I once wrote a book entitled "Voyaging on a Small Income" and the parts about provisioning and cooking proved very popular. "The Voyaging Vegetarian" would have followed, but so few people were then vegetarians that I thought no-one would publish it. Now many more people realise that eating dead animals is unkind and bad for the planet. I hope a blog, which I can update with new recipes, will work better than a book for liveaboards and aspiring voyagers, and those living simply in small spaces.
Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called "Voyaging on a Small Income", which was published and sold astonishingly well. It’s become almost a “classic” and is probably why you’ve found this site!
I’ve been living aboard and sailing since the 70s. Nine different boats have been home, sometimes for several months, sometimes for many years. I love the way of life, the small footprint and being close to Nature. I’m a great fan of junk rig and having extensive experience with both gaff and bermudian rig, I wouldn’t have any other sail on my boat. It’s ideal as a voyaging rig, but also perfect for the coastal sailing that I now do. I’d rather stay in New Zealand, not having to keep saying goodbye to friends, than go voyaging, these days.
Between 2015 and 2021, I built the 26ft "FanShi", the boat I now call home. For the last 45 years or so, my diet of choice has been vegetarian and is now almost vegan. I love cooking and particularly enjoy having only myself to please. I am combining all these interests (apart, perhaps, from junk rig!) in this blog. I hope you enjoy it. I also have other blogs: www.anniehill.blogspot.com and http://fanshiwanderingandwondering.wordpress.com
This is one of those really great recipes. It tastes wonderful, but it’s simple, inexpensive, easy to cook and uses food that
you - or at any rate I - always have to hand. To me, it’s so delicious that it’s fit for
a celebration or to give to guests. I love it, and every time I make
it, I only wish that I’d made twice as much!
If you don't have wild rice on board, or it's beyond your budget, substitute your normal brown. It will still make a lovely meal.
serves 2
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil (preferably from a jar
of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil)
Heat the oil in the pressure
cooker and add the chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes until
softened and transparent.
Add the rice and wild rice and
cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the grains
of rice become opaque.
Pour in the water and bring to the
boil. Add the chickpeas and the dried mixed herbs (if you're using fresh parsley, keep this until the end). Stir well and put the lid
on the pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook for 15
minutes.
Reduce pressure at room
temperature. Add the salt. Dice the garlic and add to the pan.
Drain the tomatoes and put the
juice aside for another recipe. Add the tomatoes to the pressure
cooker and chop them very roughly with your spoon – they should
stay in big chunks.
Season generously with pepper, check the salt and
reheat, with the lid on, over a low flame.
If you are using fresh parsley, chop this finely and mix it through before serving.
Note:
*If you're somewhere that tomatoes are affordable, this is a good meal to use them, so that you don't have to store the juice. Peel them first, if you want to and cut them in quarters or eighths, depending on how big they are. I can't suggest how many to use, but cut up, they would measure a generous cup and a half.
Personally, I don't think home-made soups need anything added by way of stock: the intrinsic ingredients have enough flavour in themselves. However, sometimes I feel a recipe needs a touch of je ne sais quoi, and I reckon this mushroom 'stock powder' fits the bill. Unlike commercial stock powders, not only does it contain no artificial ingredients, it doesn't even have any salt. All that it is is ground up, dried mushrooms such as the Chinese ones which are available in most supermarkets.
Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients
1 pack dried mushrooms
Method:
Remove the mushrooms from the package and shake the residue into a blender cup.
Break or cut the larger pieces of mushrooms down to around 2 cm/1 in, so that the blender can more readily cope with them.
Add all the mushrooms into the cup and grind them until they are a coarse powder.
Put into a clean jar and keep in a dark place.
Notes:
I always use 'white' mushrooms for this 'stock powder', rather thana pack of mixed mushrooms. That way they don't darken the sauce, soup, or whatever you're adding them to.
Variations:
To make this more like a stock powder, add a couple of teaspoons of salt
Add mixed herbs: you might find a couple of teaspoons of my blend suits. The drawback of this is that you will have flecks of colour in your food and you might prefer to have a white sauce. The herbs may not suit your recipe, either.
