This mayonnaise is far, far easier to make than it’s eggy counterpart, you can’t taste the difference at all, and it lasts longer too. I find a jar of this is still fresh after a couple of weeks in the fridge, but trust your nose. So simple and such an essential summer condiment – slather on your burger buns, make potato salad, dunk your chips… And you can flavour it how you like! We love saffron or rosemary mayo best in our house. Just blend in the herb or spice of your choice and let the flavours infuse.
Liz x
Ingredients (makes around 450ml)
250ml neutral vegetable oil
130ml soy milk (it MUST be soy, other plant-milks do not emulsify in the same way)
1 tsp mustard
1 small garlic clove (optional, or add/substitute other flavourings you like eg saffron, rosemary, smoked paprika, chilli…)
1 tbsp vinegar (white wine or apple cider work well)
a big pinch of salt
Method
Measure all the ingredients into a jug.
Use a handheld, emersion stick blender to blend into mayonnaise. It should emulsify within 10-15 seconds. You can use a smoothie maker or similar if you don’t have a stick blender.
Taste and add more salt if needed. Then spoon into a clean jar and store in the fridge.
We always meant to reopen it, but there never seemed to be enough time or energy, we never quite got back into anything that resembled routine, and so it remained closed, that is until this coming Saturday at 10am.
On many occasion over the past two years we came close to being ready to reopen then another lock down or another wave would raise its head and bang off we went again tumbling and rolling with all that was thrown at us.
The first lockdown for us was not too unlike being hit by a bus and over and over again, up and down it went for the last two years.
It is funny though that now life seems normal again. I can never quite grasp how everything moves on. You think at the time you will be in the middle of the pain forever and then just like that, it is gone, over and we move on. Life is funny.
Anyway, philosophical ramblings aside we are finally reopening our farm shop and this time it is going to be so much different, better, brighter and on a Saturday which is what you all asked for!
We have two amazing people that will be serving you Thiago and Anna, both lovely bubbly and helpful individuals.
We have opened up our whole packing shed with all the hundreds of grocery, plastic free, sustainable and 100% organic products, plus of course the very best range of fresh organic produce in the country and nearly all plastic free.
We will have a modern till system, and accept all cards for payment, in fact that would be our preference and going forward the shop will be cashless.
It all kicks off this Saturday at 10am and we have some amazing things happening. The line-up will go something like this.
Parking on site
10am shop open
12pm-2pm farm tour. (I’ll bring you on a tour of the farm, show you the polytunnels, and the fields walk down to one of our forestry areas see the bee hives and hopefully meet and feed Florence and George (our two rescue pigs). All the time you will be learning about sustainability, growing and biodiversity. )
1-2pm see the tractors and some machine demonstrations (get up on one if you are feeling brave!)
2-4pm live music, including classical flute music!
3-4pm kids natural art workshops run by Jenny.
There will be a pizza truck and a smoothie/juice stall and coffee too! There will be even some home baked fresh cakes.
The event is FREE, so come along bring your friends and family and please let others know. The current weather forecast for Saturday looks amazing and hopefully it stays that way!
Thanks for all your support and looking forward to finally meeting people here again on our farm.
We are always looking for new ways to eat beans. They are so good for us! An affordable and healthy source of protein and fibre. Good news is they are also great for the environment. Legume crops improve soil fertility naturally by working with bacteria to fix nitrogen into the soil.
So when we tried this delicious Afghan curry, we just had to share it! This is probably not an authentic recipe but it’s our quick and easy version. We love that the heat just comes from the generous use of black pepper. We’ll share the stuffed flatbreads recipe soon too. Watch this space!
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 bottle of passata
2 tins kidney beans
2 red onions
4 medium potatoes
(drizzle of veg oil, sprinkle of salt, pepper & ground coriander to roast the onions & potatoes)
diced red onion, fresh coriander & mint to taste
Method
Turn your oven to 200C. Chop the potatoes into bites sized pieces and the onions into slivers and toss in a roasting dish with a drizzle of oil and sprinkle of salt, pepper & ground coriander. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until soft while you make the curry sauce.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot & tip in the spices and seasoning. Stir fry in the oil until the spices are very fragrant and starting to darken.
Pour in the passata and the drained and rinsed kidney beans & simmer for 10 minutes or so until the curry is rich and delicious.
When the potatoes and onions are cooked through and starting to colour, scrape them into the curry and warm through.
Serve in bowls topped with diced red onion and chopped mint and coriander. Scoop up with flatbreads or rice & enjoy!
Our new range of curry spice sauces make it easy to put together a delicious dinner in minutes! We tested the Tikka Masala paste last night and it was so good. Here’s what we did but of course it’s totally flexible and you should use whatever vegetables you prefer or have in the house. We love the range of Bunalun organic tins too. So useful!
Get your rice on to cook and find a large pot to cook the curry in.
Fry the onion in the oil over a medium-high heat until it softens and starts to turn golden brown.
