• 2 medium onions fine diced
• 1 carrot fine diced
• 1 leek fine diced
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 250g chestnut mushrooms finely diced
• Fresh thyme
• 3 tbsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tbsp yeast extract
• 1 tsp ground mace
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup cooked lentils
• 1 cup pearl barely
• ½ cup oats
• 500ml veg stock

So, Burns Night is upon us (traditional Scottish celebration) and that means one thing: Haggis. Lungs, heart and liver all boiled in a sheep’s stomach? Not exactly what vegan dreams are made of is it. If you can get past the old disgusting tradition and smash out our vegan haggis it will open up a whole new world of flavour combinations. From toasties, to fry ups, or even Asian dishes haggis and its rich peppery taste lends itself beautifully to almost anything you can think of. Trust us on this one, its all awesome no innards, no guts all glory. It ain’t pretty but its dirt cheap, delicious and bound to trick your meat eating mates that it’s the real thing, minus the stomach.

Let’s get cracking, get an oven safe pan with a lid on the heat, we use a big casserole dish or Dutch oven. On a medium heat, with a good glug of oil, add your onion, carrot and leek. Give it a couple minutes until they are just brown then chuck in the garlic and mushrooms. Cook this down, stirring regularly for about 5 minutes when you can add the cooked lentils, a couple sprigs of fresh thyme, the Worcester Sauce, yeast extract (marmite, delicious marmite), mace and nutmeg. Turn the heat up to high and stir like mad for 3 or 4 mins. You aren’t looking to burn it here but to caramelise and char the sugars in the veg and reduce the Worcester Sauce and yeast extract. Afterwards, turn the heat down to medium and mix through your pearl barley and oats for 2 mins before adding the stock. Give it a good stir, lid on and throw it in a warm oven (160C) for about 45 mins.

Take the big pot of delicious out the oven and leave it with the lid on to cool. At this point it’s perfect to serve up alongside some smashed neaps, tatties and a wee dram of whisky. If you want to make it a little more tradition grab some thick foil, heap your haggis into the middle and ball it up nice and tight. Warm it through in the oven, break it open at the table and drizzle a little whisky sauce on that bad lad. But honestly let your imagination go, think of the craziest haggis flavour combination you can think of and just give it a go, you will be surprised how incredible it will be. Mix it with a little mash potato, bread crumb and deep-fry it for some amazing haggis croquets, throw it in a pan with some ketchup for a killer sloppy joe, crumble it onto your favourite pizza, just go nuts. We mixed it with some soy sauce, ginger and fresh scotch bonnets to make fiery Korean haggis dumplings, they were incredible. Embrace the haggis (can you tell we love haggis).

Enjoy

GP

• 2 small onions diced
• 2 cloves garlic smashed
• 1 large carrot grated
• 2 tablespoon sliced katsuobushi (can use soy sauce as an alternative)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 700ml veg stock
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 3 tbsp lemon juice

Cornmeal Coke Batter

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup coke
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 head of cauliflower cut into small florets

Katsu curry has been blowing up in the western world the last few years, but it has been a regular in Japan since the early 1990s, owing its popularity to the influence of the British navy and the rise of Indian restaurants within the country. We’ve swapped the traditional bread crumb for a cornmeal and coke batter, and the pork loin for cauliflower. We like it served with white rice, but noodles work wicked. The ingredient list may seem a little daunting, but if you plan ahead a little this recipe couldn’t be simpler, take our advice and read ahead, plan and you’ll be eating within 30 mins.

Fire up a good size wok or saucepan, add a good glug of oil, onions and garlic. Sautee them for 2 or 3 mins and through in the carrot, knock the heat down right low and throw a lid of it.

While that’s ticking away get the rice on, cook it however you like; sticky, dry, spiced whichever you fancy. Our favourite way? Baked for sure! Bring a pan of the stock up to the boil and par boil the cauliflower for 2 mins and drain but reserve the stock. Back to the katsu, lid off and in with the cumin, turmeric, miso and katsuobushi. Cook that out before chucking in the plain flour, again cook that out for 1 or 2 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium and add the retained stock little by little stirring all the time, bring it to a simmer and add the sugar and garam masala.

