Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Fingerfood.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

In perusing the interwebs for inspiration of the parsnippy variety I wandered across this Irish saying which involves said vegetable; "Soft words butter no parsnips". It's supposed to mean that kind words will not put food on the table, hence the empty bowl in the painting. The full saying is, "soft words butter no parsnips but they won't harden the heart of the cabbage either", which I interpret as, although kind words won't put food in your bowl, they won't do any harm either. I'm happy to be corrected. Style-wise this piece is after Irish artist Anji Allen who specialises in the beauty of everyday objects, often related to food.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

I first came across parsnip chips in Scotland. They arrived on my plate along with a vegetarian haggis that I was trying in a cafe. I think it might have been the wonderful 'Lost Sock Diner' of Edinburgh which was helpfully attached to a laundromat. A useful, no genius, setup. Anyway, back to the food. The haggis wasn't bad, really. The Scots have had hundreds of years perfecting cooking with oatmeal, turnip, salt, pepper and not a lot else in the vege department. However it was the sweetish, crunchy parsnip chips that really grabbed my attention. And then my friends mentioned how unimpressed they were as parsnips chips were so easy to make at home. What?! Of course I had to try making them myself.

Note well that like tomatoes, organic parsnips have a LOT more flavour than their supermarket cousins.

parsnips, chopped into 1cm thick matchsticks (400g equals a snack for 2)

olive oil

salt

pepper

Heat your oven to around 215 C. I have found 200 C to be too low - the chips end up oily and soggy - and 230 C to be too hot - the chips burn as they cook. You will have to experiment a little because all ovens vary.

Figure out how many trays you need by test-placing the chips on trays in a single layer only.

Remove the chips and lightly cover the tray with oil. Put it in the oven when the oven has reached temperature. Leave it long enough to heat the oil up. Clue - if it's smoking it's definitely hot enough!

Meanwhile, put all the chips in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil  and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat all over.

When the oiled tray is hot enough, tip and spread the chips out on the tray.

Roast for 15 minutes.

Stir and turn over.

Cook up to another 15 minutes. They may take less time as parsnips burn easily on account of their high sugar content so keep an eye on them.

Enjoy as a snack or side dish as a variation on potato chips. By the way, most root vegetables can be chipped successfully. Have a play! Imagine a mixed potato, carrot, parsnip chip adventure...

Fun. Moreish. Leisurely. Fingerfood.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Heavily influenced by kawaii (super-cute) Japanese cartoon animals. If you look closely you may see the giant gyoza in the background.

Nowhere as difficult to make as you might first imagine, but gyoza are a little bit of work (well worth it I say).

Gyoza are a type of dumpling also known as pot-stickers. They are partly steamed and partly fried and very delicious. Especially with an evening of beer, chatting and friends around to help. Usually they are served as an appetiser or snack, but seriously, if you're going to go to the effort of making them, it's worthwhile to make an entire meal of them. No one will complain.

Remember to get a packet or two of wrappers. Wonton, jiaozi or gyoza.

The filling:

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon sherry or sake or mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 cup or 50g of finely shredded and chopped chinese cabbage

6 spring onions, white and green parts chopped fine

3/4 cup or 50g finely chopped tempeh

3/4 cup finely chopped shitake mushrooms - equivalent to 20g dried shitake mushrooms that need to be rehydrated for 30mins and squeezed mostly dry or 80g of already rehydrated shitake mushrooms that have been squeezed mostly dry.

If you are feeling lazy, the ingredients can be put in a blender together. This is much quicker than chopping everything up fine, but the final texture is not as good and you end up with less gyoza (about 30 instead of 38).

Mix all the ingredients together very well. You don't want any clumps of ginger or salt! It's easiest if the ingredients are put in a bowl one by one in the order given and mixed thoroughly after every addition.

Now for some photos. This part is quite simple, just tricky to explain in words only.

It's quickest to work in batches. I can fit about a dozen into my pan, so that's how many I prepare at once.

Take your plain gyoza wrapper...

and take a rounded teaspoon of filling...

and place the filling on one half of the wrapper, leaving a border around the edge. Do not overfill!

Dip your fingers in water...

and wet all around the edges of the wrapper. This is so it will stick together when folded in half.

Now fold the empty half over the filling...

and press down in the middle...

and all around the edges. Done! Then repeat for all of them.

Now for the cooking. It will need to be done in batches according to how many you can fit in your frypan.

So, put enough sesame or peanut oil in the bottom of your frypan to prevent the gyoza from sticking.

When the pan is HOT place the gyoza in the pan and wriggle them about to help stop them sticking.

Fry until golden on one side.

Then throw 1/3 cup or 80ml water into the pan to steam them. Immediately put a lid on the pan.

Leave them for 3 minutes - time it.

Remove lid and remove tasty gyoza to a plate to be scoffed.

Serve with dipping sauce. Hoisin or sweet chilli or soy sauce or chilli sauce all work well. So does this one:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 spring onion, white part only finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chilli paste to taste

Mix all the ingredients in the dipping bowl.

This recipe makes 38 gyoza. Which is a light meal for 2 or a decent meal for 1.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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