Italian & Vegan

Polpettone more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com! This is a...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:19:36 +0000

Polpettone

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

This is a recipe I pretty much came up with on my own to make a very common main dish in Italy. Of course, the real one is made with very different ingredients (meat, eggs, and milk). This one actually only takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is extremely tasty. It’s also great because the recipe allows you to do whatever you want with it, add whatever ingredients you like. Below is the very basics that you’ll need, but you can add anything you like; nuts, spinach, whatever you want! (Oh and by the way, polpettone means meatloaf).

I also have a quick announcement to make. As you may have noticed, I haven’t been great at keeping to my twice a week schedule. Unfortunately, between my job and university it has become impossible for me to concentrate as much on cooking. However, after receiving several messages about recommendations for possible recipes, I realized that I’m not the only vegan in the world who likes to cook Italian food. Therefore, I decided to make this blog more of a community for posting Italian food. All you need to become a contributor is a wordpress account and a passion for Italian food! Go to the contributors page for the details, I really hope to be hearing from some of you soon! Obviously you’ll be able to link to your own blogs, for the more business-minded, you can view this as a free advertising opportunity. Looking forward to receiving some submissions.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 red pepper
2 carrots
1 onion
400g vegan mince
3 cloves of garlic
5 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp chili powder
3 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
breadcrumbs

Preparation (15 minutes + 40 minutes cooking time)

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender and put into a small rectangular baking tin (like one you would use for banana bread) with a little olive oil in it, and cover with a layer of breadcrumbs. Drizzle some olive oil on the top and perhaps some himalayan rock salt, and stick it in the oven. Leave it for about 40 minutes, take it out, and flip it onto a plate. I suggest serving it with some fried mushrooms and onions, or even better, some patate arrosto. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Risotto more recipes at...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:29:49 +0000

Butternut Squash Risotto

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

Just another simple risotto, kind of like the pumpkin one but with a very unique tastes. It’s also easier to chop up and is a good way to keep things changing. Like all risottos, it’s very simple to make- but does take a long time.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g risotto rice
1 butternut squash, chopped into cubes
1 red onion, chopped into small squares
½ white onion, chopped into small squares
splash of white wine
1 litre vegetable stock, boiling
2 cloves of garlic, halved
salt
pepper
2 tbsp soy yoghurt
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
olive oil

Preparation (45 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a pan on medium heat and add the red onion. Stir for 3 minutes, then add the garlic. Stir for another 2 minutes, then add the butternut squash. Add some salt and pepper and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat up to maximum and stir continuously for about 2 minutes, then turn down to minimum and leave to simmer. Place a large, non-stick pot on maximum heat and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the white onion and stir until it starts turning golden. Add the rice, and stir continuously for about 2 minutes, then add the white wine and continue stirring until it has all evaporated. Add the butternut squash, then add some salt and about 200ml of the vegetable stock and stir every once in a while until all of the water has evaporated. Repeat until you’ve added about 700ml, then start adding less vegetable stock at a time and start tasting the rice. It should only take about 800ml to cook the rice, but depending on how hot your stove is it might take less or more, so make sure you check it to make sure it doesn’t overcook (which is horrible). Once it’s ready, remove from the stove and add the nutritional yeast and soy yoghurt, stir it in, and serve!

Olive Ascolane more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com! To be...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:08:21 +0000

Olive Ascolane

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

To be completely honest, I can’t believe I actually managed to make these. Olive ascolane are a traditional Italian food from le Marche, but which is everywhere in Rome as well. One of the best parts of going to Italian restaurants used to be ordering ridiculous amounts of these and supplí for antipasti (unfortunately olive ascolane are by no means vegan, so I hadn’t even eaten one in more than a year now), and I have missed them quite a bit. So I was really very pleased with myself when I managed to make 72 of these yesterday, and not only that they tasted amazing when I made them yesterday, but that I froze 48 of them and they tasted just as good today! It took me 4 hours to make them all, but that’s only because I made 72, which is probably excessive for most people. Even just 3 or 4 of these, with a couple of supplí and some bruschetta, are more than enough for an extremely impressive (and tasty) antipasto.