Curry sauce is bubbling nicely so time for the batter, in a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cornmeal, coke, water and spices to a smooth consistency. While the batter is resting heat a small pan (we use a baby high sided wok) with enough oil to deep fry. Coat your cauliflower in flour and the cornmeal batter and deep fry it 4 or 5 pieces at a time. The cornmeal batter is super light so it will only take about 3 or 4 mins to cook.

In the meantime, your rice will have finished cooking and the curry should have thickened nicely, we like to blitz the sauce smooth but if you are feeling lazy leave it lumpy and call it rustic. Add the lemon juice to taste, and thin with a little stock if needed. Time to plate it, curry sauce on bottom, pile the rice and battered cauliflower on top and tuck in.

GP

• 1 1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
• /2 cup polenta
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 garlic powder
• 1/8 cup smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 vegan Worcester sauce
• 1/8 cup soy
• 1/4 liquid smoke
• 1/4 cup maple
• 1 tbsp yeast extract
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 1/2 cup stock

What katsuobushi? Well it’s basically a Japanese ingredient used to give stocks and broths a dark, rich flavour. Typically made from fermented fish our version is a little friendlier to our fishy friends. You can use it like a super concentrated stock, adding slices in the early stages of cooking to give your dish intense an umami hit. Whether its ramen broth, or Bolognese our katsuobushi gives the intense flavour Pierre White and his stock pots can only dream of. Yes, we were experimenting with our seitan mixes when we mistakenly created this, no that doesn’t make it any less cool, sometimes accidents can be the best thing to happen to you, right?

As with all gluten based recipes what they lack in difficulty they make up for in time, this ain’t no Jamie’s 15-minute meal, settle in for an afternoon with a beer or brew and knock this bad lad up. Right dry ingredient; gluten, polenta, national yeast, garlic, paprika, and salt in a large mixing bowl, give them a mix and leave them be. Wet ingredient minus the stock; Worcester sauce, soy, liquid smoke, maple, yeast extract (two types of yeast? I can think of at-yeast three yeast jokes), and miso in another bowl and beat to high hell.

Nice and slowly add your wet bowl to your dry bowl, combine everything together and begin to kneed. If your dough is too dry add some stock little by little. You are looking for a moist, workable dough, definitely not sticky. Leave it to sit for 10 minutes before a short kneed again, at this point the polenta will have absorbed some liquid so you might need a little more stock to keep it workable. Form your brown mush into a thin block, preheat your oven to about 100 Celsius and half fill a deep baking tray with water. If you’re hi-tech you can vacuum pack your soon to be delicious brown blob, but a tight cling film job will do the trick if not. Ready for some fancy French cookery language? Well don that beret and let’s cook sous vide! Sounds better than vacuum pack, and poach in a water bath, doesn’t it? Anyway, through your dough into the baking tray and into the oven, cook for an hour before turning and cooking for another hour. Turn the oven off, give it a little door fan and leave the katsuobushi to cool in the oven. After all that waiting its ready, keep it in the fridge slice off what you need when you need it.. enjoy!

GP

• 250g brown mushrooms
• 250-300g firm tofu
• 1 white onion diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 stick celery diced
• 5 sprigs rosemary destemmed and diced
• 2 tsp diced garlic
• 200g pearl barley
• 1 glass white wine
• 5-6 cups veg stock
• 6-8 leaves savoy cabbage destemmed and sliced

The days are shorter, nights longer, temperatures creeping towards freezing here in the North East. It’s about time for some proper tum filling, heart-warming comfort food, something Brits - especially us Northerners - are known for, so let's keep it local. OK yes risotto is Italian, yes tofu is Japanese, and yes the wine is French (if you can afford it) but barley and cabbage? Well British! This is a proper hearty, curl up on the sofa, flick on the TV, eat yourself happy kind of food.

Starting with the tofu, this is down to preference. Although don’t bother with that fancy silken stuff, it will just fall apart. We are looking for the firm stuff. You could herb crust it, marinade it in lemon but we chose to baconate it, using the same marinade from our coconut bacon. After pressing slice into strips, marinate and bake in a hot oven for 20-25 mins turning once and set aside.

With the tofu in the oven heat a heavy frying pan with oil and add your mushrooms. Two rules, don’t overcrowd the pan and don't go Gordon Ramsey and toss the pan about, leave it! Mushrooms are basically sponges full of water, so a hot pan, plenty of space and only moving the mushrooms occasionally means they will brown beautifully without turning into slimy slugs. Season well and set aside with the tofu.