Then add the curry paste and chopped vegetables and stir until fragrant.
Pour in the tin of tomatoes and a half tin of water (swirl to get all the tomatoey juices out of the tin). Then add the chickpeas and simmer until the butternut squash is soft.
Add the tin of coconut milk and warm through. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with salt and pepper. Then serve over rice with some fresh coriander.
Tofu is an amazing, versatile and healthy ingredient. We love using silken tofu to make scramble for breakfast or to place in wobbly cubes in a miso soup, it’s also great scored and dressed with soy sauce and sesame oil. We stock a delicious range of ready to eat tofus which are brilliant in sandwiches and salads or warmed up to go with your supper (our favourite is the wild garlic one and we also really rate the smoked one). But extra firm tofu is a brilliant blank canvas with a meaty texture. We love it thinly scored at an angle and cooked like a firm piece of fish with lemon, butter, salt and pepper. Our kids favourite way is like this, coated in well seasoned cornflour and fried until crisp. It’s just the thing to top noodle or rice bowls. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 x 200g block extra firm, natural tofu
6 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
3 tsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tsp seaweed flakes
vegetable oil for frying
Method
Drain the tofu and cut it into cubes.
In a wide bowl, mix the cornflour, salt, chilli flakes, sesame seeds and seaweed flakes (if you don’t have seaweed flakes you can leave them out or snip up a sheet of sushi nori).
Tumble the cubed tofu into the seasoned cornflour and mix it well ensuring each piece is coated.
Coat the base of a wide frying pan with a generous layer of vegetable oil, then heat to medium high.
Add the tofu but space it out so that the pieces are not touching each other (you may need to cook in batches). Turn the pieces regularly so that they cook on all sides. They should be golden brown and beautifully crispy.
Serve as you like. We topped a rice bowl and vegetable stir fry and added a drizzle of soy sauce and some kimchi.
We lean heavily on our pantry this time of year during the hungry gap (that time when Irish winter veg are finished and the summer harvests are still a little way away). Beans and lentils are so nourishing, cheap and filling – and they are climate friendly crops too. This is our favourite way to make a pot of white beans. We sometimes make it with dried beans when we have the time, but here is a quicker version with tinned beans for you. You can customise it as you like with greens wilted in at the last minute, top with roasted vegetables or just scoop it up with some good bread. So so delicious!
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 sweet potatoes – scrubbed & chopped into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
6 fresh sage leaves, sliced
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil
a whole bulb of garlic – cloves separated, peeled & sliced
3 bay leaves
a large handful of rosemary
2 tins butterbeans or cannellini beans
a large handful of fresh thyme
a large glass of white wine
salt & pepper to taste
chopped spinach or kale or another leafy green you like
Method
Turn the oven to 200C and tumble your sweet potatoes into a roasting dish. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and sprinkle over the chilli flakes and chopped sage. Shake the dish to evenly coat the potatoes in the seasoning then pop it in the oven to bake while you make the beans. Depending on your oven and the size of your chunks, they should take around 20-30 minutes to cook through.
Drain the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes into a pot. Then, using kitchen scissors, chop the sun-dried tomatoes up into strips. Then turn the heat under the pot to medium-high and add the sliced garlic, bay leaves and rosemary. Cook until the garlic is softening and starting to colour.
Then tip in the 2 tins of beans and their liquid too. Add the white wine, thyme and chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Season with a little salt and pepper then simmer gently for 15 minutes or so until the flavours have developed. Careful not to overcook the beans as they will turn to mush. Turn the heat off and let the beans rest while you wait for the sweet potatoes to cook through.
Once the sweet potatoes are cooked through and you are ready to serve, add the greens to the beans and warm them through. Serve in wide bowls topped with the roasted sweet potatoes and scoop up with bread if you like.
Chickpea flour (aka gram flour) is such a useful store-cupboard ingredient. Have you tried it yet? In Indian cuisine it is used to make savoury pancakes called dosas and to the make the batter for deep fried onion bhajis. At home we love to use it to make nutritious, delicious, protein-rich fritters all year round. Fritters are a great lunch option with a simple salad and a dip, or you can use them as sandwich fillers or burger alternatives. You can really make them your own with different vegetables and herbs/spices. Here’s one of our favourites, carrot and coriander.
natural yogurt, lime wedges and salad leaves to serve
Method
Start with the batter. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, seasoning and water into a smooth batter.
Grate the carrots and add them to the batter along with the coriander leaves. Stir well to coat the veggies in the batter.
Heat a frying pan to medium with the vegetable oil. Make sure your pan is not too hot, chickpea flour batter can taste a little bitter if it is not cooked through so you want to cook it slowly so it’s not burned on the outside and raw in the middle.
Dollop the batter into the pan in four even scoops. Fry the fritters for 5 minutes or so on each side or until they are golden brown on the outside and firmed up and hot inside.
