Vegan – Page 23 – The Food Wife

Pasta with Roasted Beetroot, a Walnut Pesto and Ricotta

22nd August 201824th August 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 3-4

Iâ€™m so pleased with this invention I had to share it with you. This was the vegetarian pasta dish I served at an Italian-themed dinner party recently. I was serving an ox cheek ragÃ¹ to the meat eaters and wanted a dish that could stand up to it.

Roasting the beetroot gives it a beautiful sweetness to complement its earthiness. The soft ricotta gives bursts of creaminess whilst the walnut pesto lightly coats the pasta and brings everything together.

Whist this is a vegetarian dish, it can easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese elements, and gluten-free by using suitable pasta. You can roast the beetroot and make the pesto ahead of time, so you only need a short amount of time to cook the pasta and bring the dish together just before serving (step 5 onwards).

I’d not served a pink pasta dish before, but it went down well! Even the carnivores wanted to try some!

Ingredients:

For the roasted beetroot:
1 tbsp oil (olive or rapeseed are best)
4 beetroot, topped and tailed, cleaned, halved and cut in to wedges (8-10 per beetroot)
1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
Pinch each of salt and pepper

For the walnut pesto:
6 tbsp olive oil
75g walnuts, toasted
75g pecorino or parmesan, crumbled/roughly chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
Pinch each of salt and pepper

For the pasta dish:
300g spaghetti
Oil
150g ricotta
Parmesan/pecorino

Step 1: Toss the ingredients for the roasted beetroot together (be careful as your fingers may stain pink!) and spread on a baking sheet (I lined mine with baking parchment as I wanted to stop the beetroot from sticking).

Step 2: Roast in a preheated oven at 180c for 50-60 minutes.

Step 3: Remove and leave to one side.

Step 4: Make the pesto (you can do this whilst the beetroot is roasting). Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or pestle and mortar and blitz/pound together. This will make more than you need (I froze the extra in little pots). I used two cloves of garlic and on tasting it had a real heat from the raw garlic, but this mellows in the cooking stage.

Step 5: Cook your pasta according to the packet instructions.

Step 6: Heat a frying pan on a medium-low heat. Add some oil (olive or rapeseed are best) and about half of the pesto and the roasted beetroot. Stir frequently for a couple of minutes.

Step 7: Add the drained pasta (reserving a little of the cooking water) and toss together, adding a little cooking water to loosen as required.

Step 8: Serve with the fresh ricotta (use a teaspoon to drop little pieces over the pasta) and offer grated parmesan or pecorino at the table.

Baby Weaning Sugar-Free Blueberry Compote

17th August 201820th August 2018
by thefoodwife

This is a versatile recipe to make for your little one and the whole family. Use it stirred through full fat Greek yogurt (as beautifully demonstrated by The Food Baby in the picture), dolloped on top of porridge, rice pudding or baked semolina, or drizzle it over fluffy pancakes or ice cream. Itâ€™s a fun way to get fruit into their diet and itâ€™s got no added sugar, relying on the natural sweetness of the fruit.

Ingredients:
1 punnet of blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cornflour, slackened in a little cold water

Step 1: Wash the blueberries and place them in a pan on a medium heat; any excess water will help speed up the process of breaking them down.

Step 2: After a few minutes the blueberries will start to burst from the heat and release their natural juices. Stir frequently and add your lemon juice. Continue to cook until the pan is full of gloriously dark and shiny liquid and gently bubbling.

Step 3: Use a potato masher to squish the berries so no whole berries remain. If you wanted to you could also strain through a sieve, but I did not feel that it was necessary as The Food Baby is fine with some texture.

Step 4: Add your slackened cornflour and stir, lower the heat, but so that it is still gently simmering and allow to thicken for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

You can portion this up and keep it in the fridge for a few days or freeze them. If you find the mixture is too tart then you could add a little maple syrup to sweeten it, or of course you could use sugar, or honey (but only use honey if your child is over 12 months).

Thai Red Curry Paste

13th August 201813th August 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes approx 6 heaped tbsp

I have no qualms about using a shop-bought curry paste and Iâ€™ve normally got one or two tubs in my fridge from one of my trips to the Asian Supermarket in Bristol. In Thailand a popular brand is Mae Ploy, and you can pick a tub up (probably in your local supermarket) for just a couple of quid.

So whilst I will normally use a ready-made paste, occasionally I will make my own. Here is a recipe that can easily be whizzed up in a food processor (or for the more authentic experience it should be pounded in a pestle and mortar for a long time).

Now, you can up (or down) the chilli as you see fit. This is certainly not as hot as many but I think it has a decent kick. In order to achieve a redder colour you could add some tomato purÃ©e or include a red pepper in your paste.

Ingredients:
3 shallots, peeled and quartered
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
2 sticks of lemon grass, topped and tailed, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
3 red chillies, de-stalked, seeds left in and roughly chopped
30g coriander (including stalks)
1 (kaffir) lime, zest only
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander

Step 1: Blitz all ingredients in a food processor. If necessary, do so in batches and bring together at the end for a final few pulses of the machine. Alternatively you could use a pestle and mortar to crush the ingredients together.

Note that I have not included any salt. If you are doing this in a pestle and mortar you would want to add some salt to act as an abrasive to help break down the ingredients. I choose to add my salt during the cooking process, especially if I am adding fish sauce to the curry as this will provide a lot of the necessary saltiness. If you want a looser paste, a little water could be added to help things along.

Any unused paste can be frozen (I do so in little pots) that can then be whipped out as and when.

Butterbean and Rosemary Dip

6th August 20186th August 2018
by thefoodwife

If you are looking for an alternative to hummus then Iâ€™d recommend giving this a go. Really simple but such wonderful flavours.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig of rosemary
2 cloves of garlic
1 tin of butterbeans, drained
Salt and pepper

Step 1: Place the olive oil and rosemary in a pan and heat carefully. As soon as it is boiling, remove from the heat and allow to cool. The oil will be infused by the pungent rosemary ready to use in the dip.

Step 2: Blitz the butterbeans, garlic, a pinch each of salt and pepper, along with oil until you have a smooth paste. Check the seasoning and serve.

Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry

27th July 201827th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 6-8

Creamy, sweet and spicy, this is a lovely curry that is cheap to make and is really satisfying. As well as tasting great, it is rich in iron from the spinach and vitamin C from the sweet potato. Using coconut oil and coconut milk rather than ghee and cream or yogurt keeps this vegan-friendly and is not bad from a diet point of view either as the quantities of these between the portions are small.

As long as your baby likes spices, this is great for them too; just siphon theirs off before seasoning at the end, and you could blend it before serving. You could add a little cooling full fat yogurt stirred into their curry if needed.

Ingredients:
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 green cardamom, seeds only (pod removed)
1 dsp coconut oil
2 onions, halved and sliced
2 inch piece of ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 heaped tsp garam masala
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
300ml veg stock
Large pinch of dried curry leaves
250g spinach, washed
165ml coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste.

Step 1: Toast the coriander, fennel and cardamom spices and then blend in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar.

Step 2: Add the coconut oil to a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until softened, but not browned.

Step 3: Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further two minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 4: Add the freshly ground spices and cook for another five minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 5: Add the chilli powder and garam masala and stir, cooking for a couple of minutes.

Step 6: Add the cubed sweet potato along with the stock and curry leaves . Cover with a lid and cook for ten minutes on a gentle simmer.

Step 7: Add the coconut milk, replace the lid and simmer until the sweet potato is softened (about another ten minutes).

Step 8: Add your spinach, stir, and replace the lid for two minutes.

Step 9: Season to taste and serve.

I served this with nutty brown basmati rice and some spiced homegrown green beans. I simply blanched the beans until tender in boiling water and then lightly fried them for a couple of minutes in a little coconut oil, a teaspoon of brown mustard seeds and a teaspoon of ground cumin, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end.