Recently a colleague of mine - who has a big green thumb - gave me a few of her surplus cos lettuces seedlings (with a random broccoli thrown in for good measure).
Within a matter of weeks they grew to the size of a lettuce you'd find in the supermarket (which NEVER happens on my balcony - everything is in miniature out there). As they are sharing a pot with the experimental broccoli plant (which needs A LOT of room) I've been harvesting the whole lettuce rather than just picking a few leaves here at there. So much lettuce to eat!
In an effort to buy less free range (or should I say "faux range) meat from the supermarket I've been looking at other alternatives for when we cannot get ourselves to a farmers market to pick up our free range meat haul but want something "meaty" for dinner. I've seen this "Quorn"lurking about in the freezer section for awhile now and people have told me it's pretty good...so I bought some.
Quorn is one of those "faux meat" products that aims to look and taste like meat, but it's not meat. People often seem to wonder why vegetarians want to eat something that looks + tastes like meat when they don't actually eat meat. That's obviously their own personal choice, but I certainly think it'd be nice to have a wider range of products available to cook with so I can see the appeal of "faux meats". Plus, I'm sure a lot of vegos out there like the taste of meat...but don't agree with the ethics of eating animals for various reason. And then there are people like me who eat meat, but want to cut down and introduce more vegetarian food into their cooking for ethical reasons (or health reasons, or whatever reasons).
Anyhoo...Quorn is made from "mycoprotein" which is a mushroom protein and in a Michael Pollan moment I read through the ingredients on the back of the box and there is only one unpronounceable thing that's right at the end of the list of ingredients...so he'd approve I'm sure. It also contains no soy so that's two thumbs up from Mr Pollan.
The Boy is always surprisingly keen to indulge in vegetarian burgers and always cooks them so well. Ergo, it was my turn to put my feet up and let him doing the cooking (sadly these means I have to wash up). Where there are burgers there must be fries so he chopped up some potatoes into wedges and gave them a good sprinkle with his all time favourite Smoky O's "bold beef rub". The wedges tasted amazing.
So the verdict? The burgers were great. They patties tasted like beef to me with quite a smoky flavour and it was a totally pleasant eating experience. My cheeseburger was a total winner. So much so that I may have had a second. Actually they were SO good that we're having these again for our #meatlessMonday dinner tonight.
You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.
Wow that looks fab! I love the occasional bit of vegetarian meat, they are great for busy weeknight meals.
ReplyDeleteThese were REALLY good! We have two more boxes in the fridge (stockpiling).
DeleteI actually quite like mock meat products - a remnant perhaps of my visits to Buddhist temples as a kid with my parents. Chinese Buddhists are really clever - they can make tofu taste like BBQ pork! I've seen Quorn in the supermarket, I'm just waiting for a good sale on them.
ReplyDeleteI like most of them too - except for fake bacon which tastes like a horror movie in my mouth. Blergh.
DeleteWoohoo yum! We love the Quorn classic burger patties! They're so convenient to have in the freezer and cook from frozen. As a new vegetarian who always liked the taste of meat, I really like having the option of faux meat products :D
ReplyDeleteYou know I think of you as "the Queen of Quorn" right?
DeleteI like that you used beef dry rub on quorn! And that's some impressive mustard squiggling too!
ReplyDeleteIs that bad do you think? It's really REALLY good beef rub.
Deleteive seen quorn around but have never tried it. my mum has recently gone vegetarian so i might buy some for her to try.
ReplyDeleteThe mince is also very good Amy. Check out Cats Love Cooking blog as she's made vego San Chow Bao with it...if that's how you spell it?
DeleteI love fake meat! I know some vegos don't agree with it up to them. I guess it depends, I use to go to the buddhist temple when younger so fake meat was pretty much what we ate and it was tasty. I love quorn too :) I have been keen to try the burgers. I might trick the hubby one day and sees if he notices ;)
ReplyDeleteYour cos is huge!!! Mine is probably never going to get that big with how much I pick off them. And yes, your broccoli is going to need heaps more room.
ReplyDeleteWow that lettuce grows quickly! And I bought Quorn for ages but then got this awful reaction to it-just be careful (I don't want the same to happen to you) :)
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with eating something that tastes like meat but isn't meat - especially if it passes the Michael Pollan test (is he against soy?). Your meal looks fantastic - wish E would make me this sort of meal - he is in a pasta rut! And those lettuces are very impressive. I think I have tried quorn sausages and enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteI've always been semi-interested in Quorn but thought it might be full of weird things. Good to know it's tasty and almost Pollan-esque!
ReplyDeleteAlso, those wedges look SO GOOD!