Eating out in Cambridge

Generally, I have to say, I have not been impressed by Cambridge's restaurants. For a city which is surely full of posh students and foreign tourists just aching to chuck their money around in the right restaurant, Cambridge seems to me to be totally lacking in decent, reasonably priced culinary hotspots. Even restaurants that have been generally recommended have turned out to be disappointing. (Should I name names? Probably shouldn't!)
However, this staycation week I have eaten pretty well, so I thought I'd share a few recommendations, in case you're ever in town. (Although it suddenly strikes me as significant that two of the places I'm about to mention are chains and the other one isn't strictly speaking in Cambridge!)


First, let me highly recommend The Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester, a little village about 3 miles outside Cambridge. It's heavenly - you sit in an orchard on deckchairs eating delicious ploughman's lunch or scones or cake and just think about how good life is!



Mr Splorer and I had a rather good fishy lunch in Loch Fyne. I've never eaten there before but we were seduced by the set menu - starter and main course for £12. And very good it was too. Mmmmm, yummy mussels.


And if what you're after a more al fresco fishy dinner, let me recommend this: fish and chips from here, strawberries from the market and lashings of ginger beer eaten in the local park!

Gyoza (or Japanese pot stickers)

These little fellas were always a family favourite in Wagamama. (Though in a side note, is it me or is Wagamama just not as good as it used to be? Have had a few substandard meals there lately and so am not returning until it can be proved that they're back on track.)
Anyway, so gyoza became the second culinary challenge of Staycation week. They tasted yummy, although I must admit that they weren't such a roaring success as the sushi. It doesn't seem as easy to make them look all professional. Perhaps they just need a little bit more expertise!
We followed the recipe for the filling here, but we were lazy and bought frozen wrappers! (If you do make these with frozen wrappers, don't forget (as I did) that you have to defrost them in the fridge overnight.)


The filling recipe was great - really tasty and simple. The recipe for cooking the gyoza was a bit strange though - it involved frying them for a couple of minutes and then adding water to steam them. It didn't seem to quite work properly - though maybe it was just me! We also tried just frying them and just steaming. Just frying left them a bit too greasy. Just steaming seemed to be the most successful and they did taste extremely similar to the ones you get in restaurants. Hurrah! Now I just have to work on making them look beautiful.

Filling the gyoza. I think in future, I'd probably fill them up a bit more, as where the two sides stuck together, it could be a bit stodgy. So best to keep that to a minimum, I reckon.

One gyoza, ready to be cooked.

A little group of gyoza being steamed.

Dipping a steamed gyoza into dipping sauce - a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, chopped garlic, ginger and spring onions. Fabulous.
So, the million dollar question is whether I would make them again. I think I would, as with frozen wrappers it's very easy. And they taste great. With a little practice, I reckon, I could improve my dexterity and produce gyoza that Wagamama would be proud of!

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Mmmmm, there was a lot of deliciousness this week. As it's barbecue season (and amazingly enough we've had barbecue weather), there were a couple of rather delicious looking burger recipes - one which promises the secret of the perfect burger here (it's simpler than you might think) and a rather more exotic Jamaican chicken burger at Elly says opa! There's also this rather yummy looking Egg and Bacon Pie at Essex Eating. It just cries out to be taken on a picnic in the park on a sunny summer's day.
But there were also some recipes to keep me going in rainier times. Firstly I have to try this duck salad by Alex at A Brit's Dish a Day - it was scored a magnificent 10 out of 10 by the famous Mr F. Then there's this amazing looking shrimp, peas and pasta with saffron cream sauce at The Pink Peppercorn. (And I want Gail's kitchen - it looks so nice!) I'm also determined to make this brie, bacon and spinach omelette at Food, glorious food. Check out those photos - it's all gooey and cheesy inside. I also very much like the look of these chickpea fritters at What Rachel ate today, although I'll have to think of an alternative to the tomato salsa (not keen on raw tomatoes - which is so much more common that everyone seems to believe!).
Meanwhile, there are also a couple of breads that caught my eye. Have a look at this emergency tomato cheese bread at Cook sister! A last minute alternative to garlic bread, and proof that necessity is the mother of all invention. Some of it delicious looking cheesy bready invention, which can only be a good thing. I also spotted this "meltingly more-ish chick pea and deep fried bread combo" - Chana Bhatura at eat and dust. Sounds very promising, I'm sure you'll agree.
And now, time for the sweet stuff. Mmmmmm, sweet stuff. Ginger and dark chocolate biscuits, anyone? Or perhaps you can be tempted by a Caramel crumble cinnamon loaf cake? And if that doesn't float your boat, check out this Strawberry walnut loaf. Take a gander at the snaps - it looks so moist and soft. Mmmmm. And while we're on strawberries, there is a recipe for strawberry shortcakes at Smitten Kitchen. As ever, spectacular photography and a fantastic looking recipe. And I found another version of a Mr Kipling style bakewell tart at Katiecakes. It looks so great. And last, but most definitely not least, is this rather spectacular Apricot and chocolate tart at love and a licked spoon.
And if that little lot doesn't set your stomach rumbling, well then you've got a much stronger constitution than I have!

