Mouthwatering Boat Recipes (mainly plant based)

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by avb3

No rancher will keep a calf on feed for 2 years. Even long yearlings will get a penalty at market.

Not all and you know it. Regardless...a poor comparison.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

If you have no fridges, you cannot keep fresh vegs either. Both meat and vegs can be gotten canned too. And in remote areas it often is easier to get some form of meat than fresh vegs anyways. Unless by remote you mean Mexico.

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I doubt this very much. You mean it's easier to raise a calf on feed for 2 years, slaughter it, cut it up, refigerate it and then sell it?

I would have to agree with Celestial, certainly when it comes to the islands in the Aegean. Even in remote spots local farmers will often sell me fruit and veg they have grown (as well as eggs sometimes, but their eggs tend to be free range and they don't often have much surplus) or I can source veg from one of the trucks that frequently drives around an island selling produce. Meat can be impossible to source unless there is a butcher (or grocery with a deep freeze) within walking distance.

As we prefer to anchor in remote spots, it can be weeks between finding a butcher and even then in summer if I have walked a long way I hesitate buying meat, as it is likely to deteriorate badly before I can cook it. At the moment I would have a 25km walk to find the closest butcher.

Pulses with their high protein content make an excellent substitute for meat. I used these very infrequently before commencing cruising full time six years ago. Finding recipes easy to cook on board that my meat loving husband enjoys has been a real challenge. I am sharing them here .

[Seaworthy Lass]

An urge for cookies with coffee in bed this morning had me whipping up a batch of these lemony treats just as the sun was rising. Does the ginger content keep mal de mer at bay? No idea, but seafaring lassies need no excuse when it comes to making these .

LEMONY GINGER COOKIES

1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs golden syrup (or maybe maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (you may have gathered by now that I am a big fan)
Rind and juice of 1-2 lemons (about quarter of a cup)

1.5 cups instant rolled oats
3/4 cup cake flour
1 flat teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon ginger powder

Whisk together the first 5 ingredients.
Sift the flour, baking powder and ginger over the oats.
Combine the two lots.
Same deal as for the choc cookies - form 20-24 lots then wet hands and roll into balls.
Bake at about 175 C for 8 minutes. They will firm up when left standing 10 minutes on the tray. Don't overcook them as they will end up dry.
Dust with icing sugar.

I asked my hubby how the photo looked when I previewed it and he said "Better than the real thing". I glanced at the plate and it was empty .

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

UNBUSTED BEN's BEANS

I tried this tonight with navy beans (I pressure cooked a mug this morning after soaking them overnight) and I used green peppers grown nearby. The taste wouldn't be much different (yellow is sweeter), but the colour would be improved had red & yellow been available. I think if food looks good it adds to the whole experience.

I tossed the beans in the oil and lemon while warm to marinade well, then added the rest before serving. Olives used were a handful of green ones left over from the pizza from a couple of nights ago (again, black would have looked better). Onion was red. Lemon to oil ratio used was 2:1. I added the grated rind of a lemon to further enhance the lemony flavour that really lifts this recipe. I sprinkled it with sesame seeds.

I must admit though that to get my bean-hating husband to enjoy it I had to puree it and make a dip of it LOL, although I loved it as it was.

You are right - it was very moreish . It also filled us up so much having it with pre-dinner drinks in the cockpit that we barely need any dinner now .

Thanks for sharing x. I am adding this one to my list of regulars.

Hey So glad you liked it!

[ShaktiGurl]

I really appreciate the recipes and thank you for including pictures! It fills my recipe app nicely.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by ShaktiGurl

I really appreciate the recipes and thank you for including pictures! It fills my recipe app nicely.

You're welcome . I am really glad they may be of use. It's good to get feedback .

I find there's a gap to fill with finding good boat vegan recipes. Certainly there's not much on CF when I searched. Judging by the scant responses maybe people rarely cook on board without animal products. I must be the only one to run out of stuff necessitating doing this occasionally LOL.

