Category Archives: Pasta

Vegetable & Pasta Bake

2014-05-29 19.31.32
This is slightly different to the other pasta bake on this site in that it’s a different sauce – this one is based on a Susan Voisin’s recipe from fatfreevegan.com but with a lot less nooch, but more lemon and miso, plus some sweetness from maple syrup.   I managed to photo it this time before we demolished it. 🙂   I added steamed broccoli, cauliflower, peas and sweetcorn to it this time, but you can add any vegetables you like, it’s a great way of using up already cooked veggies from the fridge too and then you save even more prep time. Either way this is a pretty simple and quick weeknight meal.  I added a lovely crunchy breadcrumb and walnut crust on this one too which adds a good texture contrast.

2014-05-29 19.30.20

Vegetable & Pasta Bake
 
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Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • SAUCE:
  • 1 ¼ cups water
  • 1 cup soymilk
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 tablespoon miso
  • 1 small jarred roasted red capsicum
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • VEGETABLES & PASTA
  • 250g broccoli florets
  • 250g cauliflower florets
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • ½ cup frozen sweetcorn
  • 1 large red onion
  • 275g wholewheat pasta e.g. fusilli / penne etc
  • TOPPING
  • 2 cups fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs
  • 8-12 walnut halves - depending on size
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • Blended all together thoroughly in a food processor.
Instructions
  1. Put a very large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. You will be combining everything in the pot later so make sure it's big enough.
  2. Put all the sauce ingredients into a blender, (or a jug and use a stick blender) and blend on high for 10 seconds or until completely smooth.
  3. Pour into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring frequently with a whisk until the sauce is thick and smooth. Remove from the heat.
  4. Add the pasta to the water if it's boiling.
  5. Prepare your vegetables and add to the water for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
  6. Make your breadcrumb topping.
  7. Once the pasta and vegetables are cooked, drain, return to the pan and pour over the sauce. Mix thoroughly.
  8. Pour into a large lasagne dish, top with your breadcrumb mixture.
  9. Place in the oven at 180 for 30 minutes or until top crisp and sauce is bubbling.

 

“Pad Thai”

There are inverted commas around the title as I’m not saying this is especially authentic, but given that most Pad Thai dishes from a Thai restaurant are very oily then that’s not such a bad thing.  This still has that sweet, sour and salty thing going on, and I’ve added more vegetables than you usually get in a Pad Thai (like none, usually!).  OK I know it’s white rice noodles which aren’t the healthiest thing in the world, but we see this is a “treat meal” so it’s not on weekly rotation! This is a crafty way of getting cabbage into children as they disappear into the noodles once they’re cooked.  I got most of the ingredient ideas from watching Marion Grasby cook it on her TV show, then I veganised it!  I like the classic version without chilli, but you can add hot sauce on the top at the end.  We like to garnish ours with fresh coriander leaves, toasted cashews rather than peanuts, and lime wedges.

2014-04-16 19.43.05

"Pad Thai"
 
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Recipe type: Noodles
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 400g wide rice pad thai style noodles
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoon tamarind paste
  • 12 teaspoons coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
  • 1 pack marinated tofu cubes: sweet chili / thai / garlic flavour
  • 2 pink shallots
  • 1 small savoy cabbage
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 6 spring onions
  • 1 bag beansprouts
  • 2 limes
  • Sweet chilli sauce
  • Fresh coriander
  • Raw cashew nuts
Instructions
  1. Put the noodles in a large deep bowl and cover with very hot water (not boiling) and leave to stand.
  2. In a small bowl whisk together the water, tamarind paste, coconut sugar, tomato paste, lemon and lime juices and soy sauce. Taste it and adjust to your palate - it should be equally sour, salty and sweet.
  3. Finely slice the shallots, cabbage and capsicum, chop up the coriander and slice the limes into wedges. Toast the cashews.
  4. Put the tofu cubes into a sieve / colander and pour boiling water over to remove the excess oil from the marinade. Cut the pieces into 1cm cubes if too large.
  5. Heat your wok or very large frying pan and add the shallots, cabbage and capsicum. Once starting to wilt, drain the noodles and add to the wok and mix in well, immediately adding your sauce - you may not need all of it, keep some on reserve if you like to pour over once served up.
  6. Stir in the tofu, beansprouts and chopped spring onions.
  7. Once hot and thoroughly mixed (not too long as you need to preserve some crunch in the beansprouts), serve! Top with toasted nuts, freshly chopped coriander, and offer extra sauce / soy sauce / sweet chilli and a lime wedge on the side.

