Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Italiano

Vegan Italiano, by Donna Klein, is a book that has sat on my shelf for a long time and I have made very little from it. I just... struggle to find it inspiring. But I am trying to make stuff from my underused cookbooks, or if not to rehome them, so I dove in to make a few things. Results varied, though there are definitely some nice things. I haven't done a round up from this book before, though it looks like I have posted a photo of some recipes in this post.

Fusilli with Lentil Sauce: Lentils are one of my favourite toppings for pasta, there is something very earthy and comforting about this. The recipe only has 1/2 cup of lentils in it (I used brown, and soaked them for a few hours first for fast cooking). It also has onion, carrot, garlic, and spinach in it, but I also added some chopped celery and frozen peas. The sauce was quite watery after the cooking time, so I ended up simmering it for 5 minutes without the cover on to thicken it up. I only used 8 oz of pasta rather than 12, but that still made some very big servings. Topped with a sprinkle of FYH Parmesan.
Rating: :)



Linguine with Broccoli Sauce: This recipe was super easy, but a bit bland in the end. The broccoli is blanched and chopped, before being added to a garlicky mix with the linguine. I did leave out the red pepper flakes, so perhaps the flavour is meant to come from here. But still, nothing a liberal dose of nutritional yeast couldn't fix. I also added a tin of white beans to bulk it up a bit.
Rating: :|



Penne with Wild Mushrooms and Peas: I didn't have any exciting wild mushrooms for this I'm afraid, it was made with regular white mushrooms. But they are still very yummy. I decreased the pasta from 12 oz to 8 oz, and I added a tin of white beans for protein. This made four big serves.
Rating: :)



Rotelle with Arugula and Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Made with whatever spiral pasta I had on it, this again hit on the bland side of things. It needed more flavour. I always use the semi-dried tomatoes and rehydrate them, rather than using the ones in oil. I did use rocket (arugula) here, but in the future I would use baby spinach because I am just not often a fan of rocket. I served this with salad, bread rolls, and some marinated baked tofu.
Rating: :|



Rotelle with Mushrooms and Garlic: Made with a different type of spiral pasta. I was worried this might also be a bit light in the flavour department, but actually it was great. It is very simple, with sauteed mushrooms and slices of garlic, which provided lots of flavour. I didn't use the full 1/4 of oil the recipe called for, but it wasn't dry. I used 8 oz instead of 12 oz pasta and added, you guessed it, a tin of white beans. Served over baby spinach, and with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast added as well.
Rating: :)



Lemon-Thyme Polenta with Roasted Vegetables: You can't quite see it in the photo, given it is piled high with roasted vegetables, but the polenta in this recipe is cooked, chilled in a pan, cut into squares, and broiled/grilled. I didn't have any lemon thyme to add to it, so I had to use regular with a smidge of lemon juice. The vegetables are mixed with some broth, oil, sundried tomatoes (I used some tomato paste) and vinegar before being marinated and baked. The recipe says to roast them for 30 minutes, but I roasted them for longer.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Fancy a basket full of kittens? These are Sesame's brothers: Atom (grey and white), Panko (ginger and white), and Papaya (fluffy ginger and white). They are very cute!

VeganMoFo 2009 #3: Cutlets of GLORY!

Well MoFoers, I don't know about you but I have been a busy little bee reading as many blog entries as I can - and I have still only added blogs up to the letter D! I hope to add up to at least G tonight, wish me luck!

I'm on call tonight at the clinic, so just a quick post today. I thought I might talk about the wonders of a very simple creation - Vegetation's White Bean Cutlets with Sage and Garlic. One word - NOM! I love these so much. They are quick, easy, delicious and versatile. I can almost never find fresh sage, so I tend to increase the amount of dry sage and then add another fresh herb as well - parsley is really nice, I also added chives once for fun!

So... wanna see?





Very tasty! Very delicious. Above they are nestled alongside some Fusilli with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts from Vegan Planet. Leftovers are also amazing on burgers, in sammiches and even just on their own, bread free, next to some salad or rice or vegetables or all of the above!

These really do make an excellent accompaniment to pasta dishes to add a bit of protein and make dinner a bit more tasty. Here's another example:


Here they make a fantastic fried to some Fusilli with Beats and Sautéed Asparagus with Garlic from Vegan Italiano.

Seriously - make them!

What are your favourite patties, burgers or cutlets to make?

Cute Cat Photo of the Blog


Today we delve into the archives again - yes, that is a young Susan... again. But ignore me. Look at that little black cutie patootie is Max. Max was my second cat, following the tragic demise of Mo. We got Max from the Cat Protection Society as an older kitten. His mother was feral, and he was feral for the first weeks of his life. This really showed - he was not one for cuddling or smooching. Very much and eat and out cat. However, he did take time out in his busy schedule to play table soccer with me. I'm pretty sure he won - I suck at that game. All random swinging the players and no actual strategy! Unfortunately we only had Max for six short weeks before he passed away - suspect hit by car but we can't be sure. Dad and I found him dead on the driveway on Valentine's Day morning after a terrible storm. Poor Max!