Vegetarian Gourmand

After being invited to a cake party, I decided I would make Millionaire Shortbread for the occasion. Let me start by saying I don’t bake very often. I like to cook, but generally I can’t be fussed with baking. It’s too specific, and too many things can go wrong.

This was a recipe I had been meaning to try for a while, and this seemed like a perfect time to try it out. Living in Scotland, I’ve had Millionaire Shortbread a few times. It’s a layer of shortbread on the bottom, then a thick later of caramel, and on top is a thin layer of hard chocolate. It really is wonderful.

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While browsing the isles of Aldi for some good deals, I came across smoked garlic which was brought in from the Orkney Islands – not too far from Aberdeen. A very exciting find as I’ve never seen smoked garlic before. I purchased it and was quite excited to bring it home to try.

It has a very strong, smoky smell and a little can go a long way. Smoked garlic is wonderful roasted, and perfect used in place of normal roasted garlic – anywhere you would like a nice smoky flavour to accompany your dish. I find being vegetarian, I am exceptionally happy when I find ingredients other than meat which have been smoked. Often times it’s smoked meat that is available, so finding a nice smoked cheese, smoked paprika, or smoked garlic can do wonders for vegetarian taste buds.

Perfect uses for smoked garlic include roasted and squished onto crusty bread with some olive oil, and maybe some Brie or Camembert cheese. Or highlight it in a pasta dish – spaghettini with smoked garlic, diced tomatoes and parmesan cheese.

Fusion condoms having been listed as vegan and are now being promoted here in the UK. As Shandip Shah said – ‘Vegetarians and Vegans might not have realized that there is a milk extract in most condoms. Fusion condoms want to help this group make an informed choice about safe sex,’

Not the typical advertising campaign for condom companies. Click here to read the full article.

Poached eggs aren’t something I have tried to make very often. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever tried to make them before. I only had them for the first time I can remember last year, when I had my first (vegetarian) Eggs Benedict at a diner in Vancouver. I did enjoy them, but they don’t often cross my mind in the mornings as a perfect breakfast food – until now.

Yesterday, I decided to give it a try. I had the general gist of it, I knew keeping them together was a challenge, and somewhere along the way learned there should be some vinegar in the water. Likely on a cooking TV show, I watched someone swirl the water to keep the egg whites together.
So to the internet I went to get more details, cooking times, any extra tips. I found a Gordon Ramsay recipe, which along with using a teaspoon of vinegar to hold the eggs together; it also describes creating a ‘vortex’ by spinning the water really quickly in a circle. So off I go for my first attempt at poached eggs.
The first egg yoke broke before it even hit the water, however I wasn’t deterred as my boyfriend prefers the egg yokes cooked, I could pretend this was intentional. With my vortex spinning, I poured the egg from the bowl I previously cracked it into (which caused the yoke to break), and into this vortex. Immediately, the egg split into many small little strings and lost all resemblance of an egg. I thought about taking a picture, but it wasn’t very pretty.

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