Creamy mushroom sauce with fusilli

This sort of creamy mushroom sauce used to be the food of choice in my student days. I used to make it constantly and combine with either pasta or potatoes. Then I sometimes had to use canned mushrooms and no fresh herbs, obviously due to a limited student budget, but it never stopped me loving this sauce. 

My vegetarian diet used to be very one-sided back then, but luckily I started eating more versatile dishes and ingredients afterwards. These days I don't make such a creamy sauce too often and recently if I have made it, then more often with potato mash than pasta and also used oat cream instead of “real” cream. Now I thought it's time to combine this sauce with pasta again and I did enjoy eating it and remembering back to my student days.

Here is the simple recipe.

Ingredients

200 g chestnut mushrooms

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp olive oil

200 ml cream

Fresh basil leaves

Sage to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Mature cheddar grated on the top

Fusilli pasta

Method

Cut the mushrooms into thin slices and chop the shallot and garlic finely.

Start cooking the shallot and garlic in olive oil and then add the mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes before adding the cream. Then let simmer slowly so that the cream gets infused by the mushroom flavour.

Season the sauce with basil, sage, salt and pepper to taste and grate the cheese.

Cook the fusilli pasta al dente and serve with the mushroom sauce and cheese.

Here you go, it's all done. What were/are your student time go-to dishes?

Your VegHog

Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognese

Bolognese sauce is a tasty classic and I have tried to create a vegetarian version of it. This sauce can be enjoyed with pasta or even used as the basic sauce for a lasagne. The popular dish Spaghetti Bolognese was invented outside of Italy, as the original Italian Bolognese sauce is never served with spaghetti.

Mince meat in tomato sauce is the essence of this dish and carrots normally also belong to the traditional sauce, but I'm not sure how traditional my addition of baby button mushrooms is. Obviously a vegetarian version of a meat sauce can never be so authentic. Anyhow, I liked the sauce so much that I will keep adding the mushrooms in the future as well. What vegetables do you normally add to these kinds of sauces?

Ingredients

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

300 g meat-free mince

400 g tomatoes

200 g baby button mushrooms

1 carrot

2 tbsp olive oil

A few squirts of tomato purée

Salt

Ground black pepper

Oregano

Fresh basil leaves

Spaghetti

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Method

Chop the vegetables finely (slice the mushrooms) and start cooking the onions in olive oil. Once they are little soft, add gradually the mince, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes. Let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely and the liquid has reduced.

Season with tomato purée, salt, black pepper, oregano and basil to taste. Cook the spaghetti and serve with the sauce and grated vegetarian pasta cheese.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Slow-cooked tomato sauce with tagliatelle

My very productive tomato vines on the balcony, have persuaded me to cook a tomato dish again. Not that I have anything against tomatoes, quite the contrary. At the moment my vines save me quite a bit of shopping as tomatoes would always be on the shopping list. If you want to know more about my tomato growing ventures, also read yesterday's post TomatoTigerella – A love story.

So this time I decided to slow cook my sauce to make it really intense with tomato taste. I find that a tomato sauce should either be made very quickly or slow-cooked. This is how I made mine.

Ingredients

400 g tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp basil infused olive oil

20 g vegetarian pasta cheese

Fresh basil leaves

Ground nutmeg to taste

125 g buffalo mozzarella

250 g tagliatelle

Method

Chop the garlic finely and cook it in olive oil until soft. Also chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan. Simmer the sauce under lid for at least one hour by stirring occasionally. If the sauce gets too liquid, simmer also without the lid on.

Once you are happy with how the tomato taste has developed, add the basil oil, grated vegetarian pasta cheese, basil leaves and nutmeg. You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the tagliatelle until al dente. Serve the pasta with the sauce and torn mozzarella.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Roasted pepper, tomato and tofu pasta sauce

I sometimes like to add tofu to my vegan pasta sauces, and here is a recipe for such a sauce. I have guests coming over soon and I might make a similar fresh tasting pasta sauce for them after their long journey. Now I was also inspired by the beautiful colourful selected tomatoes to make a special dish. This time I roasted the peppers and tomatoes first because the roasting gives a nice flavour to them.

