Corn Bread Crumble and Cashew Cream

Looking forward to a day trip to London tomorrow kept us in for dinner tonight (because we all known what a wild pair VeganCowGirl and her Cowboy can be on a Friday night.......if you count knitting and reading as adventures on the train o'sin).


But, not wanting to deny ourselves a sense of adventure, I decided to cook the UFO. Yes, I happened upon this little guy yesterday at the health food store. And, when the apathetic teenager who rang us threw asked Cést qui? I knew I was in trouble. It was quite obviously a squash, I am just unsure of which variety, and I was much too busy finding really cool Indian nan packaging today to spend too much time researching it (I think that is a big pink bunny).


I spent some time wondering what exactly to do with it, but over my afternoon treat (who knows what song this picture reminds me of?....hint - it is a line from a great Canadian crooner), and whilst reading the great works of Moskowitz & Romero I was inspired by a Cornbread recipe. I knew what the little UFO was going to be, and gosh darn it! a Corn Bread Crumble was born.

This was a wickedly great dish. I loved it. The skillet corn bread that I covered the top of the mexican flavoured squash, beans and potato mixture was crunchy, while the inside was squishy and full of flavour. I had a last minute brain wave and decided to make some garlic infused Cashew Cream to mix with a tomato base. I used this to cover the top of the crumble before baking it for about 10 minutes. I served it with the remaining half of the corn bread, and was totally satisfied.

Cornbread Crumble

Cornbread: I halved the skillet cornbread from Veganomicon

Innards:
1 sweet potato - peeled and cubed 1 weird UFO squash - peeled and cubed 1 clove of garlic - diced 1 tin of black beans - drained 1 cup of tinned tomatoes 1/2 cup of raisins mexican spices as you like water if it dries out while waiting for the cornbread to bake up

How To: Cut up all your veg and add the potato and squash to a cast iron pan that may or may not have a touch of oil in it. Add your garlic and tomatoes, and move it around for about 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and let simmer for 45 minutes. In the mean time, bake up your corn bread.
Crumble:
In a casserole dish pour entirety of innards. Add some crumbled corn bread (I halved what came out of my skillet and reserved the rest), cover with tomato and garlic cashew sauce and bake for 10 - 20 minutes.

Last night for dinner I had left overs, but I did try my hand at making a desert with Cashew Cream - something I had never tried. I also used up the dates I had squirreled away in my pantry to create a base and as a decorative top. It was a good little desert and totally did the trick.

I placed a mixture of raisins, hot water, dates and a bit of peanut butter in the bottom of two ramikins and then covered that layer with oats. I added the cashew cream (which I infused with Rose Water) on top of the oats and decorated with dates. I put the desert back in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Really, really yummy.

Well, I am off to wrangle myself up a really tasty slice of Vegan London tomorrow (6 59 am train) and to pay a visit to the British Museum.