ehm

I blogged so much for MoFo (so much compared to what I'm used to) that in November I spent many days without even thinking of my life as a blogger.

Just finished a wonderful vegan dinner with some of my father's friends and so glad they loved it and were so open minded!

Menu was:

* gram flour omelette squares
* tagliatelle with tofu ragù
* seitan scaloppine
* oven baked potatoes
* hazelnut cupcakes with mocha hazelnut mousse filling
* brownies
* ice-cream
* truffles (made with leftover hazelnut mousse)

This huge amount of food makes me feel sooo lazy SO I'm updating but no recipe at this time.

rotolo alle bietole ripassate

This is actually rolled pizza dough filled with chard: it is perfect as an appetizer or a fast lunch, really tasty even for those who don't really like greens.

after

I loved those so-British After Eight thin mints! My British-friendly, hippy parents used to buy it when I was a kid so it sweetly reminds me of my childhood. In 1988 evil Nestlè got the After Eight brand and I began to be uncomfortable with my thin mints (maybe I could already feel the Nestlè bad vibes), so I seldom bought After Eight (maybe twice since then). But I'm kinda British obsessed so..I had to try any other possible way to have my British mint and chocolate treat! After choco-mints cupcakes I found these nice bars.

This recipe comes from cute Kelly from Vegan Cookies: I respected the original recipe but since I've never heard of mint extract in Italy I simply used mint syrup (the kind you put in water during summer), which already has colouring in it (so no need for green colouring).

My omnivores (i.e. my closest friends) loved these bars, so it's probably one of those treats you can make when you have to feed vegan skeptics.

apologize!!

I know this should have been the MoFo BUT in fact I'm having some personal issues that don't allow me to cook a lot. BTW, I'll make this post double to apologize.

First of all some days ago I decided to make those (in)famous graham crakers, that personally I don't think are sold in Italy and that I couldn't really imagine.

I used the recipe I found on VCTOTW blog, and enjoyed it. I'd never call them crackers and they do really remind me of Dutch speculaas, amazing spicy cookies.

Also, risotto is becoming this year's dish. Last year I was so into soups, but this year..I make risotto at least once a week.

Today I made this one with creamy pureed chard and tofu cream cheese. It's not really good looking, but it's tasty and easy to make. You can use spinach, lettuce or whatever if you don't have chard.

feeds one hungry person:

• some frozen chard, boiled until soft and blended until very smooth;
• half a cup ribe rice (or some other rice good for risotto. Please don't use chewy parboiled varieties, they suck);
• two tablespoons olive oil;
• half onion thinly sliced;
• some wine or whiskey or any other alcoholic liquid;
• simmering vegetable stock (I used a glutammate free vegetable stock cube);
• some tofu cream cheese (optional);
• nutritional yeast (optional);
• salt.

Make risotto as usual: sautè onions in oil, add rice and "toast" it until it's hot, pour in the wine and let it evaporate. Add the pureed chard, and begin adding gradually (you gotta make risotto, not soup so be careful don't exceed ) the hot stock, until rice is soft but not yet really cooked.

Turn the fire off, add your tofu cream cheese and yeast, mix well and let the risotto rest covered for about 5 minutes. Salt to taste. Serve, eventually adding a little stock to make it creamier if it became too dry.

the '95 flavor

I have been addicted to the '95 sound since...1995. I think I'll never find a cure.

Black Sheep . Without A Doubt, prod. Salaam Remi, 1995, Non Fiction

They say that break should be Holy Thursday by David Axelrod but..I sincerly can't recognize any samples from it.

By the way I had been looping this track all day long.


Just..can't stop.

terraTERRA

I finally went to this awesome farmers' market called terraTerra (means earth earth) (they organize one each Sunday at some different place) at my fav squat center in Roma, selling organic, natural, home made and fair trade food. I loved it!

entrance




the "market without merchants"


wine bar


pizza filled with chicory


"white" pizza


nice Filippa, a friend we met there :)

[+ info]

polenta e veg*spuntature

Polenta is cornmeal. I don't know if in the non-Italian world, people do eat it, but it's very popular over here, especially in the North being a really nutricious, healthy and it-makes-you-feel-warm-inside food. Okay, I'm not from the North (Rome is in the "middle") but since I was a baby we used to eat it every now and then, probably the way it is kinda traditional in my city which is with pork ribs and maybe sausages. So....I veganized it and it was kinda success.

polenta con le veg*spuntature



ingredients:

• cornmeal (I use the instant one, it takes shorter);
• 3 cubes vegetable stock;
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes with their sauce
• soy TVP cut in chunks
• a coupla veg sausages, sliced (I used two leftover wieners)
• olive oil. a lot: you want it oily as if you were cooking something with greasy sausages in it. No diet today, this is a wintery comfort food!

Put water to boil with one cube of stock, when it's boiling add your TVP and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain it well.

Put oil into a pressure cooker, sautè your sausages until golden, add tvp and sautè a bit more. Add the tomatoes and two vegetable stock cubes. Close your pressure cooker and cook for about half an hour since you hear its hiss (of course you can make it without a pressure cooker, but you have to -at least- double cooking time). The ready sauce must be shiny with oil and smelling damn good.

Cook polenta -cornmeal- following instructions on the bag and serve covered with the tomato sauce and chunks of your TVP and sausages. You may add nutritional yeast to make it cheesy.

For even better taste, prepare you sauce the day before: TVP will be soaked with tomato and olive oil...yummy.

If you have some leftover cooked cornmeal you can spread it in a thin layer and grill it with a hint of margarine and some "cheese" the next day.

(invisible) cream, peas and fake ham pasta

I think I never ate the original recipe I veganized yesterday, but I know that my version was a real success!

(invisible) cream, peas and fake ham pasta

ingredients:

• a coupla vegan wieners (or better, vegan ham) cut in small dices;
• pasta of course;
• frozen peas, as much as you want;
• vegan cream (I like oat because no omnivores notice it's vegan);
• thinly sliced onions;
• olive oil.

Put a big pan filled with water on high heat, salt it and cook peas in it until water boils. In the meanwhile, in a frying pan heat some oil, sautè onions then add your wieners. Fry them until they start to look just a little crispy and browny. When water it's boiling drain your peas using a perforated spoon and use the boiling water to cook pasta. Go back to the frying pan and add the cream, as much as you like. You want the "sauce" to look creamy and thick, so leave it on high heat if it's too watery. Drain your pasta al dente (I like to drain it one minute before cooking time written on instructions), add the peas and cream sauce and serve immediately.