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VeganMoFo 2012 - A Little Italy
From the early on to the current me, I’ve not found myself really truly craving anything from back in my non-vegan days that I couldn’t have a vegan version of.
A great thing I found is that a lot of my eating and tendencies really didn’t actually involve meat, nor did it have to.
Dairy may have been the harder piece of the deal, but it didn’t take me long to adapt. I love me some almond milk. There are cheese substitutes like Daiya and Teese, and if you are like me (being a weirdo who’s not the biggest fan of either of those), then nutritional yeast can do you in a pinch (I lurve that stuff).
Many different world cuisines offer a grand variety of vegan options. Tonight, we start at the boot!
The book: Vegan Italiano by Donna KleinWhy do you have it? This is actually one of the few books that I do not have in e-book format! My non-Kindle editions of books are just so because there either isn’t/wasn’t a Kindle edition or it was a gift. This was the latter, picked from my own wishlist (so you know this wasn’t an out-of-thin-air gift).Well, why hadn’t you cooked from it yet? I thumbed through the book, and while it has a dizzying array of recipes, nothing really jumped out at me. It turned into a “someday” book. Thank goodness for this VMF!Did you have difficulty deciding on a recipe? I did. Upon re-visiting the book the same sort of “eh” feeling came over me. I wasn’t sure what to make because nothing screamed out “pick me!” Despite liberal use of the word garlic.
What did you make? I finally picked Sicilian Skillet Pasta. It involved gaaahlic and baking pasta, which are things I generally like to do with pasta.How did the cook go? Other than not being able to use a skillet? Quite well. My skillets tend to be small, my two cast-iron skillets not being an exception… so I didn’t think this recipe which called for a load of pasta and no less than 3 types of tomatoes (cherry! diced! sun-dried!) would fit. I wound up using my dutch oven, which may explain the events that occurred afterward.Did you modify? Because we know you can’t help yourself. Olive oil omitted (though I did use some spray), and I may have added a little extra gaaahlic (just one extra clove and actually it was by accident) and some Italian seasoning… because I was surprised that salt and pepper were the only seasons called for.
How did the eat go? Not as well as I’d hoped. Despite the garlic, and despite the Italian seasoning… despite the salt and pepper and flavorful vegetables and olives… the end result tasted… eh. Seriously, I do not know where the flavor went. It was edible, but bland as bland could be.And The Husband? He didn’t think it was anything special… and he also though I’d overcooked the pasta. ”I didn’t think wheat pasta could be so soft…” I actually had cooked it al dente prior to the baking. I didn’t think it was over cooked, but perhaps there was a lot of moisture in the dish…Will you cook from this book again? Sort of, maybe. I think this book is a great jumping point for many Italian dish ideas, but my whole feeling on the book is luke warm at best. I may give it another whirl (so back into the “someday” pile it goes) but it wasn’t the wow I usually derive from Italian food.
So, what’s your favorite Italian dish? There is no greater food than pizza. That includes vegan pizza. Hmm. Why am I not making pizza this VMF?…Posted on October 4, 2012 with 1 note ()
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bklynheart posted this
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A Brooklyn, NY transplant in her mid-thirties woman who lost 176 pounds, whinges on about not having time to knit, cooks food, became a veganist, loves pizza and hates everything (though now she's trying not to).
