AL DENTE PASTA AND VEGETABLES
I like pasta and most vegetables to be cooked “al dente”—an Italian expression meaning “to the bite” or “to the tooth”—so that they are still slightly firm and not too soggy. It’s a good idea to taste the pasta or vegetable when you think it is almost ready—and take a bite. Basically, you want to feel a little resistance in the center.
BLIND BAKING
The recipes in this book that use pastry involve blind baking (pre-baking) the pastry shell before you put the filling in, because this is the best way to help prevent the bottom of the pie crust from becoming too soggy and doughy.
FREEZING
I often make too much and then freeze what we don’t eat, so I’ve always got the good stuff ready in the freezer. Foodstuffs that freeze well are soups, vegetable stocks, gravy, shepherd’s pie, lasagna, sauces, etc. I also like to have an emergency supply of bagels, bread, and milk. When freezing liquids, do not overfill containers, as liquid expands when frozen. Baked goods, such as cookies, muffins and cakes, freeze well too. There are foods that don’t freeze well, such as vegetables with a high water content; for example, cucumber, cabbage, oranges, lettuce, celery, and onion. Egg-based sauces won’t work that well either, but dairy products such as milk, butter and cream can be frozen. Over time, your freezer can become an Aladdin’s cave of hidden treasures waiting for the right moment.
INGREDIENTS
• VEGETARIAN CHEESES: There is a wide variety of cheeses that are suitable for vegetarians, and they are now much more widely available in local shops and supermarkets. These cheeses are made without using animal rennet (animal rennet is not vegetarian, as it is an enzyme that comes from the stomachs of animals). Parmesan can sometimes be more difficult to find. BelGioioso does a great vegetarian Parmesan cheese (http://belgioioso.com) that can be bought in wedges (rather than the pre-grated stuff, which I find lacks taste), and it keeps well frozen for up to five months. If you cannot find Parmesan, then a good sharp, hard cheese will substitute perfectly well.
INGREDIENTS
• MEAT SUBSTITUTES: I sometimes like to cook using vegetarian meat substitutes. The ground meat substitute works well added to sauces in recipes such as shepherd’s pie, spaghetti bolognese, lasagna, and chili con carne. In the summer I like to barbecue vegetarian burgers and sausages with all the trimmings! These meat substitutes are now widely available in supermarkets and health food stores. There are available alternatives to most types of meat such as vegetarian sausages, burgers, ground meat, and chicken. These are often made using natural proteins from soy, wheat, and pea protein.
• EGGS: In all the recipes in this book, I recommend using large, free-range eggs (preferably organic, too), but if you use medium-sized ones I don’t think it will cause any problems. I use free-range eggs rather than eggs produced by hens kept in cages in factory farms. The move to free-range eggs by many consumers has seen a huge positive change in suppliers replacing factory eggs with free-range. Let’s keep up the pressure.
• SUGAR: I like to use natural granulated or superfine sugar. Unrefined (raw) cane sugar is a good alternative to bleached white refined sugar.
• VANILLA: These recipes use vanilla extract NOT vanilla flavoring. Vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol and water so that the flavor is infused into the liquid. It can be expensive, but keeps in the fridge for a long time while retaining its flavor.
• VEGETABLE STOCK: I have included a fresh vegetable stock recipe if you want to make your own. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, and it freezes well too. I also often use Marigold reduced-salt Swiss vegetable bouillon powder instead of fresh stock, which is available from online supermarkets and in health food stores
• BAKING CHOCOLATE AND COCOA POWDER: I like to use Green & Black’s plain dark chocolate 70%, although there are several great-quality chocolate brands available. I think, for baking, as long as you stick to 70% cocoa content, then it should be fine.
• SPELT and LIGHT SPELT FLOUR: I have started to use organic stone-ground spelt flour in place of all-purpose flour (although either will do). Spelt flour is an ancient wheat variety which is meant to be easily digestible. Light spelt flour has been sifted from the coarse outer layers of the bran, and has a similar texture to all-purpose flour. You can turn both spelt and all-purpose flour into self-rising flour by adding 2 teaspoons of baking powder per every 2 cups of flour. The recipes in this book call for light spelt flour because it is closer to all-purpose flour than regular spelt flour.
