Saturday, January 30, 2010

Pizza!




Home made pizza, using the pizza base recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Apologies for the photo quality, no forward planning and night time makes for very unprofessional pictures.

My favorite toppings are fresh tomato paste and tomatoes, tofu basil 'ricotta' (from Vegan with a Vengeance) roasted pumpkin, roasted garlic, fresh basil and walnuts. Sprinkled with some savoury yeast flakes and drizzled lightly with tahini to finish.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Roast Pumpkin Lasagna

Serves - 4
Time - Preparation 30 minutes / Baking 60 minutes.

Ingredients:


1 large pkt lasagna sheets

1 large bottle of plain tomato pasta sauce

1 recipe of Vegan White Sauce
(http://veganmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2010/01/vegan-white-sauce-recipe.html)

4 gloves roasted garlic

1/2 small pumpkin - diced into small cubes and roasted

1 tin of lentils - well drained, or 2 cups fresh cooked lentils.

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, shredded.

1 350gm block of plain firm tofu

1/3 cup thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes

1/3 cup tahini

1/2 cup savory (nutritional) yeast flakes (plus extra for sprinkling on top before baking)

1 TBS lemon juice

Olive oil

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl, clean tea towel, lasagna baking dish, wooden spoon.

Directions:

1. Cube pumpkin and roast with a spray of olive oil, but only until still firm, don't over cook.

2. Roast whole garlic cloves in the oven, roasting time approximately 10 minutes, while the pumpkin is roasting, then crush with flat blade of knife.

3. Open tofu packet and wrap tofu block in clean tea towel to squeeze the water out of it, then in a large mixing bowl crumble the tofu with your hands until no chunks remain and it has the consistency of ricotta.

4. Mix tahini, yeast flakes, lemon juice and 1 TBS olive oil into tofu, then add sun dried tomatoes, basil leaves and roasted garlic and gently mix through with wooden spoon.

5. Add pumpkin cubes and lentils to tofu mixture then you are ready to build the lasagna.
6. Spray or grease lightly the lasagna dish with olive oil.

7. Build your lasagna - place 1 layer of pasta sheets on base of dish, then a scoop of the pumpkin- tofu mix, then pour over a portion of the tomato pasta sauce, ensure the pasta sheet is well covered with mixture and sauce, but only a thin layer. Repeat until you reach a final layer of pasta sheets on top.

8. Pour your white sauce evenly across the top layer of pasta, and ensure the pasta is well covered in a nice think layer of white sauce. Sprinkle some more yeast flakes on top of white sauce.

9. Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 45-50 minutes, then turn off oven and let sit for another 15 minutes before serving.

Vegan White Sauce Recipe


For potato bake, lasagne, cauliflower, creamy pasta, or anything else you can think of that needs a white sauce.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soy milk
6 teaspoons cornflour (make into paste in 1/2 cup cold water)
2-3 gloves minced garlic (roasted garlic for extra yumminess)
2/3 cup savoury yeast flakes
1/3 cup Nuttelex (optional)
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon mustard powder (or 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard)
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
(I don't add salt as the vegetable stock is usually pretty salty)

Extra cornflour (dissolve in a little water first to adjust thickness if required)

Directions:

1. Slowly dissolve cornflour, one teaspoon at a time, in cold water in small mixing bowl.

2. In a saucepan slowly dissolve Nuttelex (if using), then lower heat and add the stock, then the flour and water mixture, keep stirring.

3. Slowly heat to the boil then immediately reduce, stirring gently but constantly, add soy milk, savoury yeast flakes and dissolve, add mustard, tahini and mix well, add garlic, paprika and pepper.