Melanzane in Saor (aubergine)

Gavin WrenRecipes, Side dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Melanzane in Saor is an amazing vegetarian and vegan aubergine (eggplant) dish in a sweet and slightly sour sauce, which is unique to Venice and follows a proud history of Italian food using love, respect and time to get the best of the ingredients. It's a serious make ahead dish, needing 2 days to mature but worth the wait for those fantastic flavours and perfect for buffet spreads or picnics.
Today I’m recounting an amazing Italian dish called ‘melanzane in saor’, or aubergine ‘in Saor’. It’s a very simple yet beautifully balanced Italian dish that has sweet and sour flavours that work just beautifully together. The age is the important thing, you need to make this dish well in advance to let the flavours develop, it’s perfect to make a day ahead for a buffet spread or to take along to a picnic, but don’t hurry it. If there’s one thing that Italian cooking has ever taught me, it’s that love and respect are the ingredients that make food beauteous. Visiting Venice. Just over a year ago I visited Venice, one of the most confoundingly beautiful places I’ve ever been to. I expected hustle, bustle, noise and expensive food, which was entirely correct, however I hadn’t prepared myself for the heart and soul of Venice, which is the important part.…

Honey Glazed Celeriac

Gavin WrenRecipes, Side dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Make celeriac the most popular side dish on the table this year with my honey glazed celeriac recipe which sees this vegetable dish dripping with honey and rich, dark caramelised colours. Easily cooked in one pan on the stove, this vegetarian dish is just as good served up next to a piece of fish or meat.
Today I’m having a reflective look at my life before launching into the recipe of the day which is honey glazed celeriac. This is a true barnstormer of a recipe that passed my unfailing recipe test… can I eat the whole lot in one go. Without doubt, yes. It’s also an incredibly easy way to make this ugly root become the most popular dish on the table, just chuck it in the pan and leave it to cook down and caramelise into lovely sweet hunks of veg. Digging About in my Past. Whilst bumbling through the archives of my writing yesterday, I happened across an unpublished piece I wrote in the first week of 2016. It’s a quasi-rant surrounding the excesses of Christmas accompanied by a creative piece of photography, one of the few examples where I have composited two images to create the impossible, it’s an image that defies…

Spelt Dough Balls with Garlic Coconut Butter Dip

Gavin WrenRecipes, Side dishes, Small Bites, Spelt & ancient grains, Starters, Vegetarian

Hot, crunchy, soft, doughy balls of deliciousness, cooked in the oven alongside a perfect homemade spelt pizza. Dipping duties are handed over to a simple thick and creamy garlic coconut butter dip all ready to plunge these spelt dough balls into as soon as they're out of the oven.
Today’s post is about some hot, crunchy, soft, doughy balls of deliciousness, cooked in the oven alongside a perfect homemade spelt pizza. Dipping duties are handed over to a simple thick and creamy garlic coconut butter dip all ready to plunge these spelt dough balls into as soon as they’re out of the oven. Cook With Your Heart. Cook with your heart, not your head. Sage advice. Somebody once said to me “when you cook with your heart, I can tell”. I have a habit of trying to intellectualise or overcomplicate recipes, trying to do something clever, new or different. Why? I’m not Heston-blooming-Blumenthal, nor am I aiming to procure a Michelin star or three. I’m a blogger, one of the custodians of the online world of food, part of the culinary cyber presence put here to blog, to share what my world consists of. My recipes should be about…

Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Sumac Yoghurt

Gavin WrenMain Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Side dishes, Vegetarian

A quick, versatile and tasty vegetarian carrot and chickpea salad that you can add your own ingredients to for if you want to experiment. Made with carrots, chickpeas and parsley, it's a simple base that gets flavoured up with sumac, yoghurt, lemon juice and tahini so that there's no chance of your taste buds left wanting. It makes a great side dish or just fill your bowl and have it as a main course!
Today I’ve made a quick, versatile and tasty vegetarian carrot and chickpea salad that you can easily play around with and add your own ingredients if you want to experiment. Made with carrots, chickpeas, red onion and parsley, it’s a simple base that gets flavoured up with sumac, yoghurt, lemon juice and tahini so that there’s no chance of your taste buds left wanting. It makes a great side dish or just fill your bowl and have it as a main course! The Holy Grail of Lunches. I’ve done it! Finally I’ve devised the holy grail of lunches. I’ve created a salad that’s ridiculously easy to make, filling, healthy and tastes amazing. There are some things you might not know about me. Such as I work from home, desperately trying to carve a new niche career out of whatever I can do. I spend every day of my ‘working life’,…

Celeriac Remoulade

Gavin WrenRecipes, Side dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Celeriac Remoulade is a classic french vegetable side dish which is no-cook uses just a few simple ingredients to gives this root vegetable a creamy mustardy tang. It's a great accompaniment now that autumn is upon us and celeriac comes into season. It's also a versatile vegetarian dish and keeps well in the fridge if you need to make ahead!
Celeriac Remoulade is a classic french vegetable side dish which involves no cooking and uses just a few simple ingredients to gives this root vegetable a creamy mustardy tang. It’s a great accompaniment now that autumn is upon us and celeriac is coming into season, as well as being super versatile and vegetarian to boot, plus it keeps well in the fridge if you need to make ahead! Just Awesome. I’m completely overjoyed to be publishing this recipe. It’s been a long time coming, having langsuished on my ‘make-for-the-blog’ recipe list for nearly a year, coiled up and ready to leap into action like a collapsible table at a church fair. Celeriac remoulade falls categorically into the genre of classic recipes. If they reformed education to deal with things that really matter in life, these are the dishes which should be on the national curriculum. Along with a sturdy knowledge…

Mustard Roasted Fennel and Carrot

Gavin WrenRecipes, Side dishes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

This mustard roasted fennel and carrot recipe is an easy vegetable side dish that goes perfectly with roasted fish or meat, a great autumnal dish to warm up the kitchen after the summer disappears. The cosy cinnamon and the mustard seeds make this an easy but tasty vegetarian or vegan side dish.
Today’s recipe is a roasted fennel and carrot recipe tossed in mustard seeds, cinnamon and olive oil, to make a warm, slightly spiced vegetable side dish that has almost no preparation (no peeling – woo-hoo!) and looks like a show stopper when you put it on the table. Go fennel, go! Fennel? Funnel? Huh? Fennel is one of those peculiar ingredients which I didn’t eat for a very large swathe of my existence. Not through choice, simply because it didn’t ever get to my plate or kitchen for some reason. It also sounds a bit like ‘funnel’, which is a very odd image to have when considering what vegetables to eat. Nonetheless, it’s absence from my diet remained intact for a long time, even though I was aware of it’s existence, hovering on the sidelines of my world, like a substitute waiting for his chance at a goal. Mysterious vegetable.…