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Original poster

Old Fashioned Vegetarian Food

383 replies

Glitterbiscuits · 27/02/2024 10:08

I ate at Good Earth in Leicester last week. It's a totally vegetarian restaurant. It's been open nearly 50 years.

The menu is great, so unpretentious. I'd love to recreate some of their style of dishes. They had things like parsnip loaf, bean bake. Much more of an emphasis on grains and pulses.

I used to make a great nut loaf and a veggie shepherd's pie.
We eat too much pasta, chilli, curry etc.

I want to move back to basics. Can anyone suggest some old ( I want to say hippy style) dishes they love or used to love?

OP posts:
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YetAnotherSpartacus · 27/02/2024 10:11

There are a few here

https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/

I think you could pick up a Cranks recipe book online cheaply.

Recipes - Cranks - Great Tasting Wholesome Food

https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes

whiteroseredrose · 27/02/2024 10:12

Watching because I hate fake meat

AlisonDonut · 27/02/2024 10:16

I still have all my vegetarian cook books from when I went vegetarian in 1984.

I made a nut loaf once from a recipe cut out of a random magazine and I really wish I had kept it. I might have to have a look through them all to see if I did, as I now have a walnut tree and can use the gallons of walnuts that I currently have in the garage for something other than brownies.

This could be a good idea for a new website, book by book of old style vegetarian food. Tried and tested, not generated by AI or hipsters.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 27/02/2024 10:24

In the US Mollie Katzen and Moosewood produced some good recipes some of which can be found by Googling.

Knickersinatwist36 · 27/02/2024 10:24

Anything by Rose Elliot, particularly her first book Simply Delicious (1967). Tasty wholesome recipes.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 27/02/2024 10:26

How could I forget Rose Elliott?

maslinpan · 27/02/2024 10:34

You'll need wholemeal pastry for your quiches. Also really heavy handmade brown plates to eat from.

NamechangedH · 27/02/2024 10:37

You want the Vegetarian Kitchen by Sarah Brown proper 80s veggie nostalgia!

Borka · 27/02/2024 10:48

I'm so pleased that the Good Earth is still open, I used to eat there as a special treat when I was a student in Leicester in the late '80s! Do they still do their amazing mushroom stroganoff?

MikeRafone · 27/02/2024 10:48

YetAnotherSpartacus · 27/02/2024 10:24

In the US Mollie Katzen and Moosewood produced some good recipes some of which can be found by Googling.

I have the recipe book, it has the most delicious sweet potato and black bean burrito dish with fresh tomato salsa

the fast 800 recipe book has a great spicy bean chilli and delicious Mushroom and chestnut hot pot

I have a pearly barley salad recipe I got from tictok from Mob kitchen pearl barely super salad, has mango, pomegranate, cucumber, peppers pearl barely etc with lots of fresh herbs

split green peas in a salad is also very delicious, id not eaten them apart from in soup previously

Original poster
Glitterbiscuits · 27/02/2024 10:48

I remember Sarah Brown having a Tv programme but I was too young to pay much attention. I also remember Rose Elliot. I have her pasta book but that's not what I want. All my books are too modern!
Down with miso paste and harissa
And yes! Wholemeal flour and brown rice!

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 27/02/2024 10:50

NamechangedH · 27/02/2024 10:37

You want the Vegetarian Kitchen by Sarah Brown proper 80s veggie nostalgia!

I still use that book regularly.

Original poster
Glitterbiscuits · 27/02/2024 10:51

@Borka My DH had it on Saturday!

I haven't been in many exclusive vegetarian veggie restaurants. I remember going to Mildred's in Soho in the early 1990s and they had slices of orange in their salad and I was stunned! So exotic to put fruit with vegetables!

I haven't been back but that's not because of the orange!

OP posts:
Helloandgoodmorning2 · 27/02/2024 10:54

Sarah Brown ( we still have her Tibetan Roast every Xmas)
Rose Elliot (Not just a load of old lentils, The Bean Book)
Mollie Katzen
You can buy the original copies second hand from WOB

Baldieheid · 27/02/2024 11:02

Hendersons Cafe in Edinburgh (rip) had their own little cookbooks for their salad bar. Have a look online.

Yes to Sarah Brown's 80s book, all Rose Elliot recipes and Cranks. I love them all. Hearty, filling, bloody yummy veggie food that I grew up with.

I'm a great lover of chilli, spices, harrisa, etc but I really need an old fashioned veg pie with cheesy scone crust sometimes.

ClaraPalaver · 27/02/2024 11:05

Rose Elliot The Bean Book was and still is my absolute go to. My copy is falling apart, luckily I know my favourite recipes by heart.

buttondown · 27/02/2024 11:09

The food for thought cook book (Covent garden) is still my most used. No signs of fake meat, easy ingredients and loads of interesting combinations.

Talipesmum · 27/02/2024 11:10

My parents had lots of 1970’s impoverished students recipes like this. I particularly love this one from Delia’s Complete Cookery Course - Baked spinach with brown rice and cheese. Can’t find a proper Delia link to it but this is the recipe. It’s incredibly delicious, really wholesome and nubbly. Never liked spinach as a child but I loved this.

https://goodfoodforus.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/baked-spinach-with-brown-rice-and-cheese/#more-10817

Baked Spinach with Brown Rice and Cheese

This is a great little casserole that can be a side dish or a meatless entrée: we served it alongside grilled bangers and Homemade Baked Beans for a cozy Saturday night supper. It can be prepped ah…

https://goodfoodforus.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/baked-spinach-with-brown-rice-and-cheese/#more-10817

AlisonDonut · 27/02/2024 11:12

Just got this off my shelf...

AlisonDonut · 27/02/2024 11:12

This!

Old Fashioned Vegetarian Food
faffadoodledo · 27/02/2024 11:13

Cranks!
So evocative of an era. Also (tho American) The Moosewood Cookbooks.

MaverickBoon · 27/02/2024 11:16

YetAnotherSpartacus · 27/02/2024 10:11

There are a few here

https://www.cranks.co.uk/recipes/

I think you could pick up a Cranks recipe book online cheaply.

This was my first thought too, the Cranks is exactly what you want here! My MIL cooks a lot of their stuff - they're big on lentils and beans, definitely. She does a chestnut, pearl barley and mushroom pie that I think is from them - always goes down well.

My other thought was that older Eastern European cookery might be good for inspiration too - a lot of cabbage, potatoes, bulghur, and beetroot, with dairy for protein.

MaverickBoon · 27/02/2024 11:21

Talipesmum · 27/02/2024 11:10

My parents had lots of 1970’s impoverished students recipes like this. I particularly love this one from Delia’s Complete Cookery Course - Baked spinach with brown rice and cheese. Can’t find a proper Delia link to it but this is the recipe. It’s incredibly delicious, really wholesome and nubbly. Never liked spinach as a child but I loved this.

https://goodfoodforus.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/baked-spinach-with-brown-rice-and-cheese/#more-10817

Ooh that looks great! Smittenkitchen.com has a wild rice and courgette casserole that sound similar - it's a bit weird but very comforting.

Also yy to wholemeal cheese pastry crusts, this is my MIL all over 😁 and she loves a cheese, onion and potato pie with fennel seed pastry!

DrSpartacular · 27/02/2024 11:21

Having a sudden yearning for homity pie now 😋

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