Here is how I made this dish.

Ingredients

250 g baby peppers

500 g tomatoes

300 g tofu

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 shallots

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Fresh basil leaves

Method

Brush the peppers and tomatoes with olive oil and roast them at 180C for about one hour. In this time the tomatoes and peppers release tasty juices and get the distinct roasting taste.

Press the excess liquid off the tofu and chop it into small cubes. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu until golden brown and firm. Stir often to make sure that the tofu cubes fry as evenly as possible.

Add the finely chopped shallots and garlic to the pan and cook for further 10 minutes.

Purée the roasted peppers and tomatoes into an even sauce after they have cooled for a while after the roasting. Add the sauce to the pan and let simmer a while.

Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and basil.

Serve with pasta and little pasta cheese on the top.

Your VegHog

Char-grilled pepper pesto

If you are looking for a quick dip or sauce idea, this pesto can become a good addition to the Christmas table. It's slightly smoky due to the char-grilling and thanks to the garlic a bit punchy.

Ingredients

2 bell peppers (red or orange)

2 sundried tomatoes

50g pine nuts

25g vegetarian pasta cheese

2 cloves of garlic

50ml olive oil

Groundnut oil for grilling

Method

Cut the peppers in half or quarter them and then char-grill them on each side until they have distinct grilling marks. Let them cool.

Chop the sundried tomatoes small and soak them in water for about 15 minutes. Then drain the water of them.

Grate the vegetarian pasta cheese (parmesan equivalent).

Once the peppers have cooled, put them into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and puree with a hand mixer to a smooth paste.

Serve as a dip or an additional sauce with the Christmas meal.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Creamy chanterelle sauce

I figured that some sort of gravy or sauce is definitely needed to accompany a Christmas meal, and I really prefer a creamy chanterelle sauce for this purpose (chanterelles are also known as golden chanterelles or girolles). This recipe is for a very basic, yet tasty sauce made of my favourite mushrooms. I was even lucky enough to find some fresh chanterelles in an English food market in December, so it's looking promising. Of course you can also use frozen or dried chanterelles, if you won't be able to get any fresh ones.

Ingredients

200g fresh chanterelles

2 shallots

10g butter

250ml oat cream

1tsp salt

½tsp ground black pepper

Method

Clean the chanterelles up and chop them into smaller pieces if they are very large.

Heat the butter in a pan and add the shallots. Sweat them at moderate heat for a few minutes.

Then also add the chanterelles and sauté them in the butter for a couple of minutes.

Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper and add the oat cream.

Simmer the sauce for a few minutes so that the cream gets infused with the fine and mild peppery chanterelle taste. Don't simmer it too long as the mushrooms can easily become chewy.

I served this sauce with mashed potatoes, and in my eyes that really is a winning combination. You can serve it with whatever other lovely veggie delights you have at your Christmas table.

Your VegHog

Hummus

One more post before September ends, and this is just a basic hummus recipe. I know hummus can be bought anywhere, but by making it yourself it's fresh and you'll know what went into it. Hummus is a great chickpea dip for finger food and paste for veggie sandwiches and burgers and simply has to be a part of any vegan's or vegetarian's diet. I especially like a simple and light lunch of vegetable sticks and hummus as a dip.

As I use dried chickpeas for my hummus the preparation takes overnight, but it's totally worth the wait.

Ingredients

200g dried chickpeas

2 garlic cloves

1 lemon's juice

4tbsp olive oil

4tbsp water

1tsp paprika

1tsp cumin

1tsp salt

Method

Cover the dried chickpeas with cold water and let them soak overnight. Then bring them to the boil. First heavily boil them for a couple of minutes and then let them boil slower for about one hour until they are soft. Stir occasionally.

Let the chickpeas cool and then continue with the preparations. Chop the garlic and squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl. Add the chickpeas and season with paprika, cumin and salt. Add the olive oil and water and puree into an even paste. Taste again and add more seasoning or more fluid if needed.

Drizzle little olive oil and paprika on the top for serving and that's it.

I will be posting dishes where I have used my hummus later. Until then, stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Rhubarb chutney

Now I truly must be becoming British as I have made my first ever chutney! I was inspired to this by some rhubarb I received from a nearby garden and wanted to make something new out of rhubarb.

This chutney is very easy and quick to make. I think I'm going to make more of this and other chutneys in the future.

400g rhubarb

1 onion

100ml Aspall cyder vinegar

200g sugar

Ginger powder

Peel and chop the rhubarb into small pieces. Also chop the onion.

Heat the chopped onion, vinegar, sugar and ginger powder in a pan and boil for about 5 minutes. Add the rhubarb and let simmer for about 20 minutes. The chutney should reach a thicker consistency. I first was reluctant adding so much sugar, but it really is needed and the end result is tasty.

I ate this chutney with some cider battered smoked cheddar and zucchini oven fries out of homegrown small zucchinis. It went really well with the smoky taste.

You can find my smoky cheese recipe here and the zucchini fries here.

Your VegHog

Pea shoot pesto

This is a slightly different but still a green pesto and it tastes like summer. I came up with this recipe when I had some pea shoot left overs and wanted to use them up. I would recommend this to you as well if you want to try a different vegan pesto.

This is how it's done:

250g pea shoots

1dl frozen peas

1-2 garlic cloves

Toasted pine nuts

Olive oil

Defrost the frozen peas and chop the garlic. Toast the pine nuts briefly in a dry frying pan so that their flavour comes out stronger.

Put all ingredients into a bowl and puree them into a fine paste and the pesto is done. Combine it with pasta, vegetables or new potatoes – all combinations are great! You can store it for a few days in the fridge, but you could also freeze small cubes for a later use.

I will soon be posting a dish that I cooked with this pesto, so stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Guacamole

Day two of the Mexican week and time to make a classic sauce and a popular dip: Guacamole. There are several variations of this sauce and I made mine with lime and tomato. Guacamole will add a nice flavour and colour to our dish at the end of this week.

Ingredients

2 avocados

1 tomato

1 lime

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

Salt

Peel the avocados and chop them into small cubes. Also chop the tomato, onion and garlic. 

Mix the ingredients together and season with salt a lime juice. 

Depending on your preference you can either leave the avocado pieces chunky or puree the sauce. This time I pureed mine but it is quite nice when you have larger avocado bits as well.

Add sour cream to the sauce selection with the guacamole and yesterday's tomato and grilled pepper salsa.

Your VegHog

Tomato and grilled pepper salsa

This week we're going Mexican and every day I'm going to post a different stage to a vegetarian Mexican meal and the end product should be ”Homemade tortillas with char-grilled vegetables, refried beans and sauces”. Obviously it'll only be a humble hog style feast but with nice homemade tortillas and sauces. I decided to split the posts for a week as there were quite many stages preparing this meal and of course each component can be combined with other meals as well.

Today we'll start with a simple tomato and grilled pepper salsa. It can be combined with many dishes and eaten warm or cold.

Ingredients

250 g cherry tomatoes

1 red pepper

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1-2 red chili

Oil

Pepper

Salt

Char-grill the pepper and roast the tomatoes in the oven brushed with oil. 

Chop the onion, garlic and chili and fry them in oil for a moment. 

Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper and puree to a sauce.

Easy! And tomorrow we'll continue with making another sauce.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Steamed new potatoes with radish leaf pesto

The first harvest from The VegHog's garden (apart from herbs) has been made and I instantly cooked something with my new radishes. These radishes grew incredibly quickly in my small balcony box and I'm now going to plant the second batch. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to cook with the produce from your own garden that you watched growing.

I grew French breakfast radishes and like with other varieties the leaves are edible. Therefore I decided to make a radish leaf pesto. Of course the leaves have other uses as well, which I may explore at a later stage. Generally I'm a great appreciator of radish anyway but I very much liked this meal, which also is a fully vegan and you can basically make it in the blink of an eye.

