SPAGHETTI "BOLOGNESE"

Actually spaghetti bolognese is a meal that i make when i´m too lazy to cook anything complicated or uses a lot of time. But a friend of mine told me about his yummie bolognese sauce he made with red wine and other yummie ingredients. So i decided to do this aswell and..... this was a good desicion!!! This was definitely the best bolognese sauce i´ve ever had!!! It need´s a lot of time but the result was great!!


Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 piece of celery, finely chopped
• 1 onion + 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 - 5 brown champignons, finely chopped
• 160g granulated tvp
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• about 175 - 200ml red wine
• vegetable stock
• tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• olive oil
• salt, pepper, paprika powder to taste
• spaghetti

1. Cook tvp according to package instruction. I cook my TVP in a strong vegetable stock, 1/2 fresh onion and a rosemary branch. Drain well!
2. Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the prepared veggies. Take it out of the pan and set aside. Now add the TVP to the pan and fry until brown. This will take some time, but it´s worth, i promise!! Season with salt, pepper and some paprika powder.
3. Add the veggies and deglaze with the red wine and let it boil briefly. 
4. Pour with the chopped tomatoes and some vegetable stock and add the bay leaf. And this is the part that needs a lot of time! Let it cook over low flame as long as possible. I think i was cooking the sauce for about 1 hour, but the longer the better!
5. Meantime pour a little broth. At the end, stir in tomato paste and season with salt and pepper!! I think i had 2-3 tbsp of tomato paste, but you can use as much as you want. It depends on how tomatoey you like it.
6. Serve with spaghetti and vegan parmesan!

SPAGHETTI WITH LEMON SAUCE, ZUCCHINI AND PEAS

Ingredients:

• 350 - 400g Spaghetti
• 300ml soycream
• 1 red onion
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 zuccini, cut into strips with a vegetable peeler
• 160g frozen or fresh peas
• 1 - 2 tsp lemon zest
• salt and lemon pepper to taste

1. Prepare pasta according to package instruction.
2. Heat some oil in a frying pan, add onion and garlic and saute for about 2 minutes.
3. Add zucchini and peas and season with salt and lemon pepper.
4. Pour in the soycream and the lemon zest and bring it to boil
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve the sauce with the spaghetti.

TIME FOR VEGAN BBQ !!!!

RECIPES WILL FOLLOW!!! =)

SPAGHETTI WITH LENTIL BOLOGNESE

Today it was pasta time!!!

Since weeks the red lentils in my pantry are smiling at me, but i hadn´t had any ideas to prepare them. To add them into a kind of bolognese sauce was a really good decision i think. I used red lentils, but you can use every sort of lentils you like. The convenience of red lentils is, that they don´t require a long cooking time. This is a cheap and easy recipe that everybody can cook!!! And the best thing of all is that it tastes absolutely delicious!!!

Ingredients: (Serves 3 - 4)

• 350g Spaghetti
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped 
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 150g mushrooms, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 180g dried red lentils
• Tomato paste
• 1 can tomato puree
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme branch + 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or basil
• ca. 500ml vegetable stock
• some water
• Salt, Pepper and dried Chilis to taste

1. Cook your pasta according to package directions, drain, sprinkle with some olive oil and set aside. Don´t pour the pasta water away. You will need it for the sauce, cause the water contains starch which makes sure that the sauce clings to the pasta.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and carrot and the powdered sugar and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and the balsamic vinegar and cook for another 2 minutes or until the vinegar is reduced.
3. Add mushrooms and pepper and saute until the vegetables are soft.
4. Add the lentils and stir well. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Mix in some tomato paste and saute everything for about 2 minutes.
6. Now add the tomato puree, the vegetable stock, the thyme branch and the bay leaves and cook everything for 20-35 minutes or until the lentils are soft. If the sauce becomes too thick, add some pasta water to it.
7. Remove the thyme and the bay leaves and add some chopped fresh herbs. ( i used thyme and basil)
8. Season with salt, pepper and chili.
9. If you haven´t used the pasta water till now, than add some of it to the sauce, toss through the spaghetti and mix well
10. Serve it with parmesan cheese (vegan or vegetarian) and ready is your lentil bolognese!!

             !!BON APPETIT!!

PASTA WITH GREEN ASPARAGUS

AS A CHILD I HATED ASPARAGUS, CAUSE MY FAMILY ATE IT ONLY SOFT AND OVERCOOKED WITH A REALLY FAT SAUCE TO IT. (SORRY MOM =))

SO ONCE A DAY I TRYED TO SAUTE IT AND THIS IS DEFINETELY THE MUCH BETTER WAY TO PREPARE THIS AMAZING VEGETABLE!!  IT´S A GREAT SUMMER RECIPE AND I COULD EAT IT ALL THE TIME!

