Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Couscous Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Layered bowl of seasoned couscous, roasted veg with toasted pine nuts and black olives and mixed leaf served with a balsamic dressing.

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This plate is from the next day when I made it again. Used only red peppers this time and was out of black olives so used chopped green instead. Still lovely :-)

O.M.G - this salad was stunning! And quite the heavyweight, don't let the salad tag fool you here. I could barely walk after this, beaten by a salad I was! Of course, you don't have to eat the massive portion I did that you see there, I certainly had better intentions at the time but it was just too good and before I knew it, all gone.

I got this idea from Delia's Vegetarian Cookbook which I have had for years and this layered couscous salad has always caught my eye. I've completely changed the recipe to suit my tastes here but the basic idea is the same: couscous, roasted veg then salad and a dressing. The couscous and dressing will need precise measurements but for the roasted veg you can use whatever you like. Normally I would always use zucchini in my roasted veg but didn't have any so I used green pepper instead. I didn't have any aubergine/eggplant but that would go nicely too. Just use what you like - that layer is very forgiving :-)

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad with Balsamic Dressing:

100g couscous, dry weight (that's 1/3 + 1/4 cup)
1 tsp vegetable stock powder, I used Marigold Vegan Bouillon Powder.
200ml water (3/4 cup + 4 teaspoons)
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1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced large
8 cherry tomatoes, peeled
1 small red pepper, diced large
1 green pepper, diced large (or halved zucchini slices)
200g mushrooms, quartered
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
black pepper
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3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, pureed
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
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Mixed salad leaves of your choice, rocket is lovely in here!
30g pine nuts (2 Tbsp) toasted
10 black olives, chopped
Fresh basil, about 2 Tbsp chopped

There are quite a few steps with this salad but as they are all needed cool or room temperature you can do these in stages earlier on to make it easier.

First, roast the veg. Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F. Peel the cherry tomatoes by slicing a small X on the bottom of them and place in a bowl then cover with boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes, drain then plunge into cold water. The skins should easily peel off now, any bits left on just use a paring knife to remove. In a large roasting tin add the tomatoes, onion, peppers, mushrooms and or whatever veg you like!

Drizzle over the olive oil, then sprinkle over the salt and a few grinds of black pepper and toss it all together with your hands until well coated in oil. Pop it into the oven for about 1/2 an hour, give the pan a shake a couple times during cooking and stir the mixture near the end to ensure even roasting. When there is no more liquid and the veg are tinged brown at the edges they are done. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until golden then transfer to a small bowl to cool down. Add these and the chopped black olives to the cooled veg.

Measure the couscous into a shallow bowl - a bowl with a large surface area is best to ensure even cooking of couscous, I use an 8" square glass baking dish. Heat the water with the veg stock in a saucepan until boiling. Pour this over the couscous, give it a stir then quickly cover with cling film and leave for 5 minutes. Remove the cling film and give it a fluff with a fork then transfer to a large bowl to cool down. Make sure to fluff it up with a fork now and again as it cools to stop it clumping.

To make the dressing, add the olive oil to a small bowl then slowly add the balsamic vinegar, whisking all the while until fully emulsified. Add the Dijon and whisk until all the little mustard dots are gone - it should be completely smooth. Whisk in the pureed garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.

When everything is cool or room temperature, tip the couscous into a large serving bowl. Top with all the roasted veg/pinenut/black olive mixture then top with the mixed leaf.

To serve, first take some of the leaf and distribute equally amongst plates (2 for a massive meal or 4 for smaller meals) then take a large serving spoon and spoon over the veg and couscous. Lastly drizzle over the dressing then serve immediately.

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Nutritional Information: based on a more reasonable 4 servings ;-) Or you could just eat half of it like I did....

Calories: 313

Protein: 7.1g

Fat: 20g

Sat Fat: 2.6g

Carbs: 29.3g

Sugar: 4.9g

Fibre: 3.9g

Sodium: 600mg

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Rosemary Marinated Puy Lentil and Sweet Pepper Salad

I'm finally back in the kitchen! This was delicious and is so wonderfully healthy and easy. Puy lentils cooked with rosemary are marinated in a sharp mustard vinaigrette with the rosemary and served over sweet peppers and simple lettuce.

