Creamy Gnocchi with Roasted Tomato and Basil

We have recently started using premade gnocchi in our kitchen. We really like having a quick cooking option to add gnocchi to a dish. This dish is one that feels fast to pull together while still feeling luxurious and delicious. We have access to Delallo brand gnocchi and we like it. They make a gluten-free version and a version with gluten. While neither version have dairy products in the ingredients list, the gluten-free version does have an allergy warning saying “May contain milk”.

Serves 4-6

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 box of gnocchi (gluten-free option, dairy-free option)

1 pint cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

a handful of basil leaves

for the sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cippolini onion

3/4 cup cashews soaked for at least 30 min

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 tbsp garlic granules

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch of red pepper flakes

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Cover the cashews with water to soak. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put on a large pot of salty water to boil.

When the water boils, cook the gnocchi according to the instructions on the package. Meanwhile, rinse the tomatoes and put them on a sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and then sprinkle with some salt. Put in the oven to roast until the skins pop open, about 12 minutes. Next, drain your soaked cashews and add them to a high powered blender with the water, lemon juice, and garlic granules. Blend until smooth. Finally, slice the onion thinly.

Once you have drained the gnocchi, put the remaining tbsp of olive oil in the pan and return to medium high heat. Put the onion in the pan and add some salt. Cook until the onion is soft and starting to brown, stirring constantly. Add the hot pepper flakes and stir in. Add the cashew alfredo sauce to the pan and stir until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

Add the gnocchi and roasted tomatoes to the pot. The tomatoes will break down and mix with the creamy sauce. Garnish generously with torn basil leaves. Enjoy!

Eggplant Lasagna

Celebration of eggplant season continues with this delicious lasagna. Layers of delicious cheesiness, soft perfectly salted eggplant, and beautiful ribbons of chard make this a summer delight. This makes 8-10 servings making it perfect for a family dinner or just for one if you love lasagna. We also love to freeze the leftovers of this meal. What’s better when you have nothing left to eat than looking into your freezer and seeing some home-made lasagna all ready for you to bake?

Serves: 8-10

Time: 2hr 15min; 1.5 hours is inactive

Ingredients:

2 eggplants (1.5lb)

Salt

Olive oil

1 block of firm tofu, pressed

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp veggie bouillon (We like Better than Bouillon)

1/2 cup hot water

1 bunch chard

26 oz jar tomato sauce (Feel free to use homemade or store-bought)

1 batch cashew cheese

1 box of lasagna noodles (gluten-free option)

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Cut eggplant into 3/4 inch cubes. Salt them generously and leave to drain in a strainer over the sink for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Wrap the eggplant in a kitchen towel and squeeze to remove any surface moisture and some of the salt. Toss the eggplant in olive oil on a cookie sheet and roast about 45 minutes, turning every 15 minutes. The eggplant should be soft but not disintegration.

Put a 4-6 quart pot of water on the stove to boil. Add salt generously, it should be similar to seawater.

Press the tofu between two layers of kitchen towel with a weight (like a cast iron pan) for about 10 minutes. Add 3 tbsp olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Crumble the tofu into the hot pan and scramble about 10 minutes until it is starting to color. Add 1/2 tsp salt and the cornstarch to the tofu and cook an additional 5 minutes until you get some crispy bits. Dissolve the bouillon in the hot water and add to the tofu. The water should boil immediately. Mix the tofu until the water has mostly boiled off, about 3 minutes.

Make cashew cheese if you have not already done so.

Boil the pasta in the salted water according to the instructions on the box.

Cut the chard into ribbons.

To layer the lasagna, start with tomato sauce on the bottom, then layer noodles, eggplant, cheese, chard, tomato sauce, noodles, tofu, cheese, chard, tomato sauce, and repeat until you have used all the ingredients. I like to end with a layer of tomato and cheese on top of the final layer of noodles. Bake in the preheated oven 45 minutes or as long as the box of noodles says.

If you plan to freeze, wait until it has cooled completely. Freeze within 24 hours of baking, good for about 5 days after thawing.

Asparagus Pasta

Spring is in the air, and with that our thoughts are turning towards one of our favorite vegetables: asparagus! With such a short season, we always try to take advantage by eating asparagus on everything. In this recipe asparagus is the vegetable, the garnish, and the sauce for your pasta.

Below: harvesting the last of Asparagus for the season!

