Tag: vegan

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 140

A side dish made of boiled beetroot with an orange bechamel.
I love that the recipes in this book give you choices for all seasons- a good recipe to use some of the local beetroot I bought on the farmer’s marked today.
I did like the combination of beetroot and orange, but found the orange taste too dominant and the white sauce a bit too thick (even though I added a lot more water as it was simmering). So maybe I will try again with a thinner sauce and less orange.

Variations: As always, I tried to use less (animal) fat and replaced the butter/margarine with 2 tbsp. olive oil.

From: Linda McCartney´s Home Cooking, p. 86

A Rice Casserole with tomato sauce that is tasty, easy to make and is in the oven for long enough to tidy up the kitchen before lunch is ready 🙂
I think it is an ideal dish for the colder season and tastes great straight from the oven or re-heated. Serve with a crispy green salad.

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 67

A complete meal with Sauerkraut, saussages and mashed potatoes.
Using the home-made sauerkraut, I did try the alternative suggestion by baking the sauerkraut in the oven. But instead of covering it with a lid, I covered it with some mashed poatoes, sprinkled with bread crumbs and a few flakes of margarine. A meal all in one dish and perfect for a cold winter´s day.

From: Linda McCartney´s Home Cooking, p. 58

A recipe for a warming winter vegetable soup.

Variations: I wonder why the tinned tomato is added at the end of the cooking time. I would suggest adding it with the vegetables and simmering the soup for 30 minutes (1 hour as suggested in the recipe seems to be too long).

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 141

I was very surprised to see a recipe for making your own sauerkraut in the book. Upon second glance, I noticed that the cabbage is not fermented here, but salted and pickled instead. I was curious and tried it out- and later surprised because it did work really well. And as a German I suppose I have something to say about sauerkraut 🙂

The sauerkraut tastes fresh and retains its crunch, the spices are well balanced and aromatic.
I decided to strain the spiced vinegar before pouring into the jars with the sauerkraut, which worked great. The amount of spiced vinegar was far too much for my sauerkraut, so I kept the remaining vinegar in a bottle in the fridge and used it for salad dressings. Would also make a great gift for another foodie…
As the recipe does not specify how long the sauerkraut has to mature before using, I tried the first batch after about two weeks and the second batch after 5 weeks. From week 2 to week 5, it had not changed much in taste or consistency and was very nice. After draining from the jar, the sauerkraut was still very salty, so I did rinse it with cold water.

Another try with a remaining jar of Sauerkraut, 9 weeks after I had made it showed that it does not keep well for that long. The Sauerkraut had turned greyish and had developed an unpleasant taste.

I tried the sauerkraut in these recipes: Sauerkraut and Veggy Dogs, and Maine Sauerkraut.

From Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 100

The name of this recipe caught my eye, as did the great variety of vegetables used in this dish. The vegetables are sautèed and then stewed with a tomato sauce in a casserole dish.

The origin of this dish seems to be unclear and similar dishes are known in many countries. Ghivetch is mostly ascribed as a Bulgarian recipe and sometimes meat or yoghurt is added to the casserole.

Linda’s Ghivetch Casserole is very colourful as it contains such a variety of vegetables. I served it with pasta, which was a good combination.

Variations: Despite all the different veg, I think the Casserole needs more seasoning to bring out the flavour a bit better. I would suggest adding some paprika powder and a little chilli. I would also omit the green peas as they turn hard when cooked for too long.
Leftovers can be reheated and taste at least as good as straight from the oven.