The vegged up 'Here's what I had for dinner last night' thread

Little Alex

Well, it was actually lunch, truth be told. Alex does not arise at an ungodly hour on a day off!

Little Alex

Quorn Wellington:



Mine is medium done. How do you like yours?

dubsontour

Feu wrote: »

on a slightly related side note, i noticed [when in australia] that the really shi//y "bag" wine had chicken egg and fish as listed ingredients. I think to give it a fake aged taste. I've not noticed this here, as i don't really drink wine, but I'm sure it's creeping in.

I wouldn't drink a particular wine for this reason, but i still can't let go of guinness. I need the iron. But I am a bad veggie.

I love my Guinness and it was with deep regret that I had to give it up:D:D when becoming a veggie..Any way gave it up for a few years and read of Gweneth Palthrow who said she drank Guinness (and said she was a veggie at the time)
So contacted Guinness customer dept and explained my dilemma:D..
Response I got was that they use a fish by product but by the time it goes through all the distilling, what's left is so minimal even someone with a fish allergy could drink it..
So that was enough for me,the mail was barely read before a visit to Gaffo's was on the cards..
Or maybe I'm a bad Veggie too;);).
Just thought I'd share this info.

Little Alex

I make this most weekends for breakfast, based on this recipe.

Tar.Aldarion

Looks lovely! I like how you add an egg to things. :-p



Somebody made me veggie marshmallows, delicious! Hard to make I'd say.
Haven't had em in years, yesss.









Here is dinner:







Quite amazing! Mashed potato, mashed swede/carrot ( all blended and seasoned) with mushrooms and onions fried in a lovely red wine.
Along with that is a very meaty 'roast beef', really liked that, first time I've had it. Very nice! One of the nicest alternative meats I've ever had. None of the others really have a 'chew' about them.

Little Alex

Very nice, Tar. Marshmallows look lovely.

Where did you get that roast beef stuff and how much did it cost?

Tar.Aldarion

They are lovely, really good. I like them more than real ones, thicker


It came from Down to Earth on Georges street and (ouch) cost E7.70. I know, very expensive. Luckily it was another easter present :-p I would love to have it again, but wouldn't too often at that price. I wish more places did these things, bit of competition...

--LOS--

Little Alex wrote: »

Very nice, Tar. Marshmallows look lovely.

Where did you get that roast beef stuff and how much did it cost?

They are kinda ugly marshmallows but ya know what they really did taste like marshmallows, had pretty much the same consistency, I would have liked if they were less 'wet' so I could cut them better but they set good enough (I used agar agar in it which seemed to work well). We put them in hot chocolate today and I really wouldnt be able to tell the difference from real ones, they worked great in it ^_^

RussellTuring

dubsontour wrote: »

I love my Guinness and it was with deep regret that I had to give it up:D:D when becoming a veggie..Any way gave it up for a few years and read of Gweneth Palthrow who said she drank Guinness (and said she was a veggie at the time)
So contacted Guinness customer dept and explained my dilemma:D..
Response I got was that they use a fish by product but by the time it goes through all the distilling, what's left is so minimal even someone with a fish allergy could drink it..
So that was enough for me,the mail was barely read before a visit to Gaffo's was on the cards..
Or maybe I'm a bad Veggie too;);).
Just thought I'd share this info.

Isn't the fact that fish still have to die for you to get that pint of Guinness not an issue? It was my drink of choice in the past too but this rules it out for me nowadays.

nesf

RussellTuring wrote: »

Isn't the fact that fish still have to die for you to get that pint of Guinness not an issue?

It would depend on whether one was a veggie for ethical reasons or not, no?

dubsontour

nesf wrote: »

It would depend on whether one was a veggie for ethical reasons or not, no?

That would be the thing all right..
As I said I am prob a bad Veggie:)..

Little Alex

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

They are lovely, really good. I like them more than real ones, thicker


It came from Down to Earth on Georges street and (ouch) cost E7.70. I know, very expensive. Luckily it was another easter present :-p I would love to have it again, but wouldn't too often at that price. I wish more places did these things, bit of competition...

That's somwhat pricey alright, about €20 a kilo.

--LOS-- wrote: »

They are kinda ugly marshmallows but ya know what they really did taste like marshmallows, had pretty much the same consistency, I would have liked if they were less 'wet' so I could cut them better but they set good enough (I used agar agar in it which seemed to work well). We put them in hot chocolate today and I really wouldnt be able to tell the difference from real ones, they worked great in it ^_^

Well done, they turned out well. They look cute in the bag!

I had caramelised onion, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and goat's cheese in a filo case with lentils.

nesf

So lazy the last week. Tonight was Linda McCartney Sausages (ok) and Bird's Eye Vegetable Fingers (nom, nom).

RussellTuring

nesf wrote: »

It would depend on whether one was a veggie for ethical reasons or not, no?

Right you are. I suppose I just assume that people do it for ethical reasons but that's not the case.

