Vegan Pasta Carbonara

Pasta carbonara's staple ingredient is bacon. It my be accompanied with other vegetables, eggs, and cheese. Sans egg and cheese, and add roasted tempeh bacon tossed in oil can be a segue into the vegan world. Throw in some green peas for color. And for the richness that's typically found in eggs and cheese, accomplish this using a herbed cashew cream, a blend of toasted garlic, soaked raw cashews, fresh Italian parsley and marjarom, veggie stock, miso, tahini, Dijon mustard, and a touch of lemon juice. When tossing the pasta, drizzle some extra-virgin oil for a finishing taste.

Vodka sauce sans cream

Vodka pasta sauce, the sauce with the pinkish hue, is creamy, tomato-ey, and absolutely delicious. In the vegan rendition, the good-old cashew "cream" comes to the rescue. It's important to soak the cashews for at least 4 hours so that it blends smoother. Add a bit of lemon juice and salt to create the slightly sour taste that cream has. The sauce started with a saute of garlic, shallots, and vodka-soaked red chili flakes. I added a bit of sherry wine to impart a sweetness and cooked until the wine reduced. Tomato paste and canned tomatoes with basil were then stirred into the pot and simmered, after which the sauce was removed from heat and blended until smooth. Meanwhile, saute asparagus and allow the water to cook out a bit. Stir in the blended sauce and allow to simmer so that the subtle tones of the asparagus infuses the sauce. Lastly, stir in the cashew cream. toss with your favorite pasta and garnish with chopped roasted cashews and parsley.

Fettuccine in fava bean sauce

Fava beans definitely have a unique flavor. There are people who like it and those who could do without it. I am of the latter population. When mature, the beans must be removed from the inedible rough pod, as well as the thick outer sheath that envelopes each bean. There is a lot of prep for something I am not too fond of. However, thank goodness for frozen prepped fava beans. That is how I was able to make a fava bean sauce for the pasta.

Fettuccine in fava bean sauce with roasted white asparagus and French green lentils

The sauce was made by browning chopped garlic in extra-virgin olive oil. Adding the fava beans and red chili flakes and saute until nicely browned. Stir in the Italian parsley and fresh basil leaves along with vegetable stock. Allow to simmer. Puree in a blender until smooth. Finish with lemon juice, s&p, and some extra extra-virgin olive oil. Roast a set of fava beans and fold into sauce and toss with pasta, simply roasted asparagus, and cooked French green lentils. Enjoy with abandon.

Baby leeks

Ramps are wild leeks and they are in season for a short while in spring. The beauty of the baby leek is that you can use the entire vegetable, not just the white part. It is very pungent, so to reduce the pungency, cook it, in this case, grill both the white and leafy parts and blend it into a pesto with garlic, roasted almonds, lemon juice, fresh spinach, parsley, marjarom, and extra-virgin olive oil. The lemony ramp pesto goes well with virtually all kinds of pasta, but in this case, it went extremely well with linguine, simply roasted asparagus and sweet 100 tomatoes, and black beluga lentils.

Spring is in the air

Linguine with fresh baby artichokes, roasted fava beans, and sunflower mint pesto

Springtime vegetables meets in a quinoa linguine tossed in an assortment of:
- fresh baby artichoke hearts braised in extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, shallots, red chili flakes, white wine, and lemon juice;
- roasted fava beans tossed in extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice;
- simply grilled spring garlic;
- and a sunflower mint pesto made of a blend of toasted sunflower seeds, fresh mint, garlic, lemon juice, and extra-virgin olive oil.
Reserve the artichoke braising liquid and add this liquid when tossing all the pasta components together.

Watercress almond pesto

Watercress is a peppery, delicate, dark green leafy vegetable that grows wild in cool streams of running water. It has a very distinct and unique flavor in which I find overpowering. The raw flavors of the watercress were subdued in a pesto made of roasted almonds, garlic, shallots, fresh basil, lemon juice, and extra-virgin olive oil. The pesto was tossed with quinoa fusilli pasta, roasted spring carrots, roasted sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, and simply cooked French green lentils.

