You know how to wind up a meat eater? Call anything not meat, meat. They absolutely have conniptions, madly typing that you can't call something that's not 'meat', meat. It's hilarious. They probably wonder why they have so much vegan content coming up in their feed, forgetting that trolling 'you can't call it a meatloaf' about a tofu meatloaf just further feeds the algo.

^{The first proper cook up on the new cooker - and yep, I made a HELLUVA mess}

It must be said, however, that calling something 'meat' or creating a dish that's 'meaty' is all about flavour and texture. Many vegetarians quit meat for ethical and environmental reasons, not because they don't like the taste of sausage or beef. That's it, dickheads. End of story. Get over yourself.

I was reading today about how in the UK you're now not allowed to label a plant based sausage 'sausage'. I think the meat industry has something to do with that. Nevermind that 96 percent of people, when surveyed, said they wouldn't be confused about it, or that the word 'sausage' meant 'salted' or something and had nothing to do with meat. Sigh. Of all the things to get upset about. Meat eaters sure get mad about labels.

I mean, if you really want up a meat lovin' troll, just post something about 'tofu bacon' or 'tofu chicken' -- oof, that'll hit 'em where it hurts!

Anyway, back to a favourite meal, which is why I'm writing in the first place, but seemed to have got a little off topic.

I can't tell you my absolute favourite meal, because I'm an air sign, and change my mind too often. But I can tell you about a favourite meal we've had recently - mushroom souvlaki, invented because I was starving and desperate for a souva, but was too broke. A souva in Australia is typically thought of as being a gyros meat wrapped in pita bread with tzatziki, lettuce, tomato and onion, or maybe tabouleh. Kinda like a kebab.

My idea was to replicate some of those greek flavours with what I had, and without meat, well, I was going for the trad vego option of mushies.

For the sauce, I blended some fetta and greek yoghurt with garlic and mint. Fetta is Greek to me - think Greek salad or spanokopita. The yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon helps it blend better in my small 12v blender.

^{It doesn't matter what bread you use. Stop being so trad, why dontcha? It's nice with fried tortillas/soft shell tacos too.}

The filling was fried onions and mushrooms -the onions are fried first til they're quite caramelised and browning, then I add a little more olive oil, and the mushrooms, a sprinkle of cummin, a splash of tamari, a ton of smoked paprika, salt and pepper. You can add a pinch of cinnamon if you like. Or some chipotle chilli if you're tending to tacos?

The trick with the mushrooms is to hot fry them so the water is fried off and they brown, for the malliard effect. You do NOT want soggy 'shrooms. I swear that's what turns people off fungi for life. Go crispy edges if you like. It's gonna make it taste meeeatttty. So good.

I made a kind of tabbouleh from parsley, tomato and cucumber, because that's what I had in the garden, and added sriarcha chilli sauce at the end, wrapped in pita bread (though we've had them with various wraps and breads since)

The result was to die for. We've had it about five times in two weeks. I have to stop myself making them. I'm wondering why I can't make them for Christmas they are that good. I reckon even a beef eater wouldn't be moaning about these mushrooms being described as 'meaty'.

^{Does it really matter wtf I call it, when it's this good?}

Definitely a favourite. What's yours?

With Love,

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