INGREDIENTS:

• 500g PASTA
• 500g GREEN ASPARAGUS (TRY TO GET A THIN ONE)
• 250g COCKTAIL TOMATOES
• 250ml OR MORE  SOYCREAM (DEPENDS HOW CREAMY YOU LIKE IT)
• 1 OR 2 CHOPPED GARLIC CLOVES
• OLIVEOIL
• FRESH HERBS LIKE BASIL
• VEGETABLE STOCK
• SALT, PEPPER, CHILI,
• REAL OR VEGAN PARMESAN CHEESE

1. COOK THE PASTA ACCORDING TO PACK INSTRUCTION.

2. TO PREPARE THE ASPARAGUS, CUT OFF THE WOODY ENDS AND CUT THE
    REST INTO DIAGONALLY PIECES.

3. HALVE THE TOMATOES.

4. SAUTE ASPARAGUS IN OLIVEOIL IN A LARGE SKILLET OVER MEDIUM HEAT
    FOR ABOUT 7-8 MINUTES. ADD THE GARLIC AND SAUTE FOR ABOUT 2 MORE
    MINUTES.

5. SEASON THE ASPARAGUS WITH SEASALT, FRESH PEPPER AND SOME CHILI.

6. ADD THE SOYCREAM TO THE SKILLET AND COOK OVER LOW HEAT. (IF YOU
    ARE VEGETARIAN YOU CAN ALSO USE HERB CREAM CHEESE) ADD A LITTLE
    BIT OF VEGETABLE STOCK AND SEASON WITH SALT AND PEPPER.

7. ADD THE COOKED PASTA GRADUALLY TO THE SAUCE AND STIR
    CONSTANTLY. IF IT GET´S TO DRY, ADD SOME VEGETABLE STOCK TO IT.
8. AT LEAST HALVE THE TOMATOES AND ADD IT TO THE PASTA.
9. SEASON TO TASTE AND SPRINKLE WITH FRESH HERBS AND PARMESAN
    CHEESE.

LASAGNE BOLOGNESE WITH SPINACH

                                 

I LOVE LASAGNE IN ALL VARIATIONS BUT THIS IS MY FAVORITE ONE. MY BOYFRIEND AND ME OFTEN COOK THIS LASAGNE FOR BANDCATERING AND THE PEOPLE ALWAYS LOVE IT. HOPE YOU LIKE IT TOO. =)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BOLOGNESE SAUCE:

• 2 x 400g CANS DICED TOMATOES
• 2 TBSP OIL
• 150g COOKED GRANULATED TVP SOY
• 1 DICED LARGE ONION
• 2 CHOPPED CLOVES OF GARLIC
• 2 TBSP TOMATOPASTE
• SALT, PEPPER, OREGANO, PAPRIKA, SUGAR (TO TASTE)

1. HEAT THE OIL IN A LARGE FRYING PAN. ADD THE ONION AND THE GARLIC AND SATE  UNTIL THE ONIONS ARE SOFTENED.
2. ADD IN THE TVP AND LET IT BROWN. 
3. ADD IN TOMATOPASTE, SALT, PEPPER, PAPRIKA AND MIX WELL.
4. ADD THE TOMATOES AND BRING TO THE BOIL.
5. REDUCE HEAT TO LOW. SEASON WITH SALT, PEPPER, OREGANO AND SUGAR.
6. SIMMER, STIRRING OCCASIONALLY,  FOR 30 MINUTES OR UNTIL THE REST OF THE RECIPE IS DONE.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BECHAMEL SAUCE:

• 500mg SOY MILK
• 50g MARGARINE
• 50g ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
• MUSCAT
• SALT, PEPPER, VEGETABLE STOCK POWDER (TO TASTE)

1.  IN A MEDIUM SAUCEPAN, MELT THE MARGARINE OVER LOW HEAT. 
2. WHEN MARGARINE STARTS TO FOAM, ADD THE FLOUR ALL AT ONCE, MIXING WELL WITH A WOODEN SPOON. COOK OVER LOW HEAT 2 TO 3 MINUTES. LET IT COOL A LITTLE BIT.
3. GIVE THE MILK SLOWLY TO THE MIXTURE AND STIRRING GENTLY WITH A WIRE WHISK AND BRING IT TO BOIL UNTIL SMOOTH AND THICKENED:
4. SEASON WITH SALT, PEPPER, MUSCAT AND ORGANIC VEGETABLE STOCK POWDER

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPINACH:

• 1kg FROZEN SPINACH
• 1 CHOPPED CLOVE OF GARLIC
• SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

• LASAGNA SHEETS

1.  AFTER THAWING THE SPINACH, SAUTE GARLIC AND SPINACH IN A MEDIUM HEAT POT. 
2. SEASON WELL WITH SALT AND PEPPER.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 180°C. PLACE A SMALL AMOUNT OF THE BOLOGNESE SAUCE IN THE BOTTOM OF A LASAGNA PAN. PLACE LASAGNE SHEETS ON TOP OF THE SAUCE AND TOP WITH SPINACH AND BECHAMELSAUCE. REPEAT THIS UNTIL THE PAN IS FILLED. COVER WITH CHEESE (VEGETARIAN) OR BECHAMEL (VEGAN) AND BAKE IT IN THE OVEN FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES.