Vegan Yum Yum (36 page)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
(optional; for very spicy Pad See Ew, use ½ teaspoon)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
(optional)
1 pound Chinese broccoli, roughly chopped
(pieces should be 1 to 2 inches in length; halve the stems lengthwise to shorten their cooking time)
1½ cups wheat gluten
(seitan)
, sliced thin
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
(or substitute light soy sauce)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pasta Gremolata with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Garlic Bread Crumbs
Y
ou don't want to make this for a first date. Between the parsley flecks and the garlic, this dish is bound to embarrass you. It's totally worth it though. It's perfect for a simple summer meal, and it also makes a great light lunch. This is your go-to recipe for using up that huge bunch of parsley you bought and can't seem to get through. Gremolata is an Italian salsa verde made with garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. It's traditionally served with osso buco, but it's delicious over pasta. It's pesto without being pesto.
If you don't want to use sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus tips or steamed broccoli florets would work wonderfully instead.
Pasta Gremolata with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Garlic Bread Crumbs
Makes 2 to 3 servings
step 1
Start the water for the pasta, which will cook while you make the other parts of the dish.
step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan (one that will fit your cooked pasta). Add the garlic and sauté until it becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds.
step 3
Add the bread crumbs. They should soak up all the oil, but look shiny. Add a pinch of salt and stir well. Let this sit over low/medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until the bread crumbs become crispy. If you're worried about them burning, your heat is too high. If you can't hear a little sizzling, your heat is too low. Remove to a small bowl and set aside.
step 4
Place the sun-dried tomatoes in the pan, along with the red pepper flakes. Stir well, keeping them at the same temperature as the bread crumbs. Let these hang out in the pan until the pasta is done. The red pepper flakes will flavor the oil that's left in the pan.
step 5
To make the gremolata, place the parsley in a food processor or blender and pulse until you can't see any more whole leaves, but there are still big chunks. Grate the lemon zest on top of the parsley, pulse twice more to combine, then scoop everything out into a large bowl. (You may also chop the parsley by hand.)
Ingredients
3 cups uncooked rotini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup bread crumbs
Pinch of salt
½ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips
¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley, medium packed
Zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon pasta water
¼ teaspoon salt
(kosher or sea salt if you have it)
Black pepper, to taste
step 6
Add the olive oil, pasta water, and salt to the parsley/lemon zest mixture. Mix.
step 7
When the pasta is cooked al dente (firm, but still cooked), drain well (you don't want to add too much water) and place it in the large pan with the tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Toss.
step 8
Pour the pasta and tomatoes into the bowl containing the gremolata. Toss again, being sure to evenly distribute the sauce over the pasta. Taste, adding salt or a squirt of lemon juice if needed. Grind fresh pepper over the top. Top with the garlic bread crumbs. Serve immediately.
Pepita Fettucini with Spinach and Cranberries
I
n an effort to get excited about autumn, I've been doing my best to pick up some new ingredients. Goodness knows I never look forward to winter, so food may be the only way I can actually celebrate the changing of the seasons. One of the ingredients I picked up one season was a tub of organic pepitas. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds that are usually sold with the white hull removed, revealing a smooth olive green seed. If you decide to use pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins you carve this year, be sure to wash and dry the seeds thoroughly and roast them in a low oven for an hour or so until dry and toasty. Don't worry about removing the white hull.
This pasta is flavored with a dab of tamari and maple syrup, which coats the pasta and gives it a nice, balanced, sweet flavor. The spinach is sautéed with red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, the cranberries add a pop of sweet tanginess, and the crushed pepitas round out the whole dish. It's really a lovely meal, and what's more, it's super easy to prepare: it should only take as long to make this dish as the pasta takes to cook. I made it for lunch, so this recipe only serves one, but it's very easy to increase the servings should you want to make it for more than one person.
Pepita Fettucini with Spinach and Cranberries
Makes 1 serving
step 1
Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the fettucini. While the pasta is cooking, pulse the pepitas in your food processor or blender until chopped fairly fine, then set aside.
step 2
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the spinach. Use tongs to coat the spinach in the hot oil. Add the red pepper flakes, tamari, and maple syrup, and then the thyme if you're using it. Toss in the cranberries and mix everything well. Turn the heat to low (or just turn it off and cover it until your pasta is cooked).
step 3
Once the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the skillet. Add the chopped pepitas and toss well until everything is coated. Taste a noodle and see if you need an extra splash of tamari and/or maple syrup. The noodles should look like they don't have sauce on them, but they'll taste like they do. Serve immediately.
Ingredients
Fettucini for one
cup raw, unsalted pepi-tas or pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon oil
2 large handfuls spinach, torn
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 to 3 fresh thyme sprigs
(optional)
¼ cup dried cranberries
Rigatoni with Fresh Grape Tomato Sauce
T
his is one of my all-time favorite tomato sauces. Grape tomatoes are super sweet, making for a really refreshing sauce, and they cook down in about 10 minutes. You can easily put this sauce together in the time it takes for your noodles to boil.
Rigatoni with Fresh Grape Tomato Sauce
Makes 2 servings
step 1
Heat a large pot of boiling, salted water and cook pasta until al dente.
step 2
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a sauté pan. Add the garlic and herbs and sauté until the garlic begins to soften. Add the tomatoes and toss well. The tomatoes will burst on their own when they get hot enough, but you may want to pierce them with a knife or squish them to break the skins.
step 3
Add salt and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until tomatoes are fully cooked and the sauce is rich and thick. Season with black pepper to taste. Add optional ingredients, if desired. Add cooked rigatoni to the pan and toss to coat. Serve.
Ingredients
3 cups dried rigatoni
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced, optional
1½ teaspoons dried Italian herbs
2 pints sweet grape tomatoes
to 1 teaspoon salt