Allotments 4 All

Just wanted to say a general thank you to Gazza for all his beautifully and helpfully photo-ed recipes!  Actually they give me a  real problem, as I have thousands and thousands of recipes, and just as many in files marked "to try".  Life is too short to try all the recipes I want to. And now Gazza keeps tempting me - and it is the photos that do it, Gazza.   Luckily we have many good French friends who love my cooking so there is always an excuse - except that I'm trying hard to lose a little weight before having a half-knee replacement (boo!).
I also have a nice excuse to cook as we have very good friends  staying for a week, and the following week our son and wife come.  They are big meat eaters (so we are happy!).  Only trouble is that my lovely niece is coming out with them, and she is a vegan - aaaaaaaaaaargh!  It is hard enough being a vegetarian in France.  We certainly couldn't eat out anywhere round here for a vegan.

Hear! Hear!

Thank you Gazza!

I've done several, and they've all been a great success.

I agree about the pictures.  Gazza, you should persuade someone to publish a cookbook.  I'd buy it.

I think I've mentioned it before but I think Gazza should set up his his own blog/website.
I am happy he posts here on A4A but would be happy to visit a blog too.
Duke ;D

We ate last night with Judes friend who is also a vegetarian(not vegan persa) and she was happy with
the mushroom curry I served up,and of course I was sweating she would find an issue with it but thankfully she and Jude both enjoyed it.....hooo bluddy ray  !!!!!!!
It was only mildly spiced as both are not keen on hot curries.

Is that the kinda thing your niece might be tempted with...yes I know its not English food ( as we know it) but youngsters enjoy takeaways, as do we, and it is nicely flavoured.

I cook for fun "period", and if a recipe appeals great,if not,no matter as im just as hard to please.
I take no credit for any recipes as they have been invented by somebody else ,all I like to do is change recipes in accordance with foods that Jude and I both eat and hopefully the flavours will appeal to others....(famous last words)
We too,have 100,s of cook books which I use as reference material but the one thing they all have in common
is pictures....this is a must for me, !!!!!!!!!!    after all its the eyes that enjoy the food first,and the lips second.
I often hear Jude banging on  the table ala"why are we waiting" as im telling her" just one more picture Luv.... ::)
and yes,there are quite a few failures too, which makes you try that little bit harder as after shes worked all day to come home to an experiment, doesnt always work.....!!!!!

Id happily do the curry mentioned with piccies,itd be fun.!!!!!

No worries if not,im sure you can find plenty of vegan recipes on the net through a search.... ;)

GazNjude

I think that Peanuts' problem in France is finding a restaurant that will cater for vegans, or even vegetarians.  We had a place in Normandy at one time, and would hold open house throughout the summer holidays for friends and family.  But significant numbers of our friends are Jewish or Hindu, and one of my son's friends is a Jain.  Rather than try to negotiate the complicated dietary laws, it was easier for all of them simply to become vegetarian for the duration.

But it's an iron rule of Normandy restaurateurs that all dishes must contain seafood, pork, or cream, and preferably all three. For vegetarians, the normal response is, "Une omelette?".  Even that's no good for vegans, of course.

I see that Peanuts is down in the deep south of France, but there'll be equally rigid restaurant rules there, just with different meaty ingredients.

My challenge is to somehow produce vegan food, whilst at the same time doing really good meals for the rest of the family who are all good cooks and  appreciate food hugely. As we are more or self-sufficient in fruit and veg that's no problem.  I've enjoyed cooking for her for years as a vegetarian.  But removing all dairy products - butter, cream/creme fraiche, cheese; eggs, meat and fish obviously. And then most of the cakes and biscuits she has previously loved.  Yes, it might be  veg curry.
To be a little controversial, would vegans really like to see a world with no cows/sheep/goats/chickens at all?  Isn't that the logical conclusion?

melbourne, it always rather amuses us  when we occasionally eat in restaurants here with vegetarians, that  the attitude is almost completely  one of ""well just eat the veg then" or as you say have an omelette.  But the price for the menu is still the same of course!!  A few hotel/restaurants of the Logis type now offer a veg tart alternative as the main course, but that is RARE!  They are so rightly proud of the local cheese and meat.  No end of farms round us produce their own cheese.  We buy virtually all our meat (we don't eat that much) and cheese and some unpasturised milk for yoghurt, from farmers we know personally.  We know the life the animals lead.