I have been working on this recipe for a while, now, determined to get it right. I think most people enjoy sausages, with mash, or chips or as part of a huge fried breakfast. What I love about this recipe is that is definitely a voyaging one, which means that you can have sausages half way across the ocean, should you so choose. Not something many people can boast of, unless they have a freezer. In true voyaging style, the ones in the photo above are served with 'Surprise' peas. Judging by the rest of the stuff on the table, the sea is pretty smooth! These sausages are also quite fast to make, especially if you already have some sausage seasoning mixed: once you've cooked the sausages in the pressure cooker, they only need a few minutes in the frying pan to brown them to your taste. They are quite different from my recipe for chorizo, but, if you are new to seitan, a particularly good one to start with, seeing as how most people like sausages.
I
am besotted with seitan recipes: the texture is so different from
most other vegetarian and vegan foods, it’s cheap and making ‛meat’
with it is so quick. These ‛English’ sausages are great on
their own, in a bun/sandwich or as part of an ‛English’
breakfast. The seasoning is based on that used in Cumberland
sausage and the couscous is to replace the rusk that is always used
in British bangers, to keep the juices in the sausage so that they
don’t dry out. In this way they're quite different from
Bratwurst or other 100% meat sausages. In the days when I
occasionally ate meat, I always found these tricky to cook because of
the tendency of the ‛100% meat’ sausage to dry out, especially if
they were also low fat. Of course, the result isn’t as juicy as
a good quality meat banger, but I do feel that the addition of
couscous keeps it a little more moist. If you don’t want to use
couscous, go for the chorizo sausage recipe instead (link above) instead, and substitute the sausage
seasoning for that included in the chorizo recipe.
Instead
of the herbs, spices and salt in the recipe, shown in italics, I
recommend using 3 tsp Annie's English sausage seasoning, for
a more complex flavour (see recipe at the bottom of the page.) There's a generous amount of seasoning, because the seitan otherwise has
no flavour. It does in fact, have a slight, indescribable taste, which can be
a bit intrusive, and this is why the ingredients include vinegar.
Most of the recipes that I’ve seen always insist on ‘apple cider’
vinegar (what other sort of cider is there? Surely the definition of
cider is fermented apple juice?), but any vinegar, apart from
Balsamic, would work just fine. So no doubt would lemon juice, but
vinegar is cheaper.
Makes
6 sausages, 2 servings
Ingredients
1/3
cup couscous
1/2
tsp yeast extract or miso
2/3
cup boiling water
3/4
tsp crushed black pepper
1/2
tsp thyme
3/4
tsp sage
1/8
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4
tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp
salt
OR 3 tsp Annie's English sausage seasoning(see below)
1/4 cup (60
ml) water
1
tbsp soya sauce
1
tsp vinegar
1
heaped tsp tahini
1
tbsp olive oil or deodorised coconut oil, melted
2
tbsp chickpea flour
1/3
cup vital wheat gluten
Cut
baking parchment into 6 sheets, approximately 200/8" x 150/6".
Put
the couscous in a large bowl.
Mix
the yeast extract/miso in 2/3 cup boiling water and
then pour it over the couscous. Cover the bowl and leave it
for about ten minutes until the water has been absorbed.
Now
mix the seasoning into the couscous.
Add
the 1/4 cup of water and mix well.
Then
add the soya sauce, followed by the vinegar, tahini
and oil. Mix this all very thoroughly, because once you have
added the vital wheat gluten it will be difficult to incorporate the
other ingredients evenly.
Now
add the chickpea flour and the vitalwheatgluten and quickly mix it in to the rest of the
ingredients. Again do this very thoroughly. I find a
butter knife the best tool.
Mix
as well as you can with your knife and then use your hand,
incorporating all the flour that will be trying to stick to the edge
of the bowl. Keep mixing until everything until you have a smooth dough and it stops sticking to your hands. You should end up with a fairly
soft mix.