 

Pasta, Pea & Broccoli Bake

2014-04-13 19.29.07
Another simple family friendly meal.  There’s something about the combination of peas and pasta, I’m not sure what it is but I find it hard not to add frozen peas to almost any pasta meal.  This is made extra special by the addition of breadcrumbs and baking it, rather than it being just pasta and sauce but if you’re pushed for time that would be just fine too.  We were so hungry and keen to dig in that we forgot to take any pictures of it dished up, so you’ll have to wait til next time for that!  Believe me it was delicious and we all had 2nds.  This actually serves 6 reasonable sized portions.  🙂

Pasta, Pea & Broccoli Bake
 
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Recipe type: Bake
Cuisine: Italian-ish
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 onions, diced
  • 1 heaped tablespoon cornflour
  • ½ cup cashews, soaking
  • 2 cups soy milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • ½ tsp marmite / miso
  • 1 tsp chicken style stock powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp agave syrup / rice malt syrup
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 small roasted red capsicum from a jar
  • 300g wholemeal pasta penne/ fusilli/ orecchiette
  • 1 large head of broccoli, divided into small florets
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 2 slices wholemeal bread, made into breadcrumbs in a food processor.
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
  2. Put the cashews into some boiling water and set aside.
  3. Put Pasta on to cook and find the baking dish you want to use – a lasagne style one works well.
  4. Put on a kitchen timer so you can add the frozen peas to the pasta 2 minutes before it’s ready.
  5. Fry the onions in a dry frying pan, in a splash of stock /water and stir occasionally until browning and softened.
  6. Add the soy milk to the pan, then and add all the flavourings - the bay leaf, mustard, lemon juice, marmite, stock powder, salt, agave, yeast, spices, tahini, and capsicum and stir well. Add the soaked cashews, the onions, and simmer for 10 minutes over a gentle heat.
  7. Remove the bay leaf, blend with a stick blender, add the cornflour and blend again. Allow it to thicken, stirring constantly until flour is cooked out. – around 5 minutes. Taste and adjust lemon / salt / sweet balance.
  8. Whilst the sauce simmers, check the pasta and peas are cooked, drain and set aside in a large bowl. Steam the broccoli for 6 minutes over the same water to save using another pot.
  9. Once broccoli is just tender, mix in with the pasta in the bowl, pour over all the sauce and mix thoroughly. Pour into your baking dish, top with the breadcrumbs and spray quickly with an oil spray.
  10. Put in the oven for 25 minutes, until bubbling and breadcrumbs are golden.

PPK’s Butternut Alfredo with Penne and Peas

This is just amazing, the sauce is a revelation!  If you haven’t tried any of Isa Chandra Moskowitz‘s recipes, this is a great one to start with!  I think it’s the sage and the wine that makes it so amazing. I’ve made this a few times now and every time it blows me away!  I reduced the sage to half a tsp as it’s quite a strong flavour so wasn’t sure how it would go down with my 2 children. We just bought a high speed blender and it really made the sauce super smooth, I only soaked the cashews for an hour.

Isa’s blog Post Punk Kitchen was one of the 1st ones I found when searching for recipes when I dropped the eggs and dairy a few years ago and she is still one of the most inventive vegan chefs around.  She does use some oil which I try very hard to avoid completely, so some recipes do need to be amended, but that’s easily done.  This one we had with wholegrain penne, a little added roast butternut squash, and topped with some toasted pine nuts.  SO GOOD!

Here‘s link to the original recipe.  All I changed was the miso – I only had a rich red barley one (which might explain the richer colour I got in my sauce) so only used 1 heaped tablespoon, I omitted the olive oil, and just the 1/2 tsp of rubbed sage leaves and I added a cup of frozen peas to the pasta cooking water a couple of minutes before the end.

Here is the picture of my bowl:

2014-04-07 18.20.28

Warm pasta, broccoli & bean salad with lemon, garlic and basil

2014-03-25 19.20.23
I love a warm salad.  The flavours are so much stronger when the dish is at room temperature rather than chilled, and partly cooking the ingredients allows each individual ingredient to shine.
This is such a delicious and healthy supper, we all really enjoy it and it’s a complete one pot meal so perfect for busy week night dinners.

Warm pasta, broccoli & bean salad with lemon, garlic and basil
 
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Recipe type: Warm salad
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • A splash of water / stock
  • 350g wholemeal pasta – rigatoni, penne etc.
  • 1 smallish red onion, halved, then finely sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or microplaned
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 can / 250g cooked cannellini beans
  • 1 heaped tsp freshly grated / microplaned lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 6 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped
  • 1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets
  • Large bunch of basil, finely shredded
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • A dozen or so Kalamata olives, to serve
Instructions
  1. Put pasta on to boil.
  2. Steam the broccoli until just tender, about 6-7 mins. Once cooked, run under cold running water to refresh and retain colour.
  3. Put the onion, garlic and salt in a large heavy bottomed casserole with your choice of sautéing medium, mix thoroughly, and warm through on a low light for 5 minutes – do not COOK! The idea is to take the rawness out of the garlic but leave the onion still with some bite.
  4. Add a splash or two of vegetable stock as required to keep it moist but without stewing it.
  5. Add the beans, lemon juice and zest and continue to warm through for another few minutes.
  6. Add tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and keep on a low light whilst waiting for the pasta to cook. Once ingredients are all hot but not cooked, remove from the heat and tip into a large wide salad bowl along with the broccoli.
  7. Once pasta is cooked, tip into the bowl along with the basil and mix thoroughly. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes for the flavours to mingle.
  8. Top with olives and serve.

