Avocado and Spinach Pasta

When I tell people that I use avocado as a warm ingredient in pasta, their reaction is not always so positive. If you are someone who believes that avocado should only be eaten cold, in sandwiches or in guacamole, you are missing out on the creaminess that it offers in a pasta dish. Try it!

Avocado and Spinach Pasta

454g bag of linguine or other pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
3 avocados, peeled and chopped into chunks (the riper the avocado, the creamier the sauce)

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Toss in the garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir around for a couple minutes making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Add the wine and let it bubble another couple minutes. Add the broth, lime juice, salt, and pepper and bring up to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer. Toss in the tomato and once it is heated through, add the spinach and mix until it is wilted.

Toss the pasta and sauce together and leave on the heat for a few minutes until it is all hot again. Stir in the avocado and let it heat through. Enjoy!

Another avocado recipe

I have been away for the past couple of weeks (well, no not really but over the weekends)so there have been no new posts. Don't despair veganites! I am always thinking about what I am going to post next. That being said, I will be away this week again trying new foods in San Diego. I'll try to get some new yummy recipes.

This is a warm avocado dip that I made that called for the dip to be put back in the avocado shells and then baked. I would skip that step and just put it in a small oven-proof dish and heat it that way. Makes for easier dipping.

Spicy Stuffed Avocados

2 ripe avocados
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion (the smaller the chunks the better for getting it onto your nacho chips or crackers)
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 green onion chopped
1 jalapeño stem and seeds removed and diced
1 red/yellow/orange pepper chopped small like the onion
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
1 tbsp Tabasco or frank's hot sauce or other vinegary hot sauce
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Warm the oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Sauté the red onion, garlic, green onion and jalapeño. When the onions begin to soften, stir in the peppers, salt and cilantro. Slice the avocados and mash the flesh into the frying pan. Add the hot sauces and cook for about 5 minutes until it is all mashed together. Stir in lemon or lime juice. Taste and season more if needed. Return the mixture to the avocado shells or put in a small oven-proof dish. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove and eat with nacho chips or crackers. This would probably be good cold too. I thought it would be a great layer on the 7 layer dip with beans and salsa (so mine would be a 3 layer dip) but easy to take to an appy party or potluck.

Garlic Pasta with Tomato, Avocado, Artichoke and Spinach Sauce

Corey calls this a good "shoulder" season dish because when avocados are in season, tomato and basil are not. However, the tomatoes don't have to be fresh out of the garden flavourful because there are other flavours that are strong and the tomatoes just complement the dish. The garlic pasta cold be made for any other dish or could just be eaten as is without any sauce at all.

Nutritional yeast is a vegan fridge staple because it is used in many dishes. It is also a slight source of B12 which is important for vegans although a B12 supplement (chewable or sublingual taken three times a week) is also a must for full vegans. B12 is not found in many vegan foods apart from this inactive yeast and fortified breakfast cereal (have you checked the sugar content and salt content in those? EEK!)

Nutritional yeast has a nutty cheesy flavour and can be sprinkled on pasta to give a cheesy flavour if you don't think too hard about it. We have tried to make "Mac-n-Cheese" with nutritional yeast and although the two recipes we've tried swear that it's amazing, we've not been fooled. Still a must-have ingredient because a small amount is worth adding to the recipes that call for it. It's not a star actor but it's excellent in supporting roles.

Garlic Pasta with Tomato, Avocado, Artichoke and Spinach Sauce

1 pkg pasta of your choice
salt and a dollop of olive oil for the pasta water
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp tamari or low sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clam-shell grape/cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 avocados (softer make a creamier sauce, firmer leaves more chunks in your sauce), sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and cut into quarters
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
salt

Get the pasta cooking in salted and oiled water. Mix the 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic, yeast and tamari together in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the other 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Toss in the onion and cook until the onion starts to brown around the edges. Toss in all the vegetables (yes tomato and avocado are fruits, I know. Don't be difficult.) and the basil. Give the mix a good crack of pepper and a good pinch of salt. Mix gently to not break up the avocado too much. Put a lid on the frying pan and turn off the heat. The spinach will wilt and the veggies (fruits) will heat up. Just leave the frying pan alone now. You can give the sauce a stir when you are dishing it onto the pasta.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it well and rinse it. Put the pot back on the burner on low, toss the pasta back in and pour the garlic mix into the pasta. Mix all around and let it start to sizzle a bit. Once it's heated up (don't let it burn, stir it frequently but this will only take a couple minutes), dish into bowls and top with the sauce. You can sprinkle more yeast on it to add more of a cheesy flavour but we just cracked a bit more pepper onto ours.

It seems odd to heat up avocado but this was really tasty. I have another recipe for stuffed avocados that I want to try but I have to go get more avocados. And for those of you who don't eat avocados because they are fattening, don't be silly. The oil in avocados is great for you. And if you only eat avocados at this time of year when local veggies and fruits aren't available then it doesn't matter how many you eat. I probably eat 3 a week on average for the month of January and February. I don't bemoan my avocado weight. And what about that "choose whatever fast food sandwich you eat to put in here"? You think the avocado is going to affect your weight?