Place
the dough on a board. (Make sure you clean the bowl really thoroughly, because the gluten sticks as soon as it dries out, making it quite difficult to clean. Soak it for a while if you've left much behind, before cleaniing.) Roughly shape it into a rectangle about
as long as you want your sausages to be. (The dough is
nowhere near as accommodating as bread dough when it comes to
shaping).
Cut
the dough in half and then thirds so that you have six equal lumps
of dough. I usually have to pinch a bit of dough from one or two to
get them all more or less the same size.
Shape
the sausages to be best of your ability – the wrapping finishes
the job. Don’t worry about gaps and creases. The cooking
sorts out most of that. It would be fun to try to make one long
sausage, wrap it up in baking paper and then form it into a coil to
put onto the trivet. This would produce and authentic Cumberland
sausage shape, which would be fun and impressive, but I’m not sure
how well it would work.
Now
put each sausage, centred at the edge of a piece of baking paper and
roll it up tightly. This helps make it round. Twist the paper at
either end, until it is squashed against the end of the sausage.
Do this with all six sausages.
Put
the trivet into your pressure cooker. Add about half a cup of
water – don’t let it cover the trivet. Place the sausages
onto the trivet – it doesn’t matter if they are stacked – and
bring up to pressure; cook for 5 minutes.
Let
the pressure come down naturally.
When
they’re cooked, take the sausages out of the pressure cooker and
unwrap them. Put them somewhere where they can cool and dry
out a little before storing them. I find they keep best in my
wooden bread bin! Fry them before using them – the added olive
oil gives additional flavour and I enjoy cooking them until they are
slightly crisp.
Serve with mashed or smashed potatoes and vegetables, or any way that you enjoy your sausages. They will stand up happily to barbecuing or cooking on the beach.
Note:
you can use fine bulgar wheat instead of couscous if you prefer. Or even soft breadcrumbs if you don't mind making your lovingly baked bread into breadcrumbs!
Annie’s
English Sausage seasoning:
Makes
enough for about 60 sausages, or 20 servings
Ingredients
1
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1
tsp ground mace
2
1/2 tbsp salt
2
tbsp black pepper
2
tbsp rubbed sage
2
tsp onion powder
1
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2
1/4 tsp thyme
3/4
tsp cayenne
1
1/2 tsp ground coriander
If
you don’t have ground nutmeg or mace (which don’t
keep well ready-ground) grind up about 1/2 a nutmeg in a
mortar or blender. Remove 1 1/2 tsp and add to a bowl.
Take
several blades of mace, grind to a powder, remove 1 tsp and
add to the nutmeg.
Now
add all the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Put into a
glass jar and keep as cool and dark as feasible.
Add
3 tsp of sausage seasoning to 1/3 cup vital wheat gluten,
ie, per 6 sausages.
Pizza must be one of the most popular
dishes on the planet and while it is difficult to make it to
the standards of the best pizzas ashore, even in a simple galley, you can certainly make
something very acceptable and considerably more appetising than some
pizzas I have bought. I've found that I get excellent results
from cooking them in my frying pan, which is also a lot more economical on fuel than
cooking a pizza in the oven; however, this does limit its size. You
also need a first-class quality pan for pizza, because they have to
get very hot. I recommend that you used one made of cast metal,
ideally with vertical sides, ie a skillet. Cast-iron pans are
relatively inexpensive, if you shop around, and often available
second hand. Personally, I prefer cast alloy, but they are a
considerable investment. If you don’t have an oven, your frying
pan will constantly be used as a substitute, so one of good quality is an investment which is well
worth while for oven-free cooks.
If you do have an oven, theres no
need for any special equipment, although a rolling pin is nice to
have. Nor do you to roll out the dough into a perfect circle; indeed, if
you simply roll it out to fit your baking sheet, you will be able to
make a larger pizza and make best use of your oven. I can see nothing unattractive in the ‘rustic’ appearance of a near rectangle.
