Recipe #36 Pasta with creamy tofu sauce

Shopping list (4 portions)

• 200 gr pasta 
• 200 gr chestnut mushrooms
• 160 gr firm tofu
• 200 gr asparagus
• 1 tablespoon of soy milk
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 garlic head
• 10 gr fresh ginger
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper 
• sprinkle of herbs (Here I used parsley)

Method

Start by peeling all garlic cloves from a garlic head. Place them in a bit of tin foil and close it loosely. Place this in the oven for 30min at 220 oC.
The cloves will be soft and tender. Throw them into a food processor with half a black firm tofu (160 gr), 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of soy milk, the peeled ginger and a bit of salt, pepper and parsley. Turn on the chopper until this mixture is white and creamy.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add the mushrooms (sliced) and the asparagus (roughly sliced in big chunks). Season with salt, pepper and some cayenne pepper.

Cook the pasta, here I used tricolore farfalle from De Cecco. 200 gr pasta in around 1litre boiling water with salt. Cook it al dente, no longer than 10 minutes. Drain.

Throw the pasta into the vegetables and stir. Cover with the sauce and stir everything together.

Recipe #28 Vegan Roasted Veggies

Shopping list

• half a cup dry couscous
• half a cucumber
• 2 tomatos
• 1 carrot
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt pepper
• lemon juice
• 1 Big courgette
• 8 asparagus
• Dry parsley

Method

[Recipe for 2]

On a ovenproof tray place 1 courgette sliced open in half and the asparagus. Drizzle some olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. 200 oC for around 20 min should be enough to roast them.

For the couscous: boil water in a kettle and measure 3/4 of a cup.
Place the couscous in a bowl and add the water. Season with salt and pepper and dry parsley (or some fresh coriander or mint 5 or 6 leaves should be enough)
Cover with a plate so you keep all the heat and let it rest 10minutes.

For the salad:
Cut small chunks of tomato, grate the carrot and with a peeler slid very thin slices of cucumber.
Season with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and some lemon juice.

Take the plate from the couscous, mix the couscous and check if they are fluffy already.
Now get the place ready and organize it with your array of colours: red from the salad, white with your couscous and green from your roasted veggies.
Sprinkle everything with dry parsley.

Recipe #20 Asparagus and Mushroom Tagliatelle

Shopping list

• tagliatelle pasta
• 1 pack of asparagus
• 150gr of white mushrooms
• olive oil
• nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• dry oregano

Method

Cook your pasta al dente. Drain the water and keep half a cup of this water. After draining drizzle a bit of the water over the pasta and a bit of olive oil and oregano, to keep it from sticking together.

In a saucepan or wok or pan heat a bit of olive oil. Add the asparagus cut in chunks and the mushrooms diced. Season with salt and pepper till they are cooked and then add the pasta. Stir and serve.

You can serve with grated parmesan or soy sauce.
(this recipe makes 2 portions with 4 tagliatelle nests)

Recipe #3 Vegetable Couscous (vegan)

Shopping list

• 1 cup of dry couscous
• 1 + 1/2 cups of hot vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric, dry parsley
• salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• A mix of roasted vegetables (such as asparagus, zucchini,  carrots)

Method 

For this recipe I used asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, chickpeas and peas, but it works with any vegetable you have at home.
I roasted the asparagus and zucchini and set this aside.
Then in my wok I heated some olive oil and added 1 chickpea can, 1 can of peas and some mushrooms diced in 4. I set this aside.
In a big bowl I added the couscous with some turmeric and parsley. I poured over this the hot vegetable stock and stired a bit, not too much as you dont want to loose the steam. Cover this as soon as you can with a cloth and let it rest for around 5-10min. When this is done you will have nice cooked couscous as a base for your vegetables.
Serve the couscous in a deep dish (add some spoons of vegetable stock if you don't like it very dry), then add some of the chickpeas and peas and mushrooms. And then add the roasted asparagus and diced zucchini half-es.