Pasta with Artichoke Sauce

This is such a surprisingly creamy dish for being vegan (if using vegan pasta) and not featuring the likes of avocado. I suspect it being thanks to the nuts in this recipe.

My flatmate almost strayed from trying this dish, saying "Nooo, I don't like artichokes, they're rubbish"... Turns out that is only if it's served on its own. As for me, I have pretty much gone through two jars of the stuff over the last couple of weeks... Ooops!

Pasta with Artichoke Sauce
(Serves 2)

1 cup uncooked pasta (make sure it's vegan if you are!)
150-200g artichokes in oil, drained
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
4-5 Brazil nuts or a small handful or pine nuts
Juice of 1/2 lime
Handful of fresh chives, snipped
Salt and pepper to taste

- Simply start by cooking up the pasta as instructed in some lightly salted water.

- As that is boiling, have the remaining ingredients in a processor or a measuring jug and use a stick blender to combine = ta dah! Sauce is done!

- Drain most of the water off of the pasta and turn the heat down to medium low, keep some of it through so the pasta doesn't catch the bottom, add the sauce and heat through before serving!

Want it fancy? Simply garnish with a few chive strands, that's what they do in ze restaurants, I've seen it!


Original source:
Delicious Low-Fat Recipes, p 94

- Jules

Deconstructed Pesto Pasta

...Pesto - delicious right?

I have come to like to make deconstructed pesto as well, due to not having a proper food processor, and as long as it has all the components, you'll still enjoy the delicious combination of garlic, basil and parmesan!

The downside of making your own pesto, I find - is the price of pine nuts.... So in order to save a bit of money (aka treat myself to an extra cappuccino when I am out and about *cough cough*) I decided to just used what I had at hand - hazelnuts, yup! It worked a treat, and the roughly chopped nuts gave the dish a bit of extra texture as well, which I reckon you might like!

Deconstructed Pesto Pasta
(Serves 2)

1 1/2 cup uncooked pasta
1 tbsp oil
Salt
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 pieces of Quorn fillets (can also use prawns or chicken)
A bunch of basil, finely chopped
2 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped
A big handful of chopped nuts: Either pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts etc.
30-50g grated parmesan (depemds how parmesan-y you like it really! I used about 1/2 cup)

- Start by cooking the pasta as instructed.

- Whilst you're waiting for the pasta, make the rest of the dish! Heat the oil in a medium frying pan and fry the fillets or protein of choice, then add the garlic, and fry for another few minutes until fragrant.

- Chuck in the chopped nuts, as well as the basil and parsley. Now, drain the pasta and add to the frying pan along with the parmesan. Stir on low heat, season to taste, and once it's all combined well, it is ready to serve!

Also, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts over the last week - it isn't that I haven't been cooking, because I have! But my cameras (yes, both of them...sigh!) have been less than cooperative in terms of getting the photos over to my laptop. Actually I am starting to think it is the computer there is something wrong with! I will try and sort this out though, so I can post more frequently again *smiles*

Hope y'all are doing well and had a lovely weekend!


Original source:
Good Mood Food, p. 129

- Jules

Balsamic Pasta

Hello and happy Wednesday! We are halfway through the working week, and today I took my first ever customer calls in my new job, it was both petrifying and exciting at the same time, but it went fairly all right, and I like to think I was of a little help ^ ^

How are you doing? And will you be celebrating Easter or just the coming of Spring in general? A couple of my friends and myself included seems to have been doing some Spring cleaning recently, it just seems like it is some biological instinct that kicks in.

But after work today I was beat! So I rattled up an easy-peasy dinner and then I made myself some home made marzipan, cause marzipan is something they eat a lot of at this time of year in Norway, but it isn't AS easy to get a hold of here in Glasgow. The recipe for that will pop up here in the near future, so stay tuned! For now though, let's make a pasta dish!

Balsamic Pasta
(Serves 2)

1 cup uncooked wholewheat pasta
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
4 quorn chicken-style fillets, or 2 chicken breasts, diced
A dash liquid smoke (optional)
Salt and pepper
2 roasted peppers, chopped (optional)
A good splash of white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
Half a bunch of parsley, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

- Start by cooking the pasta according to the instructions, in some lightly salted water.

- Now, in a frying pan, heat up the oil and brown the quorn/chicken along with the onion and garlic. If using meat, make sure before serving that it is cooked through.

- Once browned, add salt, pepper, and liquid smoke, as well as the roasted pepper (if using), balsamic- or white wine vinegar, and parsley, mix through.

- Once the pasta is cooked, drain and chuck it into the pan with the other ingredients. Heat through and serve!

Enjoy, and have a lovely rest of the week! x


Recipe by yours truly,

- Jules

Tortellini Soup, Dreams & Guilty Pleasures

I remember, sometimes in the evening, hours after dinner, my mum would boil some macaroni, and we'd have that as a sort of snack before bedtime, unless I had a sandwich or some other snack. She loved it, I loved it, and sometimes we'd sneak some chopped up sausages in it too.
But then...THEN we discovered tortellini! These lovely little fluffy, fresh pasta parcels stuffed with goodies, mmm - sold! To that little girl and her mother. We'd easily wolf down a packet of tortellini between us, bliss ^ ^

Today, I had tortellini for the first time in literally years (shame on Julie, why deprive myself of such awesome things as these?!). And this time, I didn't have them on their own, but cooked them in a lovely tomato and cannelini-based casserole, so good! I had a bit of a Warm Vanilla Sugar week when I made these dishes as you might have noticed, but that girl really knows her stuff, what can I say?

Tortellini Soup
(Serves 3-4)

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
400ml tin chopped tomatoes
400ml tin cannellini beans
1/2 tsp oregano
A bit of black pepper
100g spinach, roughly torn
800ml vegetable stock
300g packet spinach and ricotta-stuffed tortellini
Grated parmesan and good, crusty bread to serve

- In a large casserole, heat the olive oil, add your onion and soften for about five minutes. Then, add the garlic and fry for an additional minute or two until golden.

- Now, add the spinach and wilt for about a minute, add the oregano and pepper and give it a swirl before adding the tomatoes, beans, and stock. Leave to simmer for about 5-10 minutes to let the flavours get a chance to meld together.

- Add your tortellini, and cook in the casserole for as long as instructed. Mine took five minutes.

Serve up in bowls, top with freshly grated parmesan, and some good bread for dipping and mopping.

Comfort food at its best!

What is your favourite Italian dish?

I also made Katrina's Parmigiana Bianca, and I who normally don't like aubergines, loved these! So soft and tender!

Also, do you remember how I have a Flump calendar? Well after about ten days of flumps as part of my breakfast, I decided that I had to do something, and so I...added them to my porridge! I know, I know, it's childish, but it's SO good! The marshmallow simply melts into the porridge, and so I didn't need to add any sweetener of any kind! This was my breakfast this morning, but the Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Porridge is my favourite so far, hehe...

Also, last night I had many awful dreams, but then I was lucky enough only to remember the amuzing one, it went a little something like this:

Location: What looked like Grand Canyon
Occasion: School trip
So my class and myself were on a school trip to the Grand Canyon, for reasons unknown, but it was awesome! Pupils from Primary and Secondary were there, and we were wandering around until one of the locals told us: One of the carriages on the train has come off, run to the hill there!
And ran to a hill we did, and it must have been the cart containing dessicated coconut, for there on the little cliff lay little coconut macaroons - cooking under the scorching sun. They were delightful, and now I am sad it was just a dream...

This post turned out to be a little longer than expected, sorry about that! Do try this tortellini soup though, it's delicious! The little Yule Mouse says so! (Isn't he adorable?!)

Original source:
http://warmvanillasugar.com/2014/10/26/sicilian-sundays-tortellini-soup/

- Jules

Mushroom Rigatoni

Greetings!

Another day, another week and a fresh start! Here's a simple recipe for a vegetarian dinner. It is delicious as long as you add a good amount of spices, such as chilli powder (or perhaps fresh chillies, deseeded and chopped?), paprika, extra pepper and other such seasoning that take your fancy, experiment!

Mushroom Rigatoni
(Serves 3, about 395 calories each)



225 g uncooked rigatoni pasta
1 tbsp oil
1 red onion, or two small ones
25 g dried mushrooms
30 g fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp thyme, or a few fresh sprigs, leaves only
Salt, pepper and other seasoning to taste (chilli powder, onion powder, smoked paprika etc.)
You can maaaybe even try and toss a clove of garlic in there too, as I think that was missing this time.

- Start off with soaking the dried mushrooms in a bowl with about 175 ml boiling water. Remember when the time comes, that you will need the water it's been sitting in.

- Cook pasta as instructed in a big pot, and remember to stir every once in a while so the rigatoni doesn't catch in the bottom.

- In a large frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onion for five minutes until softened. In the meantime you can slice the mushrooms, bfore adding them to the frying pan. Drain excess water into the frying pan, chop the soaked murhsooms and add them to the pan along with the tomato puree, thyme, salt, pepper and other seasoning that you feel like using.

- After about five minutes of stirring the mushroom mix, drain the pasta and add the sauce into the pot along with it. Put it back on the hob for a few minutes to that it all gets a chance to combine, before serving.

Serve with crusty bread for mopping, or simple on its own!

Original source:
101 Healthy Eats, p. 128

- Jules