Samphire and Seitan!

 We found samphire in town the other day which we love love love love!! It's the pure cruelty free taste of the sea!! If you haven't eaten samphire, then try and imagine asparagus (but better!) that comes already salted, so all you have to do is steam it or cook in boiling water for a few minutes and then serve with dairy free margarine- absolutely delicious! You really have to eat the bigger bits with your fingers so it's nice and messy!

  We ate it with a lovely dish which we made with asparagus, pine nuts, lemon juice and what looks like vegan octopus tentacles, but is actually, of course, just a nice frilly shape of pasta!
  I also took a photo of our meal from yesterday: vegan pot roast!! It's made with gluten flour which is used to make a chewy protein meat or tofu substitute  called Seitan. This dish is based on a recipe by Joanne Stepaniak in 'Vegan Vittles'; it takes an absolute age to make, so you need to at least double all the quantities because if you have a dish that takes two and a half to three hours to cook, you really don't want to run out of it- you would be so far from your next helping!!

  It is a little bit m**t-like, altho' having said that, I haven't eaten meat for over thirty years so I'm not actually too sure about that! I will never never eat meat again but I was brought up eating meat, until I rebelled as a child, and, I guess, sometimes it makes a change to have a food that's chewy! Our children have never eaten meat, so it was a slightly different experience to them, but they all loved it. We liquidised the vegetables and stock in which the pot roast simmered (for an hour and a half!) to make a lovely gravy- we  got lots of carrots down the children who don't normally eat cooked carrots- and also mint sauce and it was amazing! It's not a great picture, but I just had to photograph the pot roast!
  Th pot roast is made of wheat gluten which we sell in our vegan shop VegaNation, at www.veganation.co.uk,, one 500g bag is enough to make one or two pot roasts, depending on whether you double the quantities and still have some left over to make something else.