You can use whatever leaf you like here, I don't even know what I've used here as we were given a potted lettuce that we keep and grow on our windowsill (for the record, triple glazed eco-therm windows really retain heat!!)

So, I haven't a clue what it is - if you know let me know though as it's really nice lettuce, even if  it did make my salad look like it was on a bed of Autumnal leaves! (Ha! Those vegans will eat anything!!)

As for the lentils, they'll have to be Puy and they'll have to be cooked from raw - no tins this time as you want them to take some marinating and not get too soft. I've used my favourite mustard dressing here as the marinade, it's a very sharp dressing with vinegar and dijon mustard so the sweet peppers counter that beautifully. Serves 2.

Rosemary Marinated Puy Lentil and Sweet Pepper Salad: 

50g dry weight Puy Lentils
1 sprig fresh rosemary
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2 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
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Sweet peppers (anything but green)
Large lettuce leaves

Wash and rinse the lentils well then place in a large pot with the rosemary and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then boil rapidly with the lid off for 10 minutes. Put the lid on and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes, check they are tender, if not give them a little longer. When they are tender drain, remove the now empty sprig of rosemary and rinse the lentils under cold water - leave the rosemary leaves there. Drain well then place in a bowl.

To make the dressing/marinade add the olive oil to a small bowl, while whisking slowly add the vinegar until it is emulsified. Now whisk in the mustard until smooth then whisk in the salt and a couple grinds of black pepper. Pour this over the lentils, cover with cling film and place in the fridge overnight. You can use it at this stage as well, or just let it marinate a few hours, it'll still taste great. I must also warn you that it WILL look like frog spawn at this stage. Shrugs.

When you are ready to serve simply place a few large lettuce leaves of your choice on a couple plates, top with slices of sweet peppers and spoon over the lentils and dressing. Serve immediately!

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Source: Dressing based on Tea and Cookies brilliant ratio advice.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 salad

Calories: 262

Fat: 18g

Sat Fat: 2.6g

Carbs: 19.1g

Sugar: 1.8g

Fibre: 8.9g

Sodium: 386mg

- a great source of iron too!

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Cheezy Pizza Tofu Fillet in Puff Pastry

Taifun brand pizza tofu fillet, topped with mozza cheezly and baked in puff pastry.

I actually posted this on my daily food diary awhile ago, a place I tend to stick things that are more "simple ideas" than actual "recipes" but I felt this was too good to not get a bigger audience, so here it is!

Plus, I've not been well lately. My son picked up that 'slapped cheek syndrome' or 5th disease as it's otherwise known and while it didn't affect him much I got it. Turns out it can cause lupus to flare up in sufferers and can cause acute anaemia in people who are immune suppressed (me) So, of course I had to go and get BOTH a nasty lupus flare up and anaemia on top of the virus itself.

Needless to say I wasn't doing much cooking and was living off ready made foods and anything easy to grab. I'm feeling better now, still weak from the anaemia but better anyway, but it took awhile. SO, since I haven't got anything lined up to blog I felt I might as well post this up here as it was really, really good - it tasted like a Mediterranean herb sausage roll - amazing! Will definitely make this again for a quick, easy and almost fancy main dish. I also bet it would be good cold and great to take on picnics!

Pizza Tofu Fillet in Puff Pastry: serves 2 (or 1 if you don't give a toss about calories!)

1 Taifun Tofu Pizza Fillet
Cheezly Mozza, about 20g - optional
Ready Rolled Puff Pastry - Jus-Rol is labelled vegan, I used 100g

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Cut out 2 rectangles from 1 sheet of puff pastry one about an inch larger than the fillet and the other one slightly larger again. Place the tofu fillet in the middle of the smaller one and top with the cheezly.

Wet around the edges of the pastry then place the larger sheet over top. Press around the edges then seal with a fork all around the pastry.

Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until puffed up and deeply golden brown. Slice in half and serve with a side salad, or just eat the whole damn thing!! You'll see the reason I only have half below but I also must stress I found half with a salad filling and satisfying :-)

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Nutritional Information: (for the WHOLE thing and the reason I only have half!!)