 

Minestrone

This is traditionally a hearty ‘tomato-ey’ Italian soup which generally contains pasta, beans, potato and pesto plus whatever other left over veggies are to hand.  “Peasant food” at its best!  This is a great way to use up odds and ends in the fridge, kids generally love it as it’s got pasta in it and it’s good and filling.  Served with some good wholemeal bread this is a wonderfully substantial meal that requires little preparation and not much involvement once it’s on the hob.

DSC_0353

Minestrone
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6+
Ingredients
  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 2 celery sticks, diced
  • 1 T tomato paste
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 can cannellini beans / similar
  • 1.5 L vegetable stock
  • 375 g potatoes, diced
  • 140 g small pasta shapes, preferably wholegrain
  • 150g frozen peas
  • 180 g French beans, cut into small lengths (or other veg)
  • 1 small red capsicum (or other veg)
  • 150g broccoli florets (or other veg)
  • Handful baby spinach.
  • 2-3 tablespoons homemade basil pesto * (see other recipes)
  • Fresh parsley
Instructions
  1. Heat a large saucepan or stovetop casserole with a tight fitting lid and sauté the onions and garlic until softened.
  2. Add carrots, celery, tomato paste, tomatoes, cannellini beans, vegetable stock, potatoes, and pasta, bring to boil, place on the lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Add peas, green beans, broccoli, capsicum or other chosen veg and simmer, covered for a further 10 minutes or until they are cooked to your liking.
  4. Adjust liquid if necessary, add more water if necessary. Stir in the baby spinach, pesto, and serve sprinkled with the freshly chopped parsley.
  5. Like most soups / stews, this is even nicer the next day, or prepared early in the day.

My Buddha Bowl

2013-12-31 19.32.53

Google “Buddha Bowl” and you will be inundated with versions of this.  Basically it’s a bowl of steamed veggies with brown rice or another grain like quinoa, with a sauce over the top.

I’ve already posted my son’s favourite dish, well this is my teenage daughter’s!  It’s the sauce that makes it of course, and this is such an easy weeknight dish you will be tempted to have it several times, just changing the veggies or grains, and adding tofu or tempeh etc.

My Buddha Bowl
 
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The sauce makes enough for 3-4 servings, I haven't given quantities for the rice or veggies so just prepare as much as you need.
Author:
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • Sauce ingredients:
  • 1 T cashew butter
  • 1 T tahini,
  • 2 T vegetarian oyster sauce or other Asian stir fry sauce
  • 1 T sweet chilli sauce
  • 3 T lemon and/or lime juice - either or both, mixed together (orange is also good!)
  • 2 T tamari
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • 1 T sweet soy sauce
Instructions
  1. Put your rice on to cook, or even easier, use packets of ready cooked brown rice which just need warming through! (you can put itin the steamer along with the veggies if you like)
  2. Whilst your rice is cooking, prepare and steam your desired vegetables – broccoli, carrot, capsicum, celery, mushrooms, baby corn etc, and top with a packet of ready marinated and cooked tofu cubes to heat through (if desired - this is optional) – sweet chilli / garlic variety.
  3. Blend all the sauce ingredients in a blender (we use the Magic Bullet for this) or a jug with an immersion/stick blender until very smooth and creamy. Taste the sauce and adjust a little if necessary - different people like it more salty / more sour / more sweet etc. Pour it into a saucepan and heat gently for a few minutes when your rice and veggies are almost ready.
  4. Divide the rice, veggies and tofu between your bowls and pour the sauce over the top. Also nice scattered with fresh chopped coriander / toasted sesame seeds / etc.

 

2 Lentil Bolognese

2014-02-18 19.52.09
Whenever I ask my son (11) what he would like to put on the menu for next week he ALWAYS says Spag Bol.  It really is rather good.  This is an easy midweek meal as once it’s all in the pot you can just leave it pretty much unattended for ages and then just pop on your spaghetti once you’re ready.   It only improves the longer you cook it, just watch it doesn’t catch and burn on the bottom (one of those heat diffusing pads is useful here) and that it doesn’t become too reduced.   It also “cheats” a little by using a small jar of ready made pasta sauce as one of the ingredients.  If you don’t have one to hand you could sub with another can of tomatoes, or equivalent of sieved tomatoes / passata type of thing.

