4.28.2011

Going British

Hosting my book club last night, I decided to pick up the British mantle and make a meal that matched our author's home country. This, of course, was partially because I didn't figure I had time to prepare a vegan seder meal...

Shepherd's pie a new way from Veg news for the main and a Banoffee pie for dessert. Pie number one, Shepherd's pie, was ok...not as good as the earlier recipe I used. The Banoffee pie, however was outrageously good. It required a little finicking...had to figure how to make vegan whipped cream (who knew??), and also had to make "toffee" with no butter, no eggies...etc. 
This is "Lee's" pie-- mine looked quite the same, though!

Here is the recipe for the Banoffee. I used a recipe similar to this one for the whipped cream, but added more powdered sugar and a bit of Tahitian vanilla. The pie's base was made with McVittie's oat biscuits, which I was happy to learn are in fact vegan! Hurrah! Nice and crispy, topped with fresh bananas- I used 3, a tofu/maple syrup/soy milk toffee (totally weird- right?), and then the coconut whipped cream on top. While the Shepherd's pie was a bit lukewarm (in delight, not temperature), people licked their dessert plates for this one. 

It looked something like this...
The shepherd's pie was a slight disappointment, and I think it has to do with making the gravy for the veggies separate from the veggies themselves. While in the past I have made a mess of root vegetables and shrooms, thickened only with a little WW flour, this time I poured the recipe's starch-thickened gravy (very tasty one!) over the vegetables then topped with taters. I think it weakened the deliciousness a bit. Plus, I threw in soy crumbles rather than the usual green lentils, so it did have that salty, fakey taste to it. Not so bad that we won't eat the left overs, but not a wow version of a usually quite delicious dish.