Butternut ravioli recipe

Pasta: 
I don't really have quantities. 
Plain flour, in a food processor with the cutting blade, say 200g, that will probably do two people. Add  some oil and with the blade running add water until it forms breadcrumbs. Check it is tacky enough to come together by pressing it in your hands. If it forms a ball it is probably too wet, so add more flour.  Roll this out using a pasta machine, taking it down to the second thinnest setting, then stretch it a little. Alternatively you could use pre-bought fresh pasta, for example wonton wrappers.


The filling is butternut squash roasted with fennel seeds. Mash this with crushed vegan amaretti, recipe is on this site.


Cut the pasta into squares and place a teaspoon of the filling on the top-half of your square. Bring the ravioli together aand seal with water or just pinch.


To make the sauce you will need a shallot, some sage leaves, some lemon juice, vegetable stock and butter.


Sweat the shallot in oil until soft, then add the sage leaves, lemon juice and stock. Reduce a liitle. Cut the butter into squares, plop in the stock mix and blend with a stick blender. How much lemon etc. you put in is up to you. Personally I like my butternut sweet and my sauce nice and sour. If you are posh you can add and reduce white wine as well. For a vegan sauce blend in some soy marg instead of butter.


Top tip: do not use butter to sweat your shallot, if you do, when you blend the rest in later it will split.


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Chocolate and stout pudding recipe

I will give you two recipes, an easyish one and an easy one. You can take your pick. One note, we were going to use Guinness but it is not vegetarian as it is fined with isinglass. We used a vegetarian stout available from Sainsbury's, called Titanic.


Ingredients


500 ml stout
500 ml double cream
200 g sugar
6 egg yolks
Vanilla pod
200 g 72% chocolate


Boil 250 ml stout until reduced by one-third, add the cream and vanilla pod and scald. Whisk together the egg yolks with 150 g of sugar until pale, then whisk in the scalded cream and stout mixture to the yolks. Return to the pan and heat gently until thickened. The mixture should coat the back of a spoon. Melt the chocolate and whisk in to the custard. This chocolate custard can be poured into glasses and refrigerated until set.


Take the other 250 ml of stout and 50 g of sugar and reduce until a nice syrup is left. Cool.


Once the custard is set pour on a thin layer of stout syrup and top with cream to give the effect of a stout. If you use Guinness the chocolate custard will be darker and give more of a stout impression.


Easy version:
Once stout has reduced by one-third, add one tin of condensed milk and boil for two minutes. Then take off the heat and whisk in the chocolate to melt. Beat the cream to soft peeks and once the stout-chocolate has cooled, whisk in the cream in batches. Pour this mix into the glasses and refrigerate and allow to set. Top with etc etc


If you use an ice-cream machine, you can turn either mix into a lovely ice cream. You'd probably need more sugar to sweeten the mix.


Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR
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Laverbread roulade recipe

First prepare the sauce vierge:


Oil and lemon juice 3:1 ratio then add, to taste, Dijon mustard, parsley, capers, tomatoes (finely chopped and de-seeded) and agave nectar. Finally season with salt and pepper.


The roasted vegetables can include:


Aubergines, courgettes, swede, sweet potato and celeriac all roasted then marinated in parsley pesto. Our pesto was just lots of parsley, lemon juice, oil (olive and veg) and braised garlic. Our garlic is braised (by the string) in the oven in oil until it is sweet and tender. We store ours in the fridge once it is cooked.


Finally the roulade:


Laverbread roulade.


2 oz butter and flour.
4 eggs separated
Milk, 3/4 of a pint.
3 oz Penclawdd laverbread.


Make a roux with the butter and flour then make thick sauce with the milk. Season and then add the laverbread and egg yolks, and stir in.


In a clean bowl beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks, then fold into the sauce mix with a whisk. Put a sheet of nonstick baking paper onto a tray and then tip the mix onto this, making sure it is evenly covered. The tray should be about 16" by 12". Bake this in the oven (160C) until it has souffled and is set to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. It will quickly become flat. Once cooled spread over onion jam and grated Caerphilly cheese. You now need to form the roulade. 
Take one of the long edges and peel the roulade from the paper. You need to take this and roll it in on itself. Continue rolling until all the filling is inside, then wrap in the baking paper and then wrap tightly in foil. This should be placed in the oven for 24 hours to set up. Next day cut in to portions. 


To serve, take a portion of the roulade and bake in the oven at 175C until browned and souffled. Place in the middle of a plate surrounded with a mixture of the roasted vegetables and drizzle the veg with the sauce vierge.


Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR
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Falafel recipe

I've decided to do the falafel recipe that we used this past fortnight. The reason for this is that I, and most of you, found them a little dry and no matter how we tried we could not get past it. Any views why that may be would be appreciated. Anyway, here's the recipe.


Chickpeas (we used dried and reconstituted them. Are tinned better?) and (dried) broad beans
Onions (maybe more onion would be better)
Chopped parsley and coriander
Dried ginger, cumin, turmeric and coriander (and a little smoked paprika in later versions)
Garlic
Gram flour

Directions

Soak the chick peas and beans overnight in cold water. Drain and bring to the boil in new water and simmer for two hours. Allow to cool and blitz separately in a food processor. Depending on how much you are doing you can add the other ingredients to the blender, except the flour, and process.

Place the mix in a bowl and add gram flour, a little at a time, to make mouldable patties. You should do this with your hands.

Once the patties are made, let them rest for 30 minutes in the fridge then deep fry at 170C.

One ingredient that I have omitted is baking powder or bicarb. maybe that is my mistake but I've made many these in the past and never had this problem. Please help.

The dressing we do is very simple. You need some (soy) yoghurt, jaggery (or unrefined brown sugar), lime juice and chipotle chile paste. Blend all ingredients and serve with the falafels.


Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR
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Frangipane recipe

Frangipane is a very useful addition to any repertoire, both in sweet and savoury dishes. My basic sweet recipe is very simple:

200g ground almonds
200g caster sugar
200g butter
3 eggs

Put all into a food processor and blitz until it all comes together. As I said, simple. This can be used as the topping for any number of sweet tarts. my favourite is pear, but also apple, prune or bakewell.


Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR
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Cassoulet recipe

You will need beans; dried, then soaked and boiled, or easier, tinned.
A basic veg mix of chopped carrot, onion and celery.
Some herbs. I prefer rosemary and lemon thyme.
Tomato puree and chopped tomatoes.
Lots of olive oil.
Some seitan sausage (optional) and mock duck (also optional). We included both to try to give some authenticity, and because I like making seitan sausage. I made the sausage using red wine (vegan), braised garlic, herbs and smoked paprika. This gives a lovely depth to the cassoulet when it cooks out.


Method

Bring oil to a medium heat and fry the veg mix and the sausage. Add the herbs and the tomato puree and more oil and cook out the puree. Make sure it doesnt burn. Then add the chopped tomatoes and more oil and continue cooking. The oil should cover the edges of the veg/tomato mix completely and is cooking the tomato out. This is very important as it lends depth of flavour and reduces any bitterness from the tomato. Add some stock and the beans and mock duck, plus any braising liquor, and cook out for a couple of hours.

Serve with crusty bread.

Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR
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Chilli bean parcels recipe

The simplest things are the accompaniments, so let's start there.

You will need grated beetroot, roast it rather than boil it for a better flavour. Simply wash it and put it in foil, put into the oven at 200 C and leave for an hour or so. Let it cool and you should be able to slip the skin straight off under the tap. Scare your kids with your bloody hands.

You could leave the beetroot raw if you like, and mix it with the rocket.

The dressing is simplicity itself. Yogurt, salt and pepper and lemon juice. For the vegan dressing we use Alpro soya yoghurt.

The filling is a strong chilli base using fried onions and mushrooms, then adding the chilli powder to cook it out. Try adding some cumin, bay leaves, dried lime zest and fresh or dried oregano to a shop bought mild chilli powder.

Next chop some fresh tomatoes and add them to the chilli, let it sit.

The beans we use are butter beans and kidney beans, soaked and boiled. At home I'd use tinned.

The last ingredient is the roasted vegetables; any will do although we used sweet potato, pumpkin and Swede. Roast the swede separately as it takes longer. Mix the chilli and roasted veg together, season, add lime juice and the leaves from some coriander, no stalks unless you love the taste. This is the filling.


The pancakes were a labour of love. I'd never made vegan pancakes before last week, imagining that without eggs they would be dry, wouldn't look like pancakes nor taste like them. That is what's so satisfying about this journey, finding new routes you never saw.

Pancake ingredients (makes 20 ish)

6oz plain flour
5oz masa harina
1 lt. soy milk
1tbs orgran egg replacer (this is completely unnecessary, I think, but this is what I did)
1 tsp salt
2 heaped tbs. smoked paprika
1 tbs. powdered ginger
1 tbs. cumin


Put into large jug and blend, we use a Bamix. add water to achieve the desired consistency.

Fry in veg oil in large pan. Allow to cool and then form parcels.

Hope you enjoy, and if you can't be bothered come and eat ours!

Another recipe from Canteen on Clifton Street, Cardiff CF24 1LR

For booking call 029 2045 4999