Sushi

Little sis has arrived to join me for part of the staycation I'm taking this week. I know, I'm so 2009! (Though the fact I have no money to go abroad is less to do with the credit crunch and more to do with the government stealing all our money for the privilege of Mr Splorer being allowed to stay here, but let's not get me started on that one...) Anyhoo, among the list of things to do this week are a one or two culinary challenges. So this afternoon we made sushi.
We found the rather fantastic website Sushi Day (every day is sushi day!) and followed the instructions for cooking the rice and rolling the sushi. (Beware, the cooking the rice section doesn't mention washing the rice - read through the comments for some instructions for doing that.) Then we sort of went our own way with the fillings. We had avocado, crab sticks, cucumber and smoked salmon to play with, plus some toasted sesame seeds for the outsides and pickled ginger and soy sauce for dipping.
And it was surprisingly successful! It seemed a little faffy at first, but we soon realised that cooking rice, adding vinegar and sugar and wrapping it around delicious strips of fish and veg isn't that complicated. They looked pretty neat and tidy, and, most importantly, tasted absolutely fantastic. All the rolls were devoured the minute they'd been chopped and the only sound to be heard was 'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm'. We stuffed ourselves with sushi in the way we can never afford to in restaurants!
So, if you're a sushi novice, I'd totally recommend giving it a go. A little shopping and a little effort with the fingers and you'll be highly rewarded. I, for one, am going to do it again, especially now I've got the special bamboo rolling mat thing.

Milk bread plait and Potato salad

Making lunch for big bro and the common law sis in law today was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. First, suprise and elation at the discovery that mayonnaise is the most spectacularly easy thing in the world to make (if you have a food processor). Then frustration and disappointment when my bread dough failed to rise in the slightest. Then delight when the bread decided to rise after all. Ooh, it's so tough, this cooking lark!
But it all worked out wonderfully in the end and we had a picnic in the local park on the most delightful summery day I've seen for quite a while. It made Mr Splorer feel quite at home!

Here's the bread I made - a Milk Bread Plait from the Doves Farm website. (Note the lashings of ginger beer in the background!) My Mum used to make a delicious plaited loaf for summery salad type meals, so it seemed just the thing for my picnic. As I mentioned, there was a worrrying moment when it just didn't rise at all, but it turned out that Mr Splorer had had a similar problem previously. (I have therefore learnt not to chuck the other half unceremoniously out of the kitchen when cooking!) It's all about the yeast, you see. It turns out that quick yeast is not the same as easy blend yeast, which should be activated before you add it. Following the recipe on the website using easy blend yeast meant that the dough took a little longer to rise. It didn't grow at all in the first phase of rising, but once it had been made into a plait, it seemed much happier. And once it was cooked, it was lovely - soft and squishy.


This was the potato salad I made with my home-made mayonnaise. The recipe was from delicious magazine and you can find it here. I replaced the dijon mustard with wholegrain, because that's what we had in the cupboard. I'm not a fan of mustard myself and so am not sure about the difference in taste, but it tasted pretty good to me. And I still can't get over how easy it was - you literally just whizz up three ingredients and then whizz in olive oil, and within seconds it magically transforms itself into delicious mayonnaise. Simply amazing!
To make the potato salad, I boiled some potatoes and mixed them with mayonnaise, chopped parsley and chopped spring onions. Fantastic, though I say so myself.