Risotto time, boring bit first; pan choice. You are going to be stirring, a lot so pick a pan to contain that mess. A heavy bottomed non-stick with high sides is perfect but a casserole dish will do the trick. For practicality we have our stock sitting in a pan warming as well, cold is fine but having it warm will greatly speed things up. So pan on medium, oil in, chuck in the onions, carrots and celery or in fancy language a mirepoix into the pan cooking till golden. Next in with the pearl barley, rosemary and garlic. Stir well for 2 or 3 minutes until everything is coated with oil.

At this point in with the wine, stir (yes more stirring) till it’s absorbed by the barley. Then begin ladling the stock in the same way; one ladle of stock, stir till absorbed, one ladle of stock etc. Continue the process until the barely I completely cooked with just a little bite left, you may need more or less stock then stated. Now heat up the mushroom pan again with a little vegan margarine and add the mushrooms, tofu and savoy cabbage cooking on high for 2-3 mins before throwing everything into the barely.

Stir everything well (last stir I promise), check the seasoning, add a little knob of margarine if you fancy it and serve up a big bowl and enjoy.

GP

Reckon you’re a seitan pro? Yeah us neither but if you can handle our basic batch of seitan then give these bad lads a whirl. Our fairground favourite, these franks make a cracking hotdog as well as a decent sausage for just about any occasion. 

• 500g-1kg raw seitan
• Finger rolls
• Favourite toppings
• Curly fries (durh)

Cut your raw seitan into chunks as you would normally, broth on to simmer, beer in the fridge. Kneed the seitan lightly and roll into sausages, you can use cheese cloth but for a really tight, even sausage we use cling film, pinching and rolling the ends. Simmer the franks as you would regular seitan, until firm then let cool slowly.

Curly fries cooking? Course they are we trust you. Pan fry the franks with soy, Worcester sauce and a little bbq sauce before putting them to bed in your finger rolls, a little mustard, ketchup, pickles and tuck in. It’s perfect how it is, but treat it like a base, add anything and everything to it.

GP

• 1 white onion sliced
• 100g chestnut mushroom sliced
• 1 stick of celery diced
• 50g molasses
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 50 ml apple juice
• 400g vital wheat gluten
• 50g nutritional yeast
• 100g strong white flour
• 200-400ml water

First, this is not a fast recipe. If you’ve got a craving munch on something else, this is a make today enjoy tomorrow. Start off with your cast iron, nice medium heat, brown off your onion, chestnut mushrooms and celery till soft. Throw them in your processor along with the molasses, mustard, ketchup, liquid smoke, Worcester sauce, oregano and plenty of salt and pepper. You really can’t be too generous with the seasoning so get it in there and blend till smooth or smooth-ish.

Once you mix has cooled, combine the gluten, flour and nutritional yeast in a large mixing bowl. Mix the paste through thoroughly. So that’s the easy bit. Now is where people tend to go wrong; you need to add enough water for the dough to come together and be workable without it being too wet. When you think your dough feels right give it a good kneed for 5 mins to develop the gluten, this is probably the easiest point to determine if your dough is too wet or dry, don’t worry though just add extra flour or water and kneed for another minute. Put your mix in a greased bowl and leave it for an hour or so.

Fill a large pan with veg stock, some bay leaves, cloves, garlic soy and any savoury flavours you like, this will slightly flavour the seitan as it cooks, and bring it to a light simmer. Roughly cut your seitan into chunks, the smaller the quicker they will cook, and lightly kneed again. If you are going for a free form look just drop your seitan in the broth, for a tighter shape we use clean cheese cloth and tie the ends. Leave your seitan simmering until it firms up, this can be anywhere from 40 mins to 3 hours depending on sizes and temperatures so keep an eye on it. When it has firmed turned the heat off and let it cool in the broth.

At this point it’s good to eat, just slice and go but if you have just a little more patience its better grilled or fried. We love it pan fried with a little soy and mop sauce. So that’s it, it takes a couple tries to really get a feel for it but keep at it, hail seitan baby.

GP

• 350g raw beets peeled and quartered
• 1 white onion sliced
• Oregano
• Smoked paprika
• 100g cooked pearl barley
• 150g rolled oats blitzed
• 1 tbsp Worchester sauce
• 400g homemade or good quality marinara sauce

So Beet Balls, simple but not exactly fast food. Start by oiling and seasoning your beets with salt, pepper, oregano and smoked paprika and chuck it in a medium oven for an hour or until its soft and starting to brown. Meanwhile caramelise the onion and pulse your oats to a fine crumb. Set everything aside till cool.

Chuck the beets, onions and Worcester sauce in the processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Put the paste in a mixing bowl and season well, don’t be shy it needs to pack a punch. First mix in the cooked pearl barley, this is mostly for texture. Next add the oats and mix well, it might get a little bit stiff but keep working at it (hey now). Roll your mix into golf ball size balls and leave in the fridge for an hour or so. At this point if your using homemade marinara get it on the stove, for ours we like a lot of garlic and molasses.

Lightly fry your beat balls all round till a darkish brown. This next step is where patience comes in; in a small pan or oven tray pour your hot marinara sauce over your balls and put in a low oven for at least an hour. This does two things, firstly reduces the marinara to a thick rich sauce perfect for a sub and second deeply intensifies the beet ball flavour massively. Let it cool for 10 mins or so before you throw it in a sub and chow down.

GP

Housekeeping out the way, this is the real deal. Whether it’s the hipster shawarma craving or the 3am kebab crush this has got you covered. There is a little prep work involved but once that’s done it can sit in the fridge for days just waiting for you to dive in. We promise this shawarma marinade kicks so hard feed it to your average meat eater and they won’t taste the difference. No suffering, all the flavour!

• 400g prepared seitan
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp liquid smoke
• 2 tsp soy

For this recipe we flavoured our seitan with plenty of Worcester sauce, paprika and black pepper. So start by combining all your ingredients except the seitan, we like to do this in a mortar and pestle but a food processor is a lot less effort. You can add a little oil if the marinade is looking a little stiff. Next onto the seitan, make sure it is fully cooled, it’s much easier to work with that way. Slice it as into thin strips, as tight as you can like those greasy chip shop kebab meats. We just used our chef’s knife but if you aren’t as confident I’m sure a veg peeler or the slicer attachment on a food processor would work well. Pour the marinade over the seitan, mix well and chuck it in the fridge for an a couple hour or as long as you can bear it.

After marinating get your oven up high, oil a baking tray and get the seitan in there for 15-25 minutes until the edges start to crisp. While your waiting knock up your garnish. Do whatever you fancy, but don’t forget the shawarma is a flavour bomb, so maybe go for something fresh to cut through it. We went for sliced red cabbage with a tabbouleh style salsa of beef tomato, cucumber, red onion, mint and lime. 

Seitan out the oven, salad done, beers open? Good, load up a couple flat breads or pitta with heaps of seitan, your salad and any sauce you fancy. Chow down, eat up and enjoy!

GP

• 1 bulb garlic
• 5 tbsp aquafaba
• 1 tbsp mustard (we use yellow)
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• ½ lemon juiced
• 300ml good oil (we used cold pressed rapeseed)

So the only part of this recipe that takes time is roasting the garlic, raw garlic works as well but it can be a little harsh. Slice the very bottom off the garlic bulb, this makes skinning the garlic easier, oil, season, wrap in greaseproof or foil and throw in a warm oven for an hour or two till golden, soft and sticky. Let it cool and squeeze it out like toothpaste, if there is skin in the garlic just push it through a fine sieve with a spoon.

Grab a food processor and chuck in the garlic, magical aquafaba, mustard, vinegar and lemon juice and start blending. Very, very slowly poor in the oil as its blending, carefully tilting the food processor may help but if you end up with mayo on your walls it’s not our fault. You may need less or more oil than stated but keep gradually pouring and blending until its thick like mayo, season with plenty of salt and enjoy. As mature adults naturally we love this mayo on curly fries.

It’s really a blank canvas, swap the garlic out for any flavour or spice you like, smoked paprika, coconut bacon or Sriracha.

GP  

• 1 medium white onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 150g brown mushrooms
• 2 ripe avocados
• 300g young jackfruit (in brine)
• 400g cooked white rice
• 100g mixed baby tomatoes
• 300g cooked beans (borlotti or black eye)
• Tortilla wraps
• Fresh Coriander

Guess what, fire up that cast iron again. Broken record I know but trust me once you understand cooking with cast iron you won’t look back. Chop your onion, peppers and mushrooms into rough chunks, oil season and throw them cast iron, a medium heat till they begin to get a decent char, turning occasionally then set aside.

