Vegan treats for summer Wine News

Bettina Campolucci-Bordi creates dishes that are hard to resist: pea and mint fritters with garlic mayonnaise; a golden filo tart filled with summer greens; a creamy sweet potato and leek pastry. His desserts are even more mouth-watering, from glasses of light tiramisu like air to saffron panna cotta served with pears poached in wine. They taste wonderful – and all of them are vegans.

The writer and culinary chef (born to a Norwegian father and a Bulgarian / Danish mother, raised in Tanzania then in Sweden, went to culinary school in Los Angeles and moved to London four years ago) specializes in plant-based cooking, but prefers to avoid using harsh vegan or non-vegan labels to describe her dishes because she thinks they can divide. “It’s more important for us to be conscious consumers,” she says, because “you can make good or bad choices regardless of which plan you join.

Bettina has been involved in the wellness industry for the past decade, hosting health retreats in southern Spain long before “vegan” and “gluten-free” became buzzwords. When she first started out, she recalls, “It was very popular to do juice detox treatments, but I really wanted to feed people, and with a wide variety of foods. It just happened to be plant based and gluten free. Since then, she’s witnessed a resurgence of interest in the trend (“social media was launched and Deliciously Ella led the way”) – and in ready meals and products created to meet demand. “I used to browse the farmers markets for ingredients and buy flour straight from the mills, then all of a sudden there were powders and tinctures, and a choice of 15 peanut butters instead of one. “

Starting her food blog, Bettina’s Kitchen, and writing her first cookbook, Happy Food, she embraced the vast array of processed options, until she experienced her light bulb moment: “Packaged Food.” contained so many different ingredients, I started to think it was way too much. Now she has returned to her roots. “I’ve found that less is more when it comes to recipes and that I stand up for vegetables and whole foods like grains, nuts and seeds. To create desserts, for example, you don’t need a lot of ingredients. You can use milks that are not dairy or herbal gelling agents. Using chickpea water in place of eggs in pavlovas and chocolate mousse, and agar-agar as a setting agent for panna cotta, she also introduces seasonal ingredients to “give a amazing looks and taste ”. Its poached pears get their jewel tint from the beetroot.

Bettina recommends signing up for a veg box delivery for seasonal and local inspiration: “It’ll help you step out of your comfort zone and cook things you might have forgotten,” she says. Starting with his delicious desserts on these pages. Amy bryant

‘Celebrate: herbal recipes for all occasions‘by Bettina Campolucci-Bordi is published by Hardie Grant (£ 20)

Try these recipes

Jars of panna cotta with saffron and poached pears

The poached pear cuts through the creaminess and also adds an extra layer of color.