Our Veggie Kitchen

The first specialty dish that I remember mastering was Fettuccine Alfredo. With just cream, butter and Parmesan cheese, it was simple, elegant and decadent. It was also 80 grams of fat and a cholesterol bomb. This recipe hearkens back to those beginnings. A simple sauce, white and creamy, whose flavor and texture drudges up those old memories. This would be especially good with some sauteed mushrooms added to the pasta.

The bread also deserves mention. I found this at Vegan Appetite and it was amazingly good. A mixture of Daiya vegan cheese, Vegenaise and some garlic and scallions, it was aptly named Ooey Gooey Garlic Bread. I spread it across a full loaf of baguette and ate half the loaf myself.



Cashew Alfredo
1 lb pasta noodles
2/3 cups Cashews
2 cups unsweetened soy milk, divided
1/4 cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 cup shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tbs miso
1/2 tsp salt
pinch nutmeg, for garnish

Note: I previously forgot to add wine to the ingredient list.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. Drain in a colander, reserving some of the water.

While the pasta water comes to a boil, melt the margarine over medium heat, then add the shallots and garlic. Saute until the shallots are soft, just a couple of minutes, then add the wine. Boil for a couple more minutes and remove from heat.

Combine the cashews with 1 cup of soy milk in a blender and blend until the cashews have been completely liquefied. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, except the nutmeg and blend thoroughly. When the pasta is done and draining, add the sauce to the pan and bring just to a boil. Combine with the pasta and stir, adding some of the reserved pasta water, if necessary.

5 Servings: 581 calories (21g fat, 78g carbs, 19g protein)

I'm constantly tweaking my nacho sauce to get the best flavor and consistency and this latest version yields the creamiest and most temperature-stable results. Once blended, it can heat, cool and even re-heat without harming the texture. And the texture, at any temperature, is smooth and creamy.

Original Nacho Sauce: This sauce still has the best flavor. But, as with any other cornstarch-based sauce, it clumps when it cools. It also doesn't reheat well. I still make this sauce, usually in batches. A cup of sauce, microwaved for a couple minutes works perfectly and there's usually no leftovers.



Xanthan Gum: This is the original nacho sauce is the original sauce, thickened with xantham gum. I was first introduced to xantham gum by my gluten-intolerant mother-in-law. It is used widely in gluten free baking and as a thickener. It thins with friction (shaking or stirring) and sets as it sits, which may be why we shake our salad dressing. And, best of all, it is not affected by temperature. It doesn't thin or thicken as it heats and it doesn't clump as it cools or freezes. I got mine with the bulk spices at the grocery store. It was $22 a pound, but a little goes a very long way. A tsp is roughly equivalent to 8 tsp cornstarch.

No Cook Nacho Sauce:
1/4 cup cashews
1 cup water
2 oz pimentos
1 tsp xanthan gum (scant)
2 tbs nutritional yeast
1/2 small lemon, juiced (about 1 tbs)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs canola oil

Optional: 2 oz diced green chilies, or 1 can for a double recipe
Note: I usually double these amounts.

Add the water and pimentos to a blender and blend thoroughly. Add the cashews and leave in the pimento water while you add the other ingredients. Add the xanthan gum, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and oil. Blend again until thoroughly combined. Add the green chilies, if using. Serve warm or cold. Makes about 2 cups.

8 Servings: 66 cal (6g fat, 3g carbs, 2g protein)

Traditional Caesar salad dressing packs a bold, savory punch with eggs, anchovies, and Parmesan cheese. But these are all things that any vegan can do without. So I swapped out the nasties, added miso, kombu and kalamata olives and kept the fresh lemon juice and dijon mustard and this dressing fast became a household favorite.

I had the flavor down long ago, but the presentation took a little work. If you blend the olives, you end up with a purple mess, so mince them as fine as you can manage. And 2 tbs of kombu is just not enough mass for my spice grinder to handle, so I blended it with some cashews--otherwise you get chewy chunks of kombu on your salad. But with these tips, it will turn out wonderful.



Caesar Salad Dressing
3/4 cup cashews, divided
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbs miso
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs kombu, chopped (about 1 folded strip)
1/4 cup kalamata olives, very finely minced

Combine 1/2 cup cashew nuts with the lemon juice and vinegar in a blender and blend to a cream. Add the water, miso, dijon mustard, garlic and olive oil and blend thoroughly. Add the kombu to a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and grind as best you can. Then add the remining 1/4 cup of cashews and grind to a powder. Add to the blender and blend to combine. Then add the minced olives and pulse, just to combine. Pour into containers and refrigerate. It will thicken as it cools. Makes about 2 cups.

16 Servings: 62 cal (5g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)

I'm not sure if its some new trend or just a bit of tunnel vision on my part, but everywhere I look, it seems, I see creamy pesto. My psyche has been inundated with beautiful pictures of pasta laden with Alfredo sauces, cream sauces, and delicious pesto. I decided that I had to have some for myself. I did some playing (and a fair bit of chopping) and came up with this, rotini pasta with a creamy cashew pesto sauce.