Ingredients:

New potatoes – Source them locally and steam them until cooked. Steaming of course keeps the vitamins in and there's no need to peel new potatoes as the peels are very thin and also nutricious.

For the radish leaf pesto:

The leaves of three radishes

1 clove of garlic

A handful of cashew nuts

Olive oil

Salt

While your potatoes are steaming you can prepare the pesto. Firstly blanch the radish leaves for ten seconds in boiling water and quickly transfer them into cold water and then drain. Puree the leaves with the garlic, cashew nuts, salt and olive oil and your spicy vegan pesto is done!

When the potatoes are steamed mix them with the pesto and serve the actual radishes on the side and enjoy!

You might have already guessed that this won't be my last radish recipe as the homegrown produce just keeps coming. Please also share your vegetable growing experiences with us!

Your VegHog

Sweet potato gnocchi with pesto

This is another one of my gnocchi recipes: simple but delicious. Try it!

For the pesto:

Large bunch of fresh basil

Vegetarian parmigiano

Garlic

Pine nuts

Olive oil

Make the pesto first as it can rest in the fridge until the gnocchi is ready. Grate the vegetarian parmigiano. Grind the garlic and pine nuts, add the cheese, basil and olive oil to it and grind to a smooth paste with a hand mixer. Put it into a sealable container and let rest in the fridge.

Tip: Freeze cubes of the pesto in an ice cube tray to be used later. That way you'll always have a quick pesto at hand!

For the gnocchi:

300g Sweet potatoes

200g Potatoes

1 dl Wheat flour

1 tsp Salt

I used a mix of regular waxy potatoes and sweet potatoes as regular potatoes are more binding. Peel the potatoes and the sweet potatoes and boil them for about 30 minutes until they are soft and let them cool down. Then mash them by pressing through a potato ricer into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and some flour into the bowl and mix and knead until you have a bouncy firm paste that can easily be shaped. Add flour carefully while checking the texture of the dough. It's important to get a texture that is bouncy and holds together at the boiling stage and that doesn't get soggy.

Shape the dough into small balls with teaspoons or by hand. Another method is to make a longish thin rod and then cut small pieces out of it. Bring water to the boil and put the gnocchi in, let boil heavily throughout. Boil until they float on the surface, which happens quite quickly.

Mix the gnocchi with the pesto and enjoy!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Gnocchi and spinach bake

Let's continue with the green vegetables in an Italian style setting also today. I have previously shown how to make homemade gnocchi, which are Italian potato dumplings, and now I'm going to make a tasty oven bake with them. You can read my basic gnocchi making tips here.

This recipe makes a huge portion that would serve around four people. For this bake I would start by making the gnocchi first.

The gnocchi:

½ kg Potatoes

1 dl Wheat flour

1 tsp Salt

These amounts are approximate and flour should be added carefully while checking the texture of the dough. It's important to get a texture that holds together at the boiling stage and is neither too soggy nor floury. After a couple of times making gnocchi you'll know what I'm talking about.

Peel the potatoes and boil them for about 30 minutes until they are soft and let them cool down. Then mash the potatoes. Pressing through a potato ricer avoids lumps. Add a pinch of salt and some flour into the bowl and mix and knead until you have a bouncy firm paste that can easily be shaped.

Shape the dough into small balls and boil them in water until they float on the surface.

The sauce:

200g Spinach

A few pine nuts

2 Cloves of garlic

1 Red onion

A glass of white wine

Vegetable stock cube or powder

Nutmeg

Basil leaves

Olive oil

Chop the onion and fry it in olive oil until translucent. Chop the garlic and add it to the pan along with the pine nuts and spinach and fry them for a couple of minutes. Then pour in the wine and dissolve a little stock powder (or a cube) into the wine as it comes to the boil. Grate nutmeg into the sauce and let it simmer for further 10 minutes. Add a little chopped basil towards the end.

The bake:

Grated mozzarella

Mix the gnocchi with the sauce and put everything into an oven dish. Cover with grated mozzarella and bake at 180C until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog