alfredo scampi pasta bake - dump dinner

 

Overview

Time: 45 minutes
Dishes: large pot or 9x13 baking pan

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

I know this says 45 minutes but this is technically a Dump Dinner, so you can prep this meatless, vegetarian and vegan dish in 5 minutes flat. You add the pasta and broth. Top with vegetables and beans. Add some flavoring, like garlic and lemon zest and bake! 

Once it is baked add some nondairy milk and vegan cheese, if you want, and this is ready for the table. It was super fast and easy and it was really good! I used broccolini and cauliflower, but zucchini, carrots or green beans should work great, as well.

The scampi-ness is thanks to the lemon zest and nondairy milk and the Alfredo part is because of the milk and vegan cheese, if you use it. I used Follow Your Heart parmesan shreds, but the Violife would be great, too , or regular vegan white shreds - or no cheese at all.  

No fuss dinner that hardly needs prep, plus it tastes good. 

On a weeknight, that covers my bases.

Enjoy!

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• It's a Dump Dinner - so not much to it!
• Layer the pasta, broth, vegetables, beans, zest, garlic and salt.
• Bake.
• Finish with the nondairy milk and vegan cheese and bake to heat and melt.
• Serve!

 

(Printer-friendly doesn't seem to be so friendly. Just select the text between the arrows (including the white space to add margin on the top), right -click, select Print, and now it's printer-friendly.)

Alfredo Scampi Pasta Bake

www.ZsusVeganPantry.com

Makes 4 servings 

moderate

Preheat oven to 425-F

1. Pasta: Add the pasta to an oiled 9X13-inch baking pan (or equivalent). Spread evenly. Pour the broth over the pasta. 

12 ounces rotini pasta (or equivalent)

4 cups vegetable broth

2. Vegetables: Spread the vegetables and beans evenly over the Pasta.  Sprinkle with garlic, lemon zest, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cover tightly with foil or lid and bake for 30 minutes.

3 cups chopped vegetables (zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, pepper)

2 cups (an 15-ounce can) white beans, rinsed

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)

3. Cheese: Add the milk to the Pasta. Add the optional cheese. Return to the oven (uncovered) and bake until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes. Serve. 

1 cup nondairy milk

1 cup vegan shredded white or Parmesan-style cheese (optional)

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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chilaquiles

Overview

Time: 30 minutes
Dishes: air-fryer or oven, blender, large skillet, medium skillet

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

Consider this vegan, vegetarian and meatless recipe more of a template than an absolute recipe (whatever that means, at dinner time!)  It is a traditional dish in the sense that you adjust it to whatever you have handy and go with the flow.

The sauce is a standard recipe you should use, but it is simply broth, tomato, onion, garlic and bell pepper. I used Anaheim pepper, but use whatever pleases you.  Once the sauce is reduced a bit, you add old tortillas (typically fried in oil - but here, air-fried - oven works, too). I've even seen tortilla chips used, but haven't tried that, yet. The sauce is thickened a bit more with the added tortillas, though not much. It's more of a vehicle for the filling.

For the filling this time, I have beans, zucchini and spinach, but, here again, add what you have available. If that is a link of leftover vegan sausage or ready to turn vegan tofu eggs, add them. If you have a cup of pinto beans, add that. Seriously, whatever is handy, needs to go or is leftover. 

This meal is also pretty fast, so it is perfect for weeknights! If you have an avocado, fresh cilantro or vegan cheese, it's a great way to finish the dish.

Enjoy!

On A Separate Note:

I have compiled the past 16 recipes into a booklet, Zsu's Summer 2020 Vegan Recipes . To print, download it and choose print. Choose Booklet and (if an option) check Front Only. Print and flip the pages. Check Back Only and Print again. Email me if you have any issues.  

At the very bottom (below the Pinterest image) is the image link or here is the PDF link.

~ Zsu

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• Prepare the tortillas first.
• Prepare the sauce next.
• Prepare and cook the vegetables.
• Few minutes before tortillas are ready, heat the sauce; this is about the time the beans and spinach are added to the vegetables.

