Vegan grilled aubergine & roast tomato pasta recipe

Aubergines (eggplants) are among my favourite vegetables in the entire world, and grilling them is one of my favourite methods of preparation - and then the classic combination of aubergine, tomato and basil is just.... * swoons * :)

I can't remember exactly how I developed this recipe, but I think it's safe to say it was born from a love of that particular combination. In the days before the vegan experiment (which is becoming less and less of an experiment and more of a lifestyle as time goes on - and one I'm feeling extremely good about both mentally and physically) I used to add a cup of crumbled feta to this dish, which, if you eat cheese, works very well. If you want to include it, it just goes in when you combine all the ingredients at the end. These days however, I'm using a very basic vegan 'Parmesan' - recipe below.

Grilled aubergine & roast tomato pasta
serves 2

Ingredients:

• 3 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 15 medium-sized ripe sweet tomatoes, quartered 
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small aubergines (eggplants), sliced lengthwise into 0.5 cm slices
• 200 grams of dry pasta  (I usually use spaghetti, but short pasta types work very well too)
• generous handful of fresh basil, shredded
• 2 tbsp of toasted flaked almonds 
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
• salt 
• black pepper
• Vegan parmesan (recipe below) to taste 

Preparation:
1) Preheat oven to 180*C

2) Place the tomatoes in a baking tray, sprinkle the garlic over them and drizzle with the olive oil

3) Toss the tomatoes in the dish until they are well-coated in olive oil, place them in the oven, and roast for an hour or until they just start to char a little around the edges. I love them that way, but eating burnt anything probably isn't good for you, so turn off the oven a little earlier than I do if you're concerned :). If the other ingredients aren't ready yet, just leave the tomatoes in the turned-off oven to keep warm.

4) While the tomatoes are roasting, sprinkle the aubergine slices generously with salt (you'll be rinsing this off later), and place in a colander to drain for half an hour - this leeches out the bitterness aubergines can have.

5) After half an hour, thoroughly rinse each of the aubergine slices to get the salt off, and pat dry with kitchen towel. Lightly oil a griddle pan and grill the aubergine slices in it until they are cooked and have a nice dark criss-cross pattern. Once they are grilled, cut each of the aubergine slices into bite size pieces.

6) While the aubergine slices are grilling, set a pan of water to boil for the pasta, and cook it according to packet instructions


7) Remove the tomatoes from the oven and put them in a large bowl, also pouring in all the olive oil and juices in the baking tray with them

8) Add the basil, pasta, and aubergine to the bowl and drizzle with a bit of balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper to taste, and toss everything together. I usually also stir in a tablespoon of the vegan Parmesan, and put the remaining Parmesan on the table for anyone who wants more. 

9) finally, garnish with the toasted almonds, and presto!


Vegan 'Parmesan' 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup of peeled almonds
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sea salt

Preparation: 

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until the mix has a light, crumbly fine-grated parmesan-like texture.

Vegan cashew cream pasta recipe

I've been experimenting with vegan food a lot recently: I've been re-evaluating after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, even though neither of them specifically advocate turning vegan.

I don't intend to go fully vegan either, but I've been trying to go for fewer animal products, more organic, and more local and seasonal - within the restrictions of my budget and working hours: a lot of the time I still have to go to the major supermarkets and settle for the most ethical/affordable option they have. Oh... and another boundary is stuff that won't grow here no matter what the season :) I'll cut down on the exotics, sure, but no WAY am I giving up coffee, to name just one thing.

So, for the next recipe, the cashew nuts were most definitely not local, and to be honest I'm not quite sure where the pasta and the sun-dried tomatoes came from... but the courgette was local, and organic, and from the little eco cornershop rather than the big supermarket, and the cashew nuts also came from said cornershop.

I've found that I'm not wild about a lot of soy-based dairy replacements (though some have worked well for me, recipes to follow), so in search of other options I came across cashew nuts as a base for faux creams and sour creams, which is what I was trying out in this experiment. It's not a culinary masterpiece, but it's quick and tasty, and I thought the cashew sauce worked beautifully - will definitely be experimenting further with that!


Cashew cream pasta
(serves 2)
Need:
blender or immersion blender

Ingredients:

(the 'cup' used in this and other recipes is a mug, which, as I have just measured and used teh interwebz to convert, holds just over one US cup of water or 8.45 fl.oz)

• 1 cup of raw cashew nuts  
• 2 cups of water
• 2-3 tbs lemon juice (optional)
• 1 medium courgette (zucchini), halved and thinly sliced 
• 10-15 sundried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped (if you're health/calorie conscious, drain the oil and pat the tomatoes dry with kitchen towel. I just fished them out of the jar, but didn't try to get rid of excess oil)
• 2 tbs pine nuts
• 250 g./9 oz spaghetti
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Preparation:
1) blend the cashew nuts, water and a little salt for a few minutes or until very, very smooth.

2) Heat the cashew sauce in a heavy saucepan, stirring frequently, until it has significantly thickened - careful not to let it burn - and turn off the heat

3) Put on water for the pasta, and in a large skillet gently dry-toast the pine nuts: careful, they can burn very suddenly. While they are toasting, chop the tomatoes and slice the courgette.

4) remove the pine nuts from the pan and set aside. Heat a little olive oil in the same pan, and gently saute the courgette unlil soft and translucent. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions

5) add the sundried tomatoes to the pan with the courgette and briefly cook, then add the cashew sauce. I wanted to go for a slight creme fraiche/sour cream-like sourness, so at this point I stirred in the lemon juice.

6) Finally, stir in the pine nuts, and add the pasta to the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste.

Presto!

Vegetarian pumpkin and cherry tomato pasta recipe

Ingredients
(serves 2-3)

• 1 small pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced
• 500 g. ripe cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 spring onions, finely sliced
  
• garlic to taste, finely chopped (I tend to use 2-3 large cloves)
  
• 150 g. coarsely chopped rucola (rocket)
• 300-400 g tagliatelle, preferably fresh
• 100 g flaked almonds, toasted
  
• 100 g fresh finely grated parmesan
• 1 tsp of dried thyme
• olive oil
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
1) preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin cubes in a baking tray or oven dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the pumpkin until pieces are evenly coated with oil, and roast for half an hour or until the cubes are soft. Stir halfway if the cubes are beginning to char.

2) When the pumpkin has been cooking for about fifteen minutes, gently sauté the spring onions for about five minutes, then add the garlic to the pan. After another five minutes, add the cherry tomatoes, sautéing them for five minutes. Remove the pumpkin from the oven, and add them to the tomatoes and spring onions in the pan. At the last moment, add the rucola, and fry for one more minute.

3) While the tomatoes and spring onions are cooking, prepare the pasta according to packet instructions. Distribute the pasta and sauce evenly over the plates and garnish with a little of the almonds and parmesan. Serve the remaining parmesan and almonds with the dish to be used to taste.