Wipe the pan out and throw the onions, red pepper, jackfruit and mushrooms in. Fry for a couple minutes before adding spices, these are down to you really but we like to use cumin, smoked paprika, chipotle and a little vegan worchestershire sauce. Add your beans and a little vegetable stock. Turn it down low and cook till the jackfruit pulls apart, if it ever looks like it’s getting dry just add a little more stock, and don’t forget to season.

For the ‘rustic’ (lazy) salsa dice the green pepper we charred earlier, roughly chop the tomatoes and coriander, slice little chilli if you like, mix with a little lime juice or cider vinegar, season and you are ready to go.

Assembly, if you want to just smash everything together go for it but if you take a little time, put in a little effort the result is fantastic. Carefully lay each filling in your tortilla, rice, salsa, jackfruit beans and sliced avocado straight across, this means that when you wrap it, every bite will be distinct, have something a little different to the one before, and yes it looks pretty, you got us. This is enough for 3-4 burritos or you know one proper one.

GP

• Good quality sourdough, thick sliced
• White onion sliced in rings
• Large field mushrooms sliced in strips and marinated in a little soy sauce
• Grumpy Panda Vegan Cheese Sauce (or your favourite cheese substitute)
• Fresh Thyme
• Beef Tomato thick sliced

Don’t be fooled, a good sandwich isn’t fast food. After all this isn’t every day so let’s take our time with it, put the effort in and the result will be incredible. Heat a cast iron skillet or flat top griddle to a medium heat, brush your onions, tomatoes and mushrooms with a little oil and lay them in the skillet with a couple sprigs of thyme. A couple cast iron tips here; don’t play with your food, it will tell you when its ready to turn after a beautiful charred crust has formed, and secondly don’t over crowd your pan, you’re not looking for steamed veg.

Cook the mushrooms and tomato to your liking then set aside, the onion however has to be burnt, trust us. The outer edge will be charred and slightly bitter but inside will be smoky sweet and delicious. Right sandwich time. Brush the outside of your bread with oil and season, spread a good layer of cheese on both pieces of bread, yes both, and start layering your fillings. Mushrooms, burnt onion, tomato and cheese work great together but get creative, throw some pickles, hot sauce, kimchi, anything you like in there. Top your creation and place it in the hot skillet, give it a good squish to make sure you get a nice even crust.

It will only take 2-3 minutes a side for a good crust to form but if you want a warmer sandwich just knock the heat down and leave for a minute or two longer. When its browned nicely take it out and let it rest for a minute before cutting the beast open. Tuck in and enjoy.

GP

Practical? No. Efficient? No. Easy? Not really. Traditional? No. Worth it? Absolutely yes! Homemade pizza, cooked on stone over Applewood flames is something else. Doesn’t matter what you put on it the smoke adds a level of depth that’s simply incredible. Its 2016, we aren’t going to bore you with a pizza dough recipe, if you don’t know how to make it already the internet is filled with recipes. This isn’t fast food; the dough will take at least 3 hours to prove so take your time with the toppings, do something special, something worth the wait. Here’s what our effort

• Good quality passata
• Shropshire blue cheese
• Field mushrooms marinated in soy sauce
• Roasted shallots
• Roasted garlic
• Fresh thyme

So your dough is proved and rolled, BBQs lit, Applewood smoking away, pizza stone on the grill, just away from direct heat. Leave your grill shut so your stone gets red hot, dust your stone with semolina or polenta and lay out your dough. Top however you like and get that lid shut, trap all the smoke you can. You might need to tend the fire a little as the pizza cooks to keep the temperature up but try not to disturb it too much.

Depending on the heat of your BBQ the pizza will probably take 5-10 minutes to cook, a little char on the base is perfect. Slide the bad boy out, dress with a little cold pressed rapeseed oil, serve it with a salad to pretend you’re not about to pig out like we know you’re going to and enjoy!

