Chorizo (seitan)

 

 

This recipe makes one sausage, about 170 x 30.    I worked out that it costs no more than a dollar for the vital wheat gluten.    Even if you add another dollar for the rest of the ingredients, this is a very cheap chorizo.    It tastes just like the real thing and the texture is very similar.    You can use dried flaked garlic instead of fresh and I reckon 1/2 tsp = 1 clove of garlic.    This is very hit and miss, however, because the flakes are big and the spoon is small!    I smash them up a little bit and the finished appearance is just fine.  Granules would do, but the chunks of real or flaked garlic look a little bit like the fat that you usually find in chorizo, so add to its verisimilitude. (See notes.)

I can’t recommend this recipe too much, if you like chorizo: it’s dirt cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy and it tastes amazing. It’s also great to have as a tapa when you have friends on board – vegetarian or otherwise.

When you mix this, try to use up every bit of the dough in the sausage so that you leave a really clean bowl. Make sure your tools are clean, too. Gluten and glue have the same root, etymologically, and any dough can be a nightmare to clean up, because it sticks to your cloths and scrubbers. However, using up all the dough eliminates this issue: soaking will get any remaining dough off the bowl, should you miss some.

 Makes one sausage, approx 150x 30

 

3 tbsp chickpea flour

5 cloves garlic (See Note)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1½ tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2  tsp salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (See Note) 

60ml water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp soy sauce

½ tbsp red wine vinegar 

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (60g)

• Peel the garlic then chop it roughly. Chorizo usually has chunks of white fat in it and chunky bits of garlic give a similar appearance.
  
• Add the chickpea flour, garlic, paprika, onion powder, pepper, salt and chilli flakes to a large bowl and mix them together.
• Now add the water, olive oil, tomato purée, soya sauce and vinegar, one at a time, stirring after each addition.
  
• Now add the vital wheat gluten. Begin mixing with a knife or spatula until just combined without overworking the dough.  You will probably need to finish by hand: it's not necessary to kned the dough, just mix everything thoroughly.
  
• Put the trivet in the base of the pressure cooker and add 1/2 cup of water.
• Roughly shape the chorizo into a log that will easily fit in the pressure cooker – about 150 x 50 mm. It doesn’t have to be perfect because the cracks and crevices will disappear during cooking.
• Wrap it in foil or baking parchment, twisting the ends tightly. Place the wrapped chorizo into the pressure cooker, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Let the pressure come down gradually.

 

While warm the chorizo stays fairly soft, but it goes harder as it cools, and if left overnight, ends up with a texture very similar to the real thing.  It keeps well wthout refrigeration: up to about a week, as long as it isn't in too moist an environment.

 

 

 

Notes

• If you prefer, you can use dried garlic flakes.  These are really too big, but if you smash them up a bit with a pestle and mortar (or in a blender), after cooking, they end up looking like the fat in a 'real' chorizo.  If you are very patient, you can break them into smaller pieces.  Soak the pieces in a little warm water before using them.  You can also use dried garlic granules, but they are much more even in size and don't look quite as nice.  Use 2 1/2 tsp garlic flakes, or 1 1/4 tsp garlic granules.
• I like my chorizo quite hot, so use 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  

Seitan 'English' sausages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 vital wheat gluten 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.

Paella

 

Paella is Spain’s version of pulau or pilaf - as you can guess from the name.    Although everyone associates it with shellfish, oddly enough, seafood isn’t always included, but on the other hand meat is, so this version could hardly be described as authentic.    However, I have tried to use the traditional method and seasoning.    Paella can contain a number of different vegetables such as green beans or fresh broad beans.    A lot of veg~an cooks add artichokes, but I can always taste the vinegar that has been added to the jars and I feel this would not improve the flavour.    Many paella include white beans of one sort or another so I’ve included cooked cannellini beans (very popular in Spain), but broad, lima, haricot or any white bean would all work well.    You can leave them out altogether if you want: I do when the weather is really hot and I have less appetite.   