Calories: 660

Fat: 43.6

Sat Fat: 17.4g

Protein: 18.5g

Carbs: 35.4g

Sugar: 0.7mg

Fibre: 1.6g

Sodium: 564mg

Some other ideas I've made with the Pizza Fillets:

Simply fried on the side of Tomato and Herb Couscous and Steamed Asparagus.

These are the fillets and that's the Kallo brand stock cube I cooked the couscous in.

Fried and placed in a warm crusty baguette with vegan mayo, lettuce and tomato - delish!

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Creamy Garlic Shells & Variations

Ok, not much of a photo there and those of you who follow the daily food diary will have seen these all before. This is basically a recreation of an old childhood junk food favourite of mine and one I have been trying to get right for a long time. Growing up I used to love these 'Creamy Garlic Shells' that were by Lipton and sold as part of the 'Sides' range. The idea being you serve this pasta on the side of some meat item and some veg. I loved it so much though I would often just have a big bowl of the pasta on it's own. Most Canadians would probably site Kraft dinner as their favourite "guilty pleasure" boxed pasta dish but for me it was this stuff, I couldn't get enough of it.

It was basically shells in a creamy white cheese sauce, the cheese being powdered parmesan and romano, I know, sounds gross but I really loved it!! I've made several attempts to veganize it, first with cheezly in a roux which wasn't even close, then I omitted the cheese altogether and simply made a roux with vegan milk and a Kallo Garlic and Herb stock cube thrown in and that was pretty darn close. I was happy with that.

But then Chloe Coscarelli's Mac and Cheese recipe came into my life. It's easily the best vegan mac and cheese I've tried and I have stopped even trying other nutritional yeast based ones altogether because of it. Then it dawned on me that I never tried to make this pasta using nutritional yeast to mimic the cheesy sauce. D'oh!

So I based this completely on her recipe, omitting the tomato paste as I didn't want this orange and increasing the ground garlic and adding dried parsley - all features of the original. I seriously cannot thank her enough as this is so incredibly spot on I cannot tell the difference. Mega happy :-)

While I love it with small shells as that's how I remember this the sauce goes so well with other pasta. I made it with tagliatelle with tenderstem broccoli which was gorgeous:

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Then we had it with traditional macaroni on the side of a store bought disgusting vegan kiev and some tenderstem broccoli. If the kiev wasn't yucky this would have really worked!

It also works perfectly as a creamy sauce in a vegetable pot pie! This turned out so well I've since updated my last Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie recipe with it - just click on the link there for the recipe. Gorgeous!

I further made a variation on this recipe - Creamy Garlic Mushroom Penne - this was beautiful, I've been after a good creamy mushroom sauce for a while now and this is it! I've added sliced mushrooms and replaced the salt with a mushroom stock cube for extra mushroom flavour. Beautiful. Recipe below!

Now, this is usually a traditional roux sauce where you melt the butter then add the flour and stir for 1 minute then slowly start adding the milk mixed with the yeast, salt, garlic powder and parsley, stirring well after each addition then simmering until thick.

However, I've since discovered the "all in one" roux method where you simply add it all to the pot and bring to a simmer, whisking now and again until thick and creamy and you know what? I can't tell the difference, I've used this method the past 4 times making this and it turns out perfect every time with no lumps and is so much easier - especially on the arms! So, if you feel safer doing it the traditional way, go right ahead but I'll post the "all in one" method here :-)


Creamy Garlic Shells: serves 3

225g small shells
30g vegan butter
20g plain flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle.
1 tsp EACH salt, garlic powder, parsley, lemon juice and light agave syrup - I've also used Sweet Freedom syrup instead of the agave and it was perfect.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile make the sauce: In a pyrex jug measure out the milk then add the yeast, salt, garlic powder and parsley and whisk well. (I hold the whisk between both hands and rub back and forth) Pour this into a saucepan and add the butter and sprinkle over the flour. Turn the heat onto high and whisk until the flour dissolves then just whisk now and again while the butter melts. As it comes to a simmer and it looks smooth switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon and simply stir now and again until thick and creamy. It's a lot easier! Turn off the heat then stir in the lemon juice and agave and pour over the cooked drained pasta and stir over low heat for a couple of minutes until the pasta is well coated with sauce.

While it's great on it's own this can take a lot of veg added: broccoli like I did, asparagus would be nice, as would peas - whatever you like really!