Then serve with salad, natural yoghurt and a good squeeze of lime.
We have some new organic, Asian sauces on our list now to make your meals even easier (and more delicious!) We are currently obsessed with teriyaki. It is sweet and salty and so full of flavour. Use it to marinade veggies or tofu and bake or stir fry. Here’s how I made this delicious week-night supper.
Turn your oven to 200C and find a small baking dish.
Get your brown rice on to cook (brown rice takes longer than white so if you are using white rice, start it after the aubergine is in the oven). Rinse the cup of rice through a fine sieve then add it to a small pot. Add 2 small cups of water, put the lid on the pot and turn it onto the highest setting. As soon as it comes to a boil, turn it to the lowest setting and leave the lid on. Let the rice simmer, it should absorb all the water in around 30 minutes or so and be perfectly cooked through. Keep an eye on it.
Cut the aubergine in half, lengthways, then score the flat surface deeply with a small, sharp knife. Cut diagonal lines into the white, spongey flesh and then criss-cross the other direction. Careful not to cut too deeply.
Spoon over the teriyaki sauce and, using the back of the spoon, rub it into the cuts to effectively marinade the aubergine. Place the aubergine, cut sides up, into the baking dish then bake until soft – this usually takes around 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your aubergine.
Meanwhile stir-fry the broccoli and tofu together with the sesame oil and soy sauce/tamari.
Then plate up, divide the rice, stir fry and baked aubergine between two bowls. Top with sesame seeds, chilli flakes and kimchi as you like. I also added shredded nori seaweed and an extra drizzle of soy sauce to my bowl. Enjoy!
There are so many ways to cook potatoes – boiled, chips, mash, roasties, soups, stews, gratin, jacket potatoes… but this Mediterranean-style way is one of my favourites. The rich tomato sauce and fragrant herbs make the humble, comforting potato into a summery dish which sings with flavour. I usually top it with some of my vegan tofu-feta or just some salty olives and bake it with the lid off for a little extra colour and flavour. Serve with a simple greek salad and a glass of wine – that’s dinner sorted.
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 6)
4 tbsp olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tins chopped tomatoes
optional extra Med-veg eg courgette, peppers, carrots, aubergine
10 medium potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp each oregano, thyme, rosemary
olives/feta/capers
salad to serve
Method
Start by making a rich tomato sauce. This can be however you like it but I usually sauté the diced onion in 2 tbsp olive oil until soft and starting to colour, then add crushed garlic and if I want to bulk it out, some chopped veg like an aubergine, pepper or courgette, maybe a carrot or two? Add the tinned tomatoes and swirl out any juices left in the tins into the pot with a bit of water. Season well with salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano and simmer until the sauce is rich – around 15-20 minutes. Blend with a stick blender, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or pepper.
Put the oven on to 200C and find an oven proof dish with a lid. Wash and thinly slice your potatoes into 3mm or so rounds.
Place 1/2 the tomato sauce into the dish then arrange the potato slices on top. Then season the potato layer with salt, pepper and the herbs. Drizzle over the remaining olive oil and then spoon over the remaining tomato sauce.
Put the lid on and bake until the potatoes are soft. This usually takes at least an hour but check on it as ovens and potatoes vary.
Once the potatoes are cooked through, remove the lid and scatter over your topping of choice. Feta, olives, capers… Return the dish to the oven with the lid off to caramelise and get a little colour – just 5-10 minutes, keep an eye on it.
Enjoy with salads or as a side to your choice of protein and greens.
This plant based take on a saag paneer is so quick and easy, not to mention delicious and nutritious! Serve with rice and chutney for a midweek curry in a hurry or as a side with other curries. You can switch the spinach for our rainbow chard, just remove the stems, finely chop them and cook them along with the onion paste.
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4 – or 8 as a side)
2 blocks extra firm tofu (400g)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt (+ more if needed)
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp coconut oil (heaped)
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 thumb ginger
2 tsp garam masala (or your favourite curry powder)
200g spinach
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
fresh chilli to taste
Method
Cut your tofu into cubes and season it with the salt, pepper & ground turmeric. Then fry it in 1 tbsp coconut oil until golden. Remove from the pan and keep to one side.
Blend the garlic, onion and ginger into a paste, then fry until browned in the other tbsp of coconut oil. Add an extra pinch of salt during frying. Then add the garam masala (or whichever curry spice blend you prefer) and stir to toast and wake up the spices.
Pour just-boiled water over the spinach in a colander to wilt it. Cool it with cold water then squeeze into a ball. Chop the wilted spinach and add it to the pan with a splash of water. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release all the flavourful spices and fried onion/garlic/ginger into the sauce.
Return the tofu to the pan and warm through with the lemon juice. Perhaps add another splash of water if the pan is drying out too much. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or pepper.
Serve with fresh chilli slices as a side to other curries or as a meal in it’s own right with just rice and chutney.
