Almighty Foods Nut Butters

I have a mixed history with nut butters. As a child, the idea of eating peanut butter seemed like a punishment; all I knew were the nut butters filled with fillers and sugar that always glued my mouth together when spread inch thick onto sliced white bread. (I’m making it appear like I led some wondrous healthy childhood, I didn’t, I was a fussy little oik who only liked nuggets and chips or rice with ketchup) It’s only since I turned to veganism and the idea of nut butters began to appeal to me. Crunchy roasted almond butter anyone? YES PLEASE.

But obviously there are always scales within even the upper echelons of the nut butter world and that’s where the Almighty Foods 3 ludicrous butters come in. I say ludicrous because they are ludicrously tasty but also ludicrously expensive, I mean £7.59 for a nut butter is mental and even though its raw and organic it still feels like this is a once every few months kind of treat at that price.

Especially for you lucky people, I invested the princely sum of £22.77 in all 3 flavours so that I could let you know about each one and then maybe even pick a favourite for you.

Hazelnut Fuj

I have no doubt you have heard of Nutella. One try of this and Nutella can pack its bags and get lost. Never mind not being vegan, it doesn’t even come close to Hazelnut Fuj. It’s all thick, glossy and unctuous, akin to when you take melted chocolate off the heat and it just begins to firm up. It’s silky smooth and feels like it could almost bend the spoon it’s so thick. The taste is wonderfully rich and has a deep rounded taste from the hazelnuts. It isn’t too sweet either which means that you (or rather me) can keep going back in for more.

In terms of what to have it with, I can’t lie, I’ve only ever just eaten it straight off the spoon and that’s how you should enjoy it, shrouded in joy.

Cashew Caramello

This was the intro to Almighty Foods for me after seeing this plastered all over Instagram with people raving about it. It’s like liquid gold nectar, it’s ever so slightly thinner than the Hazelnut Fuj but no less worse off for that. It’s sweet, very sweet in fact but crucially not too sweet, cashews give it that rich creamy mouth feel that does really make it feel like a caramel.

Have this drizzled onto ice cream, nice cream or your favourite person and slip into caramel based dream state.

Raspberry Whip

There is always one. One flavour that before you try it makes you feel a little nervous. Doubts plagued my mind ‘How could raspberries work in a nut butter?’ ‘What on EARTH would you have this with?’ This is the thinnest of all the butters but the flavour suits it. Too thick and it would be cloying. It’s also perfectly balanced, not too sweet and sickly and not too sharp and tangy with the raspberry and with a mouth feel that means you can keep coming back for spoonful after spoonful.

I’d say take this intravenously but that would be a waste as you wouldn’t get to enjoy it as much as if you just had it poured directly into your mouth.

 

There it is. £22.77, is it worth it? Honestly yes, but don’t blend it into smoothies, don’t make energy balls with it just enjoy it as it comes. From the jar with a spoon and don’t share it; you’ll regret every morsel you give away of any of these.

And if I had to choose only one and break my heart in the process… Hazelnut Fuj.

In Season… Winter

I know, I know; eating in season is great if you’re rich and you have a good green grocers and you have loads of time but that’s not entirely true. Supermarkets do stock in season veg (it grows closer to warehouses so they don’t have to air freight it all in) and a lot of it is pretty cheap and pretty bloody tasty.

So with that in mind, I’m gonna give you three in season fruits or vegetables and a couple of recipes with each for you to try if you’re so inclined, here they are;

Butternut Squash

I love a butternut squash, it may be one of the most versatile bits of veg you can have in your kitchen. It’s super high in Vitamin A (almost all orange fruits and veg are) and Vitamin C and more importantly its utterly delicious. It lends well to being heavily spiced and I really enjoy coating it with some robust flavours and simply roasting it to have as part of a salad but here are 2 more specific ideas to go for:

Curry Roasted Squash with Quick Coconut Curry Sauce

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 Tbsp curry powder/Garam Masala
• 3 Tsp oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 Tbsp Pataks curry paste (I used the rogan josh)
• 1 tin of full fat coconut milk
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180C, cut the squash into chunks, save or discard the seeds, and lightly coat with 1 tsp of oil. Toss with the curry powder or Garam Masala and pop in the oven for 45 mins or until soft. Whilst the squash is roasting, slice the onion and soften on the hob in the remaining oil for around 10 mins but don’t let the onion get too dark in colour. Add the curry paste and the chopped stalks of the coriander and cook out in the onions for another 5 mins, add a splash of water if it starts to get dry. When the paste has cooked out a little add the whole tin of coconut milk and stir to combine reduce until thick and rich whilst the squash roasts. When the squash is done, remove from the oven and squeeze over half the lime and garnish with some chopped coriander leaves. Squeeze the remaining lime half into the curry sauce. Serve with flatbread, rice, mango chutney and whatever else you love with a curry.