I also made this chicken salad from Jamie Oliver's website. It was nice, quite refreshing and light, but it wasn't very exciting. So I'm still on the hunt for a really good chicken mayonnaisey salad. Any recommendations?

Roasted vegetable lasagne

Of late, Mr Splorer and I have been developing a slight obsession with roasted vegetables. I think I may have actually got him addicted to roasted red onions. Aren't they the greatest? Mr Splorer has got so smitten with all things roasted that while I was at my dance class yesterday he roasted up a whole chicken, Jamie Oliver style, on a delicious bed of roasted vegetables. So I had to make a bit of an effort in return.
And I must say, this was a triumph. I made two layers - one with spinach and feta and one with roasted peppers, garlic and tomatoes. And some gorgonzola that was lying around the fridge to top if off. In fact, Mr Splorer requests more cheese next time. But you could easily mess around with this recipe. But as it is, it's all tasty, with a crunchy, cheesy top and a squishy underneath that's just full of flavour.


1 red onion, chopped into quarters
3 tomatoes
1 and a half peppers, cut into halves
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
half a courgette, thinly sliced
100g spinach
100g feta
150g lasagne sheets
300 ml milk
1 bay leaf
30g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
nutmeg
a handful of gorgonzola!

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6. Put the tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and onions onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Put the a clove of garlic onto each pepper half. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until deliciously roasted.
Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Wilt the spinach, add a little nutmeg and mix with the feta.
Make a bechamel sauce by heating the milk with the bay leaf until it boils. Take it off the heat, strain it and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Heat the butter in the same saucepan and when it boils, whisk in the flour. Gradually add the milk, whisking as you go. Add salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.
Cook the lasagne in boiling water until very nearly cooked. When the vegetables are roasted, chop up and mix together. (Don't turn off the oven.)
Layer the lasagne in a dish with alternate layers of spinach/feta and roasted vegetables/bechamel sauce. Top with bechamel sauce and then sprinkle with gorgonzola. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.

It is, I'll admit, a bit fiddly, what with assembling the layers and the sauce and whatnot. But it's not difficult. And what you can do is finish off your meal with a delicious ready made desert. We had a Gü hot chocolate soufflé, on special offer at the supermarket - only £2 for two, complete with a ramekin! Yummy, I must say. Plus, they have very clever marketing people - about 6 months ago they delivered a whole load of puds to the office at work. So, I knew they were fab, and the minute I saw them on special offer, I pounced! (And no, I'm not in the pay of Gü...!)

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Before I start on the new stuff, I want to go back to a recipe that I missed in the inaugural Wednesday round-up. Well, there's all something, isn't there? The reason we have to go back in time is this Seedy Sprinkle at What Rachel ate today. I just think it's such a great idea to have a pot of crunchy seeds kicking around the kitchen to add texture and flavour to any salad. Personally I need healthy eating to be made as easy and yummy as possible, and I think this might be the perfect way to go about it. If only I could around to actually making the Seedy Sprinkle...
Meanwhile, Rachel also produced this Spicy sausage pasta that I just want to devour. I can just picture myself curled up on the sofa with a massive bowl of that, an equally massive glass of red wine and a fine film on the TV. Heaven.
Meanwhile, on 101 Cookbooks I spotted this recipe for Baked sweet potato falafel. They don't look like any falafels I've ever seen, but look totally delicious anyway. And that entry's glowing recommendation has lead me to add the Leon cookbook to my Amazon wishlist. My wishlist is rapidly filling up with cookbooks I've seen recommended on blogs. Other recent additions include Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone and Every Day by Bill Granger. I'm not quite sure how these two Aussies have so successfully infiltrated the world of food blogs but I'm pretty sure I'm going to crack soon and hand over some cash to Amazon. In the meantime, I'm having a jolly nice time trying to decide which one to buy first.
Anyway, back to the recipes. Heavenly housewife attracted my attention this week with this Brown sugar cinnamon raisin bread. You know it's going to be a winner when the recipe name just reads like a list of your favourite things! And as if that wasn't enough sweet goodness, take a look at this Raspberry buttermilk cake at Smitten Kitchen. Mmmmmmmm.
Oh, and I'm rather intrigued to try Agresto, a sort of variation on pesto that dates from Roman times that was made by Alex at A Brit's dish a day.
And finally this week I discovered from the Syrian Foodie in London that what I've been eating and imagining to be baba ghanoush all my life has in fact been mutabal. Which I had never even heard of. Apparently the real baba ghanoush is made with pomegranate molasses, tomatoes, parsley and walnuts. Maybe I should give that a try sometime...