I've been attaching photos as they are often what really inspire me when I am hunting for a recipe.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by beverley

Serves 4 big bowls

This takes about 15 minutes to do all the hard work and about 45 minutes watching it cook

1 kg tomatoes
300-400g onions
2 sides from a red pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
Olive oil flavoured with basil
Salt and pepper

Chop the tomatoes into quarters. Slice the red pepper into thin slices and chop the garlic. Peel and coarsely chop the onions and add to a deep saucepan. Sprinkle with olive oil. I like to use olive oil with basil in it but not too much. This soup is mild in flavour and herbs will overpower it very easily.

Cook the garlic and onions until they loose their white colour and start to go translucent. Add the tomatoes and tomatoe puree and red peppers. Mix together and then add boiling water until the vegetables are just covered. Cook on a low flame for 15 minutes.

Using a hand blender or magimix blend the gloop down to the consistency you like to have your soup. After it is blended add a little salt and pepper and leave to cook for another 5 minutes then taste it to see how it is coming along. If it needs more salt and pepper then add some and leave for another 5 minutes and retaste. Repeat this until it is right. If you make it too salty, add some water and a dab of tomato puree.

For best results, leave the soup to cool overnight and eat the following day with wholemeal baguettes and cold butter.

BEVERLEY's TOMATO SOUP

I didn't have enough fresh tomatoes on board to make this, so I used 3 tins of whole Roma tomatoes (= 1.2 kg). Worked well . I sautéed the onions a little longer than suggested to caramelise them and give the soup some extra depth, as I didn't have a red pepper either. Heeding the basil warning, I threw in only a few leaves when pureeing it.

Croutons made from bread cubes that had been sun dried, tossed with a little oil and pan fried gently, added a good crunch. The basil came from a pot I keep on board during summer/autumn. Greek basil is smaller leafed and tolerates salty and windy conditions very well. It takes very little to flavour dishes.

For some reason I hadn't made tomato soup in years. This one is a real winner. Great flavour, great colour (I have done nothing more to the photo than crop it), very easy, super quick and apart from the red pepper all the ingredients will keep for weeks if not months unrefrigerated.

Beverley, thanks for jogging my memory and providing such a good boat recipe .

Edited to add: when I reheated the leftover soup I added a tablespoon of powdered coconut cream dissolved in a little water and strained in to get rid of the lumps. It seemed to be begging for it and really lifted the soup out of the ordinary.

[ShaktiGurl]

S. Lass - i love to bake cookies and such and I keep seeing your 'dessert' recipes using olive oil. I've never used it in baking before because I thought it would give a strong flavor. Does it? I am a big fan of butter (obviously not vegan but ex-vegetarian). Have you noticed difference in texture with your mixes? I've always noticed if I use melted butter rather than softened it changes the texture and consistency and sometimes the result is 'unexpected'. Have you tried coconut oil which can be more solid when cooler? I think this is my next experiment. Using oils over butter seems to be a more viable solution for storage.

[beverley]

Lass - I am glad you liked it. It looks like it came out well

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by ShaktiGurl

S. Lass - i love to bake cookies and such and I keep seeing your 'dessert' recipes using olive oil. I've never used it in baking before because I thought it would give a strong flavor. Does it? I am a big fan of butter (obviously not vegan but ex-vegetarian). Have you noticed difference in texture with your mixes? I've always noticed if I use melted butter rather than softened it changes the texture and consistency and sometimes the result is 'unexpected'. Have you tried coconut oil which can be more solid when cooler? I think this is my next experiment. Using oils over butter seems to be a more viable solution for storage.

Hi Shakti
Oddly enough, despite its rich flavour raw, for me this does not dominate when used in cakes and cookies. Most of the sweet recipes I make are chocolate or citrus or nut dominated so maybe these flavours just take over.

