Vegan cauliflower and leek soup

I bought a cauliflower and as always didn't know how to cook it, I also had leftover leeks and celery. I made a cauliflower and leek soup, with a bit of celery. Of course there was garlic involved, as well as a can of white kidney beans. After boiling everything in vegetable broth for about 40 minutes (I added the beans at the end since they were already cooked), I blended everything with the hand blender. The texture was that of a veloute, and it was just delicious. Highly recommended.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp vegan margarine

1 head of cauliflower

1 leek

2 stalks of celery

1 clove of garlic

1/2 sweet onion

1 carton of vegetable broth

1 can of white kidney beans

Salt and pepper to taste

Moroccan lentil and chickpea soup from 1000 Vegan Recipes

It is -30 outside, time for a nice warm soup. I looked at 1000 Vegan Recipes looking for something that looked warm, rich and delicious. I found the Moroccan lentil and chickpea soup as a good option. I went to Metro to get all the ingredients, they are pictured below.

Unfortunately none of the ingredients for the Harissa sauce was available. We decided to substitute with A Taste of Thai Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce, which has a good taste but is a bit sweet and not too vinegary.
The soup turned out delicious.

This is not a very good picture, but as you can see it is very tomatoe-ey, with a taste of garlic and ginger and some cumin. Delicious and totally recommended.

Escargot With Rosemary

This recipe was sent by Anastasia Koutalianos, author of From the Olive Grove: Mediterranean Cooking with Olive Oil.

In Greece, escargot are known as saligaria, and they can be found in dry shrubbery throughout the countryside. After picking our saligaria, we leave them in a covered basket with some flour and a few branches to start the cleansing process. But you can buy them in a can—don’t eat the ones from your garden!
Serve this appetizer with crusty bread and a glass of good red wine.

3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 can of 24–36 escargot (without shell), rinsed well
3 tbsp dried rosemary (or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary)
½ tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tbsp wine vinegar
¼ cup red (or white) wine
¼ tsp dried marjoram
½ tsp dried thyme
1 tsp flour

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium to high. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté for 5–10 minutes, or until softened. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a new saucepan, heat olive oil on medium heat, add garlic and sauté on low until fragrant. Stir in escargot, rosemary, salt, pepper, and the cooked mushrooms.
Reduce heat to low, and add wine vinegar, wine, marjoram, thyme, and flour.
Simmer for 10–15 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.

Excerpt from From the Olive Grove cookbook. Printed with permission and published by Arsenal Pulp Press.

It sounds delicious and sooo garlicky!

She also has a few other recipes in her book, such as Faki (lentil soup,vegetarian), Fasolada (romano bean soup, vegetarian), Psarosoupa (fish chowder), Oxtail barley soup, Stifatho (Venison & Pearl Onion) Stew, Roasted leg of lamb (super-garlicky), Mousaka (Eggplant Lasagna), Pastitsio (Beef & Noodle Casserole), Shrimp with Feta (also super-garlicky), Gigandes (Giant Baked Lima Beans, vegetarian and garlicky!), and lots of other Greek style dishes.

Chilaquiles for new year's breakfast

This morning, I made chilaquiles accompanied by a side of sunny side up fried eggs and some refried beans. I covered the whole thing with sliced red onion and it was all delicious and vegetarian.
I admit this is not a very garlicky recipe, but I did use garlic when making the salsa for the chilaquiles. I used cilantro, white onion, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos and garlic, all liquified in the blender and then cooked in a bit of olive oil for about 15 minutes. I used Que Pasa unsalted organic tortilla chips for the chilaquiles, really good and non-greasy.

Vegan creamy leek and potato soup

How to make a creamy soup when no milk or cream is to be added? I found a few recipes but they all said to mix everything with the blender, but then the leeks would not be visible. I wanted the soup to be creamy but the leeks to be recognizable within the soup. To make this recipes you need to prepare the leeks and the potatoes in separate pots, this will allow to puree the potatoes and leave the chopped leeks to add chunky texture to the soup.




I used:
4 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large leeks, chopped (there are 3 in the picture but I only used 2)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth or water (or more depending on how thick it is and/or how liquid you like it
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a large pot brown the garlic in the olive oil, add the potatoes and sautee until lightly browned. Add the broth to the potatoes and boil until softened.


In a separate pot, sautee the leeks in the olive oil for 2 minutes.


When the potatoes are cooked in the broth, puree with the hand blender, the texture will be that of a vichyssoise. Add the leeks and simmer for 2 minutes for flavour.



Add the chopped ginger and the curry powder to the soup. This will make the soup look a bit yellow, not the usual white, but will give it a distinctive flavour of deliciousness. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Serve and enjoy!