For the filling

Ingredients (makes 20)

100g vegan mince
2 carrots, chopped very small
1 stick of celery, chopped very small
½ red onion, chopped very small
2 cloves of garlic, minced
⅛ cup of flour
¼ cup of nutritional yeast
⅛ cup of breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation (2 hours)

Drizzle some olive on a large pan and turn it on medium high heat. Add the onion, then after 3 minutes add the garlic. Keep stirring around, and after 2 minutes add the carrot. After 5 minutes add the celery, stir occasionally, and after 10 minutes, add the mince. Leave that on, simmering on medium low heat, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, and add salt and pepper to taste. Once it’s ready, put it all in a large mixing bowl and wait a bit for it to cool, then add the flour, nutritional yeast, and breadcrumbs. Mix it all around and use your hands to knead it into a kind of dough. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

For the rest

Ingredients

1 jar of large green olives (if they’re already you will save a lot of time)
lots and lots of breadcrumbs
egg-substitute equivalent of 2 eggs
1 cup of flour
2 litres of vegetable oil

Preparation

While the dough is resting, carefully slice open ever olive until about halfway through the diameter. If they’re not pitted, then cut around the pit so you’re left with an olive without the pit which is open on one side. If they break into half it’s fine, but it does make it easier if you manage to leave one side together. Once the dough is finished take a very small amount of dough (about as big an amount as an olive), roll it into a little ball, and stuff it into the olive. It’s going to be popping out on one side, which is perfectly fine, as long as the entire thing vaguely resembles a sphere and is holds itself together. Once you’ve done that for all of the olives you’re making, take each stuffed olive, roll it around in flour, drop into the egg substitute, make sure it’s entirely covered, then cover with breadcrumbs. If you’re going to be freezing them, do so at this point. If not, leave them for to sit for another 30 minutes and then repeat the breading procedure to make sure they’re extra covered. At this point, heat up the vegetable oil, and, once at the right temperature for deep frying (the stove should be on about medium - high heat), drop them in. They should get cooked in about 10 minutes inside at the most, once they are, take them out and put them on a plate with paper towel on it to soak up the excess oil. Leave them there for about 2 minutes, then transfer to whatever serving dish you’re using and serve! These are truly delicious, and a real authentic bite from Italy.

If you froze them, once you’re ready to eat them just take them straight out of the freezer, cover them in egg substitute, then breadcrumbs, and deep fry. Trust me, they’ll taste just as good.

Zucchini Risotto more recipes at...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:50:25 +0000

Zucchini Risotto

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

Alright, once again I have to apologize for not having posted anything for so long. At least this time I wasn’t being lazy – it’s just that my flatmate, whose amazing camera I use to take pictures, left for on holiday, and I don’t have a camera that can take pictures worthy of the last ones. Hopefully though you were all too busy eating your own food during Christmas and celebrating the new year (Happy New Hear, by the way!) to notice that it’s been a while since the last post. And to make up for it, I have something really special coming up on Wednesday (if it works that is, I’m just about to start cooking). Anyway I hope you enjoy today’s recipe!

I honestly don’t know how this is the first time I’ve ever made this – there was a period where my mom made this all the time (maybe it’s because back then I was still a silly young boy who didn’t like zucchini). But now that I’ve made this amazing risotto for myself for the first time I’m very glad to be posting it because it was absolutely delicious. Few ingredients, and very simple to make – like most risottos once you get the basic technique they’re all kind of the same method with different ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g arborio risotto rice
3 zucchini (courgettes work fine if you can’t find zucchini), diced into small cubes
½ red onion, sliced
1 small white onion, chopped into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic, halved
splash of white wine
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 litre vegetable stock, boiling

Preparation (45 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a pan on medium heat and add the red onion. Stir for 3 minutes, then add the garlic. Stir for another 2 minutes, then add the zucchini. Add some salt and pepper and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat up to maximum and stir continuously for about 2 minutes, then turn down to minimum and leave to simmer. Place a large, non-stick pot on maximum heat and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the white onion and stir until it starts turning golden. Add the rice, and stir continuously for about 2 minutes, then add the white wine and continue stirring until it has all evaporated. Add some salt and about 200ml of the vegetable stock and stir every once in a while until all of the water has evaporated. Repeat until you’ve added about 700ml, then start adding less vegetable stock at a time and start tasting the rice. It should only take about 800ml to cook the rice, but depending on how hot your stove is it might take less or more, so make sure you check it to make sure it doesn’t overcook (which is horrible). Once it’s ready, remove from the stove and add the nutritional yeast, stir it in, and serve!

