Tips and Tricks: Window Sill Herbs – Vegan MoFo

As summer is coming to an end, I thought I might post about my success (and failure) at growing my own herbs in this little studio of mine in the city. I always thought that it wouldn’t be possible to do in this climate, but with the price of fresh herbs being crazy in this country, I thought it best to actually try and see how successful it could be. To begin with, I chose a selection of herbs that could last the summer and maybe longer and also ones that I used on a regular basis in my cooking.

It actually all started with a pot of basil that I bought at the local supermarket (Sainsburys, for those fellow UK dwellers). They usually die soon after I have used all the leaves, but on one occasion I noticed that it continued to grow, even whilst sitting in the original small pot that it comes in. So I bought some soil and a larger pot and replanted it and it thrived on my window sill in the summer sun that we were lucky enough to get this year!

So after this success, I decided to go down to the local nursery and buy some more herbs. I settled on oregano, chives, parsley, stevia, thyme and some catnip for my little fluffy boy :). I also got a tomato plant and a strawberry plant. I planted in a long rectangular window box the chives, stevia, strawberry, parsley and oregano.

However this picture was taken after the parsley and strawberries hopelessly died! Now, I have, by no means, a green thumb, (I grew up on a cattle station, as funny as that may seem for a vegan! So I was never taught really how to grow plants) so perhaps someone else could tell me why they didn’t work out. Those that DID work, however, were the stevia, oregano, chives and thyme. The catnip probably would have been fine if it were not for my over-zealous kitty cat who devoured the plant in one afternoon.

Check out the mega cheekiness of this little guy… Once the catnip was gone, he started on the basil!

As for the tomato, I managed to get quite a few big and juicy ones before the sun and heat subsided and they were lovely in my salads and pasta dishes.

The real surprise for me was the stevia. Such an amazing plant! I could not believe how sweet these little leaves were! I have yet to dry them and crush them for my sugar replacement, but for now I’ve been adding a leaf or two to my tea and cold drinks for a burst of sweetness.

I highly recommend growing your own stevia, you’ll be amazed at how well it grows and how sweet it is. As for the basil, which is by far my favourite herb – I decided to make some cuttings and re-plant them as they were growing so well in the heat of this little studio. To do this, I cut a few long stems from the basil plant and allowed them to sit in a glass of water for a week until they started to grow roots.

Once they had some lovely roots growing from the bottom, I planted them next to the stevia and chives and they flourished! It’s so wonderful to be able to just pick off the leaves and use them in my recipes, especially on pizzas, pasta and salads.

This is just one of them here, next to the thyme. Obviously it would be better to plant them next to each other in a larger pot, but this was just the first test run – and it grew SO fast! Of course, the best thing to do with your own basil? Vegan pesto! Check out my recipe here.

Vegan Spaghetti n’ Meatballs – ‘Pork Style’

As a vegan, I’ve never really craved meat. In the beginning I think I missed the texture of chicken but otherwise I was simply too excited about all the new things I was incorporating into my diet that I didn’t even think about it. Having said that, I do find a lot of pleasure in re-creating classic meat dishes that will surprise non-vegans (and vegans!) and maybe even convert one or two in the process! I saw a post over at The Kitchen Billets-Doux for a pasta recipe with a sausage and tomato sauce. You may ask why I even look at non-vegan recipes and it’s simply because I love a good challenge! This dish looked lovely and I told Marieke that I would attempt to veganise it!

So I created a meatball dish, but as the original recipe called for sausage, I wanted to produce a more ‘pork style’ texture and flavour. I’m actually really surprised at how amazing they turned out!

Makes: 35 meatballs

• 2 cups textured vegetable/soy protein (TVP)
• 1 good quality vegetable stock cube (I use Kallo Organic)
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 3/4 cup rolled oats (I used the porridge kind)
• 3 tablespoons polenta/cornmeal
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 8 tablespoons flour (I used wholemeal)
• 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, chilli flakes and smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon of dried italian herbs (I use a mix of basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I used dark)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tins high quality crushed tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• A large bunch fresh basil
• Olive oil for cooking and lining baking sheet and pasta of choice

Method:

First make your flax egg by combining 2 tablespoons of water with your 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed. Set aside and leave for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, place the TVP and the stock cube and cover with very hot water. Stir so the stock dissolves and leave for 2 minutes. Now combine in a large bowl the oats, cornmeal, breadcrumbs and flour.

In a frying pan over medium to high heat, place the tvp and any remaining liquid. To this you will add the garlic and onion powder, the chili flakes, dried herbs, soy sauce and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 7 – 8 minutes, turn off the heat and allow it to cool a little. Once cooled down, add this to the oat and flour mix with the flax egg and stir well to combine.

The texture will be thick and sticky but still quite moist. Now the fun part! Form into little balls. I made mine quite small as you can see (I have small hands!) and this made about 35, but you can play around a little with the size. I think the smaller the better because then they are easily incorporated into the pasta dish.

Place on a well-oiled baking sheet and brush each with a little oil. Bake in pre-heated oven at 375°F/190°C/gas mark 5 for about 15 minutes or until browned.

They taste so much like pork it’s crazy! Just look at how nice they are! 🙂

For the sauce, saute the onion in some olive oil over medium heat until softened. Then add in the garlic and some chilli flakes and dried herbs. After a minute pour in both cans of tomato and turn up the heat a little. Fill each empty can half with water and pour into pan. Let this sauce simmer for about 20 minutes. Add in the fresh basil and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Cook your pasta, and whilst it is cooking, gently add in your meatballs to the sauce. Turn the heat off and just coat the balls in sauce. Once the pasta is done, serve up and sprinkle with fresh basil and maybe even your favourite vegan cheese! Enjoy 🙂