Grilled lettuce

Yesterday I tried this delicious recipe and a totally new thing for me, I knew that the dish existed because I saw it once on the Food Network, but I had never thought of trying it. I was trying to come up with original veggie ideas for grilling and that's when I remembered the lettuce. I did not follow the recipe on the Food Network, but I followed the technique and main idea.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
3 heads of romaine lettuce

Instructions:
To make dressing, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Slice each head of lettuce in two, lengthwise.


Brush the lettuce with the dressing.



Grill the lettuce on both sides for 5 minutes total. Brush with the dressing when turning around. You don't want to grill it for too long or it will wilt. You want it to be warm and grilled, but not soggy and wilted.


Here is the grilled lettuce. The picture is not very good, but I can assure you it was crunchy and soft at the same time, and it had nicely absorbed the delicious Asian-inspired dressing. Each person ate a whole half of lettuce and other veggies as well.

Pasta with vegan pesto and mushrooms

This recipe is super garlicky and not for the faint of heart. To make it a bit friendlier decrease the amount of garlic in the pesto.

Ingredients:
2 cups tightly pressed fresh basil
2 heads of garlic
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
3 cups assorted mushrooms (I used shitake and cremini, but you can use portobello, white, oyster, etc.)
Fresh long pasta (I used fetuccine from St. Lawrence Market)
Salt and pepper to taste
Dehydrated garlic to taste
1 oz cooking sherry

Instructions:
There are 2 parts to this recipe, the pesto, which is raw, and the pasta with mushrooms.

To make the pesto:
Finely chop the tomatoes or chop them in the food processor. Add some salt and leave them in a strainer to get rid of the excess water.

After about 10 minutes, the tomatoes will be rid of their excess water. Put them back in the food processor along with the basil and the peeled cloves of one head of garlic. You can also add about one teaspoon of dehydrated garlic if you want. Chop finely.

When all the ingredients are finely chopped in the food processor, add about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. This will give the pesto its saucy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

To make the pasta and mushrooms:
Chop the mushrooms and the cloves of 1 head of garlic.

Stir fry the chopped garlic in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, when the garlic is softened, add the mushrooms and keep stir frying. Add salt and pepper to taste. When mushrooms are cooked (about 4 minutes) add one shot of sherry. Cover and let boil for about 1 minute.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in lots of salted water according to instructions. The fresh pasta from St. Lawrence Market takes about 4 minutes to be al dente.
When pasta is ready, toss it into the warm soupy mushrooms (my pasta looks red because I got tomato pasta).

Let the pasta absorb the mushroom juices for about 1 minute.
Serve in a big spaghetti bowl. Add the pesto on top.

Enjoy, and be careful with all that garlic. No, seriously, I was kind of crying at the end of my dinner. But it was goood!

A new take on "The Real Pasta Primavera"

Earlier this year I blogged about The Real Pasta Primavera. I have heard many good things about the recipe and it was even reproduced on a site called cookware.com.
So I decided to experiment with that same recipe adding more vegetable variety.
This recipe is vegan.

Ingredients for 2 persons:
Fresh fettuccine, enough for 2 persons (I got mine at St. Lawrence Market, I bought the red pepper flavoured one, I would have preferred the basil flavoured but they were out).
One bunch of basil, chopped.
1 bunch rapini.
1 pound fresh small tomatoes, very finely chopped (I did not use grape or cherry tomatoes, the ones I used were slightly bigger than cherry tomatoes, like the size of a golf ball).
Baby spinach (I used about 2 cups, but note that it wilts and reduces its size).
6 cloves of super finely chopped garlic.
1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced.
About 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil.
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or you can substitute salt+garlic powder for garlic salt, but I didn't have any).
Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:
Boil salted water and prepare it for the pasta, I added a little bit of cooking oil to the boiling water.
Slice rapini diagonally, use the whole thing, including both stems and flower. Pieces will be thin since they have been sliced diagonally. In a smaller pot, boil salted water. When boiling, "blanche" the rapini for 3 minutes.
Discard any tomato "juice" after chopping them, you want them on the "dry" side (non-juicy).

The following step involves "semi-heating" the sauce but not cooking it. I just didn't want the sauce to cool the pasta (as it usually happens with the pasta primavera). At low heat, combine the tomatoes, garlic, rapini, olives, spinach, basil and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and garlic powder. Heat it up for approximately 4 minutes, you don't want it to "cook" any of the ingredients, just to warm them up.

Now it's time to boil the pasta. Cook it al dente, take it out immediately, drain it and put it back in the pot (without the water). Pour the sauce on top and keep it at low heat for 2 minutes. This will distribute the heat.
Serve immediately.

