Tasty Vegetarian Sandwich

How can you make a sandwich without a nice slice of prosciutto crudo?! First of all, I think that if you make sure to have some " jolly" ingredients , as I like to call them, in your kitchen like tapenade, olives, hummus, any vegetables in a jar like artichokes or caperberries in this case, it is much easier, faster and tastier to make a vegetarian quick snack.

I have thin-sliced and grilled some zucchini and then i have seasoned them in a bowl with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. I have toasted some bread, and then I have started to build my sandwish with:
- Some slices of grilled and seasoned zucchini
-  Fresh Mozzarella
- Slices of Tomatoes and Radish
- Hummus
- Caperberries

The Vegetarian Alternative to a Sunday Supper

The most challenging thing about being vegetarian is keeping the tradition alive. Especially when you come from Emilia Romagna and it is Sunday, and you kinda wanna eat some Lasagne, Tagliatelle or…Pasticcio. This is my Vegetarian alternative to the most famous dish of Ferrara: Pasticcio di Maccheroni.

As I have turned vegetarian only 3 months ago, I still have fresh memories of how the original one should taste like and I have to admit that the meat plays an important role in this recipe. But if you can pimp your vegetarian ragù with the right spices you are more than just fine.

For the pastry, the béchamel, how to cook the pasta and how to build this masterpiece follow the instruction of the previous post about the original pasticcio.

The only thing that changes is the ragù.

First, diced 1 carrot, half of a big white onion, 1 celery and some green cabbage. Oil the pot and put the diced vegetables. Cover and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes. If you have one zucchini, this is the time to dice it and throw it inside the pot. Add a bay leaf. After 10 more minutes add a glass of red wine and higher the heat. You can add some tomato concentrate diluted in some warm water or just leave it “ white” with no sauce. It is up to your own preference. For pasticcio I prefer not to put tomato sauce but if I were making lasagna, I would add tomato to the veg ragù.

Now it is time to pimp the ragù with some smoked paprika, salt and pepper. I found that smoked paprika is like an injection of pork flavoring but without actually involving any pork.  

Once the ragù is ready, you can start mixing it with the béchamel, the pasta and start building the masterpiece.

Portobello Mushroom Burger

Many people have been upset by my decision of turning vegetarian, especially my 94 years old Granma Curti Giannina aka Carmen who has survived all of these years with a diet of cappelletti, cappellacci, cotolette and lasagne. 

Here is a veg recipe that will cheer everyone up. 

First prepare the marinade for the mushroom by adding all of these ingredients in a mixing ball:

·      3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

·      3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

·      3 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

·      Salt and pepper

Clean the Portobello mushroom and brush them with the marinade and let them soaked for 1 hour. After that, heat a grill pan and grill the mushroom.

I have made a fresh salsa with tomatoes and Danish blue cheese, olive oil and salt to taste. Add some mixed salad green and if you want, you can add some shaves of Parmesan cheese.

But don’t forget to steam the buns!!!

Honey Roasted Carrots

This is a great snack treat that you can you can serve as a side dish and to garnish the plate at the same time.  Very easy to make, this treat had a bag of flavor.

You’ll need:

·      5 or more carrots

·      2 Table spoon of Sesame seeds

·      3 table spoon of Olive oil

·      2 table spoon of Honey or golden syrup

·      1 table spoon of Balsamic vinegar

·      Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Cut the carrots in long stripes. Prepare the marinade by whisking the ingredients. Brush the carrots with the marinade and sprinkle the sesame seeds over. bake it at 220 °C for 20 minutes

Vegetarian Quiche

The great thing about quiche to me is that they are the best leftover ever. Actually they are a leftover dish. They are made with ingredients that I happen to have in the fringe and it is superb the day after. The bad thing is that once it comes out of the oven and it looks fantastic, you have to wait at least 30 minutes in order for the quiche to cool down. I ate waiting in front food and not being able to eat but it is worth waiting. The flavor just pops out once the temperature cool down.

You’ll need:

·      1 onion

·      1 zucchini

·      Frozen green peas

·      Goat cheese

·      Cheddar cheese

·      Sun-blushed tomatoes

·      Salt, pepper and Extra virgin Olive oil

·      3 eggs

·      some milk

Dice the onion and the zucchini and sauté with extra virgin olive oil. Add some salt, pepper and turmeric for seasoning. When the onion and the zucchini are almost done, add the frozen peas to the pan and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes

Place the puff pastry into a flan dish, make some little holes with a fork in the bottom and add the vegetable to the dish. Make a layer of goat cheese and sun-blushed tomatoes on top of the vegetable.

In a mixing bowl whisk 3 eggs with some milk and season with salt and pepper. Pour the liquid over the flan dish. The liquid should cover the filling of the pastry.

Sprinkle some mature cheddar on top to make a nice crust on top.

Bake it for 30 minutes at 180 °C.

Serve it at room temperature

Spaghetti with Zucchini pesto and Zucchini pan-fried Dices.

When I make pasta with zucchini I normally pan-fry the diced zucchini with oil and garlic, add some herbs like thyme and basil and that’s it. The problem for me is that unless you are lucky to have lots of zucchini dices in your bite, your spaghetti bite will only contain the infused oil that remains in the pan. This is not enough! So I decided to make a cream of zucchini to go with the chunks of pan-fried zucchini, in order to have a zucchini explosion in my mouth.

You’ll need:

·      2 zucchini

·      Ricotta cheese or Philadelphia

·      6/7 leaves of Basil

·      A clove of Garlic

·      Extra virgin olive oil

·      Salt and pepper

How to make it:

I have pan-fried the zucchini with some oil and a crushed clove of garlic, season it with some salt and pepper and once they were tender I have blend half of the zucchini with some ricotta cheese just for texture (don’t add too much cause you want the zucchini to be the star), some olive oil and basil until you form a creamy pesto. When the spaghetti is ready, add them to the pan with the zucchini pesto and serve it with the dices of zucchini on top.