Tortas Fritas more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com/recipes! I...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:30:36 +0000

Tortas Fritas

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com/recipes!

I went on a 10-day hike once in Patagonia, one of the most beautiful regions not only in Argentina but, in my opinion, in the world. Throughout the whole trip, we never met a single other human being, except for a small family that lived in a little house on the shore of the Nahuel Huapi lake. We stayed there, camped out on the beach, for two days, and while we were there the family made us ridiculous amounts (literally hundreds and hundreds) of these tortas fritas. We ate them with their home made jam or dulce de leche when we could be bothered to, but they were so tasty that even on their own they were delicious. This is my version of them, which I’m afraid pales in comparison to how good those ones were. They’re still quite tasty however, they’re easy to make, and you can eat them with pretty much anything.

Ingredients (makes tons – at least 50)

250g self raising flour
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
8 tbsp olive oil
200ml water
vegetable oil (for deep frying)

Preparation (40 minutes)

Fill a large pan with vegetable oil, about 1.5 inches deep. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and try to mix it an as much as possible, then add the water, and, using your hands, mix everything into a dough. It should be quite solid and not very sticky at all – you should be able to make pieces into little balls without any trouble. Add a little more water or flour if it seems too dry or wet. Once the oil has warmed up enough for deep frying, start shaping the dough into small discs. First make a little ball, about 1.5cm in diameter, then flatten them out as much as you possibly can. The thinner they are the quicker they’ll cook and the better they’ll taste. Place the disc into the pan, and repeat, until the pan is full. When you see the edges start to turn golden brown, flip them over, the other side should be completely golden brown. When both sides are a nice golden brown, remove them and place on a plate with paper towels to absorbe the excess oil. When you’ve fried all of the dough, let the tortas fritas sit for a couple of minutes, before placing them on another plate. Serve them with some jam or dulce de leche, or just a sprinkling of powdered sugar. What’s your favorite thing to eat them with? Let me know in the comments section below!

You should put some desserts on, its my main problem with being vegan.

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:06:48 +0000

you’re completely right, i should really get on that. the problem is that first of all, vegan deserts are the hardest part, and second of all, i’m not the biggest fan of deserts. but i’ll be posting the next international recipe soon and i promise it’ll be a desert!

Pasta ai Fagioli more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com! I know...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:35:30 +0000

Pasta ai Fagioli

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

I know today was supposed to be another International recipe, but I’ve left on a trip to Rome and then Paris to bring my cat back to London (long story) and haven’t had any time to make anything new. I only finally managed to make this delicious bean pasta after about 5 attempts, first I used the wrong beans, then I kept adding too much pasta, then the picture was terrible – anyway, finally it’s up, and trust me, this is delicious. My mother always did most of the cooking in the house, but my dad had his specific recipes that he would make himself every time, and this is one of them. It’s incredibly tasty and nutritious, and it’s great leftover food (my grandfather insists that it tastes better the next day, straight out of the fridge). Anyway, give it a try – I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Ingredients (serves 4)

150g small pasta
3 cans (1200g) borlotti beans, notdrained
500g passata
1 large red onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped into halves
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation (35 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a large, non-stick pot, and put on maximum heat. After 2 minutes, add the onion. Leave to cook for 3 minutes, then add the garlic. Leave for another 3 minutes, then add the passata. Stir everything constantly for 5 minutes, then add the beans. Mix everything together, and leave to cook. Add the salt, some pepper, mix everything, and then add 1 cup of water and the pasta. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat, add the nutritional yeast, stir, and leave for at least 5 minutes before serving. Eat it hot or cold, for dinner or breakfast, however or whenever you eat it you’re bound to get a kick out of this great pasta!

Aubergine and Pine Nut Pasta More recipes at...