One of the ways in which paella is similar to Persian pilaf is that it is cooked in such a way that the rice at the bottom of the pan forms a crust, know as socarrat.    This is full of flavour and adds to this already delicious dish.     All the cookery books tell you that this crust won’t form if you use a non-stick frying pan: that may well be correct if you have one coated in Teflon, but my Spanish Valira frying pan/skillet apparently has a multi-layer non-stick surface made from titanium (!) and this certainly allows for the socarrat to develop.   I reckon you need to be reasonably generous with the olive oil, but, more importantly, once you’ve added the water, don’t stir it.    If you do, you’ll lift up the rice that’s at the bottom of the pan and the socarrat will have to start all over again.    However, don’t worry it it doesn't form: the paella will still be yummy.

As a reality check, for voyagers who don’t want to make or buy sausage of some description, I’ve tried leaving out the sausage. It still tastes fantastic. In fact, I’m often too lazy to make chorizo, and the photo shows an alternative with no sausage and with chick peas instead of white beans.

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

1/2 tsp saffron threads, crumbled

1 tbsp white wine or water

1/4 cup freeze-dried peas

2 veg~an Italian sausages or 1/2 Chorizo, thickly sliced

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 small red bell pepper, cut into strips

2 cloves garlic, chopped, minced or crushed

 a handful of green beans cut into 30 mm lengths

1 medium tomato, diced

1 tbsp capers

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 tsp thyme

 1/4 tsp cayenne

3/4 cups Spanish or arborio rice

1 1/2 cups water

 1/2 cup of cooked cannellini beans

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp mushroom stock powder 

black pepper to taste

fresh parsley

Method:

• Put the water or white wine into a bowl.    If it’s cold, try and warm it a little to help infuse the saffron.    Add the crumbled strands to the bowl and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, add the peas to ¼ cup lightly-salted water, cover, bring to the boil and turn off the heat.    Set aside. Or pour boiling water over the pea and add a little salt.
• Before starting on the paella itself, and assuming you only have one large frying pan or skillet, cook the slices of sausage in this now, in some olive oil.    Fry both sides until slightly crisp and then remove them from the pan onto a plate.    An additional advantage of doing this now is that the remaining oil adds additional flavour to the paella.
• Heat a little more oil in a the pan, over a medium heat. Once heated, add the onions and peppers. Sauté until softened and lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and sauté for a further minute.
• If you are using them, add the green beans.
• Now add the tomato, capers, smoked paprika, sweet paprika and thyme. Sauté for a couple of minutes.
• Put a little more oil in the pan and add the rice.    Stir everything thoroughly so that everything is well mixed and all the grains of rice coated with the various seasonings. Lightly toast the rice for a minute or so until it’s just starting to stick.
• Now add the water, salt, pepper, mushroom stock, saffron plus its water and the cannellini beans.    Now add your sausage pieces and stir quickly to ensure everything is evenly distributed.    Bring to a slow boil.
• Turn the heat down and keep an eye on the pan for a few minutes.    You want the liquid to be just moving, but not boiling.    The rice should take about 20 minutes to cook.    If all the liquid is absorbed at 15 minutes, carefully add another ¼ cup of water.   
• After 20 minutes, all the water should be absorbed and the rice should be cooked – this rice is not as soft as risotto, but certainly you don’t want it al dente.
• By now you should be able to hear a gentle crackling as the socarrat forms and there should be a nice toasty smell.    If it doesn’t happen, well it doesn’t happen.    With luck, practice will make perfect.    The problem with this sort of recipe is that it does rather depend on variables like how absorbent the rice is, how hot your burner is and the quality of the frying pan.    But if there is no lovely, crusty rice, the paella will still be very good.
• When you are sure that the rice is cooked, turn the heat down as low as it can go (and/or put the pan on a flame-tamer).    This will allow the crust to keep on forming. Take out a teaspoon or so of paella and check the salt.    If it needs more, sprinkle some over the whole pan – there’s still time for it to be absorbed.
• Spread the drained peas over the top of the rice (don't mix in). Cover the pan and and let the paella stand for 5 minutes or so.    If there’s the slightest smell of burning, turn off the flame.   
• Once the peas are heated through, turn off the flame and sprinkle chopped, fresh parsley over everything, should you be lucky enough to have some.    Grind some more black pepper over the top and then serve on hot plates.

