Recipe: Vegan Chicken Con Broccoli

In my non-vegan days, I was a fan of the Olive Garden. Or at least their salad and bread. (but ewww...who puts eggs in salad dressing?) I think there's a market for a vegan equivalent of the OG, don't you? I could eat my weight in pasta. And bread. And hell, I eat salad just about every day. But I digress...

Have you tried this tofurkey? I can't get enough of it

Recently, I decided to throw some stuff in a pan to see if the flavors worked. And it did. I made my own version (I think?) of chicken con broccoli, featuring pasta in a vegan cream sauce tossed with steamed broccoli and Tofurkey shredded chicken. It wasn't the healthiest meal I've ever made, but...it was delicious.

Vegan chicken con broccoli

Ingredients: 

• 12 ounces pasta (I used orecchiette)
• 1 head of broccoli cut into florets
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4-6 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Minimalist Baker vegan Parmesan - plus more for sprinkling when serving
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella - I used Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Shreds
• 1 package Tofurkey slow roasted chicken

Method:

1. Prepare noodles according to directions on package - try to leave them a little al dente. Put broccoli florets in boiling water along with the pasta. When the broccoli starts turning bright green and is "done" use a slotted spoon to fish out the florets and set them aside. Retain a little bit of the pasta water in case you need it to thin your "cheese" sauce or to keep everything from sticking to the pan.
2. In a skillet on medium heat, cook garlic in olive oil until the garlic begins to soften.  
3. Add cooked pasta, broccoli, chicken, vegan Parmesan, and vegan mozzarella cheeses to skillet. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Stir to combine and add a little water if sauce is too thick. If sauce is too thin, add additional vegan mozzarella and./or vegan Parmesan cheese.
4. Serve and top with vegan Parmesan cheese.

This is a great recipe to make on a weeknight when you're running low on time and want to combine protein, carbs, and veggies all in one dish. I typically serve this alongside a big spinach salad for some extra greenery, but other sides would pair well with this dish, too. It's a creamy, filling, and protein packed dish that just might remind you of some of the non-vegan dishes served at popular "Italian-ish" restaurants. 

Adventures with CSA Veggies - Recipe: Garlic Scape and Zucchini Pasta

For years and years and years I've wanted to join a CSA (community supported agriculture), so when I read about Fresh Fork Market in Cleveland Magazine earlier this spring, and noticed that they offer meat, vegetarian, and vegan options for around $20 a week, I was sold.  I can spend $20 on 3 things at Whole Foods, so why not play vegetable roulette and see what $20 can get you locally.

If you're not familiar with the CSA concept (I wasn't) basically you "subscribe" to a service to get a grab bag of whatever is fresh from local farms weekly.  Last week I got strawberries, zucchini, kohlrabi, radishes, kale, collard greens, lettuce, Ohio City pasta, garlic scapes, spinach, peas, and feta cheese.  Admittedly, I'm on;y familiar with about half of the things that I got, so I've been doing a lot of google-ing to try and figure out how I can make the most of what I got without wasting a lot of it.
 



Fresh Fork Market Week 1 share - or more vegetables than I know what to do with

My CSA pickup day is Friday, and I was so excited to use what I'd gotten that I played my own version of Iron Chef before my boyfriend's softball game.  (or taking a bunch of random things, throwing them together and hoping they work).  I used a recipe I found for garlic scape pasta at Food Republik as a starting point and then doctored it up to make it more...vegetable-y.  (and accidentally more pasta-y - used too many noodles!) 

Ingredients:

• Garlic scapes cut into small pieces (one inch or so)
• Minced garlic (use your own judgement - I like a lot of garlic)
• 1 tablespoon garlic olive oil
• Pasta
• Lemon juice
• 2 small zucchinis cut into half moon shapes
• Parmesan cheese
• Garlic salt to taste

Method:

1. Prepare pasta following directions on the box. Set aside.
2. Put garlic olive oil (or regular - both would work), garlic, garlic scapes, zucchini, and a little bit of water in a pan.  Heat on medium/medium-high heat.  (be careful to not overcook the garlic)  Cook until zucchini is thoroughly cooked but not mushy.  Add water if necessary to prevent anything from burning into the pan.  Ad salt as needed.
3. Add cooked pasta to vegetable medley.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional), season with lemon juice to taste (original recipe calls for one lemon but I was using juice out of a jar), stir, and serve.



Zucchini, garlic scape, and lemon pasta

I was really happy with how this recipe turned out.  The fresh Ohio City pasta added a nice touch to this dish, too. (even though I added too much of it!)  But I'm sure boxed pasta would work just as well.  I didn't know if lemon and zucchini would work well together, but they did.  My litmus test for recipes like this is my meat-a-tarian boyfriend, and he even enjoyed it.  I would definitely make this recipe again if I had similar ingredients and needed to whip up something in a hurry.  From cutting board to plate this took less than 30 minutes to make.  

Tonight's adventure in using CSA ingredients is going to be a shitake and pea pasta...let's hope that turns out as well as this dish did!

Recipe: Easy Asparagus Pasta

I haven't been cooking as often as I'd like - as noted by my lack of blog posts recently - and due to marathon training and recovery along with general laziness, when I do muster up the energy to cook, I've generally been making fairly simple recipes.  My new favorite cookbook - The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet - features tons of quick and easy recipes.  Like easy asparagus pasta!

Ingredients: 

(makes 4 servings - I never make 4 servings of anything, so reduce the ingredients as you see fit)

10 to 12 ounces short pasta

12 to 16 ounces slender asparagus

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup of your favorite cheese - Parmesan, goat cheese, feta, etc.

Method:

1. Cook the pasta and set it aside.

2. Trim the asparagus and cut in into small pieces (I generally cut each one into 3 sections)

3. Heat the oil and garlic in a skillet. Saute' until golden.

4. Add the asparagus to the skillet and a little bit of water - to steam the asparagus.  Cover the skillet and steam until the asparagus is cooked but not wilty.

5. Add pasta to skillet along with cheese and stir until melted/heated.  Serve immediately.

Nutrition: 244 calories/serving 12g fat

 
The finished product:

 

 

Like some of the other recipes in this book, I feel like one or two more ingredients may have helped.  A little salt, perhaps?  I also used less cheese than the recipe called for, so that might have had something to do with it.  But...my cooking guinea pig loved it and asked me to make it again, so I think I'll play around with this recipe and add more asparagus and cheese and cut down on the noodles.