Even when I had an oven, I found I got the best results from partly
pre-cooking the dough. I'm pleased to be able to report than an
Italian sailor I met, told me that his mother always made them like
this, so I reckon that I am not alone in finding that it’s simply
not possible to have a standard oven retain its heat sufficiently
for the sort base that you get at the local pizzeria.
If you're fanatical about pizza, I suppose you could buy a pizza stone to put in your oven, but it would be a nuisance to store safely and I suspect it would be more trouble than it's worth on a boat. Whether using the oven or a frying pan, I suggest that you pre-cook
it and flip it over before adding the topping. That way it both
rises and cooks properly.
The following recipe makes a base for a
230 mm (9 in) frying pan. I have to admit that when I make it for
myself, I usually manage to get through two-thirds of it, but I’m
not a delicate feeder. I prefer not to have too thick a base, but if you
are feeding two hearty appetites, you can make more dough for a
thicker and more substantial base, make two smaller pizzas (cooking the second while eating the first) or invest in a larger frying pan! Just
keep the proportions of the dough ingredients the same.
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup lukewarm water
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp instant dried
yeast
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
If you’re using an oven,
pre-heat it to a moderate
heat.
Put the oil and water
into a small mixing bowl and mix them together. You can use
seawater, if you prefer, and leave out the salt.
Add the salt and the yeast
and then blend in the flour with a spatula or something similar.
When the ingredients have combined
into a dough, knead this gently for a couple of minutes. You will
probably need a little more flour for this.
Roll the dough out so that it fits
your frying pan or baking sheet. Leave it to rise for at least a
quarter of an hour, longer if you're very organised. If you are in a cold place, warm the frying pan
or put something like a night light in the oven to keep the dough
warm.
Cook over a hot flame on a
flame tamer for about 10 minutes, or cook in a hot
oven for the same time. Turn the base over and add the topping.
All sorts of goodies can be used to
top pizza, of course, and you probably have your favourites. If your lockers contain tomatoes, olives
and capers, you’re almost there. I can also recommend vegan
chorizosalami, but would warn against overloading your
pizza with too many different flavours. After all, a pizza
Margherita is immensely popular in Italy and as simple as it comes. The following recipe is a voyaging one, for when you aren't overloaded with fresh vegetables.
PIZZA TOPPING
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion. diced
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tomatoes, finely
chopped
1 tbsp Annie's Mixed
Herbs
6 black olives, sliced
optional
tomato purée
grated cheese – as
you like
Heat the oil in a pan. Add
the onion and garlic and fry until softened.
Lower the heat and add the
tomatoes and mixed herbs. Cook until most of the
moisture has evaporated, leaving a thick sauce. This depends a lot
on your tomatoes - you may need to add some tomato purée to thicken
it up. On the other hand, add a little wine or water if the mix
looks very dry.
Throw in the olives.
Take the half-cooked pizza base,
turn it over and spread the sauce over the base, right to the edges,
spreading it carefully and as evenly as possible.
Grate over as much cheese
as you want.
Turn down the heat and put the
pizza back to cook (covered, if you’re using a frying pan), until
the cheese has melted.
Notes:
If you don’t
have fresh tomatoes, you can use a couple from a can. Put
the rest of the tomatoes into a glass jar and use them the next day
(or put them in the fridge). Or you can use some passata, if you
have some. If all else fails, just use tomato purée suitably
diluted with water.
For
vegans, leave off cheese and sprinkle with generous amounts of
"Parmegan". Alternatively, this is one place where vegan 'cheese' is acceptable. I've heard that there is some excellent vegan cheese around, but have yet to find any in New Zealand.
Variations:
Top with microgreens or rocket (arugula), if you're lucky enough to have some.
Pepperdews, mushrooms, or
sliced green or redpeppers, all go well with
the above.
If you don’t have black
olives, try green olives instead. The stuffed ones are
particularly good.
Add a tsp capers with the olives.
If you've got fresh tomatoes with a really good flavour, you can simply slice them quite thickly and lay them out on the pizza dough. Cook a few mushrooms and a little red pepper and put those on top with some olives and capers, and cheese if you have it.
