Tweet Treat: Pasta alla Vodka

This Tweet Treat happens to feature yet another pasta dish. It also begins the same way most of my recipes/blog entries begin: “I needed to get rid of…so I decided to…”
In this case, I had to get rid of roasted red bell peppers, and I decided that I was craving penne alla vodka and wanted to attempt a vegan version.

Penne alla vodka is a rich, savory-sweet pasta dish with a sauce made of tomatoes, vodka, and heavy cream. The vodka really brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes. The alcohol evaporates as the sauce cooks, so you may want to make this a raw dish.

I put a twist on penne alla vodka by changing out all of the ingredients except for the vodka. The result was a tasty, bright colored sauce. You can view Lidia Bastianich’s classic version over at Epicurious. Lidia says she likes the sauce a little feisty, so she is generous with the crushed red pepper.

Cell Phone Pic: Linguine alla roasted red pepper vodka

Roasted Red Pepper Vodka Sauce 

I initially used  1/3 cup of vodka, but I think that was a bit too strong, so I lessened the amount here. You can lessen it even more if you like. You can also add lemon zest at the end to brighten up the flavors.

1/3 cup raw cashews
water
1 cup of roasted red bell peppers, pureed
1 garlic clove, minced
crushed hot red pepper
¼ cup vodka
salt & pepper
fresh basil, chiffonaded (optional)

1. Soak the cashews in enough water to cover them in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta or whatever you’re going to use this sauce for.
3. Drain and rinse the cashews. Cover them in water again and puree until smooth (I use the knockoff Magic Bullet from Bella Cucina).
4. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic & red peppers & cook until fragrant.
5. Add pureed red peppers & vodka. Season with salt & pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
6. Stir in cashew cream & cook until heated through.
7. Add basil & serve over your favorite pasta, veggies, beans, or faux meat or all of the above.

Chickpea Battle

As part of Vegan Month of Food, the Vegan Mofo site has begun hosting weekly Iron Chef challenges. This week’s secret ingredient is chickpeas (dried, fresh, flour, hummus, etc.).

You can imagine the difficulty of creating a recipe that utilizes this extremely versatile legume that is present in so many different cuisines. I had a lot of fun with this challenge and am extremely happy with my outcome. I initially wanted to make a falafel-like pancake, but that was a big fail. When all else fails, you resort to soup, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I used ingredients that were already in my pantry. Here’s a list of them and the substitutions you can make:

• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas. I would recommend using more chickpeas.
• 1 can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Chipotle Peppers. This can has been sitting in my pantry just waiting to be used. You can sub whatever canned tomatoes you have on hand, just add about 1-2 tablespoons of canned chipotle, diced. Or use smoked paprika if you don’t want the heat.
• Besan Gram Flour. I bought this for a previous recipe, so it’s been sitting in the pantry unused. You can omit or use all-purpose flour.
• Ground coriander. Either omit, or use fresh cilantro (add at the end).
• Cumin seeds. Omit or use ground cumin.
• Leeks. Omit or use diced onion.

Smoky Tomato Chickpea Soup

1 cup or more cooked or canned chickpeas, divided

1 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes, pureed (or left as is if you want a chunkier soup)

2 cups water

1½ teaspoons cumin seeds, divided

1-2 tablespoons besan gram flour (chickpea flour)

½ teaspoon ground coriander

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup leeks, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon Earth Balance Buttery Spread, margarine, or oil

salt & pepper

fresh cilantro

Toast spices & flour:

• Toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant. Set aside.
• Toast coriander and 1 tablespoon of flour in the dry pan until fragrant. Mix together with 1 teaspoon of the toasted cumin seeds & set aside.
• Grind the remaining ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds in a mortar & pestle.

For roasted chickpeas (optional):

• Preheat oven/toaster oven to 400°.
• In a small bowl, drizzle olive oil over ½ a cup of the chickpeas.
• Sprinkle ground cumin seeds, salt, & pepper  over the chickpeas and toss to coat evenly.
• Transfer to a shallow baking pan & roast in oven until lightly browned & crunchy, stirring occasionally for about 35 minutes.

For soup:

• Heat butter or oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add garlic & leeks, stirring until garlic is lightly browned & leeks are wilted.
• Add spice-flour mixture & cook until fragrant (less than a minute), stirring frequently.
• Add tomato puree & stir. Add about 2 cups of water. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Add chickpeas. Season with salt & pepper if needed.
• Add more flour if you want a thicker soup.

Garnish with chopped roasted chickpeas & cilantro.

Tweet Treat: Soba Salad

I haven’t posted very much this summer due to the usual busyness that is life, so I thought I would come up with a new series of posts. This series of posts will be short and quick recipes based on pictures or tweets that I’ve shared on Twitter. Hopefully, it will help me to post more frequently.

The first Tweet Treat recipe is ironically a salad. I don’t like salads because everyone thinks that they are the default meal of vegetarians. “Oh, you don’t eat meat? Well, there’s salad.” I’m sorry, but iceberg lettuce or any leafy vegetable plus a couple of other vegetables does not constitute a meal!

I’m sharing a salad recipe with you, because it’s been so hot and I’ve been so lazy, but it’s still a complete meal. I hope you enjoy it, and use it as a springboard to create your own perfect, complete salad!

Soba Noodle Salad (cell phone pic)

Romaine lettuce (or any other lettuce), chopped
1 tomato, chopped
Thai basil* (or any other basil or cilantro)
½ cup Edamame, cooked and shelled
About 2 oz. dried Soba* noodles, cooked and drained
Toasted sesame seeds or any rice seasoning
Your favorite Asian Dressing (I used Ken’s Asian Sesame Dressing)

Toss everything together, adding the amount of ingredients to your liking. I would add a crunchy salad topper like chow mein noodles or won ton strips next time. I would probably also add cucumbers, but this is what I had in my fridge and pantry at the time.

*I bought the Thai basil & soba noodles at the Wan Jia Le Supermarket on the eastside. I used the Hakubaku Organic Soba brand (no salt added!).