PS Aren't you impressed by how much from last week's Wednesday round-up I managed to make at the weekend? It'll never last!

Spinach and watercress kedgeree

There seem to be about a million variations to kedgeree. And I seem to have been worked my way through most of them. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a dish of smoked fish with rice and egg. It is by all accounts an Anglo-Indian dish, so it usually has curry type flavours. It was quite the popular breakfast dish in Victorian England apparently.
A few years ago, I was quite smitten with a Jamie Oliver recipe with risotto rice and smoked mackerel that I got from somewhere or other. Then recently I discovered a rather yummy recipe on Waitrose.com for Smoked mackerel, cardamom and spinach kedgeree. The addition of spinach seems to me to be a stroke of genius. It adds a touch of freshness and cuts through the richness of the fish, egg and rice combo. So, this is my version. Smoked mackerel would work just as well as haddock (minus the poaching), but I wanted to give Mr Splorer a feel of the classic dish. And then spoiled that by adding spinach, watercress and poaching the eggs instead of boiling them. Ah well.
Poached eggs are my new favourite thing, especially now I've discovered the trick of stirring the water to make a little whirlpool to drop them in. The way that the white wraps itself around the yolk is very pleasing indeed. A runny yolked poached egg works really well with kedgeree - though I didn't quite get that this time round as you can see. Still good though.

Serves 4 (Or makes one dinner and one breakfast for two!)

300 ml milk
300 ml water
2 fillets of smoked haddock (about 400g)
150g basmati rice
2 cardamom seeds
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
200g spinach
100g watercress
4 eggs

Mix the milk and water in a wide saucepan and bring to a simmer. Put the smoked haddock in and poach for about 10 minutes, until the skin comes off easily. Take the fish out and save the liquid. Pull the fish 'meat' (what do you call that?!) off the skin and into small flakes, removing any bones you come across.
Use the milk/water liquid from poaching the haddock to cook the rice, adding the cardamom seeds. Meanwhile, fry the onion in olive oil until soft, and mix in the garam masala, turmeric, cumin and curry powder. Add the rice, spinach and watercress and stir until the spinach and watercress have wilted. Season with salt and lots of pepper.
Poach the eggs by dropping them from a cup into a saucepan of simmering, swirling water and leave for 2 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Divide the kedgeree into 4 shallow bowls and top each one with a poached egg.

(I'd also add some chopped parsley next time around, but I didn't have any handy.)

Carrot purée with caraway and feta

Today I hosted a potluck picnic on our sitting room floor. It was supposed to be on Parker's Piece, the squarish green area in the centre of Cambridge. But despite the aliterative pleasingness of the original plan, the British weather intervened in a rather predictable fashion. So we went with plan b - a rather fetching checked blanket on the floor in our flat. We left the windows open for a realistic outdoors feel.
One unexpected side effect of plan b was that all the leftovers were left behind, so I now have a fridge full of hummus, cous cous and cocktail sausages. That's my packed lunches for the week sorted then!
Mr Splorer's and my contributions to the picnic were extremely food blog inspired. We finally got round to making:

Muhummara

Romesco dip

and, Mr Splorer's contribution, the creamy, dreamy chocolate layer cake.

Not content with just two orangey coloured dips, I added a third, carrot purée - an old favourite from the Casa Moro cookbook.

I served my dips with Nigellan flatbread, a rather easy and delicious bread from How to be a Domestic Goddess. You can find the recipe here.

