friend home, back from california. this friend happens to be a vegan coeliac. just one of these dietary requirements is hard enough to live with, let alone both. i, however really enjoy the challenge of creating wholesome meals for her that fit her dietary needs, particularly when she is so incredibly grateful & likes everything (winning qualities in a guest, most cooks will agree).

this bolognese is one of my favourite of the aforementioned dairy-free, wheat-free, gluten-free recipes, which i made again the other day. now, i know a vegan bolognese will sound like a travesty for most italians/chefs/meat-lovers/bolognese aficionados but after several experiments, i can safely say this tastes as good as any bolognese out there. 

here’s how it’s done:

take one small tub of dried porcini mushrooms and place in a small bowl. cover well with boiling water and set aside. a dark liquid will form in the bowl. meanwhile, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large saucepan. add one large chopped onion, four chopped garlic cloves, the leaves of one bunch of thyme, and two teaspoons of chilli flakes. cook until onions are translucent. add a grated carrot, grated zucchini and two cups of chopped button mushrooms and cook for five minutes. toss in the two tins of drained black lentils and stir. season generously with salt and pepper.

next, pour in the ‘stock’ made from the porcini mushrooms. remove the mushrooms from the bowl and chop roughly, before adding them to the bolognese. stir. add two cans of diced tomatoes and three tablespoons of tomato paste, then pour in a cup or two (or three) of red wine. cover all of the ingredients now added with vegetable stock, bring to the boil and stir. lower the heat (quite low) and simmer, with the pot covered.

the longer this cooks the better it will be. i recommend at least four hours. it doesn’t need as long as a meat lasagne but still, the flavours will benefit from a good, long cooking period. once the tomatoes & the stock have come together to form a nice, rich tomato-ey (not a word) sauce, it is ready. season to taste, toss in a large handful of fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley and serve with your favourite pasta. if you are on a gluten free diet i recommend rice or quinoa pasta. if you’re not a vegan, top with lashings of fresh parmesan.

this recipe will make a generous amount. it will serve four with considerable leftovers.i love it the next day on top of a crusty piece of toasted sourdough.  

note: no animals or gluten were harmed in the making of this recipe.