Source: Very much based on Chloe Coscarelli's Mac and Cheese.



Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving

Calories: 387
Protein: 15.7g
Fat: 7.8g
Sat Fat: 1.5g
Carbs: 65.5g
Sugar: 3.9g
Fibre: 3.7g
Sodium: 868.3mg

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Creamy Garlic Mushroom Penne: serves 3


225g penne pasta
30g vegan butter
20g plain flour
250g sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 mushroom stock cube - I used Kallo Organic Mushroom
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle.
1 tsp EACH garlic powder, parsley, lemon juice and light agave syrup - I've also used Sweet Freedom syrup instead of the agave and it was perfect.

For this one you will need to make a traditional roux - all in one won't work here I'm afraid :-(

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile make the sauce: In a small saucepan measure out the milk then add the yeast, stock cube, garlic powder and parsley and stir. Turn the heat onto low and heat whilst stirring just until the stock cube is dissolved and mixed in.

In a large saucepan add the butter, turn the heat to high and when melted add the mushrooms. Fry until the mushrooms are well coated in butter then add a small pinch of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Keep frying until the start to wilt then reduce the heat to low to let them sweat. When almost all the liquid has evaporated but there is still some there add the flour and fry on low for about a minute.

Now slowly start adding the warmed milk mixture, a little at a time and beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth after each addition. When all the milk has been added turn the heat up to high and keep stirring until thick and creamy. Now stir in the lemon juice and agave then add the well drained penne and stir until very well coated in sauce. Serve immediately!


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Garlic Mushroom Pâté

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Pâté is a funny one with me as whenever you think of it you think of meat and I've only ever eaten vegan pâté! I picked up Redwood Foods Mushroom Pâté awhile ago and I did really like it but something about foods like mushrooms and tofu which should always be really fresh sitting in a tube that you squeeze out slightly put me off :-/

So I decided to have a go making my own and am so glad I did. This turned out gorgeous! I don't know how pâté like the texture is to be fair, as I've never had "real" pâté, I suppose this more like a thick houmous, but who cares? It tastes amazing, really nice and garlicky but not overpowering and if you follow my food diary you'll know I just couldn't get enough of this stuff! I will be making this one again and again :-)

I loved it as a snack, simply spread on french bread with some grapes and wine in the evening but my husband also loved it as a sandwich spread. I would imagine it would be lovely in a warmed pitta with a soy burger and sautéed onions - yum!!

Garlic Mushroom Pâté: 

250g / 9oz mushrooms
4 large cloves garlic, pureed
30g / 2 Tbsp vegan butter (I used Pure Olive)
60ml / 1/4 cup white wine
110g / 4oz silken firm tofu
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine

My mushrooms were medium in size and I quartered them, if yours are larger you may want to chop them smaller or simply half if using button mushrooms.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms, stir, tossing in the butter on high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the salt and a few grinds of black pepper reduce the heat to medium. Fry until all the liquid which comes out evaporates and the mushrooms start to turn golden at spots and just start to stick to the pan. Reduce heat to low and add the garlic and stir just until mixed in well then quickly add the white wine to deglaze and to stop the garlic from burning. Fry until all the wine is absorbed/evaporated and turn off the heat.

Transfer this to a bowl and let cool. Once cool tip it all into a food processor and add the tofu. Process on high until well mixed and there are no longer any large pieces of mushroom. It will still be grainy in texture, you don't want a paste. Transfer to a serving dish and cover with cling film then pop it in the fridge to fully cool and set a little more.

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Nutritional Information: per 100g

Calories: 129

Fat: 8.1g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Protein: 6.1g

Carbs: 6.3g

Sugar: 1.6g

Fibre: 1g

Sodium: 269mg

Garlic Mushroom Sausage Rolls!

Well, I made the pate again and also had a strip of ready rolled puff pastry in the fridge and thought I would throw them together. These were so good! Although I should stress that with this batch of mushroom pate I made had less tofu than before, I only used about 70g, hence the darker colour and thicker texture which actually suits sausage rolls perfectly. It was accidental as I didn't realise I didn't have enough tofu until it was already made but a fantastic mistake! So if you are making the pate especially for sausage rolls, reduce the tofu to around 70g, then simply spoon some into ready rolled puff pastry, roll it up and pinch the edges sealed with a bit of water.

