Dinosaur ravioli

 

If you have dinosaur loving kids or are a dinosaur loving adult, this recipe might just be the right one for you. I made vegetarian t-rex spinach ravioli with a sunblushed tomato, garlic, basil, pine nut and mozzarella filling and wanted to share the recipe with you. The dinosaurs were quite thin so the sealing was a bit challenging, but I didn’t split any of them when cooking. You can of course make any shape of ravioli that you fancy with this recipe. The recipe actually yields quite a lot of pasta dough so you might want to make other shapes also that are quicker to make.

And note that my pasta dough is eggless, hence vegan, but I used Mozzarella in the filling. If you want to keep it vegan, you can find some alternatives to that. Have fun pasta making!

Pasta dough

100 g fresh spinach

1 ½ cups 00 pasta flour

1 cup semolina

1 tsp salt

½ cup water (add more if needed)

1 tsp oil

Filling

2 garlic cloves

70 g sunblushed tomatoes

2 tbsp pine nuts

50 g grated mozzarella

A few fresh basil leaves

Pinch of salt and ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

Method

Wilt the spinach in the ½ cup water for the dough and purée it smooth. Mix it and the other ingredients for the pasta dough and knead to a firm ball. Wrap the dough in a cling film or beeswax wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

Fry the garlic in olive oil and toast the pine nuts in a pan. Purée them with the other filling ingredients into a smooth paste.

Roll the dough out and work it through a pasta machine into thin sheets. Cut out dinosaur shapes with a cookie cutter and fill them with the filling. Seal carefully by brushing the edges with water and pressing them together.

Boil the ravioli in hot water for a few minutes and serve. I added just a little bit of brown butter on the ravioli for serving.

 

Your VegHog

Wild garlic tagliatelle

 

It’s another long weekend here and I’m quite chuffed about it. I basically have no plans, which is nice. There’s no rush to get anywhere. Last weekend we got to do some hiking at the Danish countryside, which was really refreshing. Now we will just stay in town I reckon.

First I want to share this green dish with you. As I got even more wild garlic, I decided to make a vibrant green homemade tagliatelle and this is how it turned out. First I had a pale green pasta dough, but once the pasta was cooked, it turned really nice and green. It very much tasted of wild garlic and I got the texture right, as it was not too thick and not too thin. I served the pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and a salad with edible flowers. It was quite a nice meal.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

 

Homemade smoked burrata, porcini and wild garlic ravioli

 

It’s a public holiday, Ascension Day, in Denmark today so I’m starting the day slowly writing a blog post and making breakfast. We will go to the local covered market again, probably eat lunch there and then stroll back home. We won’t leave quite yet, as a thunderstorm is approaching from Sweden and it already started raining here. I hope it clears for the afternoon.

I have been manufacturing some homemade pasta again. This time I made large ravioli with a smoked burrata, porcini mushroom and wild garlic filling. The ravioli were very tasty. I served them with brown butter and a radish salad. You can see some stages of the making here.

Your VegHog

 

Homemade tortellini with smoked burrata, garlic and potato filling

 

How have you all been? Are societies opening up where you are in the world? Here in Denmark we will have a bit more openings next week when bars and restaurants are allowed to open again. For sitting inside you will need a fresh negative COVID-19 test or will have to have the vaccination, but you can go without those things for outdoor serving. I’m not sure yet whether I will be rushing over as soon as. I think maybe we’ll visit some outdoor food markets first to get used to eating out again. We’ve had our “beergarden visits” through the whole winter regardless the weather. On many Saturdays we have bought take out draft beer from a nearby bar and have had some vegan nuggets and fries from a veggie friendly burger place with it. Then we’ve just stood around in a park in Copenhagen enjoying the food and drinks. It was quite nice, sometimes even minus grades, so that the beer got cooler if you didn’t drink fast enough. Good times, even though I would thoroughly enjoy a piece of normality again.

Making pasta is therapeutic and calming, especially if you manage to make a successful batch. For the first time ever I tried making an eggless pasta dough. It was so smooth and good and I don’t think I will ever be going back to the egg variant. I used burratina affumicata in the filling with mashed potatoes, thyme and garlic. As a sauce I made a brown butter with soy sauce and served the tortellini with a blood orange salad and steamed asparagus. It was a lovely meal and I have further pasta making plans for this weekend. Here is this recipe first though.

 

Homemade tortellini with smoked burrata, garlic and potato filling

Pasta dough

2 ½ cups 00 pasta flour

1 tsp salt

½ cup water (add more if needed)

1 tsp oil

Filling

100g smoked burrata

8 small potatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp breadcrumbs

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Method

Knead the pasta dough ingredients to a firm ball. Add more water, if needed. Let the dough rest for at least one hour in the fridge.

Make the filling. Boil the potatoes until soft and also sautée the garlic lightly in oil. Mix the ingredients together to a smooth paste.

Roll the pasta dough out thinly with a pasta machine and cut circles from it with a cookie cutter.

Fill the pasta circles with the potato mix, brush the edges with water and shape tortellini from it.

Once the pasta has been shaped, bring water to boil and cook the tortellini for about 2 minutes.

Roll them in the sauce of your choice and serve.

Your VegHog

 

Spaghetti with heirloom tomatoes and homemade cheesy garlic bread

How is your Sunday going? I hope you’ve all had a relaxing weekend. I will be going for a walk later, do some grocery shopping for next week and cook a Sunday dinner, no other plans for today. It’s a bit cloudy today, but that’s fine for a walk, at least it’s not too hot.

Here is a dish of spaghetti with fried heirloom tomatoes and mozzarella and homemade Cheddar and garlic breads. I got the fresh pasta from a local restaurant, Il Mattarello, in the covered market. They make excellent organic fresh pasta and you can even buy it to go!

As the pasta was such a quality product, I kept the rest of the dish simple. I got some really nice heirloom tomatoes from the market too, and just fried them in olive oil with some garlic, salt and pepper and added mozzarella on top. On the side I served garlic bread made from homemade rolls with some added Cheddar. This was a really nice and pleasing combination, really a favourite dish of mine.

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Your VegHog

Pasta with basil-cashew pesto and marinated oat block

I hope you've all had a nice last week of February. I was able to work slightly less than the previous week, so I'm happy overall. I could even steal away for one night with my friend and we went to a Danish conversation group in a bar. We try to go there every week, but lately it has been hectic. It's a nice way to get to know new people while practising Danish and sipping some nice beers.

I made a pasta dish for a change. It's completely vegan pasta with basil and cashew nut pesto served with roasted tomatoes and marinated oat block, which is like tofu, but made from oats. My recipe is adapted from Fazer's Basil Alfredo Pasta. Have a look below, how I made this dish.

Pasta with basil-cashew pesto and marinated oat block

Ingredients

Oat block marinade

160 g oat block

½ lemon's juice

1 tbsp black treacle

4 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

Pesto

1 cup fresh basil

1 garlic clove

100 g cashew nuts

5-7 tbsp olive oil

½ lemon's juice

1 tsp salt

Other ingredients

Pasta of your choice. I used Tofette shape.

Roasted cherry tomatoes for serving

Fresh basil leaves for serving

Method

Slice the oat block, mix the marinade and pour it over the oat block. Let it marinade for at least one hour.

Roast tomatoes in the oven.

Purée the pesto ingredients in a blender.

Fry the marinated oat block.

Cook the pasta until it's al dente and mix it with the pesto. Serve with the roasted tomatoes, and marinated oat block. Enjoy!

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Pasta salad

The weekend has once again arrived. Somehow January is just rushing by. Normally it feels like such a long month, but now I think that it has gone almost a little bit too quickly. It's still very warm in Denmark for the time of the year. I guess, we won't be seeing much snow or ice this winter.

A pasta salad is a nice and simple weekday lunch. You can add to it almost anything you have. We tend to make a pasta salad at Christmas with chickpeas and apples. It's quite a nice and more unusual combo. This one is more of a classic with olives and sundried tomatoes and of course olive oil.

Simple ingredients:

Pasta

Sundried tomatoes

Olives

Olive oil

Salt

Ground black pepper

Fresh parsley

Cook the pasta, cool and mix it with the chopped sundried tomatoes and olives. Season with olive oil, salt, ground black pepper and fresh parsley.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Oven feta pasta

The weekend is finally here, and it's a weekend with a local Christmas street party. It's not quite on our street, but a lovely little street nearby with lots of small independent shops, and they always decorate so nicely for Christmas. So we will be heading there soon to enjoy some mulled wine and other Christmas goodies. Before we go, I want to share a recipe with you, as it has been a bit quiet on my blog lately.

It was Finland's 102^nd Independence Day yesterday, so today I'm taking inspiration from a Finnish food blog. The recipe is not traditional Finnish food though, but this recipe got trending very much in Finland earlier this year and everyone had to try it. I'm a bit late to the party, but better late than never. This oven feta pasta recipe is adapted from the Finnish Liemessä blog's recipe Uunifetapasta. I changed my version slightly by adding garlic and by adding the chilli and garlic at a later stage of the roasting. The recipe is in Finnish only, if you want to have a look at the original. I really like all the ingredients in this dish, and it's so easy to make for example on busy weekdays. The addition of chilli is a great way to add some mild heat to the dish. I loved it!

Oven feta pasta

Ingredients

200 g feta

200 g cherry tomatoes

½ green chilli

1 garlic clove

½ cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Spaghetti

Method

Put the feta and the tomatoes in an oven dish and pour in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 200 C for about 20 minutes.

Chop the chilli and garlic finely and add them to the oven dish. Roast for further 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta in the meanwhile.

Once the feta and tomatoes are done, mix them with the pasta and serve. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Creamy bell pepper pasta

Another July week has passed by quickly, but now summer is at its best. It's really warm here (a bit too warm for me actually, but I'm not complaining), and the atmosphere in town is relaxed. A lot of people are on holiday, so the office is also quieter, which is always a plus. We are planning to spend today in the nearby park chilling.

I just wanted to quickly wish you all a nice weekend and post some pictures of this creamy bell pepper pasta that I recently made. I slow cooked the onions and bell pepper pieces and then infused some oat cream with them and added some basic spices and herbs. What a nice summer pasta it was. I ate a bit too much of it.

I will try to write another post tomorrow, maybe something from today's park adventure.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Creamy courgette and spinach pasta

I'm a very happy hedgehog at the moment, as my three weeks of summer holiday started yesterday. Next week I will be heading home to Finland, and you will probably hear something from my trip later. You can also follow my holiday photos on Instagram theveghog. I very much look forward to spending midsummer in Finland after a long time. It's a big outdoor celebration in the whole country embracing the summer and enjoying the nightless night when the sun never sets. I just hope that the weather will be nice. Otherwise I don't really have any plans for the holiday, I just want to relax at home. What about you, do you have any nice holiday plans yet?

Now to food. I had two small lovely firm and green courgettes, and I wanted to make a creamy vegan pasta with them. I just cooked the courgette slices with onion and garlic and simmered in an oat cream. For extra greens I added some frozen spinach, and the dish was ready to be served with spaghetti. I really like this kind of uncomplicated and tasty pasta dishes, which I often made in my student times.

Creamy courgette and spinach pasta

Ingredients

2 courgettes

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Vegetable oil

200 ml oat cream

Frozen spinach

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Spaghetti

Method

Slice the courgettes and chop the onion and garlic finely.

Cook the onion in vegetable oil until soft, and then add the garlic.

After a while cooking, add the courgette slices. Cook until they are softened in places. I still prefer leaving a bit bite to them.

Add the oat cream, spinach and seasoning to the pan, and let simmer until the flavours have blended nicely and the cream has become bit firmer.

Cook the spaghetti and serve it with the sauce. Have a nice summer salad or a crusty bread on the side and enjoy!

I want to share this recipe with this month's Eat Your Greens challenge. I'm hosting this month, and the event is co-hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. You also still have plenty of time to take part this month!

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Pasta Bolognese

Today is a really nice and sunny spring weather, and it should get up to +16 C degrees, so what could be better. Also my favourite outdoor street food market opened yesterday for the 2019 season, and of course I will have to pay them a visit. During the winter break I missed the atmosphere and the best falafel in the world so much. The hummus in one of the places is just perfection. The food market is located on an island by the water in Copenhagen harbour, so it's a very nice place to spend a relaxing Saturday. I soon want to write a blog post about the place, so please bear with me.

Now first of all, I want to share an easy recipe with you. Vegetarian Pasta Bolognese is suitable for both weekdays and weekends, and I've found myself craving for it often lately. I think I have found my favourite among the plantbased minces now. It's this product by Naturli made from peas and wheat gluten. 80% of the peas come from Denmark. They have just now rebranded it from Fars to Hakket, so my packet on the picture is still with the old name. Nevertheless the nice product inside has stayed the same.

Here is my pasta Bolognese recipe, which is also easy to veganise. My dish is otherwise vegan, I just added some cheese on the top.

Pasta Bolognese

Ingredients

400 g vegan mince

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

2 carrots

1 can tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato purée

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 glass red wine

Pasta of your choice

Grated cheese

Method

Chop the onions, garlic and carrot finely and start cooking them in the oil.

Once they are softened, add the vegan mince to the mix and fry for a while.

Then add the seasoning, the tinned tomatoes and the red wine.

Let simmer under lid once the flavours have blended nicely.

Cook the pasta and serve it with the sauce.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog