Saturday 2 December 2017

Vanillian Diet #6: Vegetarian Wellingtons

Hey Guys!
Vanilla Here.

And yes, you read it right. I really mean vegetarian wellingtons. I know you have heard of the famous Gordon Ramsay beef wellingtons and such but I am no eater of beef, but at the same time I do feel like there can be creative ways to display wellingtons.
A Beef Wellington is a preparation of filet steak coated with pâté and duxelles, which is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. So to make it vegetarian, I have done some clever substitutions. 
I do want to highlight I am not much of a genius and this recipe was inspired by looking through endless photos of portobellos on pintrest. I have always loved british food but I do find it very difficult to obtain or enjoy the cuisine where I live. So, today I will be sharing to you my recipe for these gorgeous portobello wellingtons with a balsamic stuffing and avocado pate.

To mimic the filet steak, I decided to use the caps of Portobellos mushrooms. They are large mushrooms with an intense meaty and umami flavour. And all I do is to scoop out the gills of the mushrooms till it becomes a delicate shell and to cook the scooped out mushroom in some herbs and balsamic vinegar to make my version of a duxelle.




To mimic the traditional pate served inside the delicate puff pastry, I decided to mashing some avocados and mixing it with simple seasonings to give the creamy and luscious texture.
And for the puff pastry, you can always use the shop brought one or if you are up for the challenge and have an entire day free, you can make your own.  Unfortunately, where I live I really could not find pre made puff pastry and I barely had time, so I decided to cheat my way by making some shortcrust pastry. This is NOT the traditional way but I was okay with it considering the fact I switched up almost everything in the original recipe.




Ingredients Required:

For Shortcrust Pastry:

1. 2.5 cups plain/all purpose flour

2. 0.5 cup butter 


3. Approx. 1/3 cup cold water

4. salt

For Avocado Pate:

1. 2 avocados

2. Salt and pepper

3. 1.5 tsp ginger powder

For balsamic filling:

1. scooped out 'gills' from 3 portobello mushrooms ; minced

2. 1 medium onion;  diced

3. 2 cloves of garlic ; diced 

4. 4 sprigs of spring onion ; sliced

5. 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

6. salt and pepper

7. fresh/dried parsley [I used dried, but its better to use fresh]



Procedure



1. Make the shortcrust pastry by rubbing cold cubes of butter into the flour until a breadcrumb consistency is formed.

2. Add salt to the dry mix and make a well.

3. Add cold water little by little and form the dough.

4. Chill the dough in the fridge for atleast 30 minutes

[Vanillan Tip: If you have premade puff pastry, you can skip these steps and use the pastry instead.]

5. To make the filling: Add some olive oil onto a pan and fry the diced onions and garlics.

6. Fry the onions and garlics until they are soft and add the scooped out gills from the portebello mushrooms.

7. Fry till fragrant and add  balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and the parsley.

8. Fry for 3 minutes and add the spring onions.

9. turn off the heat and cover the filling.

10. To make the pate; scoop out avocados

11. Add the ginger powder, salt and pepper to the scooped avocados

12. Mash the scooped avocados into a smooth consistency

13. Assemble the wellington by rolling the pastry to cover the portobello. Spread the avocado pate in the interior of the portobello. Add the filling into the portobello until its full

14. Add the portobello on the pastry and cover it (I did it unsuccessfully haha)

15. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 22 minutes

16. Slice and serve



I hope you guys like this recipe and give it a try. I'm so sorry it took me so long to release this recipe. Until the next time, keep your ice cream cones dripping!!



Find me!:

Snapchat: @itsmevanilla
Instagram:  @vanilliandynamicss
Wattpad:    @itsmevanilla

Tuesday 21 November 2017

'Justice League' English Movie Review + Rating

Hey Guys!
Vanilla here.

Its been too long and now I have finally been freed from my GCSEs. I feel that life is a bit too surreal. I truly am worried for my results (which will be released next year) but for now I am going to enjoy all the time I have.
So last week Justice League the movie was released and I got the chance to watch it on the opening day itself. A lot of debate erupted on whether the movie was good or not. But here is my opinion.

Concept

The idea of batman wanting to create a group of superheroes and save the world from evil is pretty cliche.. but its still nice. Given that I have been a batman fan for the longest time, I enjoyed how batman was the brains and tried to tie together different superheroes (who have their own agendas and issues) into a team.
However, I felt it took too much time trying to get off the drama between the different heroes just to come together and go against another cliche villain that is uber strong but can be dealt with only by superman.
This then brings me to another issue with the concept issue I saw. The movie had this dependence on Superman. Yes, he is powerful and everything but I felt that they should put more effort in trying to show the teamwork and development of other lesser known heroes like Cyborg and Aquaman. Almost 40% of the movie was depending on the resurrection of Superman, trying to calm him and talking about him only.
Thus, the concept of the movie was not that bad.. but not that good as well.

Pace

The pace was quite an issue. Once again I felt that unimportant parts of the plot was slowed down and emphasized on more than tho more important and climatic parts of the movie. Given that there will be a part 2 for the movie, I just hope there will be more content and at a more mediocre pace.

Cast Choice

There is nothing generally wrong with the cast choice. Batman and wonder woman were well picked. On a side note, I hope I was not the only one who felt that Henry Cavill (Superman) looked awfully alot like Christian Grey from the fifty shades of grey franchise.

Genre
Genre was also a bit wonky. There was way too much CGI effects that were used and the plotline kneeled towards a chickflick-drama more than action or even thriller. The science fiction part of the movie was still well delivered.
I feel like the next movie and Zack Snyder should have worked harder on the film concept.

Overall, the movie is still well enjoyable if you are not one to be a superfan of DC. If you take the superhero world very seriously, you might be met with disappointment. I hope you guys liked my review.

Until the next time, keep your ice cream cones dripping!


Find me!:

Snapchat: @itsmevanilla
Instagram:  @vanilliandynamicss
Wattpad:    @itsmevanilla

Thursday 22 June 2017

2017 Mid year Catchup

Hey Guys!
Vanilla Here.

So.. I have gone missing from my log for about 6 months. And I do understand that there may be a bit of confusion of what had happened to me.

Well, I do want to firstly clarify that I am in my education years now. 2017 is a crucial year for me to concentrate and to make sure my examinations are well written. I am very glad for the support I have been given and I am proud to say that I have now added my official blog page on facebook and instagram! So do check it out and follow!

I will put up a blog post or two for this year but do not expect it to be of regular timings. But once my examinations finish (in November) I will be posting more often on all my social media platforms. SO do stay tuned and keep your ice cream cones dripping!!

Snapchat: @itsmevanilla
Instagram:  @vanilliandynamicss [please show love and follow!]
Wattpad:    @itsmevanilla