It’s called “2 Lentil Bolognese” as it uses both the wonderful Split Red Lentils which break down so beautifully to that dhal-like creamy mush and the slower-cooking Puy Lentils which are those beautiful little round green/blue ones which keep their shape and add great texture to the dish.

I like to blend the sauce just a little using the immersion blender to break up some of the lentils and make a thicker sauce, but that’s completely up to you.  Smaller children may well like it much smoother as they often object to the presence of lentils.  🙂

This usually makes enough for 2 dinners for 4 so the rest goes in the freezer for next time!

5.0 from 2 reviews
2 Lentil Bolognese
 
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Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 large garlic clove
  • 2 small sticks celery
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1 field mushroom/ 6-8 button mushrooms
  • :- all diced small
  • ½ cup red lentils
  • ½ cup Puy (French) lentils
  • 1 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 2 (use empty tomato) cans water
  • 2 heaped Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 heaped tsp "chicken" or vegetable stock / bouillon powder
  • 1 rounded tsp dried mixed Italian herbs
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 small (375g) jar tomato and basil pasta sauce / your favourite
Instructions
  1. Fry or dry fry / water sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes whilst you chop the other veggies.
  2. Add the celery, carrot and mushrooms and sauté for another 10 minutes over a gentle heat.
  3. Add all the other ingredients, bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Cover if required to cook longer without reducing volume.
  4. Test for seasoning, add more water if too thick.
  5. Use immersion blender if required to thicken / smooth the sauce as required.

Pasta Primavera

Another family favourite.  Creamy but low fat sauce with garlic and lemon poured over wholegrain pasta and your favourite springtime vegetables.  Top with toasted pine nuts and / or a parmesan type topping.  Try grinding almonds with some nutritional yeast, salt, and lemon zest for a delicious sprinkle.

Pasta primavera

Pasta Primavera
 
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Creamy sauce with spring green vegetables over wholegrain pasta
Author:
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 300g wholewheat pasta shells/penne
  • 30g raw cashews, soaked
  • 100-200ml Soy Milk
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Slice of onion
  • Salt & pepper
  • Green vegetables of choice:
  • asparagus, broccoli / broccolini, peas, snow peas, etc
  • Bunch of basil, leaves torn
  • Toasted pine nuts, for garnish - optional
Instructions
  1. Put pasta on to boil.
  2. Meanwhile, in a high speed blender blend cashews, soy milk, lemon zest, garlic, onion until smooth and creamy. Amount of milk will depend on how thick you want it and how much it’s sucked up by the pasta, you can always add more milk to the pasta once you combine it.
  3. Put the vegetables on to steam .
  4. Taste cashew cream and adjust seasoning/flavourings as desired: more lemon / garlic or onion/salt pepper.
  5. Once pasta is and vegetables are ready, drain and return to pan over a very low light, add the cashew cream, vegetables (once ready) basil and pine nuts.
  6. Serve!

Lasagne

 

My kids voted this my best ever lasagne and it’s their “favourite ever” meal!
We usually have with salad and a good crusty bread.
The creamy white sauce I use for this is also on this site here.

Lasagne
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 red capsicum, diced
  • 1 green capsicum, diced
  • 2 medium zucchini, diced
  • 1 medium carrot, diced
  • 1 stick celery, diced
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 375g jar of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce, e.g. basil and garlic
  • 50g Lentils, Red, split
  • 1 teaspoon Oregano
  • 150g Baby Spinach, chopped (or use 4 cubes frozen spinach)
  • 15 leaves basil, chopped
  • 6-8 Wholemeal Lasagne Sheets
  • Creamy White Sauce – 1 batch
  • Optional : fresh breadcrumbs
Instructions
  1. Make the Creamy White Sauce - see other recipes.
  2. Sauté onion, garlic after 5 mins, then add capsicum, carrot, celery, zucchini and let soften – about 15 minutes.
  3. Add tomatoes, jar of sauce, lentils, oregano, baby spinach, and basil, season to taste. Allow to simmer until spinach wilts.
  4. Heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
  5. In lasagne dish put a thin layer tomato sauce, cover with lasagne sheets
  6. Layer the 2 sauces and pasta alternately in lasagne dish, topping with 2nd half of white sauce (or 3 layers depending on how thick your layers are)
  7. If liked, sprinkle a cup of fresh breadcrumbs over the top of the white sauce.
  8. Bake for 35-45 minutes. Test with a sharp knife to make sure the pasta is very tender.
  9. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

 

Nutritional info: Cals: 280 | Fat: 7g | Protein: 13.5g  | Carb: 34.5g  | Fibre: 10.65g | Sodium:  291mg