Sunday 11 December 2011

Sunday Brunch ~ Soda Bread with Vegan 'Goats Cheese' and Blistered Vine Tomatoes

Kitchen Play List: BBC Radio 2 ~ Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs

Today we are pootling about at home and then this afternoon we are going to our good pals D & B for D's birthday Afternoon Tea. Her birthday was actually Thursday and we met up with them in the evening to go to the movies. (Breaking Dawn Part 1..just in case you were wondering...It was so good! lol) And this afternoon is a small gathering of pals. I'll be taking with me many Green Tea Cupcakes as that was D's birthday cake of choice this year, from us. Her lovely B made her a fantastic giant Chocolate vegan cupcake.

Soda Bread with Vegan 'Goats Cheese' and Blistered Vine Tomatoes ~ Just gorgeous!
Yesterday I posted a recipe for veganised Soda Bread from a recipe I found in Sophie Dahl's From Season to Season (which I need very badly for my cook book collection! lol) The brunch recipe and photo just sang out to me as I turned the page and I knew this would be the first recipe I would test. The bread was a work of moments and was just..well..yummy! lol. I turned to a recipe that I found on Bryanna Clark Grogan blog for the vegan 'Goats Cheese' and the hardest part of making that was the constant pushing down with a spatula...A job which My Love ended up with because I am impatient and our blender has the power of a hotel hairdryer. But when it was put into it's an air tight container, it smelt tangy and looked smooth and delicious. If this recipe works than I have a whole heap of ideas to use it in. 

I had to make two versions of the Blistered Tomatoes..one as Ms.Dahl suggests and one that is Salicylate Lowish for My Love. Put simply My Love's version is the vine ripened tomatoes drizzled with Rapeseed Oil. My grill doesn't work properly so I baked the tomatoes in a very hot oven for 30 minutes. 

The results were a very delicious brunch indeed. Filling! Ms. Dahl says this is a meal for two but it could very easily be a meal for four. But be warned once you start eating it...there would be no sharing it! lol. Now the bread having been sat for a day was still as good and greatly enjoyed. The tomatoes were flavoursome and juicy. The vegan 'Goats Cheese' was creamy, tangy and gorgeous. I will be making this very often and I have many plans for its use. It's a great recipe but would I say it was a Goats Cheese substitute....well no. Having been a former lover of Goats Cheese I would say definitely not. But it worked well in this recipe and I'm glad we made it because it's a keeper and thanks to Bryanna for creating it.  

Brunch/Lunch for 2..but could easily be for four! lol
Soda Bread with Vegan 'Goats Cheese' with Blistered Tomatoes
(Recipe from From Season to Season/Dahl)

1 Soda Bread Loaf, sliced

1 batch of Bryanna's Vegan 'Goats Cheese'

6 med-large or 12-16 cherry vine ripened tomatoes
salt and pepper
A good glug of olive oil (I used a drizzle ~R~)
A good glug of balsamic vinegar (I used a Drizzle ~R~)
Pinch of dried thyme or tbsp of fresh thyme

Slice your bread and set to one side. Bring out the vegan 'Goats Cheese' and leave to come up to room temperature. 

Veganised Soda Bread
Either turn the oven on to the highest setting or grill to very hot. Wash and dry the tomatoes, taking care to keep their vine intact. Pop them into a roasting tin, season, pour on a glug of both the oil and the vinegar and then sprinkle them with the thyme. Grill for about 15 minutes or bake for 30 minutes until their skins are beginning to break and char. 

Beautifully blistered vine tomatoes

Smear you bread with the vegan 'Goats Cheese' and place some tomato on it and enjoy! 


We really did! lol
~R~