Diners certainly ate well last night at our Love At First Bite Dining Club.  From samosas, through to cauliflower soup with sweet miso  and steamed sourdough bread, followed by an abundant seasonal vegetable feast with white beans and quinoa, butternut squash tempura, ginger glazed pay choy, red and brown rice risotto, yellow courgette salad and more.  Oh and the garden berry kanten and lovely almond cream for afters.  Plus coconut cookies and my favourite genmai tea.

Here are some of the recipes.

White Bean & Summer Vegetable Feast
A hearty summer explosion of ingredients.  I created this lovely dish last night and the combination of flavours and ingredients was well enjoyed by all!

1 cup cooked canneloni beans
quarter cup quinoa
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 corn on the cobs
1 courgette
2 carrots
third butternut squash
Shoyu/ tamari
Mirin
Sesame oil
Sea salt
Dried Italian herbs

Soak the beans overnight and cook them with kombu sea vegetable for 45 minutes.  Dice all the vegetables finely and remove the corn from the cobs.  Heat a dash of sesame oil in a pan and add the onion with a pinch of salt.  Cook for a few minutes.  Next add the garlic and beans and other vegetables in this order; carrot, squash, courgette, corn.  Add an inch of the cooking liquid from the beans or water.  Add the quinoa and dash of mirin and italian herbs.  Cook  covered for a further half hour and add shoyu to taste towards the end of the cooking time.  You will need to keep an eye on the dish and ensure there is enough liquid for the quinoa to cook fully.

Coconut Cookies
These wheat and gluten free delicacies are such a treat!

1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbs rice milk
quarter cup wheat and gluten free flour
4 tbs rice syrup

Combine the ingredients and form into pyramids or cookie shapes.  Prepare a baking tray with oiled parchment and place the coconut shapes wide apart.  Bake in a heated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 12 minutes or until the cookies begin to go golden.