Notes:

• If you don’t have mushroom stock powder, leave it out.    The mushroom adds a nice earthy taste you won’t get from other stock powders.
• Saffron gives the paella its distinct flavour and colour.    Well, certainly the colour: with ingredients like sausage and tomato, it doesn’t always come through. I suspect real paella has a greater proportion of rice than this recipe. However, you can’t be mean with it, if you want to be able to taste it.    Saffron also happens to be a shocking price and some would say a very wasteful crop, seeing that only the stamens are taken from a zillion crocuses.    (However, the fields must look gorgeous when they flower!)    If either of these reasons puts you off using saffron, substitute a ¼ tsp turmeric, which will give you a similar, lovely colour.    Bear in mind that the flavour is not only different, but quite noticeable, so only use as much as you need to colour the rice.
• This recipe really needs freeze-dried peas (or, I suppose, if you are voyaging on a rather larger income, frozen).    These are readily available in many countries and, as long as the locker doesn’t get too hot, keep well for several years. Apparently they still retain a lot of their nutrients, so are more than just a pretty addition.  If you don’t have them, try and add something else green, to keep the paella looking attractive.  You could substitute half the red pepper for green and add some diced carrot, if you don’t have anything beyond the normal vegetables on board.
• The green beans are a traditional addition but not always easy for sailors to find.  I have successfully used thinly-sliced carrots to add to the variety.
• If you have no fresh tomato, you can use one from a tin, or ¼ cup diced tomatoes from a can, or some tomato purée (in which case, add it with the water).
• Mushrooms can be used instead of the white beans if you don’t want the paella to be too filling, but I don’t feel they really go too well with everything else in this instance.
• Chick peas substitute well for white beans, and are, of course, very popular in Spain.
• Swiss chard is also a good addition and can stand in for the peas and/or beans if necessary. I realise that it’s far from being a voyaging vegetable, but it will keep up to a week if bought very fresh and treated with care.

 

You will find many more rice recipes here 

Pizza

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 chorizo salami, 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 red peppers, all go well with the above.
• A great alternative topping to the tomatoes is sun-dried tomato pesto.  
• 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

Savoury scone

Sometimes you want something more sustaining than a sandwich, but don’t want to eat out of bowls. A savoury scone can provide just what’s needed.

1 onion 

1 tbsp olive oil

 1/2 tsp sage 

1 cup flour

 2 tsp baking powder

 pinch of salt

 4 tbsp soft butter – OR 3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup milk or water

• Dice the onion and fry it in the oil until soft. Put to one side
• Add the sage, baking powder and salt to the flour.
• Rub in the butter/oil, or mix it in with a fork until you have a coarse, crumbly mix.
• Quickly mix in the milk until you have a fairly soft, but non-sticky dough that you can handle easily.
• Knead this for half a minute and then roll it out on a floured board into a roughly circular shape. Alternatively, if you have an oven, roll out the dough and cut it into six or eight discs, using a glass or a scone-cutter.
• Put the dough in a frying pan over a flame tamer on a low flame. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or place in a preheated hot oven for 15 minutes.
• Turn out, cut into wedges and split each, buttering and serving it while it’s still warm.

Variations:

• Use some fresh herbs, if you have any available.
• Add 1/4 cup grated cheese to the flour before mixing the dough.Fry some diced Seitan chorizo with the onion.
• Add garlic to the onion, if you like./
• Spread some Marmite or Annie's Big Mix (or both!) on the scone.
• Instead of making scone dough, use Zebedee bread.