Serves: 4-6

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 bunches of asparagus (skinnier is preferable)

½ lb Pasta (for GF pasta, Camille really likes Banza Chickpea Pasta)

1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 tbsp for frying

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, plus 4 extra sundried tomatoes (in oil) for garnish, chopped

1 avocado

1 cup salted water (take from the pasta water)

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp soy free Vegenaise or JustMayo

Juice and zest from 1 small lemon

½ tsp pepper

Salt to taste

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Cut the bottoms off the asparagus. Set aside 1 fistful of asparagus (you will broil these for a topping). Chop the rest of the asparagus stalks in 1 inch pieces and divide into two piles. It would be good if one pile had softer pieces such as the heads and slim stems and the other pile had the chunkier stalks. Make sure you have 3 cups of chunkier stalks which you will use to make the sauce.

Boil water for pasta. Dissolve enough salt in this water that it tastes like the ocean, for us this is usually around 3-4 tbsp to about 3 quarts of water. This may seem like a lot of salt, but most of it will be washed away when you drain the pasta, and the vegetables and pasta will absorb salt during the cooking process so that the dish will taste well seasoned without needing to be salted much when it is finished. Start to cook the pasta. When it has 3 min left to be fully cooked, add the pile of softer asparagus pieces (heads and slim stalks). Let this cook for about 3 minutes. The goal is to cook the asparagus until it is bright green and tender, but not so much that it starts to lose its color. If you haven’t already, steal about a cup of water from the pot and set aside, you will use this in the sauce. Then, after about a minute or when the asparagus is bright green, drain the pasta asparagus mixture, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, you can start cooking the sauce. Start by braising 3 cups of asparagus stalks. To braise, heat up the pan with 2 tbsp olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the asparagus and cook until browned. Add about 1/2 cup of water and cook until asparagus is soft.

Combine the braised asparagus with the 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, the cup of pasta water, nutritional yeast, oregano, Vegenaise, lemon juice (reserve 1 tsp), pepper, and salt in a food processor and puree until smooth.

While this is happening, drizzle some olive oil over the fistful of reserved whole asparagus pieces. Broil these in the oven until crispy (but not burnt). Drizzle the reserved lemon juice on the freshly roasted asparagus. Chop into inch long pieces.

Finally, combine the cooked pasta and asparagus with the sauce and top with broiled asparagus pieces and minced sun-dried tomatoes. Enjoy!

Romanesco Alfredo Pasta

This recipe was inspired by receiving romenesco and having no idea what to make with it. We love how it pairs with the cheesy Alfredo sauce. Combined with some shittake bacon and wilted greens it’s a perfect pasta night!

Serves: 4

Time: 1 1/2 hrs

Ingredients

2 heads romenesco, cut into small florets (cauliflower or broccoli is a good substitution)

6 tbsp olive oil, divided

salt

1 batch Shiitake Bacon

1 bunch Red Russian kale (or any hearty greens)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb pasta (gluten-free option)

1 onion, sliced

3 tbsp white wine, optional

For the Breadcrumbs:

1 cup breadcrumbs (gluten-free option)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp garlic powder

3 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce:

1 cup cashews soaked for at least 30 min

1 1/2 cup water

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 tbsp garlic granules

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch of red pepper flakes

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Pre-heat the oven to 375 F and soak 1 cup of cashews in water. Start making shiitake bacon since the mushrooms need time to marinate. Cut the romenesco into florets and toss with 4 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of salt. Bake for 45 minutes or until tender and golden brown with a couple of crispy bits.

To make the breadcrumbs, whizz the sunflower seeds in a food processor until breadcrumb consistency. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the olive oil. Start the food processor and stream the olive oil into the mixture while it is running. This should clump some of the breadcrumbs together. Be careful not to over blend.

Drain the soaked cashews. Add them and all of the other sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. To test the consistency, put a small amount of sauce on your finger and rub your fingers together. If it is completely smooth then you are there! If it feels at all like there is some sandiness, keep blending.

Boil a pot of well salted water. If you aren’t sure how much salt to use, the water should taste similar to seawater. Once boiling, add pasta and cook to desired consistency (follow instructions on pasta package). While pasta is boiling, cook the shiitake bacon and slice the onions. Next de-stem kale, wash, and slice into ribbons. Mince the garlic.

After straining the pasta, heat the pasta pot with oil and saute the onion until it caramelizes and turns a beautiful brown color. You will need to stir less at the beginning, but as the onion starts to break down you will need to be stirring non-stop. If the onion starts to stick, de-glaze the pan with a bit of white wine (optional). Add the cashew alfredo sauce to the pan and stir until slightly thickened. At the same time, in a separate pan, cook the garlic in a little bit of oil, adding the kale in just to wilt. Set these aside.

Now, it’s time to add it all together! Add the strained pasta back into the pot with the Alfredo sauce and stir to coat. To plate serve the Alfredo pasta topped with the romenesco, wilted garlic kale, and shittake bacon. Garnish with breadcrumbs and enjoy!