Vegan Improv #2 - Excursion

As this morning I sat reading Book One of Wordsworth's Excursion I made sure to pay special attention to any mention of an ingredient I could perhaps incorporate into my next meal. As it turns out neither the Romantic Wanderers the poem follows closely nor the pained ghosts they exhume through their spirited discussions seem to have any need for food (in a 50 page 'Book' which spans what would have in those days accounted for half a life-time). Which is probably just as well because I shudder to think of what profoundly unvegan monstrosities were popular in 19th Century England.

Having received absolutely no clues as to what I would be cooking this afternoon I decided go to Newtown to trade in a satchel full of old compact discs which I have made full use of but that I feel now were deserving of more attentive owners.

Now being in Newtown it occurred to me to visit the mostly-organic vaguely co-op-like place on Enmore Road known especially for being a reliable source of Red Bolivian Quinoa (which is totally unsustainable and a grain I don't necessarily approve of as a staple but) which once in a while makes for a hearty treat. Also it followed that it would be a great basis for my first blogged recipe, no?

Well, they didn't have any.

Slightly upset and suffering from the first case of mild-to-non-existent heat stroke since February I impulsively picked up a zucchini, two little eggplants, a bunch of asparagus (which was a bargain at $2.90) and 300g of dry chick peas.

Upon returning home I washed out some containers and put the chick peas down to soak as well as a lucnhbox full of mixed lentils (equal parts red, brown and green) and went upstairs to read some more, resolving to make dinner my one meal of the day. Ravenous and dizzy I descended to the kitchen an hour later and hungrily inspected the sprawl of vegetables in the fridge. An ailing purple sweet potato peered out at me listlessly so I took pity on him and decided to mash him up. At his feet an unsightly elbow of ginger took refuge from the cold and so it too felt my boundless mercy.

I boiled the sweet potato until when stabbing at it lazily with a knife it took to the blade. All the while frying half a large white onion (minced) in olive oil until brown then adding half the ginger and letting that brown before taking it off the heat and throwing in the last of the ginger.

When the sweet potato was ready I threw it in a bowl and mashed it thoroughly, pouring in the entire contents of the onion/ginger pan and mixing that through.

Lost and slightly bemused by this peculiar, imperious mash before me I struggled for my next step. Wishing I'd used shallots, if only for their colour, I hatched the brilliant plan to cut up asparagus stalks into thin discs somewhat resembling chopped shallots. I prepared the stalk-discs and chucked them in the same pan, the heads went in too but I let them keep a couple inches of body and so with a pinch of salt and a thick blanket of black pepper used them to soak up the fine film of olive oil that remained in the pan.
The discs got added to the mash and the heads got put aside where they would later crown the whole piece. Then the whole thing got put in the fridge.

I put a cup of brown rice down on the stove, buying myself some time. I don't eat white rice. With brown rice I follow loosely the 'Absorption' method suggested on the packet but I'm not so quick to take it off the initial boil. Once it reaches boiling I tend to just adjust the heat according to boredom. Brown rice is incredibly boring to cook, but it is totally worth it, y'know.
To stop myself dying of boredom in the kitchen, I turned down the heat and put on a cassette of Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time which I scored because some one left it behind at Maggotville. 'The Loneliness Of A Long Distance Runner' has the most majestic intro I've ever heard. Iron Maiden, when they go full pelt with the whole triumphant gallop-gallop thing definitely add some coming-round-the-home-stretch drama to any mundane activity.

Once the rice was done I pushed it all to one side in the saucepan and poured in some olive oil to which I then introduced 3 teaspoons of Italian garlic and 2 teaspoons of really good crushed chillies. When that was looking beautiful I put in a cup of the mixed lentils, let them fry for a minute then mixed it all around before the rice started to stick cooked it for 3 minutes then took it off the heat.

Done.

The bowl I made myself was 3 parts chilli-lentil-rice to 1 part sweet potato-ginger mash with 3 asparagus pieces on top.

I feel like maybe 3:2 would have been better. Tonight for dinner I will make it 3:2.

The mash is probably the most incredible tasting thing I've made this week. The caramelised onion with the ginger and the salt+pepper asparagus is totally a winner. Also the cold mash with the chilli of the rice was a nice surprise.