...........and bake in a 220C oven for about 15 minutes or until golden and puffy :-)

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Well, in keeping with my promise to bombard you with asparagus recipes for their short lived season, here's another one for you! Those of you who follow my daily food diary will know I was having this for lunch quite often as I just couldn't get enough of it. I chose to add the black eyed beans simply for some added protein but the flavour and texture is really nice in there as well. That being said you can replace with your favourite bean or just omit them altogether.

As for the oil, lately I've been using this locally produced Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil from Donegal and have been really impressed with it. I don't know how much of a difference it's made in the flavour of this dish as opposed to using extra virgin olive oil but it's delicious and I'm now a convert ;-) I particularly love that I can use an oil that's been locally produced as not surprisingly, olive oil isn't produced in Ireland!

Oh, and if you don't like asparagus, you'll be glad to hear this will be my last asparagus post this season :-D


Warm Portobello Mushroom, Asparagus and Black Eyed Bean Spinach Salad with Balsamic Dressing: Serves 1


50g baby spinach
50g black eyed beans, from a tin drained and rinsed.
50g asparagus, sliced into thirds, try and use thin stalks here.
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced
1 large shallot, sliced
1 tsp virgin rapeseed oil, or extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
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1 Tbsp virgin rapeseed oil, or extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, pureed
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp salt
couple grinds of black pepper


First make the dressing by measuring the oil into a small bowl. Slowly add the vinegar, whisking all the while until fully incorporated. Add the mustard and whisk until thick and smooth (no more little mustard dots should appear). Whisk in the salt, garlic and pepper. Set aside.


Measure the spinach and beans into a large bowl and set aside. Heat the oil in a large frying pan then add the mushrooms, shallots and asparagus. Fry on high heat for a couple minutes and add a pinch of sea salt and a couple grinds of black pepper. Reduce heat to low and fry until the mushrooms are cooked and the asparagus is tender. There shouldn't be any liquid left as well. 


Give the dressing another good whisk then pour over the spinach and beans and toss really well. Place in a bowl or on a plate then top with the hot mushroom/asparagus mixture. Serve immediately.

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Nutritional Information: using virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Calories: 275

Protein: 9.1g

Fat: 19.1g

Sat Fat: 1.4g

Fibre: 5g

Carbs: 20.5g

Sugar: 3.1g

Sodium: 636mg

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♥ Pastry filled with roasted red peppers, dill almond "feta" and topped with asparagus ♥

 Just out of the oven 

 Together with a simple side salad and chilled champagne it made for a perfect Spring inspired Easter Dinner 

So yes! This was our Easter dinner this year and it turned out so beautifully that this AND the Grand Marnier Spiked Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding are going to be the yearly Easter dinner tradition from now on :-) Not that I won't be making other times of the year of course as it's absolutely delicious and would  also make great picnic food. I got the idea for this from the November 2008 edition of Cook Vegetarian Magazine. The recipe was by Michel Roux, pastry chef extraordinaire but was a decidedly vegetarian dish using butter and egg pastry and filled with eggs and cream. I've otherwise kept the concept the same here, a pastry lined flan dish filled with roasted red peppers and asparagus.

It didn't take me long to figure out how I was going to veganize this one. Ever since I discovered that the almond feta can be baked straight from mixing to make a pasta bake like I used in the Greek Style Orzo Spinach and Almond Feta Bake  I knew this would work. For the same reasons asparagus and parmesan go so wonderfully together so does asparagus with this almond feta. For the pastry I've gone uber simple here and used Jus-Rol ready rolled shortcrust pastry (sorry Michel!). It's labelled vegan, is easy to work with and tastes great but if you want to make your own pastry you could use my basic pastry recipe. 

His roasted red peppers were a little more complicated than what I've done here as he made mixed semi-confit peppers, that would be grilled peppers, skinned then left to marinade in a herbed oil. I felt there was no need for that here as the almond feta is so packed with flavour anyway so I simply roasted them using my quick roast method where they are roasted, peeled and chopped.

