To date, I've pretty much followed my plan of making this blog a version of my draft book, The Voyagnig Vegetarian. However, I wonder how many of the two or three readers who have looked at this blog, have even opened the pages under "Topics for Voyaging Vegetarians" and so I've decided to do something totally different: write what is really a blog post.
Christmas! Some people love it, some people loathe it, some are quite indifferent. I have very mixed feelings about it: I love the memories of Christmas past spent with my family, before most of them died. I like that it's a special day and it's a fine excuse to buy myself something a little bit special and call it a Christmas present. However, partly because I adored our own family rituals, I don't particularly like joining other people for Christmas. Obviously they do things their own way and to be honest, it's one day of the year when I really don't want to accommodate others. Add to this the fact that I am a vegetarian, who finds the sight and smell of meat offputting; that I'm used to dining quite late; that I can think of few things worse on a hot day, than a roast dinner or any heavy meal; that I dislike sweet puddings and prefer to avoid the giving of unwanted presents, and you can see that I am anyway, a far from ideal guest.
Fortunately, I live on a boat, so a day or so before Christmas, I can sail away to an unpopular anchorage which I am likely to have more or less to myself and be fairly sure that no-one will miss me. The anchorages are often very pretty, but have a very poor mobile phone signal which for many people makes them a bad choice at this time of the year, when they want to talk to family and friends.
Once happily anchored, forecast checked once more, I spend several pleasant hours preparing my own Christmas feast. For the past couple of years, this has been what we used to call a 'buffet', and which now appears to be called a 'grazing table', ideal for idling away a hot summer's afternoon and evening. For anyone interested in doing likewise, I am offering this year's spread for inspiration.
So what did I have? I made seeded-bread rolls, and to go with them prepared two pâtés:
The first one is the variation on the lentil and mushroom pâté, where
walnuts are used instead of the mushrooms. I love this variation: indeed, I'm not
sure that I don't prefer it to the mushroom version. I had some fresh sage leaves, which I fried until they were crisp, and used to decorate it. It goes well with bread or crackers, but I also found it delicious wrapped in a lettuce leaf.
I made a lot of this pâté and finished the last of it off, by watering it down and serving it with pasta. It was very good!
The second pâté I made is the really rich and luxurious mushroom and sunflower seed one, which I feel is on a par with any made from meat.
Any grazing table worth its name has to include hummus, of course. I like to make mine by squashing the peas with a pestle, rather than blending them really smooth.
I much prefer a bit of texture, personally and I also like to include plenty of cumin in the mix. This year I added a drizzle of chilli oil, from the chilli peppers I preserved earlier in the year. It added a delightful bit of zing. Olive oil over the top stops it from drying out and adds richness to the flavour and texture. Again, the hummus is great with bread, crackers or wrapped in lettuce. This also keeps for several days without refrigeration - if it gets the chance.
My final creation was to make samosas. I have just realised that, thus far, I haven't included a recipe for these. As I have a very poor signal here (still in a deserte anchorage) and am pushing my luck writing this, I shall have to leave it for another day. The recipe I used is made from smashed potatoes and freeze-dried peas. A lot of people mash the potaoes, but again, I prefer to have some texture.
Additional food to browse on included: some fancy, truffle-flavoured crisps (although, I have to confess, I think I prefer simple, plain salted!), baby plum tomatoes, broccoli florets, baby carrots, the aforementioned lettuce and crackers, along with a bowl of vegan yoghurt, cherries and fresh dates. Although I am largely vegan, for once I bought some locally-made cheese: a Gouda type. Generally speaking, I avoid cheese because of the horrible lives that dairy cattle have, and the appalling way in which the unwanted calves are treated. However, the Mahoe cheese comes from a farm that looks like something out of a children's book, with cows and a big bull grazing peacefully in the fields, the driveway lined with small paddocks full of pigs and piglets, pottering around in the sunshine. If only all cheese were produced in such an animal-friendly setting ...
As you will see, all this lovely food was washed down with good wine and I very much enjoyed browsing and sipping - and reading the odd chapter of the new Richard Osman book I had bought for myself! Perhaps, unsurprisingly, there was quite a lot left over, but it's all gone now, except for some of the cheese. I can quite understand that most people don't want to spend Christmas on their own, but this grazing table also works will wit a cabin full of guests: we had a similar spread a couple of Christmases ago, with good friends on board. To my mind, it's a far better choice in hot weather, than a sit-down, cooked meal.