Vegan party food

So, a couple of friends were celebrating their Civil Partnership, and I volunteered to help out with the catering.  Another chap had also volunteered, and he got all the meaty options.  So I was tasked with 2 veggie mains, and a couple of salads.  There was also the possibility that there were some vegan, some lactose intolerant and some gluten sensitive guests - so I decided on making my contribution completely vegan and gluten free.

Vegan moussaka - first I cooked up 1.5kgs of lentils... this is a lot of lentils!  I really only needed 1kg.  Then I parboiled 7.5 kg peeled potatoes... that's a lot of potatoes!  I really only needed about 5kg.  Anyway - the recipe - sautee chopped onions and garlic - infact 2 lots simultaneously, for the 2 bottom layers.  Heat 3 litres of soya milk with bay leaves and an onion.  To the onions and garlic add i) chopped celery, drained lentils, mint, cumin, a bit of chili and seasoning, squirts of lemon juice ii) mediterranean herbs, chopped peppers, aubergines, courgettes and tins of tomatoes.  Cook the bottom layers for about 20-30 minutes.  Make a bechamel type sauce with olive oil and gluten free flour, and the drained soya milk, grate in a little nutmeg.  Chop potatoes into slices.  Layer up - starting with about 3cms lentil mixture, 2 cms vegetable mixture, bechamel sauce and potato slices - drizzle with olive oil - bake for about 45 minutes.


Potato salad - boiled 5kg new potatoes - when cooked drain and stir in olive oil, chives and parsley and seasoning while still warm.


Potato, mushroom and chickpea spicy casserole - sautee onions and garlic in olive oil, with chopped celery and carrot, with a spice mix (chili, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, oregano) - add chopped potatoes (4kg), loads of mushrooms and vegetable stock and tins of chopped tomatoes - simmer for an hour.  Add drained tins of chickpeas, check seasoning.  Simmer a bit longer.


Also made tomato, red onion, radish salad with baslamic dressing


Other people's guests were the victims, and I did not hear any complaints.  There was shed loads of delicious food, including lots and lots of pork products (pastrami, roast pork, pulled pork, hams, sausages....) but even so, amazingly 2 enormous pots of moussaka, nearly 8 litres of casserole and 4 very large salads were pretty much demolished.  Whoever made the cakes also did a fantastic job.


And congratulations to the happy couple - it was a great night - with some fantastic entertainment - Samba dancing and some singing as well as the scoffing.

Moussaka: on a school night!

4 pans - multiple processes - and on a work night.  But yum - tiddly - yum -yum.  Victim approved heartily.  Little does she know that not only did I insist on the consumption of some green beans - but as well as the aubergine and onion I had also snuck in goodly amounts of edame beans, pepper and tomato  :evil grin: That with the courgette and mushroom frittata for lunch and the fresh fruit lolly (banana milkshake today) bring sneaky fruit and veg portions up to 10, or there abouts.  Oh, yes, and the bechamel was made with soya milk - so I think that's at least another half a portion ... snicker.  Chicken news:  I forgot to say Jennifer too did infact turn out to be Jeremy, so he has gone back to the farm.  Egg count today = 3 Sophie, Clarissa and Nigella?).  I'm not 100% sure, but I think we had Nigella's first today.  Sophie and Rosemary lay oval "egg" shaped eggs - Clarissa much more rounded - and today we had an even smaller, lovely little round one, so I think that's Nigella.