Vegan MoFo IV Day 3: Easy Peasy Pasta

When I don't have much time to prepare awesome food but I don't want to eat junk food (though sometimes I do want to eat junk food ya know) I have a few recipes that can be whipped together in 20 mins from start to table. And one of those is my creamy pasta recipe. I was never a fan of creamy pastas before going vegan (weird huh!) and this recipe pleases the whole household including omnivore and peskytarian.

Ingredients

serves 3

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup raw cashews

1 Tablespoon light tahini

1 Tablespoon pesto or 6 Basil leaves

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice

300 ml of vegetable stock

salt to taste

1 onion sliced thinly

load of mushrooms sliced thickly

half cup of white wine

half a cup frozen peas

freshly ground black pepper

Parsley, chopped

Method

In a blender whizz up the garlic, cashews, pesto, tahini, 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil and lemon juice in that order. Add 200ml of the stock. Taste and if it needs salt add a little bit to your liking.

In a pan add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and fry the onion and the mushrooms for 5 mins. You will need to stir this regularly. Add the white wine and cook for a further 10 mins on medium high, again stirring regularly.Now's the time to cook your pasta.

Add the cashew mix from the blender and the frozen peas and stir well. If you like a runnier sauce (I do) then add the remaining stock. Cook for 5 mins more.

Add black pepper to taste and the chopped up parsley.

Serve over your pasta.
I added some sliced up black olives to mine because I just LURVE olives.

Vegan MoFo Day#20:Pasta Alfrenara

I was never a fan of creamy pasta sauces in my pregan days and the thought of veganising one just never occurred to me until I started seeing them pop up all over the MoFo. Practising what I preach I was totally inspired to concoct a Carbonara/Alfredo sauce and I'm so glad I did.

Now I'm not too sure what the difference between a carbonara and an alfredo is. I'm presuming a carbonara has bacon in and an alfredo does not. Would I be right?

Anyhoo - this recipe doesn't have bacon in (DOH!) so I shall call it a alfrenara or carbonedo. Alfrenara sounds better I think.

This was so super scrummy and I can't wait to get back home and wow Mr treehugger with it.

In true heathen style I didn't write down what I did but it's SO easy you can't go wrong.

Ingredients

serves 3

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup raw cashews

1 Tablespoon light tahini

1 Tablespoon pesto or 6 Basil leaves

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice

300 ml of vegetable stock

salt to taste

1 onion sliced thinly

load of mushrooms sliced thickly

half cup of white wine

freshly ground black pepper

corriander/cilantro leaves

Method

In a blender whizz up the garlic, cashews, pesto, tahini, 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil and lemon juice in that order. Add 200ml of the stock. Taste and if it needs salt add a little bit to your liking.

In a pan add the remaing 2 Tablespoons olive oil and fry the onion for 5 mins. When it starts to get a small bit of brown colouring, add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 mins. You will need to stir this regularly. Add the white wine and cook for a further 5 mins, again stirring regularly.

Add the cashew mix from the blender and stir well. If you like a runnier sauce (I do) then add the remaining stock.

Add black pepper to taste and the chopped up corriander/cilantro.

Serve over your favourite pasta.

YUMMERS!

Sorry totally crappy photo. It was night, I was hungry.

Go VEGAN!

GO MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 6: Balls!

Can I just say that Chocolate Cake for breakfast is soooooo right. Especially with a creamy cup of English tea. Yummmmmm. Cake and tea are one of those great combo's like Salt and Vinegar and Sausage and Mash and is another great British contribution to World Cuisine and also a great British tradition in general. Though admittedly it is served at the more respectable time of in the afternoon but I stare respectable in the face and say "NOOO!!!". Have it for breakfast GOD DAMMIT!

Am I allowed to be inspired by myself cos I blinking well have been. When I was eating my Spanish Stew for leftovers I couldn't help but notice the similarity between it and Campbell's Meatballs (which incidentally are not called Campbell's Meatballs anymore they are called Fray Bentos Meatballs as Premier Foods bought out Campbells in 2006 and got a bunch of brands in the deal, including OXO, Batchelors, Homepride and Fray Bentos. Which, if you were googling for a photo of Campbell's Meatballs you would have found out for yourself. Who knew.)

Anyway all tom foolery aside - I had somewhat of a vegan epiphany, or a lightbulb moment if you want, and knowing full well I could beat Campbell's (or Fray Bentos) at their own game, I set about recreating this pregan favourite of mine. I made up a batch of Pepperami Style Sausage but instead of making sausages I made balls - genius huh! Now I like big balls so this recipe yielded 11 (10 of which only actually made it to the grand finale) but if you like smaller balls then you will get more from your dough and in all honesty I would make them a bit smaller next time. Wrap each ball up in its own little separate bit of tin foil (put the used foil in the tin re-cycling when done) and place in the oven for 40 - 50 mins - turning over halfway through cooking time. *STOP BLOG* Why oh why oh WHY do I consistently continue to put things in a hot oven without wearing oven gloves? Why do I not own oven gloves?? It is a known fact that I can not do any form of cooking without burning myself. Usually they are harmless but this one today might be the wake up call I need to ask Santa to buy me some oven gloves. That must be three layers of skin burnt right off there.

And WHY do I not have plasters when I need one? Do I win points for improvising? Yes that is sellotape! Whilst waiting for your balls to cool, chop up half an Onion and slice a handful of Mushrooms. Heat some Olive Oil in a pan and cook the Onion and Mushrooms for 5-7 mins. Add a portion of Tomato Sauce and throw dem balls in dere. Cook on a low heat for 10 -15 mins stirring every once in a while. Take off the heat and entertain yourself for an hour or two. When you're ready to eat - warm up the Sauce, cook your Spaghetti and let Pasta and Sauce meet in a perfect partnership of taste fusion. Sprinkle on some Parmesan and revel in the knowledge that you are a genius - all be it a genius with burn wounds. (hands up who didn't snarf at least once whilst reading that)

Then I felt bad.....

For not posting about the Pasta we had! It got over looked in all the Chocolate Pie excitement and that is wrong because it is gorgeous Pasta. The sauce is one that I make in batches of two and each batch is good for serving 4 people either with Pasta or as a Lasagne or Eggplant Rollatini's. I freeze what I don't use in handy sized containers so as I always have Pasta Sauce in my freezer for a quick and delicious meal - like last nights was.

Pasta Sauce serves 8 Ingredients 1 tsp Olive Oil 1 Large Onion, diced 2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed 1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced 2 x 400g Canned Tomatoes 5 fl oz Red Wine or Vegetable Stock 1 Bay Leaf 1 Tbsp Fresh Basil, diced 1 tsp Dried Oregano Salt Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method In a pan add 1 tsp Olive Oil and fry the Carrot and Onion for 10 mins stirring regularly. Add the Garlic, Tomatoes, Red Wine (or stock), Basil, Oregano and Bay Leaf and cook on a gentle heat for 20 mins. Take out the Bay Leaf and whizz with a hand mixer or in your blender. Easy Peasy! The Sauce can be reduced down by cooking for another 20 mins or so - with the lid off and stirring regularly. Sometimes a thicker sauce is required especially for Lasagne. For this Pasta I then fried half an Onion in a little Olive Oil, then added some button Mushrooms which had been quartered, a Clove of Garlic thinly sliced and a handful of chopped Black Olives. Added one batch of Pasta Sauce and Bob's yer uncle! Boiled some Pasta, added that to the Sauce and served with a sprinkling of Parmesan. It was delicious.