Starter -- Main Course -- Dessert
This is the perfect meal for a night of meat-free animal passion, discover the delights of the vegetable kingdom!
|
FOR STARTERS
Roast Garlic with Crusty Bread
Serves 2. Can be vegan*.
Garlic is a wonderful aphrodisiac, when roasted in the oven it takes on a wonderfully sweet and mild flavour, and if you both eat it, you won't notice it on your breath. Chewing a sprig of parsley also helps to remove the smell! Try to choose plump, juicy heads of garlic with quite large individual cloves so that they do not dry out in the oven.
|
|
2-4 whole heads of garlic
(1-2 per person)
olive oil
pinch of mixed herbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ciabatta loaf
100g/4oz cream cheese (flavoured with herbs if liked)
(optional - omit for vegan*)
a few sprigs of parsley, to garnish
|
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350° F/Gas Mark 4.
- Trim the roots and the very tips of the garlic heads (leave the heads intact) and remove any loose skin.
- Place the heads of garlic into a small oven proof dish, drizzle olive oil over them to about 1/4 inch depth and sprinkle with the mixed herbs and salt and pepper.
- Cover with greased foil and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes basting in the oil occasionally.
Check whether they are ready by piercing with the tip of a sharp knife.
If they are cooked they should be very soft and tender.
- Divide the cream cheese (if using) between two small ramekins and decorate with the parsley sprigs.
Place on individual serving plates with 1-2 heads of garlic each, some of the oil in which it cooked and sliced ciabatta.
|
|
Eat by squeezing out the sweet, soft pulp of each clove of garlic from its papery skin onto the bread which you have spread with cream cheese (if using). You may want to provide a finger bowl and napkin each!
|
Asparagus and Baby Sweetcorn Pithiviers
Vegan
This sophisticated and exciting recipe has just the right mixture of stimulating ingredients. Garlic, asparagus and pine nuts have all been used as aphrodisiacs. The Roman poet Ovid (a vegetarian) in his work 'The Art of Love' selected 'the nuts that the sharp - leafed pine brings forth' as an effective and powerful aphrodisiac. Arabian scholars such as Galen recommended one hundred pine nuts, before going to bed.
|
|
PITHIERS
225g/8oz ready rolled puff pastry sheet
15ml/1tbsp soya milk (to glaze)
25g/1oz sesame seeds
WATERCRESS SAUCE
25g/1oz soya margarine
3 spring onions
300ml/1/2pt vegetable stock
2 bunches of watercress
salt and freshly ground pepper
FILLING
1 clove of garlic, unpeeled
100g/4oz bunch asparagus, chopped into 5cm/2in pieces
4 baby sweetcorn, chopped into 5cm/2in pieces
25g/1oz soya margarine
25g/1oz unbleached flour
180ml/6floz soya milk
45ml/11/2 floz vegetarian white wine
50g/2oz pine nuts, roasted then ground
2.5ml/1tsp mustard
handful fresh, flat leaf parsley, chopped
(reserve a few leaves for the garnish)
|
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Fold the pastry in two and cut out 4 rounds with a 13cm/5in cutter.
Place on a greased baking sheet, and glaze.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Set aside.
- To make the Watercress Sauce, heat the margarine, fry the spring onions until soft.
Add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add watercress, boil for 15 seconds then season. Cool, then blend.
- To make the filling, roast the garlic cloves in the oven for about 10 minutes, then remove them from their skins. Set aside.
Steam the asparagus and the sweetcorn. Set aside.
In a saucepan, heat the margarine, sprinkle with flour and cook the roux for 2 minutes stirring continually.
Remove from the heat and add the soya milk. Continue stirring.
Place back on the heat and stir until the sauce thickens.
Stir in the wine, cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Mix together the pine nuts, mustard and garlic and add to the sauce, beating constantly.
Add the parsley and the vegetables.
- Cut the pastry cases horizontally in half and remove the pastry inside.
Spoon the vegetable mixture into the pastry base and top with the pastry lids.
- Serve on an individual serving plate with the heated Watercress Sauce. Garnish with the parsley.
|
Chocolate Espresso and Roasted Pecan Torte
Vegan
This cake is extremely rich and luxurious, but completely dairy-free. Chocolate is an aphrodisiac and the addition of espresso gives the flavour an exiting twist.
|
|
200g/7oz creamed coconut
1.3l/21/4 pints boiling water
30ml/2tbsp of the boiling water
800g/1lb 12oz Self Raising flour
100g/4oz cocoa powder 10ml/2tsp baking powder
100g/4oz roasted pecans, finely ground
300g/12oz light muscovado sugar
420ml/14floz vegetable oil
20ml/2tbsp brandy
FUDGE ICING
100g/4oz vegan margarine
10ml/2tsp brandy
100g/4oz cocoa powder
90ml/6tbsp water
550g/18oz icing sugar
few drops vanilla essence
|
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4
- Grease and line 2 18cm/9 inch heart shaped cake tins.
- Place the creamed coconut in a large bowl and cover with the water, stir until dissolved.
- Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, pecan nuts and sugar.
- Add the espresso mixture and the oil and stir thoroughly, then add the cooled, dissolved coconut and incorporate well.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and place in the oven for approximately 45 minutes-1 hour, or until the cakes feel springy to the touch.
- Leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a cooling rack.
- When the cakes are cool, drizzle with the brandy.
- To make the fudge icing, place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Spread half the icing evenly over one half of the cake, place the second half on top.
Spread the remaining icing over the cake and use a fork to decorate.
|
 |