You need to be honest with yourself if you truly want to make a difference for yourself!

Local? Organic? February? (and a guacamole recipe)

My rule of thumb is local and organic always first, local second, organic third, and, well, that leaves everything else. I try to eat seasonally and I don't buy asparagus in November. I have admitted to buying blueberries in January but I find the first three months of the year a hard time to survive on seasonal fruits and veggies.

This is my time of year to indulge in tropical fruits. They seem to be in season at this time of year but maybe it's just my deep desire for these fruits instead of floury apples and yet another type of orange that makes me think they are in season. An environmental sin of the highest degree but as I am a pretty strict environmentalist, I allow myself this digression. I can always go to Vegan Church and ask for forgiveness at confessional if it weighs too heavily on my mind.

At Choices this weekend, I came across a fruit I had never seen before. I do not claim to have seen all the fruits in the world but it is rare to find a fruit on the Canadian market that I haven't tried. This new fruit is part of the citron family and is called Buddha's Fingers because it looks like a gnarled hand with long fingers (did Buddha have these types of hands?!) The fruit grows closed hanging from branches and the fingers spread when the fruit is ready to be picked. I was so excited to see something new! I paid the exorbitant price (you don't want to know) and tried a slice of a finger when I got home. Internet sites say that these fruits are mostly used to scent rooms as they are very fragrant but they can also be eaten raw or used in recipes calling for lemon peel. That's about all you could use them for as they are only peel and pith - no fruit inside at all. I wonder where the seeds are. The taste is bitter and lemony - exactly what you would expect of lemon peel and pith. Mum will be making a couple jars of Buddha's Fingers and orange marmalade. I hope Buddha approves!

Another favourite fruit that Pap used to go looking for in Chinatown in May is mangosteen. I don't know how anyone ever decided to eat one of these because it is a very hard maroon tennis ball that requires a serrated knife to cut through. You only cut through about 1cm of the shell all the way around and then you peel away half of the shell to reveal a beautiful white fruit flower inside. The number of segments on the "flower" on the bottom of the shell of the fruit indicates how many segments there are in the fruit. Make sure there are no yellow spots on the shell or else the fruit will have sulphur deposits and it is then totally inedible. Quite a disappointment when they are expensive. I always buy just two in the hopes that at least one will be good. Success this time as both were great! The biggest segment has a pit in it but the rest should be just blissful fruit! When we were in China we would buy bags of these for 15 cents. None was ever sulphury either.

So my fruits of January are pineapple, mangosteen (pictured cut open), rambutan (not pictured here but maybe I'll find them to share with you), avocado, kiwi, papaya (pawpaw), and longan. These are also an Asian fruit that have a thin tan shell that pops open when you squeeze the fruit fairly hard. There is a comparatively large stone inside so don't just bite down. These are very refreshing fruits and are Corey's favourite. The Buddha's Hand is just in there because it's cool. You can see that it's just amass of white pith inside. I won't buy another one until I can get bags of them for 15 cents to scent my rooms in China!

And because I like to add a recipe, here is my guacamole recipe. We used to eat this on top of well salted steaks off the bbq when I was growing up. Now I like it with tortilla chips or veggies.

vO Guacamole

Mash together:
1 large ripe avocado
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp sambal oelek (don't use anything else unless it's sriracha which will do in a pinch)
1 chopped green onion (yes, I do add this as it is a vital part of the flavour)
salt and pepper
 
I'd love some feedback if you have time... are there recipes you'd like me to share? More of a certain type of recipe? Vegan lifestyle info? How to be a healthy vegan?  Let me know! I've learned quickly that being vegan is easy and yummy. I'd love to share what you want to know.

"Any" Bean and Lime Dip

This recipe calls for black beans but I have used black-eyed peas and even garbanzo beans. Garbanzos make a great thick dip! This recipe is an adaptation from Extra Vegan Za by Laura Matthias. I know you can get the book at the Kelowna Public Library because Paule had it and that's where I saw it first. I bought my copy at The Book Warehouse in Vancouver. I love that bookstore.

In a food processor, blend to your desired consistency:
1 can beans, rinsed (about 400ml if you use beans you have cooked and frozen so that you always have them on hand for recipes like this one - bean instructions to come soon!)
1 roasted red pepper (buy these at Med Market on Gordon Drive. The large jars are $5 and if you buy a case of 6, you get 10% off. You'll need more of these once I post Corey's amazing Pasta Puttanesca Sauce)
2 tbsp tahini (a must for hummus but if you don't have any then peanut butter or almond butter would do)
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp light soy sauce or tahini
1 avocado
1/2 cup green olives
1/4 cup cilantro (I just rip a handful off the bunch, rinse and throw in)

If you want a chunkier dip, blend the first 5 ingredients together and then chop the avocado into chunks, use sliced olives and shred the cilantro. Stir those in. I make it either way depending on the amount of time I want to spend making the dip. Black olives can be used as well if you prefer.