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:45:29 +0000

Aubergine and Pine Nut Pasta

More recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

This is an extremely tasty pasta, which also happens to be quite nutritious. I came up with this pretty much by just picking random ingredients that I felt like eating and combining it all into one pasta – and the result was great. I would definitely recommend making this great rustic pasta in almost any situation.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g pasta
1 aubergine, sliced into strips
40g pine nuts
30g basil
200g cherry tomatoes, chopped into eighths
500g cherry tomatoes in tomato juice
250g passata
½ large red onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped in halves
glass of white wine
2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation (40 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a large pan and turn it on medium heat. Add the onions and leave for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, leave for 2 minutes, and add the pine nuts. Mix around for about 5 minutes, then add the white wine and turn on maximum heat. Stir constantly until all of the wine has evaporated, then add the tomatoes. Turn the heat back down to medium and leave to cook for 4 minutes, then add the aubergine. Add some salt and pepper, then mix around for about 10 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes in tomato juice and the passata, and turn the heat to maximum for 5 minutes, then turn it down to minimum for 15 minutes. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add some salt, then add the pasta and stir around every 2 minutes or so. 1 minute before the amount of time the pack of pasta says it takes to cook, taste it – it’s usually ready. Once it is ready, drain it, toss it back in the pot, and add the sauce. Add the nutritional yeast and basil, mix everything together, and serve!

Risotto alle Mele more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com! This...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:30:53 +0000

Risotto alle Mele

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

This is a very popular family recipe. My grandmother used to make this all the time and its success makes for great family stories told over summer lunches. My version of this recipe comes from my mom, although of course it’s been modified a bit to be vegan. That’s why it’s not really my grandmother’s secret recipe, unfortunately – but it’s extremely tasty and incredibly interesting. If you’re looking to make a delicious, impressive, and surprising dish for someone, this is perfect.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g risotto rice
1 white onion, chopped into small pieces
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 red apples, peeled and diced
800ml-1000ml vegetable stock
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt
olive oil
glass of white wine
ground black pepper

Preparation (50 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil onto a pan and turn it on medium high heat. After about a minute, add half the onion. Stir around for about 5 minutes, then add half the garlic. Stir for another 4 minutes, then add the apples. Leave the apples to cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When they’re all nice and soft, and just starting to turn slightly crispy, turn the heat down and leave to simmer. Make sure the vegetable stock is boiling. Drizzle some olive oil into a large pot (if it’s not a good non-stick one you will have to be stirringconstantly) and turn on maximum heat. Add the rest of the onion and garlic, and stir around for 5 minutes. Add the risotto, and stir for about 3 minutes until the grains of rice are slightly toasted. Add the wine, and stir rapidly until all the wine has evaporated. Add the apples, and stir around until distributed more or less evenly with the risotto. Add some salt, pepper, and about 200ml of vegetable stock. Stir around in the risotto slowly until it has almost all evaporated or been absorbed, then add another 200ml. Continue until you’ve added about 700ml, then start adding just 100ml at a time and taste the risotto to make sure it’s not getting overcooked. Once it’s cooked, and all of the water has evaporated but it’s still quite creamy, add the nutritional yeast and stir well. Serve right away for a great winter meal!

Penne all’Arrabiata more recipes at...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:45:22 +0000

Penne all’Arrabiata

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

Here’s what I ate more than anything else this past summer in Italy. Unless I was cooking at home, in which case I was most likely making some zucchini pasta, every time I ate out I had to more or less resort to this. It’s one of the most common and popular Italian dishes, which is almost guaranteed to be on any menu of any restaurant in Rome. And it’s one of the few dishes that is always vegan, which is pretty convenient. Anyway, it’s pretty easy to make, tastes great, and if you like spicy food, this one’s for you.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g penne
300g cherry tomatoes, chopped into eights
1 small red onion, chopped into small pieces
2 hot peppers, chopped into small pieces (or more, or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
1 tsp dried basil
salt
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic

Preparation (30 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a pan on medium heat. After 2 minutes, add the onions. Stir for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic. Sauté for another 3 minutes, then add the hot peppers. Keep stirring around for another 5 minutes, then turn down the heat to minimum and add the tomatoes and a little more olive oil. While that’s simmering, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Toss in some salt, then add the pasta, and stir every 2 minutes or so. 1 minute before what the pack says is the necessary cooking time, start tasting it – make sure you don’t overcook it. While the pasta is cooking, add the dried basil and some salt to the tomatoes, and stir around. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, throw it back in the pot, and add the tomatoes and onions and everything. Mix it all around, then eat!

