Eat Your Greens!

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national holiday, and the whole world loves to celebrate with us. We have a long standing tradition of wearing something green on Paddy’s Day, a tradition that is readily adopted by visitors as they throng the streets to watch the parade, or join in with the craic agus ceol. At The Green Roots Project we are inviting people to update that tradition, and use Lá Fhéile Pádraig to not only wear something green, but to also do something green, something to protect nature, or to celebrate the environment. As part of this initiative we are proud to introduce Eat Your Greens, a campaign that encourages you to Eat Local, Eat in Season, and to Eat More Veg. To help us launch that campaign we’d like to introduce you to our amazing collaborator Theodora from Tasty Veg

Theodora is a vegan food blogger based in Italy, she is a sustainability enthusiast, who advocates for eating in season. In 2022 she is hosting A Virtual World Tour. Exploring countries and their cultures, and recreating their traditional dishes .... but vegan

We are thrilled that Theodora has chosen to visit Ireland for stop number two on her Vegan World Tour. For the day that is in it, it makes perfect sense that her first Plant Based dish is a spin on our traditional Beef & Guinness Stew. Guinness stew is a warm dish and perfect for Saint Patrick’s Day. Here is the recipe to prepare it, but vegan!

Ingredients for four people

90 grams of dehydrated soy steaks

500 millilitres of Guinness

200 grams of carrots (about 2)

100 grams of onion (about 1)

180 grams of potato (about 1)

175 grams of Savoy cabbage (about ⅛)

4 tbsp of flour

4 tbsp of soy sauce

2 sprigs of rosemary

¼ of vegetable stock (you can make your own with the recipe I posted in my website)

250 millilitres of water

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

First of all, rehydrate your soy steaks in water.

Chop all the vegetables and set them aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil and add onion and leek to it. After a couple of minutes, add the flour and stir it around so everything gets coated.

After a minute, pour in the vegan-friendly Guinness, mixing as you go.

Add to the pot potato, Savoy cabbage, soy sauce, broth, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Let simmer for about 30 minutes.

At this point, add the soy steaks and stir everything. Let cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve this dish warm.

Vegan Guinness stew can be stored in the fridge for three days. If you are trying this recipe share some pics with us #thegreenrootsproject #veganworldtour

It's Monday the 20th, and we've had an amazing St. Patrick's weekend. A double bank holiday for those of us in Ireland, AND the sun was shining non stop! We're delighted to share another traditional Irish dish with you, the perfect comfort food after an indulgent weekend. Our next dish is the classic Colcannon, an Irish dish based on mashed potatoes and Savoy cabbage. This recipe is as simple as it is delicious.

Ingredients for four people

450 grams of potatoes (about 3)

350 grams of Savoy cabbage (about ¼)

250 grams of leek (about 1)

4 tbsp of margarine

2 tbsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

1 tsp of nutmeg

Preparation

First of all, chop all the vegetables. Steam the potatoes and set them aside.

Cook in boiling water Savoy cabbage and leek.

In the meantime, mash the potatoes and add the potato purée to the cooked vegetables.

Moreover, add margarine, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir well.

Serve warm with a knob of butter and pepper.

Vegan colcannon can be stored in the fridge for three days.

Chocolate Guinness Cake Chocolate Guinness Cake is a modern Irish classic made with chocolate and flavored with Guinness.

Ingredients for six people

- 320 grams of flour

- 100 grams of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I suggest oat milk)

- 150 grams of cane sugar

- 85 grams of powdered unsweetened cocoa

- 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

- 100 grams of margarine

- 330 milliliters of Guinness beer

- 1 tbsp of baking soda

- A pinch of salt

- For the icing:

- 10 tbsp of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I suggest oat milk)

- 500 grams of powdered sugar

- 10 tsp of margarine

Preparation

First of all, pour non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar into a bowl and let it rest for half an hour.

In a bowl, combine all the following ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, beer, baking soda, milk with apple cider vinegar, margarine, and salt.

Transfer the mixture to a baking tray.

Cook for 1 hour in a static oven at 180 °C.

In the meantime, prepare the icing by mixing in a food processor non-dairy milk, powdered sugar, and margarine.

Decorate the cake with the icing and serve.

Vegan chocolate Guinness cake can be stored in the fridge for three days (as if it would last that long!) It's been two weeks since St. Patrick's Day when we started this food journey with Thodora and the Classic Irish dishes ...but vegan, keep on coming! We can't wait to try this one. Coddle is an Irish dish that consists of layers of sausage (obviously vegan), potatoes, and onions. The name “coddle” comes from the French verb “caudle”, which means gently boil.

Ingredients for four people

250 grams of vegan sausage

400 grams of potatoes (about 3)

100 grams of onion (about 1)

1 vegetable stock (you can make your own with this recipe) link

2 tbsp of olive oil

5 tbsp of dried parsley

2 tbsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

Water as needed (for the broth)

Preparation

First of all, slice the sausage, the potatoes, and the onion.

Prepare the broth in a pot, by melting the stock in hot water.

Pour the oil into a big pot and heat it. Add the following ingredients in layers: half of the potatoes, half of the onion, half of the sausage, salt, pepper, parsley, remaining potatoes, remaining onion, and remaining sausage.

Cover everything with the broth and let cook on low heat for 30 minutes.

Taste the coddle while it’s warm.

Coddle can be stored in the fridge for three days. Boxty are Irish potato pancakes. They are very easy to prepare but delicious.

Ingredients for 12 boxty

- 500 grams of potatoes (about 5)

- 200 grams of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I suggest oat milk)

- 150 grams of flour

- 1 tsp of baking soda

- 1 tbsp of olive oil

- 1 tsp of salt

- ½ tsp of pepper

Preparation

First of all, steam half of the potatoes.

In the meantime, shred the other half of the potatoes.

Smash the steamed potatoes until you obtain a puree. Combine it with shredded potatoes, flour, baking soda, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Mix until you obtain an homogeneous consistency.

Heat a non-stick pan and shape pancakes by using a spoon.

Cook on low heat with a lid and flip the pancakes after a few minutes.

Serve the boxty while they are warm and decorate them with almond ricotta and chives.

Boxty can be stored in the fridge for three days (as if they'd last that long!!) Soda Bread is another staple of our traditional food, an Irish bread that is very quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients for one loaf of bread

260 grams of flour

150 grams of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I suggest soy milk)

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of salt

Preparation

In a bowl pour non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar. Mix and let it rest for half an hour.

After this time, add to the bowl flour, baking soda, and salt.

Knead the dough until it is homogeneous and smooth.

Shape the dough into a loaf and incise a cross on its surface.

Cook for 45 minutes in a static oven at 180 °C.

Soda bread can be stored for three days.

If you are trying these recipes share some pics with us #thegreenrootsproject #veganworldtour We'd like to say a massive Thank You to Theodora for creating theses amazing vegan dishes based on our favourite Irish classics. You can follow the rest of Theodora's Virtual tour online www.tastyveg.it @tastyveg_