 

Chilaquiles

Makes 4 servings 

easy 

1. Tortillas: Slice the tortillas into strips. Spray with oil and air-fry until golden, 10 to 15 minutes.

12 corn tortillas

oil spray

2. Sauce: Add the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Add to a large skillet and set aside.

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, lightly drained

1/2 small onion, quartered

1/2 Anaheim pepper (the other half in the Beans)

2 garlic cloves

3. Vegetables: Add to a medium skillet over medium heat and cook until golden, about 8 minutes, using a lid. Season with salt:

spray of oil

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1/2 Anaheim pepper, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

4. When the zucchini is golden, heat the Sauce over high heat until boiling. Reduce to simmer and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the Tortilla strips a few minutes before serving and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the strips are softened. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add the beans and spinach to the Vegetables. Cover and cook until the spinach is wilted. 

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

4 to 5-ounce baby spinach (about 4 cups)

6. Serve: Add some Tortillas with the Sauce to a plate, top with the Vegetables and Beans and avocado or vegan cheese. Season with salt:

1 diced avocado or shredded vegan cheese (optional)

 

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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mediterranean burger

Happy Thursday! A bit of recap: if you haven't yet entered to win The Vegan Air Fryer cookbook by JL Fields, why not enter now? Contest ends June 26, 2017, and is open to US residents. Enter HERE.

This week's sandwich is another burger, but this one features a homemade patty. I was in the mood for something Greek or Mediterranean and something with olives and sun-dried tomatoes. And speaking of air fryers, you can pan fry these or air fry them.

This version of Mediterranean Burger (as I am sure there are quite a few!) features a tzaziki type of sauce, meaning it is yogurt and cucumber based.

The patty is made with white beans, kalamata olives, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and oregano. It features a lot of those familiar flavors from the region. It's actually a simple burger to put together.

The binding is dried bread crumbs and I was pushing the envelope in this case because I wanted to see how much is too much crumbs. It turns out the limit lies between a half cup and three-quarters cup, depending on the moisture of your beans. If you add too much the burger goes from being too soft to being so dry that it crumbles.

The burger has some delightful pops of flavor because of the minced sun-dried tomatoes and olives and it gets a hefty kick because of the garlic in the sauce. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Burger

Makes 4 burgers 

Tzaziki Sauce:

1/2 cup shredded cucumbers

1/2 cup vegan unsweetened yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons minced fresh mint or 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper

Patty:

1 3/4 cups cannellini beans

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup kalamata olives

4 halves sun-dried tomatoes, minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

Sea salt and black pepper

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs (not panko)

Other:

4 burger buns, toasted

Sliced tomatoes

Slices red onions

Baby spinach

1. Sauce: Squeeze the moisture from the shredded cucumber using your hands. Combine the cucumber, yogurt, tahini, herb, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste, a small bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

2. Patty: Add the beans, garlic, parsley, olives, tomatoes, oregano and salt and pepper to a food processor. Pulse until only a few beans are left discernible. Remove to a bowl and add the breadcrumbs. Set aside for 5 minutes and check if you need to add more crumbs. Don’t add more than a few tablespoons more. Season to taste. Form the mixture into 4 patties that fit your bun and air fry or pan fry. 

3. Assemble the burgers: bottom bun, spinach, onion, tomato, burger, sauce and top bun. Serve immediately. 

© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

char siu pizza

Meal 4 of the Prep Ahead, Week 3 menu was a unique pizza: Char Siu Pizza.

The pizza dough is homemade, but can certainly be store-bought. My Fridge Dough is made using aquafaba and is wonderfully crisp and tender. I have a video on making the dough, which is incredibly versatile and is ready when needed: HERE.

The toppings are what make this pizza unique. Char Siu is Cantonese barbecue that is a little sweet and a little tangy. My Char Siu is made using hoisin sauce, tomato paste, ginger and Chinese 5-spice.

Cannellini beans, shiitake mushrooms and bell peppers are quick marinated and the pizza is topped with steamed chard and shredded vegan cheese.

We loved this pizza! It is just unique enough to put some pizzazz into pizza night.

Char Siu Pizza

Makes two (12-inch) pizzas 

Refrigerator Dough

Marinade:

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoon sweetener

1 tablespoon tahini

2 garlic cloves, minced 

1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 bell pepper, sliced

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans (2 cups cooked beans)

Sauce:

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon tahini

1-inch knob ginger, grated

1 bunch chard

1 cup shredded vegan cheese

1. Remove the dough from the fridge to warm while the oven preheats. Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Place a piece on a parchment paper and push it out into a circle; the size depends on whether you like thin crust or thick crust. 

2. Marinade: Combine the hoisin, vinegar, sweetener, tahini, garlic and 5-spice in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the sliced mushrooms, bell pepper strips and beans. Mix gently and set aside.

