THE STUDENT VEGETARIAN COOK BOOK

- METHOD-

Measure the meal into a mug or jug so that you can easily dribble it into the liquid in a slow stream. Bring the milk and/or water to the boil (watch milk carefully to make sure that it does not boil over), then reduce the heat until it is just simmering. Add the salt and butter and pour in the meal slowly and steadily, stirring continuously. Continue stirring for3-5 minutes or until the porridge has thickened. The 4-5-minute meal will be quite or almost quite smooth. Ordinary meal will form lumps: press them out with the back of the spoon. More will form, but it does not matter: provided thattheoriginal onesare broken, the eventual polenta will be smooth. With fine maize flour you will have a serious lump situation: instead of stirrin'b for 3-5 minutes, stir and press for at least \0 minutes.

2 After the initial stirring, simmer 4-5-minute meal for 18--20 minutes, ordinary meal and maize flour for I hour, stirring only at intervals. If you can feel that a layer of meallflour has coated the bottom of the pan, do not try to remove it but leave it to soak off later (you do not want flecks of �urnt meal in the finished polenta). Pour the hot porridge into the tart tin ordish.

3 Pre-heat the oven to 450°F, 230°C, Gas Mark 8. If you are adding cheese and/or tomatoes, coarsely grate the cheese and skin and slice the tomatoes, discarding the cores and stalk ends. Arrange the tomatoes and scatterthe cheese evenly over the top ofthe porridge. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until beginning to brown. If madewith waterand withoutcheese, the polenta will brown only slightly; with milk, more deeply. With Cheddar, it should be golden; with Gorgonzola, which forms a deliCiously crisp crust, it will be darker.

To reheat, bake whole or in slices, in the oven at 400-450°F, 200-230°C, Gas Mark 6--8, for about 15 minutes.

- CHEESE SCONES-

These are not only excellent in theirown right but, if you have run out of bread, about the quickest possible non-sweet alternative.

As an alternative to butter, spread them with Cheese and

Chilli Dip (see page 18) or cottage cheese with or without chives or dill (see page 19).

• INGREDIENTS.

5 oz/150 g strong Cheddar cheese

3 oz/90 g wholemeal ffour

6 ozll90 g organic or ordinary white self-raising ffour

Salt

Pepper

2 oz/50 g margarine

I teaspoon mild French mustard (such as Grey Poupon)

7 tablespoons milk

Baking-sheet

• METHOD .

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F, 200°C, Gas Mark 6. Cover the baking-sheet with aluminium foil and grease lightly with butter or oil. Finely grate the cheese.

2 Mix together the flours, '/2 teaspoon salt and a generous sprinkling of pepper. Rub or stir in the margarine, then mix in the cheese. Stir the mustard into a little of the milk and add to the mixture with the rest of the milk. Mix, form into balls, set a little apart on the baking-sheet and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden-brown.

• AMERICAN MUFFINS·

Am ong the most memorable breakfasts I have ever had were those at a hotel not in America but in Vancouver, Canada, where they served a salad of strawberries and three different sorts of melon plus a choice of muffins, which were baked to order and arrived still hot from the oven.

American muffins are the equivalent of British scones but much moister. As the mixture is too liquid to hold its shape, they are not moulded or rolled but made in muffin tins or paper cases.

The number of possible kinds of muffin is probably as many

The Student Vegetarian Cook Book

as there are cooks to make them. The banana one below is my approximation of one of those I had at the hotel and the other is designed for convenience, in that you are likely to have the ingredients anyway and can therefore make it on impulse. Makes 6 bu"-sized or 15-16 small cake-sized muffi"s.

• BANANA MUFFINS·

• INGREDIENTS.

31f2 ozll00 9 hazel"uts

3 large ba"a"as

2 oz/50 9 wal"uts or wal"ut pieces 4 oz/125 9 wholemeal �our

31f2 ozll00 9 dark soft brow" sugar 4 ozll25 9 white self-raisi"g �our

3 oz/90 9 soft margari"e I teaspoo" baki"g-powder

I egg (size 2) Salt Ilemo"

Bun tins or paper cases

• METHOD .

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F, 180°C, Gas Mark 4. Grease the bun tins (if using) with oil. Chop or crush the nuts.

2 Mix together the sugar and margarine and beat in the egg. Wash and dry the lemon and grate the zest into the mixture. Squeeze half of it and add the juice. Mash the bananas and add. Mix together the flours, baking-powder and a pinch of salt and stir in. Spoon into the bun tins or paper cases and bake in the oven for 1�20 minutes or until lightly browned. Eat while still warm.