malin nilsson

METHOD:

Sauté your chopped shallot and garlic in a splash of oil or water for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Add your peas, season with salt and black pepper and sauté another few minutes and then add your water. Let simmer for a 3-4 minutes or until your peas are soft.

Pour your peas, shallots, garlic and water from the pan into a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients for the pure and use a stick blender to blend as smooth as possible. Set aside.

To make the scallops start by cutting the hats and butt ends off your king oyster mushrooms. Set these aside for the main dish and then slice the stem of the mushroom into roughly 2 cm thick coins. score each coin on one of the flat sides lightly 3-4 times one way and then the other way creating a checkered effect. Repeat on the other side. Be careful not to cut all the way through, you are simply making a light pattern across the surface.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and melt your vegan butter or margarine. When it’s all melted and coating the bottom of your frying pan place your mushrooms coins one flat side down. Fry for a few minutes until the edges are golden and then flip over and repeat.

In the meantime (or you could do this beforehand) also heat another small skillet over medium-high heat to toast your hazelnuts in. When the pan is hot simply toss your nuts in and toast while shaking the pan from time to time until fragrant and browned. Place the nuts on a cutting board and chop roughly, leaving some nuts whole.

When your ready to served make a circular sphere of the pea puree on your plate or shallow bowl. Place 3-4 pieces of the vegan “scallop” at the edge of the sphere. Place a handful of rocket at the centre of it and squeeze some lemon over it. Finally sprinkle your toasted hazelnuts over the top and serve.

METHOD:

Place your dried porcini in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for roughly 20-30 minutes while you prepare your other ingredients.

Prepare your fried sage leaves first by coating the bottom of a small frying pan with olive oil. Heat up the oil and when it’s hot fry a few leaves at a time in the oil. When they stop sizzling in the oil and have changed colour to a more khaki green hue use some chopsticks or tongs to fish them out and place them on top of a paper towel to get rid of excess oil. Repeat until all the leaves are fried and crispy. Set aside for later.

Toast your pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant and golden. This will only take a few minutes and make sure to keep a close eye and toss them once in a while. Set aside for later.

Sauté your onion and garlic, seasoned with a small pinch of salt, in a little oil over medium heat for a few minutes until they are fragrant and slightly translucent. In the meantime slice your leftover pieces of king oyster mushroom and halve and then slice your portobello mushroom. Add the mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and black pepper. Give the mushrooms a good mix with the onions and let sauté for about 7-10 minutes. You can toss them once in a while. During this time they will release a lot of water that we want to evaporate.

Put your pasta water on and bring to a boil. Then you multitask with the next few steps and cooking your spaghetti. Try to time it  being finished with the sauce.

While the mushrooms are sautéing chop your soaked porcini roughly and set aside. Then make your cashew cream by combining half a cup of the mushroom water, the plain water, soaked and drained cashews and corn starch in a blender. Set aside the leftover mushroom water and blitz the cream until silky smooth.

Once the mushrooms have sautéed and it’s shrunken quite a bit in volume you can use a couple of tbsp of the mushroom water to deglaze the pan. Simply pour the liquid into the pan and scrape the bottom of it with your wooden spoon or spatula until any stuck bits have come lose. Then add in your chopped porcini and let the water cook of again. Pour the cream into the pan and season with soy sauce. Let it come to a simmer for a couple of minutes. Finally take it off the heat and stir in the nutritional yeast. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.

Mix your spaghetti with the sauce and serve in pasta bowls. Sprinkle with pine nuts and fried sage leaves.

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees celsius.

Mix the milled flaxseed with the water and set aside to gel.

Prepare the cake tin by placing a baking paper at the bottom and then use some coconut oil to grease the bottom and sides. Sprinkle in your bread crumbs and shake the pan until it is stuck to the whole bottom and sides of the tin. You might not need to do all three steps here for the cake not to stick but I’m an all methods on board kind of girl, you do what suits you.

Break your chocolate into small pieces and place them in a shallow bowl. Bring some water to boil in a pot sized well to rest the bowl on top without too much steam coming out the sides. When the water is boiling place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot and melt the chocolate. Use a spatula to move the chocolate around gently. Once melted let sit on top of the pot while you prepare the batter.

Whisk your sugar and oil in a good sized mixing bowl. Add your soy milk as you keep whisking. Ideally the milk is at room temperature so not to make the coconut oil solidify.

Add your almond meal and stir it into the mixture until there are no lumps in site. Sift in the remaining flours as well as cocoa powder. Sprinkle in the vanilla powder and whisk well to combine. Make sure there are no dry patches on the sides of your bowl.

Spoon in your flax egg and mix it through. If it’s already gelled well when you add in your milk you could also add it at that stage. Otherwise stir it through now and then pour in your melted chocolate. Fold it into the batter using a spatula until well combined.

Pour your mixture into the prepped tin and flatten it out with your spatula. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20-24 minutes. A testing stick or tooth pick should come out clean from the centre when the cake is done.

Let cool for an hour or so and then slice to serve. Heat up your berries in a sauce pan and spoon over the cake. Whip some soy cream and top with that. If you want to be a little extra you can grate some chocolate over the top.