I Googled it to see what others thought and found this comment:


Actually, I’m a fairly recent convert to the idea of olive oil cakes. After doing a bit of travelling through Spain, Portugal, and Greece, where olive oil reigns supreme -- even in desserts -- I returned home eager to see what goodies I might concoct with this golden liquid. After a few days in the kitchen, I came up with a troupe of unusual and terrific cakes that I find myself making again and again.

Curiosity compelled me to try these same cakes using a generic vegetable oil instead of olive oil. The results surprised me. The olive oil versions were moister and had a more tender, refined crumb (I’ve since learned that olive oil contains natural emulsifiers, which improve moisture and texture), but even more striking was their richer, deeper character. The olive oil seemed to act like an invisible helper, somehow coaxing superior savor and clarity from the ingredients, weaving them together to create a richer, more alive whole.

You must be thinking, don’t these cakes taste like olive oil?

No, they don’t -- nor would I want them to. Rather than use a high-end extra-virgin oil, I use the grade that’s simply called “olive oil” (this grade used to be called “pure” or “100-percent pure,” and some producers still label it that way). I prefer this oil for baking because it’s milder and cheaper than extra-virgin oil and because the flavor nuances that make the best extra-virgin olive oils so special would vanish in the heat of an oven anyway.

On the other hand, if you use extra-virgin olive oil as your everyday cooking oil, you can go ahead and use it in these cakes, too. I’ve used extra-virgin oil when it was the only kind available -- for a last-minute birthday cake made at my in-laws’ house -- and there was no olivy taste to the cake, although I could easily detect it in the sticky residue left in the pan. And just so you know, there were enough kids scarfing up the cake at this party that I’ve no doubt that one of them would have yelled, “Hey, this tastes funny..."


At home I used olive oil as I was not keen on having a high saturated fat intake particularly when I could find substitutes that I still enjoyed (for me there is no substitute for chocolate or certain cheeses so I just go ahead and enjoy these). Margarine never appealed at all, so years ago I started to experiment with olive oil (I have a wonderful cake I make over and over using olive oil and yoghurt and eggs so it not appropriate to add it in this thread, but I will PM you the recipe if you want it).

No, cakes made with olive oil are not the same as butter cake and no, there isn't anything else but butter than can be used for things like shortbread, but when I am perfectly content with other cakes and cookies I see no need to bake these.

On board olive oil is so much more practical to store than butter that it lends itself perfectly to cruising. It is not good for deep frying (it will not take high temperatures well), but as I don't deep fry anything it is not a problem.

Here is Greece the olive oil is absolutely superb, readily available and a fraction of the price it is in Australia. I source the best I can - extra virgin that is cold pressed (no chemicals or heat is used in the extraction, it is about as natural as you can get). I buy a high quality with very low acidity (0.3%), which I think also makes it more suitable for sweet recipes.

I haven't experimented with coconut oil at all.
Hope that helps
A

Olive groves in Crete in spring. That amazing colour comes from a carpet of buttercup yellow flowering oxalis:

[ShaktiGurl]

Thank you S. Lass! Using olive oil in baked goods definitely sounds interesting to me and please pm me your cake recipe. Is it generally a cup for cup swap of butter for oil?
I do like to play with unusual flavors, my favorite being a chocolate zucchini bread that also uses eggs. However, I will just have to envision myself in the beautiful olive groves when I'm baking

[bobconnie]

I hate to disagree with folks, but ive been able to find meat all over the place!! pork and chicken,goat,mutton,even bats in Guam yrs agu LOL Ya might have to chew a bit but I almost always find meat !! Ya gotta look and do some smellin, but it's out there if ya want it !!

[avb3]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

I hate to disagree with folks, but ive been able to find meat all over the place!! pork and chicken,goat,mutton,even bats in Guam yrs agu LOL Ya might have to chew a bit but I almost always find meat !! Ya gotta look and do some smellin, but it's out there if ya want it !!

I'm not sure how enthused I would be about bat, but I have eaten both cougar and beaver.