Quinoa fusilli with roasted spring carrots, French green lentils, tomatoes, and watercress-almond pesto

Cream sauce sans cream

I remember a decade or so ago, I dined at the The Cheesecake factory where they had this amazing pasta with fettuccine, sun-dried tomatoes, and chicken all tossed in a rich cream sauce. Since then, I have revised my ways, for the better in my heart of hearts. I will have to admit, there is something satisfying about a cream sauce. In this rendition, roasted cashews and it's accompaniments were blended into a "cream" sauce and honestly, I doubt you will miss it's dairy counterpart.

Fusilli with herbed cashew cream and spring asparagus

Cooked fusilli pasta was tossed with blanched asparagus, fresh ground Hawaiian red sea salt, and a cashew cream sauce made of fresh tarragon, lemon zest, lemon juice, roasted garlic, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, and filtered water. To finish the sauce, I whisked in extra-virgin olive oil. And to garnish: some chopped Italian parsley and chopped roasted cashews.

The magic of herbs

Herbs, like spices, add a lot of flavor to foods. And fresh is best! I avoid using dried as much as possible as it is much more intense and does not capture the lightness of the fresh counterpart. This three-herb pistachio pesto featured chervil, Italian parsley, and lemon thyme. Lemon thyme is incredibly refreshing in scent and taste. You have to try it.

Quinoa fusilli pasta with 3-herb pistachio pesto, cranberry beans, kalamata olives, and sweet cherry tomatoes

Gluten-free pasta made of quinoa and corn met it's mate with a pesto made of roasted pistachios, raw garlic, Italian parsley, chervil, lemon thyme, lemon juice, and extra-virgin olive oil. It couldn't really get any simpler than that. And the taste will wow you. Toss it with whatever combination of vegetables or legumes you like. It really does prove it's magic.

Corkscrew pasta puttanesca

Fusilli is a corkscrew shaped pasta and is conduscive to absorbing pasta sauces. It was paired today e fagioli (with beans) and broccoli rabe in a porcini-puttanesca sauce. Puttanesca orginates from southern Italy and is known for being spicy, tangy, and somewhat salty, and typically has anchovies. Of course no anchovies were used in this adaptation of the sauce.

Fusilli with broccoli rabe and borlotti beans in porcini-puttanesca

The sauce was made from extra-virgin olive oil, yellow onions, garlic, red chili flakes, minced Nicoise olives, capers, tomato paste, dried oregano, fresh basil, diced tomatoes, and hydrated porcini mushrooms. The fusilli was tossed with grilled broccoli rabe, simply cooked borlotti (also known as cranberry) beans, and sauce. The dish was earthy and balanced: a bit bitter from the broccoli rabe, a tad sweet from the beans, and salt, spicy, and tangy from the sauce. And the anchovies weren't missed.

And we go full circle

After a much well-deserved vacation in Costa Rica, the first day back in the grind is always the most challenging. One of the easiest items to prepare is pasta. Even with the New Year's resolutionists, this dish did very well. As I was making the sauce, it reminded me very much of the Red Lentil Orecchiette from Millennium. See for yourself.

Saffron, coconut, and tomato linguine

First, get the saffron broth going in a stock pot, and keep the broth hot, not boiling. In a separate pot, saute the onions over low heat in extra-virgin olive oil. Add the red lentils and saute those too. Ladle in the saffron broth little by little. Stir in diced tomatoes. Once the lentils are almost fully cooked, add the coconut milk. At this point, I noticed my sauce was more like a soup. To thicken, I added tomato paste. Finish the sauce with fresh lemon zest and a splash or two of fresh lemon juice. Fresh is key. The linguine was tossed with the saffron sauce along with some blanched kale.

Kale. Now what?

Kale is a wintry green that if full of possibilities. It is often put into smoothies, made into chips, eaten in a raw kale salad, sauteed, and the list goes on and on.

Orecchiette with navy beans and kale pesto

Blanched Russian kale made its way into a pesto with shallots and garlic fried in extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice. At first, the kale was still bright green, but as it began to turn into the pesto, it turned into a muddy, earthy color. It wasn't the most appealing nor the most offensive. The color honored the season. However, if I were to make kale pesto again, I would definitely try using a raw curly kale for that brilliant green. In the finished dish, the pasta was tossed with cooked white navy beans, raw cherry tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Chopped parsley and roasted kale chips were used to garnish.

Tie this one on for size

When I first discovered farfalle, I was at Macaroni Grill on the east coast. I remember there was a huge smile on my face. It was amazing to me that one could create a bow-tie shaped pasta. It was too adorable, and more than that, really fun to eat. Today's dish was just that: a little fun, a little sophisticated, simple, and way tasty.

Farfalle with grilled raddichio, fennel, olives, and herb-walnut pesto

It's super important to soak walnuts before using. Not only does this aid in digestion, but it also helps remove some of the astringent effects of the delicious nut. Being a purist at times, I personally don't mind it too much as I could eat a boat load of walnuts from the shell. After soaking the nuts, dry toast them in the oven to bring out their nuttiness. The pesto was made by adding the walnuts, a bit of garlic, and chopped fresh sorrel and basil to a food processor. Once pulsed, a bit of lemon juice was pulsed in, then extra-virgin olive oil. Pulse is key. If you keep the food processor running, you will end up with a herb walnut butter as opposed to a pesto. The pesto should still retain some texture and show up as a feature on the dish. The farfalle was tossed with the pesto, a smidgen more extra-virgin olive oil, Hawaiian sea salt, raw shaved fennel, grilled raddichio, and kalamata olives. Utilizing the whole fennel, the fronds were used as a garnish. Fronds are also nice to an infused water or even to a vegetable stock.

The magic of broccoli

How much can one really like broccoli? I mean it's super healthy. Some sources say that broccoli contains twice the vitamin C of an orange, has a bunch of calcium (almost that much of whole milk), and contains minerals that have been found to have anti-cancer properties. With all this goodness, can this vegetable be delicious too? Hmmm... absolutely! In the dish below, broccoli is featured in three ways: raw, grilled, and sprouted. Yes. Broccoli seeds can be sprouted and they are super nutritious. See for yourself.

Penne pasta with raw broccoli and toasted pine nut pesto

The light, yet satisfying pesto is made from raw broccoli (mostly stems), lemon zest and fresh lemon juice, a bit of raw garlic, toasted pine nuts, sea salt, black peppers, and extra-virgin olive oil. You can use raw pine nuts too, but be sure to taste the pine nuts as some of the raw stuff has a particular nuance about them which roasting helps absorb. Bite-sized broccoli florets were lightly tossed in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, then grilled. Then toss the cooked penne (cooked in salt water, of course) with the pesto, broccoli florets, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, and a hint of Hawaiian sea salt. And last, but certainly not least, the dish is garnished with broccoli sprouts and whole leaf Italian parsley. Thanks broccoli!

And the homage to Millennium begins....again

Millennium is a very well established vegan restaurant located in the heart of San Francisco. They have published two cookbooks: The Millennium Cookbook and The Artful Vegan. After the first few months of working at Apple, I began to adapt their recipes into my weekly menus in what was soon to be known as Millennium Fridays. These special Fridays required a lot of attention to detail and at least a pantry full of ingredients. I continued this endeavor for about a year, but this journey came to a halt when my duties at the cafe were, for a lack of a better term, "changed". The Millennium dish below made a special appearance the past week, as it was one of our chef's favorite.

Red lentil, rosemary, and lemon orecchiette

Orecchiette is a pasta from a region of Southern Italy and its name comes from its shape, resembling that of a small ear. What made this dish is the special "sauce" made from extra-virgin olive oil, sweet yellow onions, a bit of garlic, red lentils, fresh rosemary, red chili flakes, vegetable stock, Meyer lemon zest, and fresh Meyer lemon juice. Do not skimp on the fresh lemon juice and use the bottled stuff. It's not the same. Fresh lemon juice gives it a "zing" factor that makes the dish. The cooked pasta is then tossed with the red lentil sauce, fresh wild arugula, fresh cherry tomatoes, capers, and a pinch of Hawaiian sea salt. And yes, the type of salt makes a big difference too.

Buon Appetito!