The 4th of July is American Independence Day and also happens to be my mum’s birthday.

The family tribe went out for an awesome yum cha lunch (post to come) to celebrate and we really didn’t feel like a big dinner when that time of the day came around.  I remembered I had some Quorn sausages in the freezer and thought that it was the ideal occasion to cook them up.

What better way to acknowledge American Independence Day than with American style hot dogs.

My frequent readers will remember I attended the Quorn launch earlier this year and thanks to Mark Communications I was given some product to play around with.  Quorn is a meat free, soy free product range which is now available at your local supermarket.

The sausages remind me of hot dogs and they have the same texture.  If you are a vegetarian I think these are a fantastic product, they are far better than any of the similar options on the market.

You cook them straight from the freezer and they take about 15 minutes in a frying pan.  You do need to keep turning them to get a nice colour all round, otherwise you do risk burning them, bit like a normal hot dog actually.

I will be honest Junior and Mac are probably two of the biggest carnivores that you will meet…. they like their meat   So they were very doubtful on this product I wanted them to try.

Both of them were really surprised at the texture and agreed that you really wouldn’t know it wasn’t meat.

How did we have our hot dogs?  With onion, cheese, mustard, tomato ketchup and gherkin relish. Yum.

How do you like your hot dog?

Sara xxx

Share

A few weeks back I was invited to the launch of a new vegetarian product, Quorn. I must admit I didn’t initially jump at the invitation as I love meat and to be honest I find the vegetarian products out in the market today horrid.
After having a little look around the internet to see what I could find out about Quorn and seeing that is was very popular in the USA and UK I decided to accept the kind invitation to the launch.
Reason one is that I do like to substitute my family’s carnivorous ways with vegetarian meals, I can only do so much with tofu and gluten is a pain in the bum to make. Reason two, a good girl friend of mine Ms Nicky, is what we adoringly call a seagan, no land animal products at all but will eat from the sea.

What is Quorn?
It isn’t soy! Quorn is soy free. The main ingredient of Quorn is a mycoprotein. “What is a mycoprotein?” I hear you ask, it is a nutritious member of the fungi family. A quality vegetarian protein that is naturally low in fat, high in dietary fibre and contains all the essential amino acids found in the protein from meat.
First sample that I tried were the Dippers, basically the Quorn substitute for a chicken nugget. The taste was great and the texture was just like a nugget, quite amazing.
Dippers served with a beetroot relish
Next were the Sausages. Now you cannot compare these babies with a sausage that has been created by, let’s say, Pino of La Dolce Vita, we are not talking that type of sausage. What I can compare this to is a frankfurt, and a not too bad one.
Sausages on mini rolls with caramlised onion
Look at that texture, you would never know it wasn’t a meat product.
I really enjoyed the Dipper for texture and taste and the sausages were again really good. They had a nice spicy note to them and the taste was great.
Now to the part of the evening that really excited me. Quorn offer three items which you can substitute for meat. Pieces (chicken substitute), Strips (meat substitute) and Mince (self explanatory). This got my creative mind going 100 to 1!
Tandoori style strips
Gnocchi and ragu anyone?
How about a delicious Moroccan dish?
Seriously I can’t wait to get my hands on the mince to play with as the texture was amazing, it’s mince! In the two dishes above you would not know that you were eating a vegetarian substitute.
Quorn hits the major two supermarkets on the 1st of June. With a range of prepared meals, Cheese & Spinach Schnitzels, Dippers, Southern Style Burgers, Lasagne and Cottage Pie. As well as Pasties, Sausage Rolls and Sausages.
Then there are the three meat substitutes mentioned above which are cholesterol free and you can use in your own dishes. These are the ones I find most exciting and am really keen to have a play with. Quorn san choy bow anyone?
Sara xxx

Share

I love zucchini, absolutely love them.I think it would be my favourite vegetable, not that I have met a vege I have not liked, but zucchini, I adore.

Want to share this recipe I tried out on Sunday night with you guys, I was surprised at how good it actually was, has made my favourites list.

15 small zucchini (or 10 small/med ones) washed and trimmed

200ml water

100ml extra virgin olive oil

2 dried bay leaves

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2t sea salt

3T coriander seeds, toasted

100ml extra virgin olive oil

5 ripe tomatoes, finely diced

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely shredded

½ bunch coriander, finely shredded

1t cracked black pepper

1 lemon, juiced

Preheat oven to 180°C.Cut zucchini across length into 4/5 piecs and place with water, olive oil, bay leaves, salt and pepper in an ovenproof dish with a tight fitting lid.Bake for 30/40 minutes or until tender.Remove from oven and set aside.

Grind the coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and place in a large bowl with garlic, salt, oil tomatoes and herbs.Add zucchini, season with pepper and then add lemon juice just before serving.

I give this one 4 rumbles

Share