Rotini with Creamy Pesto
1 lb pasta shapes, such as rotini or shells
Pesto:
1/4 cup almonds, ground
2 tbs olive oil
4 cups basil leaves (lightly packed), minced
1 cup parsley (lightly packed), minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Sauce:
1/2 cup cashews, ground
1/2 cup boiling water (reserved from pasta)
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 tbs miso
1/2 small lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt

For the pesto, chop the herbs very finely. combine with the ground almonds, olive oil and garlic. Stir thoroughly.

Cook the pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, combine the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend thoroughly. When the pasta is finished cooking, drain. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the boiling water. Add the water to the blender and blend. Pour into the pasta pan with the pasta and heat just until the sauce begins to thicken and remove from heat. Stir in the pesto and serve.


5 Servings: 545 cal (18g fat, 78g carbs, 19g protein)

I knew I wanted to make veggie enchiladas. I knew I wanted a citrus flavor and I knew I didn't want beans. I also knew that I was trying out a new sauce. What I didn't know is how amazingly good these enchiladas would turn out!

I simmered some sweet potatoes and zucchini in a sweet and tangy citrus sauce, added in some brown rice and mango. The filling was good on its own was good and much of it didn't make it to the enchiladas. Luckily, I made more than I'd need. Then I rolled the filling up in tortillas and poured my SIL's California Chili Pepper Enchilada Sauce, which turned out to be a perfect complement to the filling. So Good.



Sweet & Citrus Veggie Enchiladas
10 flour tortillas or 20 small corn tortillas
1 recipe California Chili Enchilada Sauce
1 mango, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
1 red onion, chopped
1 zucchini, chunked
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 cups brown rice, cooked
Citrus Sauce:
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp brown sugar
1 zest of one orange
2 oranges, juiced
2 limes, juiced
1 tbs tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced

For the filling, combine all of the sauce ingredients and set aside. Saute the onion in vegetable oil. Add the sweet potato and saute for a couple minutes, then pour the citrus sauce into the pan with the zucchini. Cover and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender. Stir in the cilantro, mango and brown rice and prepare to spoon the filling into the tortillas.

Add a few spoonfuls of enchilada sauce into a 9x13 casserole, just enough to cover. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce into a pie dish For each tortilla, dip into the sauce and flip, so both sides are coated. Add 3-4 heaping tablespoons of filling. Wrap each tortilla and place tightly into the casserole. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until bubbling.

5 Servings: 569 Cal (12g fat, 105g carbs, 14g protein)

Asparagus hit the shelves last week and I finally found some that looked pretty good. For as long ad I can remember, that has meant Primavera with loads of veggies and mushrooms. In years past I made a cream sauce (35g fat, 17g saturated), but this year, I went for an equally decadent cashew sauce that turned out to to be far more appealing to the midsection (21g fat, 5g saturated), and that could probably be trimmed further.

So this was my Valentine's Day meal. Pasta Primavera, made to please the pallet and a fresh loaf of crusty baguette.



Pasta Primavera
2 tbs Earth Balance Margarine
1 lb asparagus, cut into 3" spears
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, sliced on the bias
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 bunch green onions, chopped, including greens
1 lb pasta (penne or fettuccine are good)
1 cup cooking liquid (reserved)
Sauce:
1 cup cashews, ground
2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup white wine
1 tbs miso
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup basil, minced (or 1 tbs dry)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

For the sauce, blend together the cashews, soy milk, wine, miso, garlic, salt and pepper. When well blended, add the basil and pulse, just to combine. Set aside until needed.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. The veggies and sauce takes just a little longer than the pasta. Melt margarine in a saute pan. Add the mushrooms, asparagus and carrots. Saute until the carrots begin to soften. Stir in the green onions and zucchini. Add the sauce and bring to a boil.

While the asparagus, sautes, add the pasta to the pot of water. Boil until the pasta is tender, but not completely cooked. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of water. Add pasta to the sauce and simmer until the pasta has finished cooking, just a couple of minutes. Add up to a cup of reserved cooking water to thin the sauce, if necessary.

5 Servings: 650 cal (21g fat, 92g carbs, 26g protein)

For me, this is the Phoenix of soups. Originally, this became a soup because I didn't want to throw away a disastrous Thai curry. As a curry, it was watery and cool. With a doctoring, it became a sweet & hearty stew with the Thai flavors of lemon grass and kafir lime leaves. With a lots of veggies and nuts, a bowlful can be meal by itself.



Thai Cashew Stew
1 tbs vegetable oil
4 shallots
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup jasmine rice
1 tsp red curry paste
3/4 lb sweet potato, diced
1 stalk lemon grass, minced
1 cup frozen corn
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 kafir lime leaves (2 sets of 2)
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tbs ketchup
4 tsp golden mountain sauce (or soy sauce)
1 tsp brown sugar
3 cups water
1 tsp corn starch, mixed with 1/4 cup cold water
salt and pepper to taste

Fry the shallots and cashews in oil until the shallots are soft. Add the rice and curry paste and fry for just a minute or two. Add the sweet potato, lemon grass, celery and corn and saute for a couple minutes more. Then add the remaining ingredients (except corn starch) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the sweet potato is soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch 5 minutes before the soup is finished. Salt and pepper to taste.

5 Servings: 345 cal (16g fat, 46g carbs, 9g protein)