From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 144
A quick and straightforward coleslaw.
I felt this coleslaw lacked a twist to make it more interesting. Apart from using less mayo and adding some white wine vinegar, I decided to try red cabbage to give the salad a rounder flavour. I think it does need at least some black pepper, and could even imagine adding some orange juice and roasted walnuts to the red cabbage coleslaw.
Vegan: Use vegan mayonnaise.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 120
A classic: (TVP) mince sauce, covered with mashed poatoes and baked in the oven.
When trying this dish, I felt the TVP mince sauce could do with some more veg, so I added some grated carrots, chopped fennel and chopped celery. I also thought the sauce needed some more flavour. I tried using some nutritional yeast and worcestershire sauce, but was not happy with the result. Next time I would try a sauce with red wine, similar to the one used for the Moussaka (p.109 in “Home Cooking”).
Vegan: Use plant-based milk for the mashed potatoes.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 113
Fried mushrooms and onion in a sherry sauce.
This is a quick dish to be served with rice or potatoes. To me, it was a little too plain and could do with some surprises. I would recommend adding some chilli and 2 tbsp. of cream cheese or plant-based cream to the sauce.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 140
Green beans in a tomato sauce.
My husband and I use to joke that every good meal starts with frying an onion. Whenever we start cooking and don’t know what we really want to cook, frying an onion is always a good start.
To me it seems that for Linda, many good meals started with frying an onion and some celery, and then adding tomatoes- her recipe for success? It is a good way to make green beans more interesting and more tasty.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 115
A rice casserole that tastes like “rice bolognaise”. Easy to make and good to prepare in advance. Serve with green veg (e.g. “Peas in Cream” from p. 140 in “Home Cooking”) or a salad.
Comments: When using dried TVP mince, you need slightly more tomato juice (800ml).
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 76
A layered noodle salad with red cabbage, mushrooms and cucumber. It looks very pretty and colourful and is a great salad to take to the next party.
When making this salad, I decided to give it an Asian twist by using glass noodles and adding some ginger, garlic and chopped chilli to the dressing. I thought this goes well with the red cabbage, mushrooms and cucumber. The glass noodles were quite long and difficult to eat, so I would recommend cutting them before layering them into the salad bowl.
The dressing takes quite long to seep through the salad; make sure the salad stands for at least one hour before serving. For a lighter version, reduce the olive oil to 3 tbsp. You might also want to reduce the vinegar to 3 tbsp. to give a less sour taste, and add 3 tbsp. water and 1 tbsp. agave syrup to the dressing.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 105
A curry with TVP chunks, onion and apple with sweet onions and sweet and sour apple.
Variations: I used cubed tofu instead of TVP chunks. Adding some more vegetables, such as cubed carrots or courgettes would make this dish more interesting and also more substantial.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 113
A quick and easy recipe for pasta with olive oil and garlic, also known as “aglio e olio” in Italy.
It is important to sauté the garlic very gently in the olive oil to avoid browning as this will give the sauce a burnt taste.
Vegan: Omit the parmesan or use vegan “parmesan” instead.
Gluten-Free: Make sure your pasta is gluten-free.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 147
A quick and tasty pasta sauce, known in Italy as “aglio e olio”.
Feel free to use as much or little olive oil as you like; personally I prefer using a lot less than Linda suggests (just about 3 tbsp), but others just love having a lot of oil with their pasta.
Serve with pasta and a big salad.
From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 117
A great recipe for a classic ratatouille.
After watching the film “Ratatouille” about a cooking gourmet rat, it was easy to decide what to cook today.
Linda’s recipe is straightforward and gives an easy method to steam or slow-cook the veg in its own juice. I think there is no need to deseed the tomatoes; instead I would use the seeds and the juice of the tomatoes as fluid to help start the steaming process.
It is important to cut the aubergine (no need to peel the aubergine!) and the courgette in rounds and layer them over the mushroom and pepper mix. There is no stirring involved during the whole cooking process.
Another very simple and delicious dish that will impress dinner guests!
Serve with tagliatelle or new potatoes.