Recipe Round-Up: Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen

I have all of Chloe's cookbooks, with Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen being the most recently released (but she has a new one coming soon). As well as the expected pastas, it has a whole range of dishes from starters, salads and vegetables, other main courses, pizzas and desserts (including some fancy cupcakes, of course). This is the first recipe round-up that I have done from this book!

Eggplant Alla Funghetto: This is a simple but tasty dish, with eggplants, tomatoes and garlic simmered until soft and yummy. This is meant to serve 6 as a vegetable side, but I served this over brown rice over some baby spinach, and god two decent dinners out of it.
Rating: :)



Wild Mushroom Rigatoni: This is a mix of dried wild mushrooms (I was able to find a nice blend at the supermarket) and fresh mushrooms (I used a mix of cremini and shiitake). As is my usual habit, I halved the amount of pasta (I like a high sauce to pasta ratio), and I also added some peas. The sauce is based on soy milk and white wine and thickened with flour, and is lovely and creamy. I got 3.5 serves out of mine.
Rating: :)



Fusilli with Minted Eggplant Sauce: Roasted eggplant is combined with oil, water, lemon juice and sundried tomato, then mixed through with fresh mint, to make this interesting sauce. The recipe called for the eggplant to be blended with 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of water. I used 1 cup of pasta water and a small glug of oil. No oil shaming, I just personally have a low tolerance for oily food. I halved the amount of pasta, and also added a tin of white beans. The eggplant made a nice, creamy background for the sun-dried tomato pieces.
Rating: :)



Penne Puttanesca: I am a big puttanesca fan (though hold the chili), and this was a tasty one. Using half the amount of pasta and adding in a tin of kidney beans meant it was just the right amount of saucy! The recipe called for Parmesan Topping (also included in the book), but I am happy with a sprinkling of good old nutritional yeast.
Rating: :)



Lemon Herb Cannellini Beans: OK, so in a moment of being an absolute doofus I realised after I finished that I forgot to add the lemon juice. Bravo! But these were still nice and tasty, and very cheesy. I can see how the lemon would have added a bit of freshness to it, though. The sauce simmers down to be thick quite quickly, so keep and eye on it. It is served over Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Sea Salt. The recipe gives the option of using either broth or non-dairy milk for mashing, I used broth so of course it was not as creamy as it could have been. My garlic was also quite strong, so I had some garlic breath going on after this.
Rating: Beans :), Potatoes :)



Grilled Portobello Steak in Lemon Parsley Pesto: I loved the mushroom (which I pan-fried in quarters rathher than grilling in slices), though the sauce lacked a bit of depth. It has a very strong caper taste, which is fine because I like capers. This said it would serve 4, but I only got 2 serves out of it serving with brown rice and broccoli.
Rating: :)



White Wine Risotto with Shiitake Mushrooms and Peas: I actually really like making risotto if I am in the mood for it. I find the stiring soothing. Instead of regular aborio rice, I used a packet of Organico Porchini Risotto mix that I had lying around. I've had a packet of that before and it was flavourless, so I figured using it as a base for a mushroomy risotto recipe would be a better way to try it again. This risotto worked out beautifully, with three big serves. I didn't even need to put nooch on it, which is high praise indeed. I served ith with baby spinach, white beans, and roasted asparagus.
Rating: :)



Pumpkin Risotto: This was a handy way to use up some tinned pumpkin puree that I had kicking around. It is pretty simple, with nutmeg and sage as seasonings, and it was tasty and creamy. I served it with some baby spinach and some sliced and sauteed Tofurky Chick'n and Apple Sausage.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This little cutie is one of our adoption kitties at work. Her name is Aurora!