Pasta alla Veganara

I love this. It's easy, fast, and delicious. The sort of slightly fancy comfort food that looks appetizing in the frozen dinners section of the super-market. Don't go there! They're not vegan! Also, this is more delicious and almost as easy.

Vegan Carbonara Sauce

I cannot remember where I found this recipe online, but it is amazing:


INGREDIENTS

2-4 Tbsp cashew paste (or cashew meal, whatevs)
1 Tbsp white miso (I have never tried this, in all honesty. It's fine without).
1 Tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 cup plant milk (I've done it with water instead, with some soy flour thrown in)
1 cup stock
2 Tbsp starch
3 Tbsp chickpea flour (optional, but I like the colour and slight egginess it provides)
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, not sure how it'd go with the miso though)

METHOD

1. Whisk the cashew paste, tahini, miso (if using), mustard, garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper until smooth (add a little of the plant milk if needed). Whisk in rest of the milk, stock, and starch (dissolved in a little liquid first, so you don't get clumps), nutritional yeast and chickpea flour (if using) until combined.

2. Heat over medium-low, stirring lots (don't let the bottom catch!) until it begins bubbling and becomes thick and creamy. Turn off heat.


For Pasta alla Veganara, serve this sauce with pasta, peas, other veg if you're keen (spinach or broccoli would probably work nicely. And for some reason I'm thinking corn... what is this turning into? Sorry, Italy.), and Vegan Dad's delicious tofu pancetta. The last time I made this I was thinking of trying smoky soya sauce chickpeas instead of tofu, but that'll have to be next time...

Timing wise, put your pasta on first and start your pancetta. The sauce comes together very quickly (I don't even really bother measuring anymore - it's very forgiving). When everything's done - add your sauce to your pasta, 'pancetta' and peas (can add direct from frozen) and warm through until everything is hot.

Easy Peasy Pesto Spaghetti

I'm addicted to these baguettes from Andrum, a vegetarian restaurant in Gothenburg, which is (in)conveniently close to my workplace. They make their own salty chewy carrot and sunflower seed bread, and fill it with salad, a couple of olives and a pickled chilli on the side, and top it all off with an absolute mound of creamy pea pesto. I basically want to eat that baguette every day. Unfortunately, even eating it once a week would put an unsustainable dent in my income at the moment, prices in Sweden being what they are. So I decided to have a go at whipping up some pea pesto of my own, for a solo Saturday lunch - working with the ingredients I have. It didn't really taste anything like theirs, but it was yum and easy.

Easy Peasy Pesto

Blend in a food processer until saucy (I prefer mine a little chunky, but go for smooth if you like it like that):
- some green peas (fresh, or thawed frozen. You can thaw them with boiling water or in the microwave)
- some nuts (pine nuts are obviously the pesto classic. Walnuts would also rock. Some cashew cream would bring the pesto to another level of creaminess. I only had pumpkin seeds on hand, so in they went!)
- some garlic (minced if you're worried about the odd chunk of garlic turning up in your pesto)
- a little water (not too much, you can always add more)
- fresh basil if you've got it, dried if you're like me and you don't

Add more water if desired, some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend till combined.

I made a meal of this with some wholemeal spaghetti, and some lightly fried zucchini and tomatoes.

"I woke up this morning to a perfectly grey day"

Cold grey Sunday. Which means, delicious baked things! These are two classic recipes which you can find everywhere. Can't remember where I got these from, though I'm sure the pudding recipe is out of my Mum's own handwritten book of recipes she's been collecting and concocting since she left home. It's currently written in my own version of such a book, but the number of times I've wished I had it online totally justifies me posting it here.

Spinach Tofu Canneloni
(also works as a lasagne filling, of course)

Tomato Sauce

If lazy you can use two things of prepared tomato pasta sauce, otherwise make your own with 2 tins of crushed tomatoes. 

Tofu Filling

Blend:

500g tofu
60mL soy milk
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh basil (or dried oregano/other Italian herbs)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)

Add 50g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Season with salt, nutmeg, black pepper and a small amount of chilli flakes.
Blend till smoothish.

White sauce

Melt 2 Tbsp margarine on medium low heat. Add 2 Tbsp flour, and stir till lumpy.
Warm till toasty, then stir in about 2 cups of soy milk, slowly, stirring all the while. Bring to boil, season with salt and a pinch nutmeg. 

ASSEMBLY

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

2. Pour tomato sauce in bottom of a dish with enough space for 20 canneloni tubes.
3. Stuff tubes with tofu and spinach filling. Arrange in dish.
4. Top with white sauce so that the tubes are entirely covered.
5. Bake for 40 mins till browned.

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Basic Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

This is a tried and true recipe that always satisfies, with minimal effort or ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup self-raising flour
3 Tbsp cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup plant milk (I like almond)
1 tsp vanilla
30 mL oil

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1.75 cups hot water

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix flour, salt, cocoa and sugar.
3. Stir in milk, vanilla and oil and mix till smooth.
4. Pour into a lightly greased casserole dish. Smooth top of pudding.
5. Sprinkle over brown sugar and cocoa and carefully pour hot water over pudding.
6. Bake for 40-50 mins.

Mum's been throwing herself into vegan cooking, with an inspired orzo casserole and a coconut rice pudding. She's a total genius!  

Orzo Casserole with Nutballs
(fed a hungry family of 6)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup mixed nuts, chopped finely
1 cup fresh wholewheat breadcrumbs
1-2 tsp dried herbs (eg. thyme, oregano)
about 3 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 'egg's worth of no-Egg
enough vegetable stock to make it all stick

lots of onion and garlic, chopped
1 packet cooked orzo pasta
2 tins crushed tomatoes
2 tsp brown sugar
pinch chilli powder
bread crumbs mixed with olive oil

METHOD
1. Mix together first lot of ingredients and form into small walnut-sized balls. Fry and set aside.
2. Sautee onion and garlic until soft. Mix with the orzo, tomatoes, sugar and chilli powder in a large baking dish. Pop in the meatballs at strategic intervals. Top with the breadcrumbs mixed with oil.
3. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 mins. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Mum's very own Coconut Rice Pudding

INGREDIENTS
8 Tbsp short grain rice
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 can coconut cream (~350mL) + enough soy milk to make 1 L of liquid
2-3 tsp nutmeg

METHOD

1. Stir together all ingredients except nutmeg until well combined. Place in a very lightly greased baking dish and sprinkle with nutmeg.
2. Bake at 135 degrees C for 2-2.5 hours until creamy and liquid mostly absorbed.