3. Sauce: Combine the hoisin sauce, tomato paste, tahini and ginger in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.

4. Steam the chard until tender. Cool enough to handle and squeeze out the liquid. Chop the chard and set aside.

5. Spread 1/2 of the pizza sauce on one of the pizza doughs. Add 1/2 cup of cheese on the pizza and 1/2 of the vegetables and beans. Bake for 6 minutes. Remove the paper and continue to bake until crisp about 8 to 10 more minutes.  Add 1/2 the chard. Repeat with the other portion of dough and toppings. Serve.

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

pickled vegetables salad

Salad is probably the last thing you truly want to have in the middle of the winter, but this Pickled Vegetables Salad features roasted home-pickled cauliflower, so there is a warming element to the meal.

I originally served this with Smoky Seitan, but when I cut the Prep Ahead Week 3 menu from 7 to 5 days, I also cut the seitan. I think the salad is just great with or without it, so I am including it here, just in case you'd like to make it with seitan, too.

The salad doesn't just have roasted pickled cauliflower, it also features quinoa, greens and a bean salad filled with celery, olives, roasted bell peppers, and cannellini beans. The dressing for the bean salad can be made with yogurt or with oil.

Serve this salad as is, or toast some slices of French bread and rub them with a large clove of garlic. If nothing else, this is a very unique salad to enjoy in the middle of winter.

Pickled Vegetables Salad

Makes 4 servings

Cauliflower Ingredients:

1/2 cup vinegar, white wine or other

3 cups water

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs fresh oregano

2 teaspoons salt

2 pounds cauliflower

1 cup chopped seitan (optional)

Bean Salad Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sliced celery

1 (16-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and sliced

1 cup green olives, chopped

1/4 cups olive oil or unsweetened plain nondairy yogurt

2 cups or 1 (15-ounce) can cooked cannellini beans 

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well

2 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped

1. For the cauliflower: Combine the vinegar, water, bay leaf, sprigs of oregano, and salt  in a medium pot. Bring to boil. Break the cauliflower into florets. Add to the pot. Cook, covered, low  

until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Remove 1/4 cup of brine to cool and set aside. Drain the cauliflower. Add the cauliflower to a baking sheet. Add the chopped saiten. Broil until golden, about 10 minutes. Spray with oil, if desired. Remove and discard the bay leaf and oregano stalks.

2. For the bean salad: Add the celery to a medium bowl. Add the red peppers, the olives, the olive oil or yogurt, the reserved brine and the beans. Mix and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. For the quinoa: Bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the quinoa, cover, reduce to simmer and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside (still covered) for 10 minutes. 

4. Serve the salad: place romaine lettuce in a bowl, top with quinoa, top with bean salad and finally with the roasted cauliflower.

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

umami burger

After making Wednesday's Chipotle Firm Vegan Cheese, I wanted to have something to put it on, so I came up with this Umami Burger. Umami is our other taste, besides salty, sweet, bitter and sour, and roughly translates to mean meaty or savory. It is the same depth of flavor that is in greens, tomatoes, soy sauce and miso.

This is a simple burger, but it is packed with chard (or kale), beans, miso and garlic and is then topped with the Chipotle Firm Vegan Cheese, jalapenos, a grilled tomato and soy curls bacon bits. My husband thought that a few pickle slices and some vegan mayo couldn't hurt, either. 

First thing to do is make the bacon bits - or you can use any bacon you like: barley, tempeh, tofu, seitan, mushroom, etc. If you need some good bacon recipes, Baconish has you covered. 

If, however, you have the dregs from the bottom of your soy curls bag (or you have some TVP or whole soy curls, which you can grind into bits), then make the bacon first. It's pretty easy.

Then make the burger by pulsing the ingredients in your food processor and then giving it a few minutes' knead to develop the gluten. If you'd rather not use the gluten, then use quick oats. Bake the patties and cool about 30 minutes before using. 

Then, grill the thick tomato slices, grill the patties and top with the cheese and bacon bits. Add jalapenos and pickles and serve right away. Enjoy!