Squash and Sage Soup

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 ‘ribs’ of celery
• 2 litres of hot vegetable stock/mushroom stock
• 1 bunch of fresh sage
• 1 Tbsp oil

Finely chop the onion, garlic and celery, season with salt and pepper, and soften in a pan with the oil for 5 mins. Peel and chop the squash into chunks, save or discard the seeds. Roughly chop the sage and add to the onions, garlic and celery and cook for a few minutes or until fragrant. Add the chunks of squash and stir through the mix of softened veg and sage until well coated. Add the hot stock and bring to a low simmer and cook like this until the squash is soft. Top with more stock or water if the level of the liquid gets too low. Once the squash is soft, blend with a hand blender until silky smooth and ladle into bowls. I like to serve this with a few thick slices of good sourdough.

Cauliflower

I used to despise cauliflower; too often it was boiled to a mush or served as cauliflower cheese (If you like this I’m now your sworn enemy) but its only recently that I’ve seen the humble brassica as a delicacy. Yes you can make it into cauli rice, however I think that this is a true waste, so here are 2 recipes that I feel does it justice:

Whole Spice Roasted Cauliflower

• 1 whole cauliflower, leaves and base trimmed
• 2 Tsp of harissa paste or, 2 teaspoons of your favourite spice blend mixed with olive oil and garlic to form a paste
• 3/4 echalion shallots (you can use onion but these caramelise beautifully)
• 1 Tsp of oil

Preheat the oven to 200C and set a large pan of water on to boil, when the water is boiling place the cauliflower into it with the base facing up so the florets are in the water. Boil it for 5 mins. Whilst the cauli boils, peel and finely slice the shallots, place on a small baking tray and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. After the 5 mins are up carefully lift the cauliflower out of the water and after it has cooled a little smear with the harissa or home made spice paste, it really pays to work hard at getting the paste into all the little nooks and crannies so that as much of the cauli is seasoned as possible. Roast for 40 mins or until fully cooked through and the spice paste has formed a crust. Serve with cous cous, or any grain of your choosing, salad and hummus.

Roasted Cauliflower ‘Chaat’

• 1 whole cauliflower, leaves and base trimmed and chopped into small florets
• 2 Tsp of mango chutney
• 2 Tsp of curry powder, tandoori masala or garam masala
• Small handful of pomegranate seeds
• Chopped coriander
• Finely diced red onion
• Chopped chilli
• Thinly sliced red cabbage
• Lime

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the cauli florets with the mango chutney with the curry powder and place onto a baking paper lined oven tray. Roast for 15 – 25 mins until you have a mix of sticky and charred bits of cauliflower. Whilst still hot mix with the pomegranate seeds, coriander, red onion, chilli and red cabbage. Squeeze over plenty of lime juice and serve.

Broccoli

Broccoli is the only green veg, along with peas, that I’d eat as a youngster, normally drowned in gravy. But this beautiful brassica deserves to be more than an afterthought with a roast. It crisps beautifully in the oven and I love it in eastern asian inspired dishes. Here are 2 recipes that highlight the humble broccoli:

Stir fried broccoli with cashews and soy

• 1 pack of tenderstem broccoli (you can just use half a head of normal broccoli here)
• 3 Tbsp of dark soy sauce (Tamari, ponzu whichever you like)
• Small handful of unsalted cashews
• 1 Tsp of groundnut oil (Olive oil/coconut oil wont work here)

Heat a wok on a high heat for a few mins. Add the oil and swirl around the pan till hot. Drop in the broccoli and cook until dark green and slightly crisped. Pour in the soy and the cashews, stir and serve as a side or with steamed white rice for a simple dinner.

Broccoli, pesto and orecchiette

• 1/2 a head of broccoli, stalk and all, trimmed into small pieces
• 2-3 tablespoons of pesto genovese (I like a stupidly expensive one by Seggiano)
• 200g of dried orecchiette pasta (this would work with any ‘flat’ pasta shape)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the orecchiette and cook al dente according to the packed instructions. 1 minute before the pasta is done, add the broccoli to the water. When that minute is up, turn the heat off, take a small amount of the pasta water out of the pan with a mug then drain the pasta and the broccoli in a colander. Once drained add back to the pan with the pesto and a small splash of the pasta water. Mixed until all the pasta and broccoli is coated and serve.

Let me know what you think of the recipes and any changes or swaps that you made and how they worked!

Best 5: Cookbooks for vegans

I’m going to run a regular ‘Best 5’ feature throughout this blog and this is the first one!

The vegan cookbook market is beginning to really pick up with many moving to a plant based lifestyle and new ingredients and cooking techniques constantly being developed.

However, how to sort the wheat from the chaff and set out the definitive ones that you simply MUST have?

Below, and in no particular order are my ‘Best 5’ cookbooks for vegans…

Meera Sodha; Fresh India 

Now strictly put, this book is actually vegetarian, BUT, there are loads of vegan dishes and Meera lists ways to ‘veganise’ certain dishes.

Elephant in the room out of the way, this is a truly beautiful book with brilliant excerpts about how her family adapted to using the veg available to them in the north of England. Meera dedicates an entire chapter to the (I feel in this country especially) underappreciated Aubergine, another chapter deals with pulses and rice, others with breads and a fantastic chapter on roots and tubers. Also dotted through the book are really helpful mini chapters on presentation, raising your game in the kitchen and Indian health remedies.

I love spice, I adore curries and I’d use a naan as a pillow if I could, and if you feel even remotely the same, then this stunning book is definitely worth having.

Thug Kitchen; Thug Kitchen Party Grub: Eat Clean Party Hard

I love all the Thug Kitchen books equally if I’m brutally honest, but the one thing I like from this one is that you can put some delicious party/snack style food down for all of your friends and simply wait for the inevitable ‘I can’t believe this is vegan, its so delicious’ etc.

This book is unadulterated joy, the writing style with its liberal dose of curse words makes me feel that eating vegan food is cool, and you know what, IT IS fucking cool. Chapters in the book include; Wake and Bake some Shit, Pre-Party like a Fucking Champ and my personal favourite Bon Appétit Motherfucker. Tucked away at the back of the book is a really useful section on basics like big pots of beans, cooking grains and making coconut whipped cream.

The original Thug Kitchen was the first vegan/vegetable focused book I ever bought and their books are so consistent and offer an american slant towards vegan food which in the UK (where I live) is a more than welcome addition.

Salma Hage; The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook

No, the name isn’t snappy and yes, its another vegetarian not fully vegan book. HOWEVER Salma does a great job offering plenty of ways to ‘veganise’ the non vegan dishes.

I love middle eastern food and the deftness of spicing of koftas, rich stews and light desserts and this book delivers on all of these and more. Sections on dips and mezzes, legumes and grains and even a brilliant one on drinks (amongst others) provide exquisite recipe after recipe that never fail to work exactly as you want them.

This book is worth it alone for the Pistachio Walnut Halva (like a tahini based fudge) but the other fantastic recipes, particularly those involving beans, and stunning photography make it, for me, a must have.

The Happy Pear; The World of the Happy Pear

Where to start with the Happy Pear boys, well, if you have snapchat. you should add them (thehappypear) just to see how energetic and full on these two are! And, yes again this book is actually vegetarian but don’t let that put you off, options to ‘veganise’ are scattered throughout.

This isn’t solely a recipe book, it details the work they do on their “Happy Heart” course, the cafe, coffee roastery and veg shop and the staff in them, and how they see fruit and veg as life changing food. This book has the standard format of breakfasts, soups, salads, mains etc but the dessert section is where this really cranks up a notch; Banoffee, Spring Rhubard and Raspberry Crumble and Pecan Pie.

I love the energy and enthusiasm that comes through the book, I love the recipes which are simple and effective and I just love the Happy Pear.

Anna Jones; A Modern Way to Eat

If I could have anyone of the writers of these books cook for me everyday it would be Anna Jones. Hands Down. End Of. Yes, again vegetarian, but plenty of options to ‘veganise’. 

Every so often, I come across what I feel is a complete cookbook and what I mean by that is that I feel I could cook from this book and nothing else for a year and things wouldn’t get repetitive. Chapters such as what gets me up in the morning, food for filling a gap and hearty dinners and food to feed a crowd are choc full of unctuous food that I’m head over heels hungry for. There is even a vegan index so that you can see the fully vegan recipes without having to flick through to find a brilliant recipe.

Stunning photography and beautifully written this is a top of the pile book not just for vegans or vegetarians but for anyone who has ever enjoyed a meal.

So there we have it, my top 5, do you agree? Have I missed a glaringly obvious option that has brought untold fury into your mind? Leave a comment or drop me an email

Why now?

Well, I tried my hand at blogging before but I suffered from a lack of ideas (even my mum said it was boring) and it eventually fell by the wayside.

However, now that I’m older, I live in London, I travel, I’m vegan, I’ve even got a bloody tattoo, I’m must more interesting now and people might bloody read the thing!

But also, I enjoy writing and a shift in how I live my life has led me to do stuff that makes me happy even if it doesn’t bring anyone else any cheer 🙂