Little Alex

At least I think this is Stromboli. It's pretty much a rolled-up pizza. I made it with some chopped up leftover roast vegetables.

Wurly

You. are. a. legend. and. you. need. to. come. and. live. at. my. house.

.fin:D

Raminahobbin

:eek:

Seriously, Little Alex...Are you a chef? Or do you just have a ridiculous flair for cooking and presentation? Does whoever the second plates are for understand how incredibly talented you are?

Gotta stop checking this thread out so regularly. It makes my own dinners seem so blah! All I had today for dinner was 'what's in the press' couscous with naan bread and hummus. It was yum, in fairness, but not particularly impressive looking!

Smeggy

You people are amazing! I've decided to try out vegetarianism for a week or two to see how I get on and the best I've managed is soup and rice must try harder, some delicious stuff on here giving me ideas

--LOS--

Raminahobbin wrote: »

:eek:

Seriously, Little Alex...Are you a chef? Or do you just have a ridiculous flair for cooking and presentation? Does whoever the second plates are for understand how incredibly talented you are?

Gotta stop checking this thread out so regularly. It makes my own dinners seem so blah! All I had today for dinner was 'what's in the press' couscous with naan bread and hummus. It was yum, in fairness, but not particularly impressive looking!

And not only is he an amazing chef but also a great photographer, I've no idea how he takes such good pics dammit

Anyway this is the most substantial thing I had today (it was a slow day)...



mushrooms, spinach, mozarella and sweet peppers, basically the same as a 'mushroom melt' from the bagel factory.

Little Alex

Ah now! Jaysus!

What I'm trying to do is convince myself that it is possible to make nice things to eat without flesh. Every time that I make something that I think turned out pretty OK I'd like to show off a bit! If ye don't mind.

Today I made cabbage rolls:

Little Alex

I was really pleased with how this turned out!



Roast potatoes, veggie sossies, baby tomatoes, leek and four eggs with some grated cheddar in. For two of course! :pac:

Little Alex

Right, this is made from... toast, free range egg mayonnaise, griddled Quorn chicken with Cajun spices and Quorn bacon, horseradish sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onion.

Nyom! Served with oven baked chips.

fillefatale

Last night I had aubergine steaks with cous-cous topping. Recipe from Leith's Vegetable bible. I wish I was eating them again

all the stars

Why oh why cant restaurants be this creative? I realllllly want to eat this picture!

Little Alex wrote: »

Right, this is made from... toast, free range egg mayonnaise, griddled Quorn chicken with Cajun spices and Quorn bacon, horseradish sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onion.

Nyom! Served with oven baked chips.

Little Alex

all the stars wrote: »

Why oh why cant restaurants be this creative? I realllllly want to eat this picture!

I guess there just isn't the market for vegetarian food.

On a more positive note... I was in Cornucopia a few weeks ago. Anyway, we both ordered different things and what Mrs. Alex ordered was a slice of savoury cheesecake. It tasted amazing. Really amazing.

And I see that they've just put the recipe up on their website!

I'm making it tomorrow! \o/

And then I'm going to go back into Cornucopia and order a slice of it again to compare!

Collie147

The thing is there is a market for vegetarian food! otherwise Quorn and Linda McCartney and others would've gone out of business a long time ago! A lot of Restaurateurs just aren't willing to accomodate. Some arent willing to go the extra mile and some are afraid that you might get something you shouldnt, for example if you say you're lactose intolerant some places will cook for you but mention that you're completely allergic to dairy and the same place wont cook for you at all.

On a completely different note I HIGHLY recommend Vanilla if you're in Tyrone or near the Omagh area at all. The chef there decided there wasnt enough of a selection of vegetarian foods so he decided to go veggie for a while to see how bored he got with the regular restaurant selections and come up with some new ones. The veggie selection changes all the time and for those vegans out there they will cater and do a mighty fine job of it too.

By the way Alex, your presentation is fantastic! I've been warned to only check out this page if I've already eaten!

Little Alex

Thanks, Collie.

It's a subject perhaps worthy of a separate thread, but I think vegetarians in Ireland are a tiny, tiny minority.

This is how my cheesecake turned out:

nesf

No picture, but 3 bean enchiladas the past few nights. Much better the second day after the beans had a chance to soak up the flavours overnight in the fridge. Definitely a keeper recipe. Nom, nom.

Stompbox

Just prepared a Tesco Spicy Bean Burger with some Caramelised Onion Hummus, some mixed leaves, carrot and cheese. Simple but delicious!

Little Alex

nesf wrote: »

No picture, but 3 bean enchiladas the past few nights. Much better the second day after the beans had a chance to soak up the flavours overnight in the fridge. Definitely a keeper recipe. Nom, nom.

Sounds good. What did you make it with, nesf?

I made some wraps for breakfast today. Veggie sossies, fried tomato and mushrooms and a fried egg.