Pop up restaurant

Yesterday, my friend and I, hosted our first popup restaurant.  It was fantastic - but we took very few pics as we were too busy.  This is the gluten free scone with smoked mackeral pate, beetroot jam and horseradish cream.  It was followed by vegan moussaka, coleslaw and green salad, and finished with strawberry and rhubarb, hazelnut crumble with ginger ice cream.

Gluten free scones

Rub olive oil spread into self raising gluten free flour with a teaspoon of baking powder (it really needs extra raising agent), salt.  When is resembles breadcrumbs form into a soft dough with an egg and a splash of soya milk.  Bake at 180 for about 12 minutes.

Mackeral pate

Zizz 3 packets of flaked mackeral fillets and 1 box of medium tofu until smooth.  Add black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Chill.

Beetroot jam

2 red onions, finely chopped and sauted off in olive oil.  Finely chopped beetroot - about 8.  A handful of sugar, a splash of red wine, a few chili falkes and a good splosh of sherry vingar - simmer to let flavours meld - add water if it gets too think.

Horseradish cream

Grate about 1 inch horseradish root finely.  Add 1/2 carton double cream, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Taste to adjust.

Vegan moussaka

Potatoes, peeled boiled and cut into thick slices.
Sauce 3 chopped onions sauteed in olive oil, add chopped celery, chopped red pepper, courgettes and mushrooms.  Add red lentils, a good few herbs, lots of garlic and a few chili flakes.  Add a splash of red wine, some vegan bouillon, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and water.  Simmer, stir, simmer, season etc.  I added a teaspoon of cinnamon at the end to ring the changes.
Make a litre of white sauce with soya milk (I just thickenned with cornflour, but could have done a bechamel) flavoured with bay and nutmeg.
Put the moussaka together - lentils, sauce, then potatoes - drizzle with olive oil and bake for an hour until top is crisp and golden.

Apple and strawberry sponge

Lovely victims for lunch was also an excuse for a pudding, but continued the no shopping philosophy, so had strawberries and apples from veg box, and the usual staples in the cupboards.  I would normally have made the sponge a bit lemony with lemon rind, but didn't have any lemons, so added vanilla instead.

I also couldn't be bothered to measure things so just did it by eye.  I think the result was slightly less sweet than "recipe" sponge, which I preferred.  Victims scoffed happily, one with ice cream, and one with cream.  Tiny victim munched around the fruit in a very accomplished fashion.

2 apples
8 strawberries
Juice 1/2 orange
Sugar
Butter
2 eggs
Self raising flour
soya milk.

1.  Grease flan dish with butter, sprinkle some sugar on the bottom.
2.  Slice apples, spritz with orange juice to stop them going brown, slice strawberries.  Lay fruit on bottom of dish.
3.  Cream butter (about 75g) and sugar (about 75g) until light and fluffy.
4.  Add 1 egg, beat in, add self raising flour (about 75g) beat in.  Add the other egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract beat, add flour beat.
5.  If it looks a little stiff add a splash of milk (or soya milk in my case)
6.  Blob and smooth over fruit, and bake at 180C for about 30 minutes.

Delicious warm or cold.  People who have eaten with me know that I don't really "do" pudding when I am supposed to, so the victims had theirs yesterday, and I had mine for breakfast with natural yogurt.  Tsk, tsk... but it is Sunday.

Strawberry jam

New mission - stop wasting stuff!  Trying to use every scrap of fruit and veg in the organic box & some bargain strawberries.  So dinner was cauliflower and macaroni cheese  with added broad beans, runner beans and spinach  with beetroot and tomato salad.  4 jars of strawberry jam (chop and weigh fruit, heat until fruit starts breaking down, stir in about 3/4 of the weight sugar and squeeze in 1 lemon per about 500g fruit - simmer, for about 20 mins - but test after about 15 (the usual, does a skin form on surface when put on cold saucer)  put in sterilised jars.  You could skim the froth off the top - but I didn't.)