I kept the almond feta recipe the same but added some freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and then stirred in some chopped fresh dill. It's my favourite herb and the flavour go so well with the 'feta' and asparagus but you can use whatever herb you like or leave it out altogether. The only change I would make next time is in cooking the asparagus. He boiled his until fork tender then laid them on top and the whole thing was baked. I did this but my asparagus got a little overcooked in the oven. My gut instinct was telling me there was no need to pre-boil them and I think I was right. I would say if you are using large asparagus to par-boil them for a few minutes but if you are using thin asparagus like I did there is no need, simply roast it all together.

We got 6 servings out of the flan and felt they were just right, after all the almond feta is fairly rich and just like with the Greek Style Orzo, Spinach and Almond Feta Flan I served this with a simple side salad - just good quality Irish butterhead lettuce and rocket with some chopped tomatoes, and my favourite mustard-dill vinaigrette. Just like with the orzo dish it's sharp tanginess compliments the richness of the almond feta here perfectly.

Also like the orzo dish, I know this one can be modified greatly to suit your tastes. If you don't like asparagus, tenderstem broccoli would be lovely. Or use zucchini sliced thin and lengthwise to fit the tin. Alternatively you can go for a Mediterranean Flan and fill it with roasted peppers, black olives, spring onion, toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil in place of the dill. Actually, I think that will be my next version of this, sounds too good not to try!! :-)

♥

Grand Marnier Spiked Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

So THIS was our dessert on Easter Sunday and it turned out so beautifully I think it will be our Easter dessert every year. I got the idea from BBC Good Food and just thought it was a fab idea - to make bread and butter pudding with hot cross buns = brilliant. To add marzipan to it? Extra brilliant! Me being me and all I had to pour over a good glug of Grand Marnier because, well basically I don't know when to stop :-D

I suppose this is more of a spiced cake with warm boozy custard than how I remember bread and butter pudding being, and for me at least that's a massive improvement! The spice flavours in the cake just went so well with the orange and boozy custard flavours and made a wonderful dessert on Easter. (Our main course was sublime too so watch this space, it's getting blogged next!)

This is also a great way to use up any leftover hot cross buns that are getting a bit dry. If you recall from my last post I made a batch of hot cross buns which turned out too dry, tasted great, but too dry. They then sat on the counter for days as I couldn't bring myself to throw them out, getting even more dry. Well, they were a perfect candidate for this dessert as it all gets soaked in boozy custard then baked. If you are using fresh hot cross buns I would suggest slowly and lightly toasting them just to dry them out slightly.

And yes, my version here does call for Alpro Soy Custard which I know some of you won't be able to buy - sorry about that, but sometimes I just gotta use these ingredients! Also a note on the buns, I used ones that were based on my original hot cross bun recipe, without egg replacer but with apple instead of raisins, brushed with apricot jam and with a maple drizzle like on my newer version hot cross buns. These buns also had cloves instead of nutmeg and that went really well here. So if you were going to make hot cross buns especially for his I would recommend my original recipe with either apple or raisins, or both! :-)

Grand Marnier Spiked Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding:

4 large hot cross buns, split in half, preferably a bit dry, homemade are best!
1 x 525ml carton of Alpro Soy Custard
50g or 1/4 cup golden caster sugar
vegan butter, about 20g
50g marzipan
zest of 1 orange
60ml or 1/4 cup Grand Marnier
icing sugar to dust

Heat the oven to 170C and butter a pie or casserole dish, one that you can spread out the 8 hot cross bun halves and has high enough sides for the custard.

Spread vegan butter over the bun halves and place in the dish:

Dice the marzipan up and scatter all over:

In a sauce pan add the carton of custard, sugar and orange zest and just bring to a simmer and make sure the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and whisk in the Grand Marnier. Pour this over the buns and gently press down on the buns to they are immersed in the custard. Leave this for 10 minutes to soak.

Now pop it into the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 

Ok, it's not the prettiest, but believe me it makes up for it in taste!!

You can either serve it now by simply scooping some out or do like we did and cut wedges out of it, we got 8 servings out of it. Simply dust with icing sugar and serve. I also made mine earlier in the day and simply reheated the serving in the microwave, turned out perfect. Serves 8.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 8.

Calories: 235

Protein: 4.7g

Fat: 4.3g

Sat Fat: 0.7g

Carbs: 41.6g

Sugar: 22.6g

Fibre: 1.4g

Sodium: 78.5mg

Calcium: 102.8mg

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