If you are getting short of
inspiration, row ashore and wander along to the nearest pizza
parlour. You’ll soon get a whole slew of new ideas!
Pizza made with dairy cheese and topped with microgreens
This is
an old favourite of mine. Incredibly simple to make, but
astonishingly good to eat. Moreover, this is perfect voyaging food,
because it is made from ingredients that you will have in your
lockers. I prefer it with fusilli – spirals – but of course it
will go with whatever pasta you have on board.
Pour
the oliveoil into a large saucepan over a medium
heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent.
Add a little salt to speed things up, if you want.
When
the onion is almost cooked, add the garlic and cook until
it’s soft.
Now
add the tomatoes and rinse out the can with wine, if you’re
using it. If you’re using whole tomatoes, break them up with your
spoon.
If
you’re using them, stone and halve the olives. Add the
drained capers.
Season
with herbs andchilli flakes - which give a nice lift - and a generous amount of black pepper.
Taste and add salt if it can take it.
Bring
to the boil and add the chickpeas.
Lower
the heat and cook until the sauce has become quite thick.
When
the sauce is almost ready, cook the fusilli until it reaches
the consistency you like.
Remove
it from the cooking water with a slotted spoon, or drain it into a
jug (you may need some of the water to thin down the sauce) and add
it to the other pan. Cook for a few minutes longer. Check the
seasoning and serve.
Add
Parmesan (vegan, if you prefer) at the table, if you like it.
Notes:
Ideally,
use chopped tomatoes in purée, but if you don’t have those, any
others will do. It’s worth using better quality tomatoes in this
recipe (most recipes for that matter!) for the extra flavour. They
seem to be less watery, too.
Substitute
dried, cooked chickpeas with a can
Variation
Use
cannellini or butter beans.
Add
finely diced celery if you have some.
Try
this with pasta shells, or similar. You want a pasta that will hold
the sauce.
The
name ‘Minestrone’ has become something of a catch-all for a
tomato, vegetable and pasta soup. I don’t pretend that the
following version is any more authentic than most, but it certainly
is attractive and full of flavour. I usually use black-eyed peas,
because they enrich the colour of the soup, but it’s equally good
made with whole lentils or chick pea(s).
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course
Ingredients
2
tbsp olive oil 2
onions 2
garlic cloves 1
carrot 1
stick celery OR 1 tsp celery seed 4
cups water 1/4
cup black-eyed peas 1
cup chopped cabbage a
piece of Pamesan cheese rind
Chop
the onions and garlic and cook over a fairly high heat until they’re
starting to brown.
While
this is happening, dice the carrot and the celery (seed). Add to the other vegetables.
Pour
in the water, add the black-eyed peas and bring to the boil.
Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Reduce pressure gradually.
When
you can safely remove the lid, add the chopped cabbage to the pan.
Return it to the flame. If you’re using the Parmesan cheese rind,
cut this into small dice and add.
Empty the tomatoes into the pan and mix them in.
Now
add the herbs and stir thoroughly.
When
the soup is boiling once more, lower the heat to a simmer, break the
spaghetti into 25 mm (1 in) lengths and add this. Stir to separate
the pieces of pasta.
Add
salt and pepper. Minestrone responds well to ½ tsp of cracked
black pepper. Taste after a couple of minutes to see if it needs
more salt.
Cook
until the spaghetti has softened – you can bring it back up to
pressure for 3 minutes if you wish.
Serve
with chunks of bread and, if you have it, plenty of Parmesan cheese.
Variations:
Use
cannellini beans instead of the black-eyed beans. These will
need soaking first. Or you could use a can.
This is a very
useful recipe if you have a few cans of ready-cooked beans on board,
and is capable of a large number of variations. Many people refer to
these spreads as ‛hummus’, but hummus means chickpea, so to do so
is quite incorrect! If you don’t have any canned beans, you will
need to cook 1/2 cup of dried beans to make the equivalent amount.
