S&M

S&M is a true favourite in the Tarian Pantry household. After a day out visiting the Yarra Valley winery's, we made it home for a bottle of wine, a DVD and ofcourse Sausages and Mash!

The star of this meal was the onion gravy. Rich in colour and rich in taste this gravy rivals any packet version and although took a little time, it was worth it in the end.

This gravy only has 4 ingredients - 1 tbsp nuttalex, 1 large onion, sliced, 300ml vegetable stock and 1 tsp salt (plus you may need some flour and water to thicken up the gravy towards the end).

Method

In a small saucepan, melt the nuttalex and add the onion. Cook over a medium heat , stiring constantly until the onions are well browned, but not burnt - about 15 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and then transfer the mixture to a jug. Then strain the 'gravy' in a sieve over the saucepan and work through the onions - this is where the flavour and colour comes from.

Return the saucepan to the stove, add the salt and simmer the gravy on a low heat for 5 minutes. Add flour and water if the gravy needs to be thickened up. Season according to taste.

Serve of course with your favourite sausages and don't forget the mash.

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Our greasy kebab

Till the season to be jolly and the season to indulge in a few more celebratory drinks followed by a greasy kebab at the local kebab shop, right? Wrong. We are all up for a few indulges, we have all worked hard this year so deserve to kick up our heels but we don't necessarily need to 'indulge the bulge' over the festive season.

After a few drinks over the weekend, we treated ourselves to a home made falafel roll and we can honestly say, there was nothing greasy about this meal. Made with a wholemeal chapati, we spread the base with homemade hummus, olive tapenade and then topped it with rocket, quinoa tabbouleh and rocket. Delish.

This meal was made in under 10 minutes - quick, easy and healthy, who could ask for more?

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Traditional Christmas - Well kind of

The Tarian team likes to think of us as anything but traditional but come the Christmas lunch, this is where a smidgen of tradition steps in. We believe in a hot lunch with all the trimmings, OK so they may be vegan trimmings but never the less, it’s our take on the ‘traditional’ Christmas meal.

Like every year, there are two meals cooked on Christmas day – one for the omnivores and the other for the vegans, vegetarians and lactose intolerant. Although like previous years, the omnivores end up eating most of our meal purely because it tastes so dam good and this year, won’t be any exception.

We are hard at work putting together our shopping list and even pre preparing some meals. By shopping & cooking ahead, this limits the stress come the big day and we can have more time to relax and soak up the festive atmosphere (not to mention the Adelaide Ashton Hills Salmon Brut).

Our meal planner is looking something like this:

Nibbles with drinks

• Hummus with black olive crostini
• Porcini mushroom balls

Starter (can’t decide which soup yet, so might end up doing both)

• Broccoli soup with sourdough croutons
• Tomato soup with basil and torn bread

Main course

• Asparagus Tart
• Quinoa salad with mango and cranberries
• Cabbage, pea and mint salad
• Creamy baked potatoes
• Brussels Sprouts with lemon and almonds

Dessert

• Christmas ice cream pudding with a chocolate fudge sauce
• White Chocolate & berry rocky road

Prior to Christmas day, up to three days before, we will be making our hummus, crostini, soups, ice cream pudding and rocky road. A small amount of preparation will be done for the tart and salads with the assembly of the salads, tart and baked potatoes being done on the morning of Christmas day.

The Tarian Pantry team promotes a meat free Christmas. Even though meat & animal products may be missing from your plate, we can’t promise that you won’t be undoing your belt a notch after you finish your last mouthful!

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Aubergine Bake

Aubergines or Eggplants as they are better known, are now in season. Known as the meat for vegetarians, aubergines are very versatile not to mention extremely tasty.

This take on the well known mozzarella version will have everyone's taste buds watering and ofcourse have everyone going back for seconds.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large aubergine, cut into .5cm rounds

250ml basic tomato sauce

2 tbsp tofutti cream cheese

Basil leaves, torn

Method

In a large fry pan, heat the oil and fry the aubergine rounds on both sides until well browned. Set aside.

Grease an ovenproof dish with olive oil and spread a small round of tomato sauce. Layer two aubergine rounds on top of the sauce. Spread a tsp of tofutti cream cheese and a spoonful of tomato sauce on the aubergine rounds. Repeat.

Complete the top layer with tomato sauce and bake in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes until heated through.

Serve.

www.tarianpantry.com.au