Vegan caprese-inspired salad

This is an unconventional caprese salad, since it is vegan so it does not contain any cheese, it also includes non-traditional ingredients like onion. I titled it caprese-inspired salad. It is super-garlicky and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 package firm tofu
1 bunch of basil
2 beefsteak tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 red onion
2 TBS sliced kalamata olives
1 TBS imitation bacon bits
1 TSP honey
1 TSP mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 TS Maggi seasoning (if desired for the dressing)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:
Use the garlic press or chop one clove of garlic very finely, mix it in 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to the mix.
Chop the tofu in half an inch cubes and put them in a container covered with the garlic-balsamic vinegar. Set aside.

Chop the tomatoes in 1/2 inch squares and basil. Set aside.
Slice the red onion really thin. Set aside.
This is how I prepare the dressing:
Chop very finely or use the garlic press with 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Mix in the olive oil with approximately 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the mustard and mix until it emulsifies a bit. Then add the honey and keep mixing (I use a fork but if you prefer you can use a whisk). Add the Maggi seasoning, if you want, and finally the balsamic vinegar. Try it for taste and add more oil or vinegar according to your preferences.
Now, the trick to make delicious onion for the salad, onion that is not too strong for eating raw: Add the fine slices to the dressing and cover it all with it. Let stand about 45 minutes to an hour (you can do 15 minutes, but it is less effective). The onion will "cook" with the vinegar. It will leave a delicious flavour in the vinaigrette and it will not be too strong for eating raw.
When it's time to serve, just mix all the ingredients together. Delicious, nutritious, low calorie and vegan. And most importantly... plenty of garlic!

White bean salad (ensalada de alubias)

OK, so this recipe has no garlic, but is delicious anyway, and has lots of onion. It is also vegan.
I wanted to make an "ensalda de alubias" like the one I had a long time ago in an Argentinian restaurant called La Taba in Mexico City.

I was looking for alubias, the white beans that is used in Spain to make fabada, apparently they are called fabes in English, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Even at St. Lawrence Market, where there is a guy who has every bean and rice imaginable, when I asked for fabes they wanted to give me fava beans, which are not the same. And when I looked up fabes on the internet it always took me to a generic beans page, so I tried to look for substitutes. I ended up buying baby lima beans. They were good enough.

I soaked 1.5 cups of dry baby lima beans overnight in the fridge.
Then I cooked them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes with the heart of one celery, 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, half an onion, 2 cloves of garlic slightly crushed and 3 bay leaves. I let the pressure cooker cool naturally and then I opened it.


Meanwhile I chopped about 3/4 red onion and covered it with the juice of 2 lemons and about 1 teaspoon of sea salt. I did this to marinade the onion and make it less strong for eating.


When the beans were cooked, I removed the celery, the garlic, the bay leaves and the onion and drained the beans keeping about 1/4 cup of the cooking water. I let the beans totally cool (or you can rinse them in cold water as well, but they are delicate and may peel if you do that, I recommend just letting them cool down). I then added the cooking water and beans to the lemon+onion concoction. I then used 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and (here's the secret ingredient) 1 teaspoon powdered dry oregano. Mix everything and add salt and pepper to taste.



The salad was delicious!

Spinach and sundried tomato linguine

I'm still around. I've just been really busy with work and life and stuff... no, no good gossip, nothing new, just busy.

OK, so today I have the recipe for spinach and sundried tomato pasta. This was a delicious recipe I made a couple of weeks ago. I used Catelli Healthy Harvest (whole wheat) Linguine.
Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes
2 cups chopped sundried tomato (in oil)
Club House Garlic Plus

1/2 a cup chopped Kalamata olives
1 cup fresh basil
3/4 package fresh spinach
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Oregano
Dried cayenne pepper
Linguine

For the sauce:
Chop the garlic and fry it in the olive oil.


Then add the fresh tomato, oregano, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper, as well as the Garlic Plus seasoner. Sautee for a few minutes.


The sundried tomato and olives go now.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta to two-thirds of the time indicated in the package, for example if it says to cook for 8 minutes, cook it for only 5. You want the pasta to be kinda hard.
When the pasta is cooked (sorta), add it to the sauce along with the spinach and the fresh basil. Salt and pepper to taste. Leave it for approximately 2 minutes, covered. The spinach will be wilted but not totally consumed.

Serve in a pasta bowl and enjoy!


(For those of you non-vegans or non-allergic to milk products, you can add some grated parmiggiano here).

Derlea garlic products do not disappoint

Last week I got a batch of Derlea garlic products, including Minced Garlic, Garlic & Ginger Puree, Roasted Garlic "Crunch" and Roasted Garlic Puree.