great blog you have here! thinking of cutting down my consumption of meat because you've opened my eyes to the reality of meat even though im the biggest carnivore out there. thank you for creating such an amazing blog! xx

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:55:41 +0000

ah wow, thanks so much for telling me this that’s amazing! this was one of the reason’s i even made this blog so it really makes me happy to hear it :)

Pepper and Tomato Pasta more recipes at...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 18:00:48 +0000

Pepper and Tomato Pasta

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

My mom had always told me that peppers and pasta don’t go well together, except for a few very specific mixes with blue cheese and cream. Since she was never wrong about anything else (at least when it comes to cooking) I never made pepper pasta. But a couple of days ago she told me that she had run out of ingredients and tried a pasta with some peppers and tomato sauce, and that it was actually delicious! I tried making my own sauce when I ran out of everything else, and was definitely pleased with the result. It’s nothing crazy, but if you like peppers it’s a great way to change it up a little.

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g pasta
2 bell peppers, sliced into thin, short pieces
500g cherry tomatoes in tomato juice (like pelati)
250g passata
handful of fresh basil
1 onion, sliced
2 gloves of garlic, peeled
salt
olive oil
ground black pepper

Preparation (40 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a pan on medium heat, allow the oil to heat up for 2 minutes and then add the garlic and onions. Stir around for 5 minutes, then add the peppers. Turn the heat down after 3 minutes, and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Fill a large pot with water, and bring to a boil. It should take about 10 minutes, so go back to the peppers in the pan. Add the cherry tomatoes and passata, some salt and black pepper, and stir with the pan on maximum heat for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down back to medium and continue stirring for another 5 minutes. In the meantime throw the pasta in the pot, and stir around occasionally. After about 7 minutes start tasting it, within 10 minutes the pasta should be ready. When it is, drain it, put it back in the pot, and add the sauce. Serve, eat, and enjoy!

Blue Hokkaido Pumpkin Ravioliore recipes at...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:57:40 +0000

Blue Hokkaido Pumpkin Ravioliore recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

There are some times when I just can’t believe that I actually let myself do something so ridiculous. I had three hours before work and for some reason I decided that I wanted to make pumpkin ravioli for the first time ever. I did already have a very beautiful organic blue hokkaido pumpkin sitting in my fridge, and I did want to use it somehow, but I shouldn’t have attempted making home made ravioli 3 hours before work. Although I’m extremely glad that I did, because although I was almost late for work I had one of the most satisfying meals I’ve had in a while, and found out just how easy (although time consuming) it is to make ravioli. My parents always used to make these as a team for Christmas Eve dinner, my mom would make the pumpkin filling (although she never went so far as to use a blue hokkaido pumpkin), my dad would take care of making the actual ravioli, and together they would cook them. It was really quite inspiring to watch, so it is no wonder that this recipe was one of the first things that came to my mind when I was trying to think of what to do with that pumpkin. Although to be honest, I didn’t ask either of them for this recipe since I didn’t have enough time to, so it’s my version of what I saw. Wow, I’ve rambled for way too long already, I’ll shut up now – but do try this because it is really amazing.

For the pumpkin filling:

Ingredients (makes 25 ravioli)

¼ blue hokkaido pumpkin (or any other kind)
1 large white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp dried basil
dash of black pepper
50ml vegetable stock
salt
olive oil

Preparation (10 minutes + 30 minutes of simmering)

Peel the pumpkin and chop into tiny pieces, the smaller the better. Chop the onion into small pieces and put in a pan with some olive oil, turn on medium heat. Peel the garlic and chop into thirds, and add to the pan after the onion has been cooking for about 5 minutes. Stir everything around, when the onion is starting to turn brown add all of the pumpkin at once and stir. Add the basil, pepper, and salt to taste. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat down all the way and leave to simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so at least. After about 30 minutes it should look like a really thick paste; at this point, add the vegetable stock a little at a time until it’s mixed in and the pumpkin is a little more pasty, although it should still be thick enough that it sticks to a spoon if you put the spoon sideways. Once it’s the right thickness, turn it off and set aside.

For the tomato sauce

Ingredients

500g cherry tomatoes in tomato juice (like pelati but cherry tomatoes)
250g passata
½ onion
handful of fresh basil
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt

Preparation (15 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil onto a pan on medium heat. Add the onion, chopped into small pieces, and the cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped into halves. Let them simmer for about 5 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes and passata, and turn the heat all the way up. Stir continuously for 7 minutes, then add the basil, some salt, and turn the heat all the way down and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, while you make the pasta.

For the pasta

Ingredients

500g flour
warm water
2 tsp salt

Preparation (15 minutes)

Mix the flour and salt together on a large flat (clean) surface. Make a hole in the middle and add a little water. I didn’t measure how much water I used because I did it by sight, but start by adding around 100ml. Mix it all together, knead it into a dough, and continue adding water until it is a very hard but moldable dough. It shouldn’t be the least bit sticky, if it is continue adding flour until it isn’t anymore. Once you finish the dough, use a pasta maker (if you have one) or a rolling pin to flatten it out into long flat rectangles (about 12cm/4.5in wide and whatever length), as thin as possible.

Putting it all together

Take tablespoonfuls of the pumpkin filling and place them lined up along the length of the rectangle, about 2.5cm/1in from one side, and about 2cm/1in apart from each other. Fold the rectangle in half length-wise, so as to cover all of the pumpkin filling balls, and press together all of the sides. Using a knife or pasta cutter, cut the pasta in between the pumpkin filling, so as to create little squares of pasta with pumpkin filling on the inside. Use your hands to press the sides of each square together, and then use a fork to seal together. Once they’re all done, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Throw in some salt, then add the ravioli. They only take about 3 minutes to cook so make sure you throw them all in at the same time. After 3-4 minutes, take them all out one by one using a sieve spoon, and place onto a tray. To serve, put a couple on a plate and add some sauce on top. Use little sauce as the best part of the pasta is the pumpkin filling and too much tomato sauce will cover up the taste. Enjoy!

Wild Mushroom Pasta more recipes at...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:30:30 +0000

Wild Mushroom Pasta

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

I’ve been making a lot of stuff with mushrooms lately, but it’s only because I finally found a place to buy quality mushrooms for very decent prices and I might have gotten over excited. This is another one of my extremely simple pasta recipes; if you have the ingredients you could be eating this in no more time than it takes to boil a pot of water and cook the pasta. It’s a great pasta to make if you’re planning on serving a multiple course meal – as it is quite light, and yet still an impressive enough dish (multiple-course meals usually aim to be more impressive, no?)

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g pasta
150g wild mushrooms, I used:
- 75g chantarelles
- 75g trompettes de la morts
½ small red onion
½ hot chili pepper
2 cloves of garlic
handful of fresh parsley
½ tbsp nutritional yeast
dash of ground black pepper
olive oil
salt

Preparation (20 minutes)

Fill a large pot up with water and put on the stove on maximum heat, waiting for it to boil. In the meantime, splash some olive oil on a pan and throw in the onion, chopped into small pieces. After 3 minutes, throw in the garlic, peeled and cut in halves, and the chili pepper, cut into tiny pieces. Stir around for a while, then when the onion is just starting to turn golden, add the mushrooms, not chopped except for any particularly large mushrooms (if the mushrooms are using are bigger than bite size then by all means chop them into smaller pieces, but leave everything as big as possible). Add the parsley, chopped, and stir around for about 3 minutes, then turn the heat down all the way and let simmer for 10 minutes. While the mushrooms are simmering the water should come to a boil, once it does, add some salt to the pot and then the pasta. Stir every 2 minutes, then about 1 minute before what the pasta’s cooking time is on the pack, taste the pasta, and it should ready. Once it is, drain the pasta, throw it back in the pot, and add the mushrooms to the pot. Add some more olive oil to the pot, the nutritional yeast, and a very small amount of black pepper. Stir everything around, then serve!