Serves 4 for a starter
400
g (14 oz) can butter beans OR 1/2 cup dried, cooked
1/2
tsp dried, minced garlic
2
tbsp olive oil
2
tsp lemon juice
salt
and pepper
Method:
Drain
the beans and put them into a bowl.
Mash them with a fork, then mix
in the garlic, the olive oil and the lemon juice, stirring and
mashing until a smooth paste is formed.
Add pepper. Taste and decide
whether salt is needed.
Serve in a sandwich, or on rolls, toast or
crackers.
Variations:
Substitute soft butter or
mayonnaise for the olive oil.
Use coconut butter.
Instead of lemon juice, use
lime juice or balsamic vinegar.
Sun-dried
tomatoes, especially those sold in oil, have a rich flavour that is
far beyond that of mere tomatoes. This is a great spread or pâté,
depending on how posh you feel! It also makes an excellent sandwich
filling or goes well with thick slices of fresh, crusty bread for
lunch. Use cannellinni beans of butter beans are
unobtainable.
I recommend a stick blender for this - the pâté ends up quite thick and it is difficult to move it around in a blender. I also prefer it to have a bit of texture. You could finely cut up the sun-dried tomatoes
and mash the other ingredients, perhpas pounding the beans with a mortar; I’m sure the spread would still be
quite wonderful.
Serves 4
as a starter
6 halves of
sun-dried tomatoes in oil
2 tbsp oil
from the jar
juice of 1
lemon OR a few small pieces of salted lemon
400 g tin
butter beans, or 1/2 cup dried beans, cooked
3-4 tbsp reserved water
5-6 sprigs
fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
salt and
pepper
Method:
Tip
the sun-dried tomatoes, oil, lemon juice and 3
tbsp water into a bowl. Use the blender to chop up the
tomatoes
Drain
the beans, reserving the liquid, and add to the blender with
thyme leaves (or dried thyme).
Blend
to a pâté-type consistency, as smooth as you want. Then taste and
add salt and black pepper as required. Be careful with the salt: sun-dried tomatoes, canned beans and the salted lemon (if you're using it) might already have added enough salt.
If the spread
is a little too thick, stiff, add some of the reserved bean liquid,
or maybe a drop of wine. Blend again until you get the right
consistency.
Serve with toast or crackers, in sandwiches, or with
fresh bread.
Variations:
Instead of lemon
juice, use lime juice
or balsamic vinegar.
This
is another recipe capable of many variations. If you make it a
little thinner, it becomes a lovely dip, excellent with raw
vegetables. It can be made with any cheese that has a full flavour,
but would be very bland made with something like mozzarella. You do
need a fine grater for the cheese to blend properly.
Serves 4 as a starter
1
cup finely grated cheese
2
tbsp yoghurt
salt and pepper
Method:
Grate
the cheese into a bowl. Mix in the yoghurt and season with
black pepper.
Taste the pâté and add salt if you think it needs it.
Variations:
Use
soft butter or mayonnaise instead of the yoghurt.
Add 2
tbsp Dijon mustard to the pâté.
Add 1/4 cup wine to
make a dip; reduce the amount of yoghurt if you want it to stay as a
pâté.
While
this tastes nothing at all like cheese, it is a very pleasant spread,
with a similar consistency to soft cheese. The lemon juice gives a hint
of sourness, which might possibly remind the more imaginative of
goats' cheese. If you can make it well in advance,
so much the better: it will let the flavours combine all the more. As
you are unlikely to have fresh herbs, don't be mean with the flavourings .
1 1/2
tsp chives or other fresh herbs, finely chopped
1/2
tbsp reserved soaking water
Method:
Soak sunflower seeds/peanuts in water overnight or simmer them for
10 minutes. Then drain and reserve the water.
Put about half the chives aside, and then put the seeds, yeast, lemon juice, garlic, garlic powder, Annie's Mixed Herbs and salt in a blender. Blend until the cheese comes together,
achieving uniform consistency.
If all the
ingredients get stuck to the side of the blender, which they probably will, scrape down the sides as often as necessary, adding a little more water, if required.
Taste critically
and adjust the seasoning. You may want to add more garlic, herbs or lemon
juice.
