Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

Every Christmas my husband and I throw a dinner party for about 12 friends. It's always a real feast with up to 8 courses using as much home grown/made produce and everything is done from scratch.

Two our our friends have gone from meat lovers to vegans in the last four months - no butter, eggs or cheese is proving challenging for our menu.

It'll be an Italian /sisilian meal inspired by a trip earlier this year (we already have the limoncello brewing).

So, does anyone have vegan recipes (which taste good) to make home made pasta (for ravioli) or gnocchi?

It would be good to use the little that's left on the allotment for filling - spinach, leaks, kale, squash, beetroot.

All help and ideas would be very much appreciated.

Paula

I know this just looks like a link, but I can heartily recommend Dhruv Baker's Caponata. I make it very regularly. All you will need to omit will be the anchovy-stuffed olives (which I never use anyway, preferring unstoned green Italian olives).

4 tbsp light olive oil
2 large aubergines, cut into 4cm cubes
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
20ml red wine vinegar
100g green olives (Dhruv recommends the ones stuffed with anchovy)
4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
Small bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Heat a large frying pan and when hot add the olive oil and the aubergines. When the aubergines have started to colour, after about 10 mins, add the cumin and fennel seeds and cook for a further 5 mins.

step banner caponata
2 Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for another 5 mins. Add the vinegar and olives and stir well; cook for another 5 mins then add the tomatoes. Leave to cook over a medium heat for 10 mins.

3 Scatter over the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or cold.

http://britaliankitchen.com/recipe-inde ... ruv-baker/

And another tried and tested which I posted four years ago. Click on it.

Cavuluciòre fucato

Thanks Alan, much appreciated. More please - I have 6 courses to fill!

How about a soup, there are lots using veg that you could adapt.

Pawty, it wouldn't be Italian without a decent serving of peperonata.

Here is Elizabeth David's (praise be upon her!) classic recipe which I have always used.

Halve, seed and thinly slice two medium-sized peppers, into strips about 1cm wide.
Pour 60ml of olive oil into a shallow pan then add a medium-sized onion, thinly sliced.
Let it cook until soft and pale then add the pepper.
Chop 6 plum tomatoes and add them to the pan, letting the mixture cook down over a low heat for 30-40.
Season with salt, pepper and, if necessary, a tiny bit of sugar. Basil leaves can be added if you wish.

Serves 4.

You could serve up some warm tomato salad. My own invention, though it appears to be fairly authentic Italian.

Cherry tomatoes halved
Medium sized red tomatoes sliced
Garlic
Basil
Extra virgin olive oil

Slice garlic thinly
Warm in olive oil
Add tomatoes and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until soft but still whole
Add chopped basil
Allow to cool for a few minutes

I'll have a think of some more Italian vegan favourites this morning, as the weather is so vile

I hope your feast is a success. Don't forget to wish your guests Buon Natale e felice Anno Nuovo, or, in Sicilian, Bon Natali e filici annu novu.

Thanks Alan ..... Something tells me you know your Italian! This is making me very hungry...

We will of course be doing some non veg options. All the siblings got together in Sicily and cooked an 8 course family meal for our parents 70th birthday. The local market in Syracusa was amazing - so much a fresh produce including fish. We did vitella tonnato, tuna ceviche and fresh large prawns (gamberoni) on the bbq. We're going to try and re create a few of these although sourcing the ingredients without it costing a fortune may prove tricky.

We have cavelo nero growing for a side dish. Are there Italian leek dishes?

Squash will also have to feature somewhere.

Paula

You want squash? You got squash!

ZUCCA IN CARPIONE (from Antonio Carluccio)

1kg pumpkin
flour for dusting
olive oil for frying
100ml balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves sliced
basil leaves or rosemary

Peel and cut pumpkin into 10cm sections and then into thin slices.
Dust with flour then fry in olive oil till golden.
Drain on kitchen paper.
Put the vinegar in a small pan along with the garlic, salt and pepper and bring to the boil briefly.
In a ceramic dish make layers of pumpkin spreading some basil leaves on top of each layer.
Pour the hot vinegar on top and leave for a few hours for flavours to combine.

Serves 4 to 6

You were right about the market at Siracusa. I've not been there since the late 1960's

Now for the leeks!

I do not admit to having made this one, but it looks very authentic. And it gets the pasta in as well.

Linguine al porro e limone
Per 4 persone portate ad ebollizione 1 litro d'acqua, salatela e versate 320 grammi di linguine.
Tritate un porro e cuocetelo in padella, rosolandolo con un cucchiaio di olio extravergine poliva, uno spicchio d'aglio tritato, sale e pepe.
Scolate e condite la pasta con il porro cotto e tritato, aggiungendo 2 cucchiai di succo di limone. Mescolate bene e guarnite con prezzemolo fresco tritato e con qualche fogliolina intera.

Linguine with leeks and lemon
For 4 people boil 1 litre of water, add salt and put in 320 grams of linguine.
Chop a leek and cook till golden in a frying pan, with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, a clove of minced garlic, salt and pepper.
Drain the pasta and add the cooked chopped leeks, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir well and garnish with fresh chopped parsley and a few whole parsley leaves.

There are more leek recipes here - it's all in Italian, but Google translate does a very competent job at putting them into English.

http://www.greenme.it/mangiare/vegetari ... -veg-porro

Have a look around this website: http://www.vegkitchen.com/recipes/a-colorful-vegetarian-christmas/ it seems that there are some winners there!

I'm enjoying seeing these recipes. While I eat a lot of veg, I also consume too much meat products so am making a resolution to balance it up a bit more next year. I've recently bought a nice cookbook at the Garden Centre - great big chunky book with loads of recipes & colour pics for the princely sum os £5.99! It's the Australian Woman's Weekly's 'Almost Vegetarian'.

It's to lead you gently into change I think as most recipes have a small bit of meat in them, but each one has options for replacing the meat with other options. Just made a Hunza Pie for our Xmas bring & share with the other disciplines we work with. I did put the chicken in it for this time but has so many tasty things in it & looks lush! Can't wait to get a taste then will judge whether to omit next time.

Westi

Well, this is the fun bit - trialing the recipes! We've just had the Linguine with leeks and lemon - it was delicious and it will be our primo course ( with our own leeks). Can't believe how amazing a meal can be with the simplest of ingredients (and pretty healthy too) My husband had a bit of parmasen on his which also worked!

I'll be looking through the other links tonight - thanks to everyone for suggestions!