Sun-dried Tomato and Red Pepper Pestomore recipes at...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:30:48 +0000

Sun-dried Tomato and Red Pepper Pesto
more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

Okay so I really think this might be the best thing I’ve ever invented. Although obviously a quick google search proved to me (as usual) that I hadn’t really invented anything – plenty of people had already come up with very similar stuff. But anyway, this was something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, and I kept rethinking certain ingredients and how to make it perfect. Today I finally went to the supermarket, bought everything I needed, made it, and then I think I almost overdosed on pesto. Please let me know if you make this and enjoy it, I’m always especially curious to know what people think about things that I didn’t just adapt from somewhere else. Thanks!

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g pasta
2 red bell peppers
120g sun-dried tomatoes
100g pine nuts
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp rice milk
couple of dashes of ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
8 black olives

Preparation (20 minutes)

Fill a large pot with water and put it on the stove on maximum heat. While you wait for it to boil, put the olive oil, peppers (chopped), sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and garlic in a blender and blend. As soon as it’s blended, but still kind of chunky, add the pine nuts and rice milk and blend. Depending on how good your blender is you might want to add the pine nuts in separate chunks, just to make sure the blender doesn’t get stuck. Once everything is blended together, set aside. By now the water should be boiling, add the pasta and some salt and stir every two minutes. Chop the olives into fourths and set aside. About one minute before what the pack says, taste the pasta, it should be ready. Once you’ve tasted it and know it’s ready, drain it, throw it back in the pot, and add the pesto and the olives. Since the pesto isn’t warm, serve (and enjoy!) immediately so that it doesn’t cool down the pasta too much.

Chili (American & Vegan)more recipes at...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:30:26 +0000

Chili (American & Vegan)
more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

Surprise! I’ve decided that, while Italian food is still the best (duh), there are some foods from around the world which are simply too great not to veganize. So once a month (on the 15th, to be precise) I’ll choose one food from somewhere outside of Italy and post the recipe! If you have any suggestions for future foods, go ahead and message me your ideas – and I’ll make sure to choose one for next time!

Anyway, enough about that – let’s talk about chili. Although I’ve gone to American schools my whole life, and the majority of my friends have always been American, I somehow had never tried chili until this past summer, in Birmingham, Alabama. This place made vegan chili, and it was so incredibly tasty that I fell in love. This year, it’s probably been my single most eaten food, just because of how easy it is to cook and how absolutely scrumptious it is. This recipe has nothing to do with what I ate, I really just improvised this with beans and some stuff I had – but I have to admit that it definitely works. And to make things even better, it’s incredibly nutritious and healthy. On their menu, the restaurant in Birmingham described their chili as “heartwarming”. I think that’s the best word to describe this chili as well – heartwarming. Enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 1)

400g (can) red kidney beans
250g passata
1 large red onion
1 hot chili pepper
50g cashew nuts
5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
salt
pepper
paprika
olive oil

Preparation (25 minutes)

Slice the onion and pepper and throw into a saucer with plenty of olive oil. Break the cashews into slightly smaller pieces and add them right away, mix everything together for a couple of minutes. Add some pepper, salt, and paprika, then keep cooking until the onions start turning golden brown. Add the beans with all of the water from the can and the passata, and stir everything well. Bring to a boil and then leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the nutritional yeast and desiccated coconut, stir for about two minutes, then serve!

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com! If you like mushrooms,...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:31:32 +0000

more recipes at www.italianandvegan.com!

If you like mushrooms, this is the recipe for you. And if you like risotto too, well, then I think this might just become your favorite food. I love risotto in general, but I’ve found that mushroom risotto is one of the more bland versions of a great food. But after buying a bunch of exotic mushrooms, I thought I might as well see what happened if I made them into a risotto, and the results were great. Turns out, the only reason I thought mushroom risotto was boring was that I was using boring mushrooms!

