From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 118.
A nice tomato rice with onion, celery and navy beans.
The recipe does not give any suggestions on how and with what to serve this rice. I think that it is a little plain on its own and would recommend serving it with a big salad or even a quiche.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 55.
A cold soup with tomatoes, green pepper and cucumber- and garlic of course!
When I was a child, my Mum made Gazpacho once and I remember really hating it. So I was a little scared of this recipe- but got a very pleasant surprise. A refreshing soup that is delicious and contains all the goodness of a big salad. So it could really be called a salad smoothie 🙂
I must admit that I did not add the raw egg to the soup as I want to be careful with uncooked eggs. But tastewise, there is really no need for the egg, so I guess it is ok to just leave it out (and thus make this a vegan soup, too!).
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 88.
Burger chunks in a white sauce with onion, peppers and mushrooms.
This is one of the endless variations of burger chunks that are presented in this cookbook. I got a little tired of them, but my family is asking for more. So I continue on the quest to cook my way through the whole book…
This sauce is really very tasty and meat-lovers will like this a lot. I substituted the burger chunks for cubed smoked tofu which was great as it did not crumble during the cooking time and added a lovely smokey flavour to the dish.
Vegan: Use plant-based milk for the white sauce.
Gluten-free: Use a gluten-free flour blend for the white sauce and make sure the burgers you are using are gluten-free, too. Or use smoked tofu instead.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 128.
A great marinade for burger chunks or pieces of firm tofu.
I made vegetable kebabs and used some tofu cubes marinated in this teriyaki sauce in beetween the veg- great!
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 137
Cooked beetroot in a cornflour and cider vinegar sauce, served with melted butter.
I found that with this recipe, the sour and starchy sauce was too dominant and I did not like the sweetness of the sauce either- so this is one of the recipes I am not too fond of. If you like to try this out, I would recommend using either no sugar at all or just very little. You can also half the amount of cider vinegar used.
Vegan: Substitute the butter with olive oil or vegan butter.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 138
Sautéed okras, simmered in a tasty tomato sauce.
Okras were another of the vegetables not usually found in our grocery store around the corner. So when I discovered some while visiting a small greengrocer’s in the city center (yes, I do like looking around grocery shops and could spend ages discovering all the vegetables, fruit, pulses and spices to be found there…) I knew that this recipe would be next.
I was a bit worried as the okras are chopped before cooking, which makes them release a slimy juice that is usually not wanted in okra dishes. Surprisingly, with this recipe the okra juice just blended with the tomato sauce and the consistency was find. As the sauce is simmered for quite some time it gets a very round taste and the sliced okras are just beautiful to look at: on the cut they look like little flowers.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 89
Veggie burgers covered with asian-style veg and baked in the oven.
This is one of the many burger-based dishes in the book and I have to admit that I do tire of all those burgers. To make a change (and also because it goes well with the asian-style veg) I used smoked tofu instead of the burgers. The combination of veg and tofu was great, but baking the veg after cooking did overcook it and it lost some of its taste and all of its bite. I also did not like the starchy sauce the veg gets mixed with and would have preferred a lighter version with just soy sauce and maybe some curry powder. Why not stir-fry the veg and tofu next time and season with soy sauce and some light spices and serve with some rice or rice noodles?
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 91
Ready-made burgers, served with parsley butter- just what the recipe promised 🙂
I made this recipe using home-made black bean burgers, and served it with a green salad. It tasted good but this would be the kind of meal I do not need a recipe for- frying a burger and adding some flavoured butter is not magic… But still, my family did enjoy it and the chances are that I would not have cooked this had it not been for my project…
Vegan and gluten-free: The recipe can be both vegan and gluten-free if the burgers are vegan and/ or gluten-free.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 133
A mixture of wild and white rice, cooked in vegetable stock, with petits pois.
A quick and easy rice dish with ingredients usually at hand. It is full of flavours but subtle enough to be eaten with a main course.
I used frozen peas and added them when the rice had finished cooking and just warmed them through.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 112
This is a more basic variation of the “Rice in Tasty Vegetable Stock” on p. 118. It is great served with a main course and is a more interesting side dish than just rice- the mushrooms add a lovely umami flavour.