At home, we had a few standby dishes to accommodate both veggie and carnivore tastes.

At this time of year we'd be doing cous-cous, with a lovely veggie stew and serving grilled chicken and merguez separately for the meat-eaters.

Or pumpkin with chestnuts and mushrooms, perhaps handing some crumbly sheeps or goats cheese for non-vegans.

Can you get the ingredients for ratatouille at this time of year?  That's enough with some bread to satisfy the veggies, and meat can be served separately.

A nice veggie paella always went down well, again with grilled meaty bits for the carnivores.

I once tried doing a veggie cassoulet, but it wasn't a huge success.  The meats really need to be cooked in with the beans, otherwise you might as well serve a can of Heinz.

Our local restaurant was a Logis, and for many years they were quite good, once they'd got to know us.  One of their "signature dishes" was a millefeuille of potatoes interleaved with ultra thin slices of andouillette, and weighed down with lashings of cream.  Delectable!  Anyway, given a bit of notice they'd do it without the andouillette, which made a nice veggie main course.  And they too would prepare a veggie quiche and several other nice-if-a-bit-plain veggie dishes.

Sadly, the old couple retired, and it was run by their son and daughter and their respective spouses.  Soon, we were back to "Une omelette?" if you strayed from the menu.

Agrees the recipes and photos are brilliant :)

I made the hairy bikers sausage casserole (recipie on bbc) and swapped the sausages for vegi sausages and it was fine :)

Melbourne, yes I have all the ingredients in the freezer  make rataouille, or the local piperade.  Veggie stuff isn't the problem, it's not being able to do the other things you mentioned - the millefeuille dish (can't use cream) and the quiche, ditto.  I know it won't be a problem when the time comes, as I love cooking too much to allow it to.  I'm just feeling a bit negative today, but I'm comforted by just putting bread in the oven, being mid-way to doing an Indian puff pastry lamb pie, doing a mincemeat cheesecake, and starting a foie gras terrine! 

How about a vegan vegetable Tarte Tatin peanuts,Jude sometimes has them in a pub near us and me not being a veggie im always picking bits off her plate(once ive finished mine of course)and they are very tasty.

Vegan Puff pastry and seasonal vegetables from your area might be nice,at christmas the Pub chef was putting cranberry in them as well but im not a sweet and savoury consumer so didnt fancy it...but it might give a gentle sweet kick to the Tatin.

The nice thing about Tarte Tatin is you can serve it still upside down and turn it over at the last minute
infront of the recipient as they dont know whats gonna be inside.!!!!....might be fruit ..might be veg...might be meat...but that last second smell as you reveal all is that fun element I luv doing to her maj  !!!!!!!.... ;)

By the way,your talk of the farm produce and meat available in a lovely rural setting does sound splendid,id like nothing more than to move me and jude to Devon tomorrow or sooner given half a chance as the local produce
at the farm we stay at in Dartmouth has to be tasted to be appreciated.

were off to Norfolk in a min which is another area of great produce as the butchers in watton now there stuff,we shant be back till monday...so have  a fun filled weekend.


GazNjude

Without provoking a stampede is it really difficult to enjoy a few meat free meals,
I think veggie meals do have a very bad reputation due to the rubbish lots of restaurants serve up they don't endear anyone to vegetarian food, the amount of times people take pity on me as if it's the type of food I eat at home and yes I do get charged exactly the same as people eating fish and meat usually for the vegetables of the day that have been given a pasty top or thrown into pasta.
If the food is good it can be viewed just as another style of cooking, Italian, French, Indian ie you love some bits and hate other bits.
Peanuts it's my understanding that the majority of Vegans choose that lifestyle due to their love of animals  and what dedication it must take!