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g risotto rice
120g exotic mushrooms, I used:
- 40g pink oyster
- 40g yellow oyster
- 40g shimeji
120g regular mushrooms (I used forestier mushrooms)
1 small red onion
½ white onion
1 litre (33 fl oz) vegetable stock (boiling)
splash of white wine
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt
ground black pepper
olive oil

Preparation (45 minutes)

Drizzle some olive oil on a pan and set on medium heat. Slice the white onion into thin slices and throw in the pan. Chop up the forestiere mushrooms and add them to the pan. Mix around for about 3 minutes, then add half of each of the exotic mushrooms you chose, chopped into large pieces. Stir for 3 minutes, then add the basil, thyme, some salt and pepper, and turn down the heat and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, drizzle some olive oil into a pot and turn the heat to maximum. Chop the red onion into small pieces and throw in the pot. Stir for about 5 minutes or until the pieces start turning brown, then add the rice and stir for about 3 minutes. Add the splash of white wine and stir vigorously until all the wine has evaporated. Add the mushrooms, stir everything well, and add about 200ml of the vegetable stock, as well as about 1 tbsp of salt. Stir occasionally until all of the water has evaporated, then add another 200ml. Repeat until you’ve added 600mls, then, once that has evaporated, taste the risotto to see if it’s cooked yet. If it isn’t, add another 100ml and repeat until it is cooked. In the meantime, throw the rest of the exotic mushrooms into a pan on maximum heat, and cook for about 4 minutes, just to give them a quick grill. Make sure you don’t cook them too much, you really want them to be as little cooked as possible. Once they’re done, set them aside. When the rice is finished (should be at about 800ml or 20 minutes), take off the heat, add the nutritional yeast, and stir it in. Serve, and add the rest of the mushrooms on the plate (as shown in the picture). Buon appetito!

Great site ! Everything looks delish !

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 01:29:58 +0000

hope everything tastes delish as well! :)

Some awesome looking food on here!

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 01:29:35 +0000

thanks!

Tofu and Olive Linguine more recipes at italianandvegan.com! Ok...

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:30:55 +0000

Tofu and Olive Linguine

more recipes at italianandvegan.com!

Ok so this one is quite interesting. I started off just making a puttanesca, but when I realized that I had no capers and that I had some leftover tofu I thought, whatever, let’s just see what happens. The best word to describe the result is a very simple ‘interesting’. It tastes really good, although clearly not one of the best pastas I’ve made. But all of the different flavors make the eating experience quite exciting. With each bite, you start off tasting the sweetness of the onions; but as you chew, the predominant flavor changes to the spiciness of the pepper. And finally, almost as an aftertaste, the pleasant taste of olives to finish it off. Quite a few contrasting tastes, but they all work together very well, and all the while there’s that foamy tofu texture to make it that much better.

By the way, I’ve decided to try and make things more regular, since that’s what everyone seems to say is the correct thing to do. So from now on, I’ll be posting once a week, on Wednesday mornings. Let me know what you think about that, especially if you think it’s a bad idea. Alright, time to eat!

Ingredients (serves 2)

400g linguine (or any other kind of pasta you like, although linguine do work really well in this case)
1 large red onion
3 cloves of garlic
4 hot chili peppers (I know, it’s a lot, but it’s supposed to be spicy! It does depend on what chilis you’re using though, so use however many you think are necessary to make it quite spicy. If you’re just using regular chilis from your local supermarket, 3 or 4 should be about right)
120g tofu, pressed for about an hour
20 black olives
2 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
ground black pepper
salt
olive oil

Preparation (30 minutes)

Slice the onion into thin slices, and peel the cloves of garlic and chop into halves. Throw into a pan on maximum heat with some olive oil, after about 3 minutes, add the chili peppers (chopped into small pieces). After 2 minutes, add the tofu, chopped into small squares, and, using a wooden spoon, stir everything around for a while. As you stir, use your spoon to crumble the pieces of tofu, by the end, it should look kind of like ricotta. Add the olives, chopped into random sized pieces (so leave some whole, some in fourths, some in halves, etc.), add a generous amount of olive oil, and turn the heat down. Now fill a large pot with water, bring to a boil, and throw in some salt. Add the pasta as well, and stir every two minutes or so, then, about 3 minutes before what the pack says is full cooking time, taste the pasta. Keep tasting every minute, and about 1 minute before what the pack says, the pasta should be ready (taste it to make sure). Drain it, toss it back in the pot, and add the tofu and onions and all that. Mix everything well, then add the nutritional yeast and stir it in. Serve (and enjoy) right away!