GP

• 175g cooked black eye beans
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp vegan worchestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard
• 50g rolled oats or oatmeal

If you are using rolled oats throw them in a food processor and pulse a few times to make a coarse powder and set aside. Put your cooked beans, tomato puree, worchestershire sauce, mustard along with salt and pepper in the processor and pulse a 4 or 5 times till the mixture comes together, make sure it isn’t completely smooth though, little chunks of bean add texture. Put your bean mix into a mixing bowl and gradually add the oats mixing the whole time. 50g of oats is an estimation and sometimes you need a little more or a little less, you are looking for the mixture to come together nicely, not be bone dry but not damp either. It might take a little practice to get it right but once you know it like riding a bike, only the bikes a burger.

Form the mix into patties, this amount should be perfect for two chunky burgers. Warm your heavy bottomed pan or skillet to a medium heat, add your oil of choice and sear your burgers. Probably 3-4 minutes each side for a nice golden crust to form. Now let your creativity go wild, top the burger with anything and everything you want. For us its iceberg lettuce, vegan cheese, coconut bacon and pickles. Of course a bun is the traditional way to go but here at Grumpy Panda we do it a little different, throwing everything in a flour tortilla, tucking it up into a tight little parcel and onto the grill till its crisp, and just starting to char. Absolute Heaven.

GP

Simple as it gets these coconut nibbles get pretty damn close to replicating that taste and texture of crisp smoked bacon. True if you stick them next to a rasher of bacon there are a few differences but crumble them into a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese or scramble egg and you’d be hard pushed to say it wasn’t the real deal.

• 100g raw unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke
• 1 tbsp molasses

Set the coconut aside and in a large bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients. When they are well mixed add the coconut tossing to ensure an even covering and leave in the fridge to marinate between one and three hours. Line a baking tray and bake in a warm oven, 160-180 Celsius, for about 20 minutes turning twice.                         They shouldn’t burn but don’t worry if they aren’t crisp straight from the oven, given time to cool they will crisp beautifully.

They are fantastic as a snack but even better added to your favourite comfort food at the last minute for that sweet smokey crunch.

GP

Nutritional yeast is a relatively new ingredient depending on what food circles you run in. Basically its similar to brewers yeast only its inactive so healthier (yay science), it has a lovely cheesy slightly nutty flavour. Most health food shops carry it but you can find it on amazon as well.

• 200g cauliflower cut in small florets
• 200ml good veg stock
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 tbsp worchestershire sauce

In a small saucepan bring your stock to a boil and add the cauliflower, don’t worry if the stock doesn’t cover the vegetables. Let the pan simmer stirring occasionally until you can crush the cauliflower with a fork. Time to let the stock cauliflower cool, so put your feet up with a cuppa, you’re cooking vegan so you deserve it.

Chuck everything into a food processor or blender and puree to your desired texture. We’ve like it super smooth but if you like a little chunky funky that’s cool. Season to taste and you’re all set.

Use it as a dip for vegetable sticks, a thick pasta sauce for macaroni or spread it on your favourite veggie burger.

GP

• 1 medium white onion sliced
• 400g brown mushrooms roughly chopped
• 1 stick of celery diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 2 garlic cloves diced
• 500g beef or large vine tomatoes
• soy sauce
• fresh thyme
• vegetarian worcestershire sauce
• tomato puree

Start by quartering your tomatoes, put them in an oven proof dish and add a little olive oil along with plenty of salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Put your tomatoes in a low oven for at least a couple hours until they are extremely tender and sweet.

Meanwhile get your mushrooms going, get a nice heavy bottomed pan on a medium high heat, I like to use a cast iron skillet as it adds instant flavour from the start. Place your mushrooms into a bowl along with 1tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce and a good glug of olive oil. Mix the mushrooms well and add a little oil to the pan sautéing the mushrooms in small batches. The key is not to play with them too much, getting that nice golden brown . Set your mushrooms aside when cooked and wipe the pan clean.

Next sauté the onions till golden before adding the garlic, some fresh thyme and a squeeze of tomato puree. Cook this out for a few minutes on a medium heat then throw your mushrooms in alongside the oven roasted tomatoes. At this point you may need to add a little vegetable stock, but do it little by little.

From this point its all up to you, everything is cooked, but the longer you leave it to simmer the richer it will get. If you want it a little saucier, remove half and blend it down smooth.

Cook your favourite pasta according to instructions, toss the ragu in with it and serve with a salad or crusty bread.

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