Tomato & Basil Fusilli

Last week, being the last week of the uni year, ended up being quite busy.  From the Student Leaders Awards and a friend's final year project screening on Wednesday evening to the BUSOM social to Nando's and the bowling alley on Thursday evening, to Party on the Amp throughout Friday, the only day that I managed to come home in time for tea last week was Monday (Tuesday was the BUSOM inventory).  Party on the Amp ended up being quite good.  As a non-drinker (personal choice as I don't really like the taste of the alcoholic drinks that I have tried, but as long as others are responsible, I don't mind them drinking around me) and someone who isn't always comfortable in large and noisy crowds, I'd expected to be overwhelmed by such an event.  The fact that I was quite busy during the day with helping with media coverage of the event could have been to contribute, but other than feeling a bit tired and like I'd talked far too much (because I had talked far too much), I didn't feel all that overwhelmed by having a few friends who had drunk too much.  Additionally, on my slightly longer breaks, I went to sit with a good friend who I don't think had drunk that much, so I felt comfortable and fairly safe.  I also interviewed most of the bands playing, including previous Coffee House Session acts Lew Rey and Samantha Durnan, as well as The Voice winner of 2014 Jermain Jackman and X Factor contestant Concept (who I have a picture with here).  Back to the food though ... Something I've noticed is that I don't post recipes for main meals often, so here's one I found while looking in a cupboard in the kitchen for some more marmalade (Paddington and marmalade toast fan here) when I stumbled across a carton of Napolina Tomato Passata with a recipe on the side.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 finely chopped onions
1 crushed garlic clove
500g tomato passata
1 tablespoon tomato puree
handful of basil leaves
375g fusilli pasta
100ml dry white wine

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add onion and garlic then saute until soft.
2. Add the passata, tomato puree and wine and simmer until the mixture is thick and reduced.
3. Add most of the basil leaves and seasoning to the sauce.
4. Drain the cooked fusilli and serve into a dish.  Top with the tomato and basil sauce and serve adding the remaining basil leaves.

Healthy Green Smoothie

Today marks the official end of my 2nd year at uni with Party on the Amp, at which I'm helping with the media coverage as a runner.  That means that I'll be liaising with the technical crew about musical acts, posting on the university student union's social media accounts about what's going on, and hopefully interviewing a few bands.  With a little luck, the weather will be nice (I didn't go last year due to work, but it apparently rained a lot) and there'll be ice cream, candyfloss, popcorn, BBQ stuff, and smoothies.  Speaking of smoothies, today's healthy green treat was inspired by this smoothie from the wonderful agirlnamedally (a.k.a. Tie-Dye Girl or My Aussie Soul-Sister).  Imagine if I was sipping that at Party on the Amp - mmmmmmmm.

Ingredients (to fill a pint glass of smoothie)

3 bananas
3 dessert spoons spinach
a handful of cucumber sticks
a dash or two of cold water

Instructions

1. Cut bananas into slices.
2. Blend banana slices a bit at a time, and add cucumber sticks, spinach and water gradually (i.e. add a bit of bananas, cucumber, spinach and water each time and blend).
3. Pour into a pint glass/mug and enjoy!

Healthy Vegan Flapjacks

I've had a couple of weeks off for deadlines and exams and the just a bit of winding down, but now I'm back with a bit more energy and more recipe finds.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still winding down, but I'm having a go at doing both reading and watching DVDs each day and then sometimes a bit of designing bits and bobs.  At some point, I'll focus a bit more on design work, and perhaps start trying again to learn to drive.  Last Friday, the day after I finished exams and deadlines, my university's Amnesty International group held a concert to raise money to help with the aid efforts in Nepal following the recent earthquake, and my musical theatre group (BUSOM) joined in with an a capella set of songs from previous shows and concerts (plus Lean On Me, which we haven't done before, but vaguely knew the words already in our own time).  For a donation, we could choose from a range of chocolate brownies, white chocolate chip buns, a peanut butter thing, cookies, and vegan flapjacks.  As always, my interested was piqued by the vegan flapjacks, so I went to ask Elliot, the event's host, for the recipe.  He told me that he had adapted a flapjack recipe from the BBC Good Food website to have a vegan-friendly alternative to butter and then added some coconut oil.  I'm yet to try this recipe at home, but I'm sure it will be as delicious as the one I tasted last week!

Ingredients

250g porridge oats
125g vegan margarine (such as Pure)
125g brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons golden syrup (depends on how gooey you want it)
coconut oil (optional)

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until fully mixed, but be careful not to overmix as the oats could lose their texture.
2. Lightly grease the baking tray with margarine and use a spoon to transfer the flapjack mixture into the tray.
3. Press into the corners of the tray with the back of a spoon to ensure that the mixture is flat.  Separate the mixture into 12 squares.
4. Bake the mixture in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Apricot and Almond Brittle

University (and GCSE and A level) exam season is starting in the next few weeks, so we'll all need that little bit of extra "brain food" (i.e. sugar) to keep us going through the long and seemingly very sunny days (and nights!) of revising for exams and meeting coursework deadlines.  Throughout the next few months, it will be very important for anyone taking exams to look after themselves and eat and sleep properly, so breakfast is a must, as well as little snacks throughout the day.  This apricot and almond brittle is a snack idea that I found in Home Sweet Home from The Hummingbird Bakery, and for any vegans out there, it's vegan-friendly too!

Ingredients (to make 1kg of brittle)

180g (6 1/2 oz) flaked almonds
200g (7 oz) dried apricots, thinly sliced
100g (3 1/2 oz) dark chocolate chips (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
600g (1lb 5oz) caster sugar
400ml (14 fl oz) water

Instructions

1. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Fahrenheit), or gas mark 3.
2. Spread the flaked almonds onto the lined tray and toast them in the oven until they are a light golden colour - this will only take a few minutes.  Set aside to cool.
3. Once the toasted almonds are cool, add the sliced apricots and chocolate chips to the same tray and use your hands to mix them in evenly.
4. In a medium saucepan, dissolve the caster sugar in the water.  Bring to the boil and continue to boil for 15-20 minutes or until it forms a rich caramel colour.  Do not stir while the mixture is boiling or the caramel will crystallise; just gently swirl the pan from time to time.
5. Carefully pour the hot caramel over the nuts, fruit and chocolate, making sure to try and cover all of the ingredients evenly in sugar.  Carefully set aside as the tray will be hot, and leave the brittle to cool and set completely.
6. Once cooled, break into pieces to serve.

Vegan Honeycomb

Earlier this week, I was looking at the Instagram and blog of What the Cook, which is run by an old friend from school called Elle, and I saw that she had posted a recipe for black pepper honeycomb.  I'd seen the photo that she'd included, and I thought it looked quite nice and I was also reminded of the honeycomb of Cadbury's Crunchie bars.  As usual, I'd wondered if I could find a recipe for a vegan-friendly equivalent of honeycomb (i.e. a honeycomb without honey), and the easiest one I could find was the below recipe from Emily Cooks Vegan.

Ingredients

100g caster sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

1. Put the caster sugar and golden syrup into a stainless steel pan, stir once and then heat (do not stir the mixture at all while the pan is on the heat).
2. Leave the sugar to bubble away for a few minutes until the mixture reaches a deep golden, maple syrup-like colour.  Quickly whisk in the bicarbonate of soda, and when the mixture "whooshes up", pour into a small, greaseproof paper-lined tin (the mixture will spread out by itself).
3. Leave for a few minutes to set, then bash into smaller pieces.