Shape the cheese on a
plate by hand, or simply serve in a bowl or on a plate, topped with
the extra fresh chives.
The flavours of this
vegan cheese develop and combine together, so it’s worth not eating
it all up at once! It seems to keep quite well for several days,
loosely covered.
Variations:
Substitute, or add onion powder for the garlic powder.
Use different nuts or seeds.
Add smoked paprika.
Add chilli flakes
Add some chopped peppadew peppers after blending.
Add chopped capers after blending.
Mix in some pesto once the mixture is blended.
Form the cheese into a log and roll in eitherAnnie's Mixed Herbs or cracked black pepper.
Simply
combine the yoghurt, herbs, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Let them stand for
at least a quarter of an hour for the flavours to combine. Check the
seasoning and serve with crudités.
Variations:
Use
fresh herbs if any are available.
Use half-and-half or all
mayonnaise, especially if it’s home-made.
Use 1 tbsp Dijon
mustard instead of the herbs.
Leave out the herbs and combine
with finely grated cheese.
Try all of the above ideas
together!
Leave out Annie’s Mixed Herbs, and add 1 tsp sun-dried
tomato purée and 1/2 tsp basil.
Substitute mint
for Annie's Mixed Herbs and chop in a small cucumber.
If you
have any on board, dice a few pepperdews and mix those in. Leave out or reduce the amount of herbs.
The
following is a simple bread recipe, which tastes delicious and goes
very well with soups such as mushroom or leek. I suggest making a
smaller loaf than usual – ‘1 lb’ – because you will probably
eat most of it at one sitting. If you’ve never made bread before,
please read the recipe for Basic Bread, before making
this one. If you don’t have an oven, follow the directions for The Perfect Ovenless Loaf.
You
can use fresh garlic, if you prefer, but the flavour of the dried
seems to permeate the bread more effectively than does fresh.
2
cups wholewheat flour
2
tbsp vital wheat gluten
½
tsp salt
1
tsp instant dried yeast
2
tbsp olive oil
½
tsp sugar/honey
1
cup lukewarm water
1
tsp dried, minced garlic
1
tbsp Annie’s Mixed Herbs
Put
half the flour (and the vwg) into a large bowl. Add the salt, dried
yeast, (sweetener) and olive oil. Stir in the water. Mix them
together into a smooth batter.
Add
the garlic and herbs.
Gradually
add the rest of the flour and knead the dough for a few minutes.
Roll it into a sausage and put this into a well-greased (or oiled)
‘1 lb’ loaf tin. Flatten it down and cover it.
Leave
the bread to rise until it’s about 25 mm (1 inch) above the sides
of the tin.
When
your loaf is ready to cook, light the oven and cook it at a Moderate
heat for about 30 minutes.
To
enjoy this loaf’s flavour at its best, eat it warm.
Variations:
Use
seawater instead of fresh water and salt.
If
you have an oven, you can also use this dough to make up to 8
individual rolls.
I once bought a container of ‘Italian mixed herbs’ and for ages
tried to puzzle out what was so special about it. At last, it came
to me – there was a lot of fennel in the mixture. I found I much preferred the flavour to normal mixed herbs and when the container was finished, experimented
with a number of combinations, until I came up with the following. I
think there is a satisfying balance here between the sweet, the
pungent and the robust, with the fennel adding that certain je
ne sais quoi to the whole deal.You could, if you preferred, use ground fennel, but I always have fennel seed on board for my curries and if you happen to bite one, they add a delicious burst of flavour.
Incidentally, don’t even think
of using ‘ground garlic’ in this – it tends to gum everything
together. If you don't have dried, minced garlic, then leave it out.
The following recipe makes
about ¼ of a cup.
1
tsp dried basil
1.5
tsp fennel seed
1
tsp dried, minced garlic
1
tsp dried mint
1
tsp dried oregano
1.5
tsp dried rosemary
1.5 tsp dried sage
1
tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp chilli flakes
Mix
everything together in a bowl and then put into an airtight jar.