So, I hear you cry, what was the verdict on these recipes swiped from the wonderful world of food blogs (mainly The Pink Peppercorn)? Well, pretty damn delicious actually. It turned out that the muhammara and Romesco dip were pretty similar - both based on roasted pepper and bread and olive oil. So probably next time I wouldn't make them both! But they were both really yummy, though if I was forced to choose a favourite it would have to be the muhammara I think. The touch of heat (which was supposed to be added by dried pepper flakes but I didn't have any so used cayenne pepper) and the walnutty flavour just made it that bit more memorable.
And the cake? The cake was a triumph. Mr Splorer was so enamoured of it that he did consider hiding it away - it wasn't originally meant for the picnic. But he did decide to share, which was a bloody good idea as even after about 10 people have tucked in, we still have half the cake left. It's massive! It's also really dense and delicious. And the tip about making chocolate swirls using a vegetable peeler is a great one.
Anyway, here's the recipe for the carrot purée, slightly simplified. I highly recommend it - it's really easy and totally delicious. I've always messed about with the herbs and spices depending on what I've had in the house, but today I made it with caraway and mint, as it should. For possibly the first time ever!

Carrot purée with caraway and feta

750g carrots
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp caraway seeds
2 tbsp fresh mint
100g feta

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Slice the carrots into rounds no more than 2cm thick. Toss with half the olive oil and some salt and pepper and place in a roasting tin. Cover with foil and roast for about 45 minutes, or until completely tender. (I took the foil off for the last 5 minutes or so to caramelise the carrots a bit.) Remove and cool before whizzing in the food processor, with the caraway, half the mint and some salt and pepper. Spread onto a plate and top with the feta, crumbled, some extra olive oil and the remaining mint, chopped.

And just writing this has sent me back to the kitchen for bread, carrot purée and a nice little glass of red wine. It's great having a kitchen full of leftovers!

Wednesday round-up of deliciousness

Do you know the problem with food blogs? There's just so much delicious food to look at, so many amazing looking recipes that you promise yourself you're going to try. And then the next day, there's more! Alright, so it's a pretty great problem to have, but as I've discovered more and more food blogs, I'm worried that I'm going to forget about all those things I want to make. So I've decided to start a Wednesday round-up of deliciousness, i.e. those blog posts that have really caught my eye, with recipes that I am determined to get round to making. This is for me just as much as it's for you - where better to keep a list of recipes to consult in the future?
Right then, this might be a long one!
The one that simply has to go first is this creamy dreamy chocolate layer cake by the Pink Peppercorn. I'm not sure that I need this round-up not to forget it - I've been slightly obsessed ever since I saw those spectacular photos. And hopefully it won't be too long before I get to eat some - Mr Splorer, who I showed the recipe to, actually went out and bought the ingredients on Monday but I was making lemon drizzle cake, so it had to wait. But I'm sure we can find a window this weekend...
The Pink Peppercorn also has this rather yummy looking recipe for something called muhummara, which is apparently a red pepper and walnut dip. Which then reminded me how much I wanted to make Romesco dip from Dinner with Julie. Roasted red peppers, almonds, garlic, olive oil and bread - what's not to like?!
The other recipe that I hadn't been able to get out of my mind is this cinnamon bagels one from Smitten Kitchen. Where you will also find a recipe for ranch rugelach, which seem to be a variation on cinnamon rolls, with added jam, dried fruit and chocolate bits in the middle. Intriguing, I'm sure you'll agree.
And while we're on sweet things, I also really want to make these cherry bakewell type tarts - The Ginger Gourmand's attempt to deal with the other half's craving for Mr Kipling's cherry bakewells! And then there's these strawberry and polenta cupcakes at Food glorious food. And I challenge you to look at this ricotta and chocolate round cake roll without wanting to dash off to your local ricotta emporium.
But I haven't only been lusting over the sweet stuff. This recipe for coconut chilli prawns with cumin puris by Anne at Anne's Kitchen has been knocking around the back of my head for a while now. And then back to the Ginger Gourmand for a new ingredient I'd determined to try - sumac. And this pea and mint soup at This week I 'ave mostly been eating looks so good for this time of year.
Oh, and we have a late entry - this amazing looking Roses Cake has just appeared on my Google Reader. You see what I mean? It just never stops!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