Now for those you whose minds are in the gutter, get them out. It was at a wild game supper. Beaver's quite rich, and cougar the first time was delicious tasting a bit like pork and the second time was tough and chewy.

Best tasting? Cold smoked bear that was then roasted in the oven for 4 hours. Served with tons of good veggies. Just to make sure I'm not totally off topic

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

I hate to disagree with folks, but ive been able to find meat all over the place!! pork and chicken,goat,mutton,even bats in Guam yrs agu LOL Ya might have to chew a bit but I almost always find meat !! Ya gotta look and do some smellin, but it's out there if ya want it !!

If meat and butter and eggs are a vital priority I guess with an effort you can source and store them without refrigeration. No one is suggesting that cruisers need to becomes vegans to cruise successfully.

But occasionally you run out of your preserved supplies (surely I am not the only one guilty of this LOL) and short of sailing to a new spot, animal products may be impossible to source. That is when vegan recipes are truly useful. Also for those cruising on a very tight budget protein from pulses is a fraction of the price of protein from animals.

At the moment we are in a gorgeous spot with no stores. I had a 25 km return walk two days ago on a very rough trail to find the closest grocery. Had I wanted a butcher I would have needed to add another 20 km on top of that. Even this trip was touch and go - I managed to pick the village church's saint's name day, so everything was closed. Undaunted after such a long walk, I went to the church where ladies were preparing for the feast and someone opened the store up for me .

The next island we are planning to visit has a population if less than 50 with no stores (supplies are ordered in and dropped off by the "ferry" service for the locals). Again meat would not be impossible, but damn hard to get.

The island after that is uninhabited.

If fresh meat was a priority we could certainly detour and find stores easily. We prefer not to do that. That is when having a raft of yummy recipes not utilising meat is really handy .

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

If you like baked beans you'll love "chakalaka" a South African peasant dish. Google it.

My curiosity was sparked, so I hunted and found this:
"Chakalaka is a South African veggie delicacy". So far so good.

The next bit was even more promising:
"Chakalaka is made up of ingredients that are readily available or last for a long time without refrigeration, and hence would be easily found in a spaza shop" (spazas are local grocery stores).

Short of simply opening a tin of baked beans (and I have done this occasionally during a passage where just about anything tastes like fine cuisine when you are windblown, spray drenched, tired and hungry), this would have to be one of the easiest dishes to make.

This recipe is a fantastic way way of tarting up a plain tin of Heinz baked beans . I examined a few recipes and came up with a version I liked the sound of.

CHAKALAKA (rolls off the tongue so beautifully doesn't it )

1tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large onion, sliced
1-2 heaped teaspoons curry powder, garam masala or chana masala or a combination (the flavour will vary quite a bit according to what you use and exactly how much you use. I reached for chana masala, a blend NornaBiron introduced me to that is wonderfully fragrant)
1 heaped teaspoon grated fresh ginger (or powder)
Chopped fresh chilli to taste

2 carrots, grated
1 red or green pepper, diced
400g tin tomatoes, roughly broken up
400g tin baked beans

Salt and pepper to taste
Handful chopped fresh coriander if you can get it.

Sauté garlic until golden. This completely removes the bitter taste and just leaves that lovely mellow flavour that roasted garlic has. Don't crush the garlic, it is just overkill and the result is quite different.
Add onions and sauté until soft.
Add carrot and cook a few minutes.
Scrape the veg to the side, add a small drizzle of oil, then the spices and chilli and stir over low heat, being careful not to burn them.
Toss in the tomatoes, baked beans and diced pepper and simmer 5 minutes. I added the pepper last so that it would retain some colour and crunch (in most recipes it went in with the carrot).
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add coriander just before serving.

It is traditionally served cold at BBQs as a 'salad', but I will serve it warm with cauliflower in cheese sauce tonight (the creamy dish will contrast well). Like all bean dishes containing herb and spices Chakalaka will undoubtedly improve with a few hours to let the flavours blend, so I made it early: