Pumpkin, Sage & Walnut Ravioli

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] Long time readers of Vegan Chickie will remember bare-chested-chef, my lovely husband, who cooked for us on a regular basis during the early days of the Vegan Chickie Blog. Recently, he has been busy being an actual chef out in the real world and hasn’t had much spare time for tinkering in the kitchen at home, but this weekend, due to popular demand, he has come out of retirement and agreed to cook something delicious for us to showcase on the Vegan Chickie blog.

I am going to put the recipe into two posts, the Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli here and the Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce in another post to avoid things getting too confusing. Alternatively you could use any pasta sauce with this ravioli recipe. I especially like them with a spicy tomato sauce.

Pumpkin Sage & Walnut Ravioli

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
500g flour
300g water
1tsp salt
2 tbs chia seeds, finely ground (optional)
1tbs olive oil

For the ravioli filling:
1 medium butternut chopped
1 tbs chopped sage
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1/4 cup stock
1/4 cup oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees, in a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin in the 1tbs of oil, garlic, salt and pepper, toss until the pumpkin is evenly coated. Place the pumpkin on a baking tray and bake for 45 mins – 1 hr.

2. Meanwhile, make the dough for the pasta. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix well until the mixture forms a dough. cover the dough and set aside for half an hour.

3. Once your pumpkin is roasted, remove it from the oven and mash it, add the sage, walnuts, oil, vegetable stock, and nutritional yeast, mix well to combine. Set aside until your pasta is ready to fill.

6. Once the pasta dough has ‘rested’ roll it out with a rolling pin and then run it through your pasta machine as directed with the machine instructions. Once the pasta is rolled thinly enough place it in rows along a floured surface. Place 1/2 tbs sized portions of the pumpkin mixture about 4cm apart along one edge of the pasta as shown in the pictures below. Fold the sheet of pasta over to cover. You may need to use a small amount of water to seal the pasta around the pumpkin. Cut with a ravioli spindle (or just a knife if you don’t have a cutter).

8. Add your ravioli to a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes. Strain well.

9. Put the ravioli on a plate, top with your sauce, garnish with parsley and eat!

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Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] This is part two of bare-chested chef’s recipe for his Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli with creamy capsicum sauce, but this sauce will work just as well as a standard pasta sauce for any dish you can think of. This sauce was adapted from Vegan Dad and is really delicious. As a vegan, I thought creamy pasta sauces would be a thing of the past so this was a really nice surprise. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the cashew cream idea in the future with some other recipes.

Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

1 red capsicum
1 orange capsicum
1 tbs olive oil
2 small red chilis finely chopped (or 1tbs dried)
1 tbs non-dairy margarine
1 leek, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs dried basil
1 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Pasta of your choice (or our Ravioli)
Parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Place your capsicums in a baking dish and bake in the oven at high heat until the skin is wrinkled and blackened. Remove from the oven, remove the skin and seeds and chop roughly

2. Place the cashews in a blender and pour in enough of the water to cover. Blend into a paste. Add the rest of the water and blend until very smooth. Let the cream sit for about 20 minutes, It will appear quite watery but don’t panic the cream will thicken up as the blended cashews absorb some of the water. After 20 minutes, add the roasted capsicum, basil, chili and vegetable stock.

3. In a medium pan, over medium heat, heat the oil and margarine, add garlic and leek and cook until translucent, add the cashew cream mixture and blend with a hand-held blender until mixture is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat the mixture, but don’t let it boil.

4. Once sauce is hot, pour over your cooked pasta, garnish with parsley and serve.

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Vegan Pizza

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]One of the foods that I always thought I would miss when I became a vegan was pizza, in my head there just wasn’t a way to have pizza without cheese, but it turns out that vegan pizza is not only delicious, but super fast and easy too.

You can make your own dough if you want to, but I was a bit of a cheat and bought some ready made bases from the supermarket. The toppings are totally up to you of course but here is what I have on mine:

Tomato paste/Pizza Sauce
Green olives
Mushrooms
Roasted Cashew Nuts (salty is best!)
Capsicum
Jalapenos
Artichokes
Tomato
Fresh Basil

Put the whole thing in the oven for 10 minutes and you’re done! So yum!
You can also use pita bread as a base if you like your pizza base thin and crispy.

What are your favourite vegan pizza toppings?

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry (vegan)

There was some contention in the foodie household this evening about this recipe. I loved this dish, it was a lovely, light, tropical meal (perfect for summer!), but the bare-chested chef felt it was a little too sweet. I do generally have quite a sweet tooth so I guess that is why I liked it so much, but I think even if you don’t have too much of a sweet tooth it is still a really great dish, there is such great contrast between the sweetness of the fruit and the spicyness of the chili and the crunch of nuts.. I have to say that I am really loving quinoa at the moment, and the great thing about cheffy not liking it is that I get it for lunch tomorrow!!!

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry
(Veganomicon)

Ingredients:
Quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Stir-fry:
4 ounces cashews, raw and unsalted
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
1 hot red chile, sliced into very thin rounds
1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced in thin shreds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
10 ounces fresh pineapple, cut into bite sized chunks
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegetable stock
1 tablespoon mirin
Lime wedges for garnish

Method:

For the quinoa: Combine the quinoa, juice, water and soy sauce in a medium sized pot. Cover, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir a few times, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 12 – 14 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa appears plumped and slightly translucent. Uncover, fluff and let cool.

For the stir-fry: Use a large frypan or wok. Have all your ingredients pre-chopped and in reach. Place the cashews in the dry pan and heat over low heat, stirring them, until lightly toasted (4 to 5 minutes).

Remove the cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium and add the peanut oil, scallions and garlic, when the garlic starts to sizzle, add the sliced chili and ginger.

Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and peas. Stir-fry for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the bell pepper is softened and the peas are bright green.

Add the basil and mint, and stir for another minute before adding the pineapple and quinoa.

Combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock and miri. Pour over the quinoa mixture. Stir until the mixture is coated. Continue to stir-fry for 10 minutes (it helps to use two spoons/spatulas to scoop the quinoa around). Serve with lime wedges.