If I had to describe this cake in one word, that word would be soft. Oh, and lemony of course! But maybe we can take the lemon as read and go back to soft. It's also light and seems to just melt in the mouth.
But I can take absolutely no credit for this cake, not even seeking out the recipe. The recipe came and sought me out. My only move was to join the UK Food Blogger's Association and request a recipe for a high impact, low risk cake with which to impress to workmates at today's Cake Off. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the wonderful institution of the Cake Off, but they involve people baking cakes, bringing them in and other people paying for a slice. The money goes to charity, in this case the Parkinson's Disease Society.
It's quite the competitive event, with everyone eyeing up each other's cakes to see whose is disappearing the fastest. So I wanted a winner, and thought that this was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of having a whole big group of food obsessed types on tap. I got some delicious looking recipes, including this Ricotta and Chocolate Tart and this Banana Cake. Yummy looking fellas, I'm sure you'll agree. Unable to choose which of the options to make, I did a mini poll around the office and Lemon Drizzle Cake came out a clear winner.
So Anne's Lemon Drizzle Cake is what I made. It took a little longer to cook than the times Anne gave, but I think that might just be my rubbish oven! Unfortunately I was in a meeting while the cakes were being devoured, so I can't tell you what the workmates thought. But fortunately I knew I was going to be in a meeting, so I made another one to keep at home. And I discovered Mr Splorer in the kitchen more than once with a tell tale yellow crumb on the lip, so I'm pretty sure he liked it!
I thought it was lovely - soft, lemony and delicious. The only mistake I think I made is leaving the lemon zest and sugar for the topping in a bowl together. It sort of melts together, which looks quite pretty and sparkly (as you can see below) but is not the easiest thing to spread on the top of a cake. In future, I'd leave them separate and sprinkle, not spread. Apart from that, it was simplicity itself!PS We made £212 for charity. And a workmate I barely know came up to me today (2 days later) to say how nice it was and that she wants me to make it again. Success all round, I'd say!

Saturday Brunch Heaven

Chopped potatoes, parboiled and fried and topped with bacon and a fried egg. Served with a sort of marie rose sauce made by mixing mayonnaise, ketchup, spicy sauce and paprika. Not to mention the obligatory cup of tea (other caffeine filled beverages are available) and the Saturday papers.
This brunch was inspired by a Spanish tapa which is served with jamón serrano, but the local supermarket couldn't furnish me with such an exotic ingredient. But as you can imagine, it works pretty damn well with bacon. It's not the healthiest way to start your day, but if you're having a lazy post-pub Saturday morning, it's definitely one of the most delicious.
And the icing on the cake? The News Quiz unexpectedly coming on the radio. (Middle aged? Moi?!)

Chocolate cupcakes

So, following on from my post about my wedding food trial with Rosalie, I've selflessly tested out a chocolate cupcake recipe on Rosalie's behalf. The poor thing is getting a bit sick of them, you see, as she seems to be having issues finding the right recipe. You know you're in trouble when even a Nigella recipe doesn't hit the spot!
But I think her troubles might be over. I tested out this recipe from The Caked Crusader and I think it's a winner. The first recipe we tried was delicious but didn't rise enough for that traditional cupcake look, the second batch were a bit dry and apparently Nigella's addition of strawberry jam added the required moisture but the tasters weren't convinced by the flavour. The Caked Crusader recipe, however, was wonderfully moist and they rose perfectly. I managed to mess up the vanilla buttercream, but it's my own fault. I wanted to make slightly less and started doing maths to try and do two thirds. When will I learn that I should steer well clear of maths?! Anyway, it was a bit runny, but tasted good. I popped a Smartie on the top of each one for a spot of colour, but of course the wedding ones will be more beautifully adorned.

Veggie burgers

Isn't it funny the way you trust food writers? None of the people in my life, no matter how much I love them, could ever make me eat mushrooms. Even telling me that something contains mushrooms would probably put me off it. But give me a veggie burger recipe by Madhur Jaffrey and I'll actually go out and buy them. Marcella Hazan can also get me to put nutmeg in her bolognese sauce, but maybe that's another post... Anyway, in both these cases, I have been right to trust these wise ladies. The bolognese sauce is fab and the veggie burgers were extremely tasty.
Now, I'm not a vegetarian, not even tempted, but I grew up in a semi-veggie household, which gave me a certain appreciation for vegetarian food. Or at least meant I don't feel that a meal has to contain meat. And lately I have become fond of the odd veggie meat alternative. I'm a massive fan of Cauldron veggie sausages, and I have been known to choose a veggie burger over a meaty one in a pub setting. But I always found veggie burgers a little mysterious - what on earth goes in them? (I think you could probably ask the same question of meaty burgers, but no doubt I'd be less keen to find out the answer!) Well, here's the answer, taken from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian:

Bean curd veggie burgers

450g tofu
5 tbsp vegetable oil
3 spring onions, cut into very very fine rings
5 medium size button mushrooms, stalks removed and caps finely diced
85g carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 tbsp celery, finely diced
1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped
4 tbsp fresh coriander
2 tbsp soy sauce (the recipe specified tamari but I went with what I had)
black pepper
1 egg beaten
8 tbsp dried breadcrumbs

Put the tofu on a double layer of kitchen paper. Cover with another double layer of kitchen paper. Put a large plate on top and put a weight (about 450g/1 lb - I used a bag of flour) on top of that. Leave for one hour. Crumble the tofu into a bowl, mashing and crumbling it further until it is like minced meat. (I can't say there was a massive resemblance, but you get the picture!)
Put two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan and set on a high heat. When hot, put in the spring onions, mushrooms, carrot, celery and chilli. Stir fry for three minutes. Now empty the contents of the frying pan into the bowl with the crumbled tofu. Add the coriander, soy sauce and pepper. Mix well. Add the egg and about the breadcrumbs. Mix well. Shape into 7-8 patties. (You can refridgerate the patties for 3-4 hours)
Put the remaining 3 tbsp oil in a large non-stick frying pan and set on medium high heat. When hot, put in the patties. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until they are well browned. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately.

Madhur actually says that you should put 5 tbsp of the breadcrumbs in the patties and use the other 3 tbsp to coat the burgers. But I found two issues with that. First, there weren't nearly enough breadcrumbs for the number of burgers. And secondly, having run out of breadcrumbs, I found that the burgers without stayed together much better than the ones with. I have no idea why, but it has lead me to recommend that you just pop all those breadcrumbs in. But maybe it depends on the consistency. Which leads me to the tofu question...
You'll see that the recipe calls for tofu, but after heading off to the local Chinese shops, I discovered that there are LOTS of types of tofu. Fresh tofu, silken tofu, firm tofu, soft tofu... I went with fresh, assuming that fresher is generally better, but I think it led to a wetter burger mix. Next time maybe I'd try a different one, but I think that having the breadcrumbs is a good way to adjust the consistency - maybe just make sure you have some extra, just in case!
Another thing I might change next time around is my method of chopping. I'm still stuck in the 20th century and not used to having a food processor, so my little helper (thank you Rachel!) and I chopped everything by hand. We had a good time, chatting and chopping and drinking wine, but then Mr Splorer asked me why we didn't do it in the food processor. I think it would work well to do that, making this recipe really quick and also I think helping the vegetables to bind together.
But despite this setbacks, and possible future adjustments, I would definitely recommend this recipe. The burgers are really tasty, even for us mushroom haters!
For afters we had this lemon posset recipe from Nigel Slater and it was lovely but incredibly sweet. I also have plans for next time I make that, namely adding some lemon zest and serving with shortbread, just to cut through the creamy sweetness and add a little texture.

Squashing the tofu

The vegetables - look at all those mushrooms!

The final burger. It doesn't look like much, but appearances aren't everything! Plus, once it's popped in a burger bun with some ketchup, greenery and plastic cheese, it looks just fine.

The lemon posset à la the three bears - not very greedy bear, greedy bear and very greedy bear. (Naming absolutely no names!)