Quote from: Susiebelle on January 14, 2012, 15:59:55
Without provoking a stampede is it really difficult to enjoy a few meat free meals,
I think veggie meals do have a very bad reputation due to the rubbish lots of restaurants serve up they don't endear anyone to vegetarian food, the amount of times people take pity on me as if it's the type of food I eat at home and yes I do get charged exactly the same as people eating fish and meat usually for the vegetables of the day that have been given a pasty top or thrown into pasta.
If the food is good it can be viewed just as another style of cooking, Italian, French, Indian ie you love some bits and hate other bits.
Peanuts it's my understanding that the majority of Vegans choose that lifestyle due to their love of animals  and what dedication it must take!

I agree with most of what you say.  I'm entirely happy to cook and enjoy some wonderful vegetarian dinners when our strictly vegetarian d-i-l visits, for example.

And locally we're blessed with a wonderful variety of vegetarian Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants, with some of the best vegetarian cuisine in the world.

But if your hosting a dinner party, or a week-long house party, or Christmas dinner, it becomes problematic.  I've observed that it's more a male than female characteristic, but a significant number of people live on bread, meat, potatoes, cornflakes, and biscuits.  In fact, I know more people with such tastes than I do vegetarians.  Within my own family, three of my brothers in law, a sister in law, and at least two nephews and a niece will quite cheerfully leave the vegetables on the side of their plate.  "Rabbit food!" they'll say, or simply "I don't do vegetables."

It's extremely unhealthy, of course, and I find it irritating to a degree to have my good food pushed to the side and scraped into the bin.  Still, it's their choice.

But there's one huge difference.  If I serve them something they really like - an overcooked steak and chips, say, with a nicely dressed green salad, they'll undoubtedly leave the salad, but they won't jump to their feet with a little horrified scream because the salad has touched the steak or the salad dressing has leached into a chip.  They'll just get on with it.

Whereas I have to take extreme care to maintain rigorous separation between meat and veg as I prep, cook, and serve veggie food.  It's like running an orthodox Jewish kitchen, but with slightly different rules.

So my point of disagreement with you is in your last sentence.  Instead of "Vegans choose that lifestyle due to their love of animals and what dedication it must take!" I'd add "Vegans choose that lifestyle due to their love of animals and what dedication it must take, not only from themselves, but those around them."

Susiebelle
My problem next week, as I said earlier in this thread, is that our son and wife will be with us at the same time as my vegan niece.  They love all food, are superb cooks, particularly enjoying the local meat dishes - confit de canard, foie gras dare I mention this!), jambon de Bayonne, andouillette, boeuf en daube - all either made by me or French friends.  So it will be a challenge meeting all their needs/likes.  We will certainly be eating foie gras at least twice, I can tell you.  I've done a beautiful terrine of it today, with marinaded figs as a layer in the middle  :)

Melbourne12 your friends/relatives are fortunate for such dedication providing it is given with love it is above and beyound the call of duty!
Peanuts I don't envy you I am no vegan and my vegetarinism is in no way associated with animal welfare but I don't think I could happily sit with Diners enjoying foie gras  think what I am trying to say is that I am no extremist, in my view we all have our turn offs and mine is foie gras.
Good luck with the challenge

Vegan is hard to cater for! But I agree - there is always curry! Also, a lot of dishes from the Maghreb are suitable, they contain lots of pulses. Veggie couscous is easy, and I do a nice dish of spicy chickpeas (canned) - fry up some onion, garlic, curry-type spices, add the drained chickpeas and a tin of tomatoes, and then some fresh coriander. Cook on low for about 15 minutes. It's delicious and nutritious.
France also has lots of winter soups and salads, many of which would suit a vegan. BuT i agree, you will be doing a bit of extra catering.

Thank you everyone for all the encouraging ideas . . . I'm not really unhappy about the challenge.  It's just that I so love cooking  so many different styles of cooking, and so love good food.  And when I make a delicious apple and mountain blueberry crumble this weekend and have enough left over for 5 people,  I start to box it up for the freezer for next week only to think, oh no that won't do cos it's got butter in it! Then I go through the that's daft, it's only butter for heaven's sake. So we'll eat that and my niece will get an orange.  Hmmmm.

I've really enjoyed reading Hugh F-W's Veg every day. Makes it seem possible!