Vegan Haggis Fritters!

Here's some traditional Scottish artery clogging yumminess (Trust me, they tasted a lot better than they look in the photo!). Jay and I love the haggis fritters in Stereo, so I fancied trying to make some myself. I made the haggis fritters using a ready-made Simon Howie vegetarian haggis, cooked it in the microwave and left it to cool, then shaped handfuls into fritters, dipped them in Lelly's famous recipe batter, and shallow fried at a medium-high heat for 10 minutes.

Served with roast potatoes, and Tesco's own brand (radioactive-looking) mushy peas.

Potluck preview... plus some Scottish Shortbread!

I've been in the kitchen baking some goodies for tomorrow's Yahoo! Scottish Vegans group potluck. There are mini crusty sesame rolls (I used the French Baguette recipe from Garden Of Vegan, divided it into roll sized pieces, and rolled them in sesame seeds), Blueberry Jam Donut cupcakes(the Jelly Donut cupcake recipe from Veganomicon, using Hartley's Blueberry jam) and some shortbread, using a recipe I experimented with....

Scottish Shortbread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence
tiny drop of almond essence
pinch of salt

-combine ingredients into a dough
-press dough into a greased9x9 sandwich tin
-using a knife, mark into bars so it's easy to break later, and using a chopstick or skewer, press a pattern of dots into shortbread(see photo).
-bake at 200C for 10-12 mins, then leave to cool before serving

Pictures that might make you hungry, and a creamy mushroom sauce recipe

This tasty little treat pictured above is a Delightful Date Square from How It All Vegan. Very easy and tasty, and the authors noted that all the dates and oats provide plenty iron...! Thanks, that makes me feel better about digging in, then! :)
Garlic Granary Bread! As Peter Kay would say, it's the future! I photographed this because it looked particularly pretty and appetising. The Granary Cob was from Morrisons' bakery- there aren't any ingredients listed on it but I quizzed one of the in-store bakers and he assured me it was vegan. I just make the garlic marge freestyle by getting enough Pure marge that would give each slice a thick coat, and mixing in a few clove-sized squirts of garlic puree, plenty sea salt, and a pinch of black pepper and basil.
After a healthy watercress salad starter, I made a rich and not quite so healthy entree of my creamy mushroom pasta(recipe below) and (since I'm taste-testing my way through all the vegan items in the range!) a Grassingtons Chicken-style fillet in tomato and herb marinade, which was delicious but quite pricey and small. We thought it was quite "meaty", though I've not eaten meat in about 15 years, Jay in about 3, so we're not sure whether it'd fool an omnivore, but who cares? It was tasty for what it was. 3/5, only losing points for price and stingy portions!

Creamy mushroom sauce

(serves 1-2)

150g mushrooms, sliced(I used button, but most varieties would do I think)
15g vegan margarine(I used Pure)
1 clove of garlic, crushed (or equivalent garlic paste)
8 tbsp soya cream(I used Granose Soya Creem)
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper

- fry the mushrooms and garlic with the margarine in a pan over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until cooked through

-add the soya cream, nutmeg, salt and black pepper, and simmer for a few minutes, then serve