I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect, although I had seen some of the jars at Sobey's on Front St., I had never got them always preferring fresh garlic. But as loyal readers know, I've had problems keeping the garlic, mainly I think my apartment is too humid or something, and it sometimes sprouts or gets soft.
These jarred garlic products came to solve the problem. The minced garlic is just your regular minced garlic but in a quite convenient format. It retails for approximately $2.25 and is worth it if you have the "sprouting garlic" problems I've talked about.

The garlic and ginger puree is good, and convenient for cooking soups or oriental foods. But the roasted garlic..... oh my god, it is fenomenal. The roasted garlic puree was delicious over baked potato wedges (sorry I couldn't take a picture because I accidentally left my camera, and my lunchbag! at work). I just cut the potatoes in wedges (without peeling them), put them in the oven, sprinkled them with a bit of olive oil and roasted garlic puree. They were delicious. I really recommend it.

The roasted garlic crunch was a bit of a mystery, with the name "crunch" I didn't quite understand what it meant. Well, it is basically dehydrated garlic, great to toss over salads, pasta or pizza. I had it over pasta in lieu of parmesan cheese (since as my loyal readers know, I can't have any dairy products), and it added an extra delicious flavour to it. All in all, delicious garlic goodness.

Also, some readers asked me recently how to substitute jarred garlic products for fresh garlic in recipes. Well, The Derlea Foods website actually shows conversion measurements for those interested, for example, 1/2 teaspoon of chopped or minced garlic is equivalent to 1 clove of fresh garlic (more info here).

I still think I'll like to try the garlic with jalapeno product, I've seen it at Sobey's.
(Picture shamefully borrowed from Derlea Foods website).

Chickpea and spinach curry

Since I don't eat any dairy products or milk ingredients at all, I have been a bit concerned about my calcium intake. What else can I do to consume more calcium. I did some research and it happens that spinach is a really good source of calcium, so I decided to try new spinach recipes, containing garlic, of course. I made up this recipe today. The recipe is vegan.

Chop one whole onion and three cloves of garlic and sautee them in two teaspoons vegetable oil.


When onion is transparent, add three teaspoons of soy sauce, three teaspoons curry powder, the juice of half a lemon and one tablespoon chopped ginger (I used the one that you buy in a jar and is already chopped). Stir well and cook for about five more minutes.


Add one can of chickpeas semi-drained, and one can chopped tomatoes. Let cook for about 10 minutes to absorb all the flavours.


Finally add one bag baby spinach and stir just until wilted (not more than 2 minutes).


Serve with rice, I used basmati and it was delicious!

Pasta with white mushroom sauce

This recipe is vegetarian and vegan.

As many of my readers know, I am allergic to all dairy ingredients. This time I decided to make my own pasta with white sauce, taking special care of not adding any dairy (most people will use cream for a mushroom white sauce), and of course, very garlicky!

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:
Olive oil
One cup shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper, if desired
All the sherry left in the bottle (OK, I used all the sherry left in the bottle because I didn't have much left, I suggest about 1/2 a cup)
4 to 5 cups chopped mix mushrooms, I used cremini, oyster, shiitake and portobello
Cooked pasta (enough for the number of persons), I used multi-coloured fussilli

Sautee shallots and garlic in the olive oil until brown, be careful not to burn them.


Add the mushrooms and sautee until cooked (about 4 minutes).


Add all the sherry left in the bottle (OK, about 1/2 a cup). Add a teaspoon white flour for thickening the sauce. Also, add salt and pepper to taste and crushed red pepper, if desired. Stir until flour is disolved. Simmer for about 4 minutes making sure it does not dry out.


Serve over cooked pasta.


Delicious!

The real pasta primavera

This dish is so garlicky it's dangerous! This is the authentic pasta primavera from Italy. There's a huge snowstorm in Toronto, so I decided to channel spring by making spaghettini primavera, primavera means spring in Italian and in Spanish. And you don't have to cook anything (except the pasta, raw pasta is not good to eat, you guys!) There's a bit of chopping involved, though.

Ingredients per person:
One cup fresh tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
One portion of spaghettini (I used about one inch roundful per person).

Cook the pasta in boiling water, but make sure it's al dente. You don't want soft spaghettini for this. I used Catelli Bistro Sundried Tomato and Basil spaghettini. But you can use just regular pasta. Spaghettini is recommended because it is thin. Capelli D'Angelo also works really good with this recipe.

Finely chop the tomatoes, garlic cloves and basil.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain and immediately (don't let the pasta cool), toss with the olive oil and the chopped tomatoes, basil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately. I did not sprinkle with parmesan because, as my regular readers know, I'm allergic to milk products, but everyone else can do this to enjoy this delicious spaghettini primavera.