Quick pasta dish with leek, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and garlic Ⓥ

So one night I got home late & was hungry but hadn’t done groceries that day. Luckily I still had some fresh vegetables in my fridge and made up this quick dish. It’s great warm for dinner, but equally yummy as a (cold) lunch.

Ingredients (4P)

• Pasta (for 4 people), I used 300g whole wheat penne.
• 1 leek (medium)
• 10 mushrooms (medium)
• 10-15 cherry tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove (or 1 tsp asafetida powder)
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• Good quality olive oil
• Salt & black pepper

Preparation

1. Boil water for pasta.
2. Wash and cut the vegetables (leek: sliced; tomatoes: halves; mushrooms: quarts).
3. Slice and dice the garlic clove.
4. Heat olive oil in a skillet or wok and add leek, fry for 2 minutes, add mushrooms, fry until golden. Add garlic, stir for about 2 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and let simmer.
5. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to instructions on packaging.
6. Before draining the cooking water of the pasta, take out a small amount in a cup and set aside.
7. Drain the pasta & splash with cold water.
8. Add the pasta to the vegetables, add olive oil, salt, pepper & fresh basil and stir well.
9. Add a bit of the cooking liquid if the mixture is too dry.
10. Serve with a side salad (in picture: lettuce, tomato, nutritional yeast, roasted pumpkin & sunflower seeds with ume su vinegar) with a mustard dressing.

TIP: You can also add fresh spinach or endives or whatever you have in your fridge at that moment and you feel like adding. The tomatoes and cooking liquid give you a simply but deliciously light sauce.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

Vegan recipe: gnocchi and veggies from the oven Ⓥ

Gnocchi are so delicious and filling. It’s not always easy to find a vegan version (check if they add milk in the ingredient list), but I’ve managed to find a good brand in my local organic store. Next up will be to make my own gnocchi from scratch, but until then, these will do 🙂

Ingredients (2-3p)

• 250 g Mushrooms
• 400 g fresh (of 200g frozen) spinach
• 160g vegan chicken pieces 
• 200 ml soy cream
• 1 package of vegan gnocchi
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Half a tsp turmeric
• Pinch of pimenton (smoked paprika) powder
• Salt (Himalayan or sea)
• Black pepper
• Olive oil or coconut oil
• Optional: nutritional yeast

Preparation

1. Clean the mushrooms (not with water, but with a paper towel or special brush) & cut in 4.
2. Cut the onion & cut in 1cm pieces (more or less), chop the garlic.
3. Wash the spinach thoroughly or use frozen (needs to be thawed first).
4. Put some olive or coconut oil in a frying pan or wok, allow to heat up well before adding the gnocchi. Stir fry until they’re a bit golden. Set aside.
5. Stir fry the vegan chicken bits until they are lightly golden. Set aside.
6. Stir fry onions, until golden, then add the mushrooms until nicely golden, add the garlic.
7. Add the (fresh) spinach and stir for a couple of minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 180°.
9. Add the spices and mix with all the other ingredients in the wok for  a few minutes.
10. Add the soy cream and stir until everything is well mixed and the sauce turns nicely golden yellow (turmeric effect).
11. Add pepper & salt to your taste.
12. Add nutritional yeast for a nutty/ cheesy flavour (optional).
13. Put the content of your pan in an oven dish and leave it the oven for about 20 minutes.

Serve with a green or tomato/ rocket salad.

Bon appétit!

Vegan recipe: no crust quiche

I love quiches and especially this simple version that’s also gluten-free.

Ingredients (2P)

• 1 package of silken tofu (400g)
• A handful of cashew nuts
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp curcuma
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Sea (or Himalaya) salt & black pepper
• 250g mushrooms
• 1 leek
• 200g fresh spinach
• Dry parsley

Preparation

1. Mix the cashew nuts, asafoetida, nutritional yeast, curcuma and 2 tbsp of the silken tofu in a blender till it becomes soft (sauce like) consistency; add the rest of the silken tofu and blend it all together.
2. Add salt and black pepper to your taste.
3. Set the tofu mixture aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
5. Clean and slice the mushrooms.
6. Wash and slice the leek and spinach.
7. Stir fry the leek for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms and finally the spinach and season with salt, pepper and some dried parsley.
8. Put the vegetables in a baking dish, pour the tofu mixture over it and put in the oven for about 30′.

Serve with a green salad, or an avocado/ tomato and basil salad (see picture).

Tip: you can substitute the used veggies with any vegetable that you like, just adjust the cooking time to be sure they’re tender when they go in the oven.