Umami Burger

Makes 5 patties

Burger patties:

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans

1/2 cup packed chopped steamed greens (squeeze excess water from greens before measuring)

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten or 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 teaspoons dark miso (not mellow white miso)

Sea salt

For serving:

Thick cut grilled tomatoes

Chipotle Firm Vegan Cheese, sliced

Bacon Bits (recipe below) or other vegan bacon

Burger buns, toasted

Jalapeno slices

Pickle slices

1. Preheat the oven to 300-degrees F. Add the beans, greens, gluten, garlic and miso to a food processor. Pulse twenty times to break up the beans and miso. Transfer to a large bowl and knead until gluten threads form. Add salt to taste. Divide the mixture into 5 portions and form each portion into a 2-inch in diameter patty. 

2. Place the burgers on a baking sheet and add 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 15 minutes. Flip and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to firm up, about 30 minutes.

3. Heat a medium grill pan over medium heat. First grill the tomatoes, about 3 minutes per side and keep warm. Spray the patties with oil and grill them for 5 minutes. Warm the cheese slices in a separate skillet to begin melting them. 

4. Flip the burgers and add the warmed cheese and then add the grilled tomatoes. Cover the pan and continue to grill for another 5 minutes or until the burger is marked and the cheese melts. 

5. Make the burgers by adding them to the bottom of a toasted bun. Top with bacon bits and jalapeno slices, and pickles, if using. Top with the burger buns and serve. 

Bacon Bits:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup reduced-sodium tamari

2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons liquid smoke

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup soy curl grounds (from the bottom of a bag or ground soy curls)

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon neutral oil (optional)

1. Combine the water, tamari, Worcestershire, smoke, yeast, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and add the soy curls. Mix well, remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Add the hydrated curls to a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until almost crisp. Add the oil and stir about 20 minutes into the baking time.It is important to stir every 5 minutes to avoid burning the curls. 

2. The bits will become more crisp as they cool. Store in airtight container as soon as cooled. 

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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sabich

It is my husband's birthday week and, in our family, the birthday person gets to pick all the week's meals. And that means that some members of the family have figured out that they can take great advantage of this tradition. Which in turn means that I mostly get to cook meals that they love, with no room for new recipes. So, the blog suffers as no new content gets made.

This week's menu choices have been, among other things, Benedict (recipe in Everyday Vegan Eats) Cajun SteaK, Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten, Chickpeas and Dumplings (another one in Everyday Vegan Eats), Mama's Bean Soup (in Everyday Vegan Eats), Corned Cabbage (another in EVE! - I told you it is our family's favorite meals), Seitan a la King,  Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce, etc. Yes, hubby loves seitan!

But I did manage to squeeze in this Israeli sandwich, which happens to be a traditional breakfast sandwich! I love to discover breakfast meals from other parts of the world because they tend to be more than just sweets or variations on bacon and eggs.

Now that I said that, I do have to clarify that the original does come with hard cooked eggs. We'll disregard that part, though.

Most cultures will take something that is leftover and transform it into a breakfast meal and this shows to be true time and time again. Take this sandwich for instance. The eggs are cooked beforehand. The hummus is made before, as well as the eggplant, being leftover from another meal. Maybe the salad is made fresh, but the rest is just from some other time, all stuffed into a fluffy pita bread.

Most of the rest of the world doesn't have roasted eggplant leftover or hummus, for that matter, although the hummus aspect is coming true in most households nowadays.

Whether you have this as a breakfast meal or for lunch or dinner, let's try to make this as pain free as possible.

Because I have omitted the eggs I wanted to replace it with something carb and protein rich and because ful medames are already a Middle Eastern breakfast staple, I figured that cooking fava beans with the eggplant made sense.

The fava beans you are looking for are these:

They are not the large fresh favas, but instead younger beans that are cooked and canned so you don't have to blanch and peel them individually.

You cook the eggplant first to soften before adding the fava beans and then continue to cook it until tender and broken down. This is a nice compromise between having leftover fried eggplant and cooking it fresh separate from the beans.

If you don't have hummus, whip up a fresh batch, otherwise use any store-bought or homemade hummus you have. 

The salad is an essential component consisting of basic ingredients such as cucumber, parsley, tomato, onion and lemon juice.

The most intriguing part of this sandwich is the mango sauce (Amba) which was originally brought to the Middle East by way of India's mango chutney. In addition to the mango sauce, there is typically tahini sauce on the sandwich (a rip on toom sauce). 

I love toom sauce (there is a cashew-based toom in Vegan Bowls and an authentic one in Aquafaba) and I love mango chutney and the easiest way to make the two is to combine them. Best of both in one sauce. I have to say that this is an amazing sauce so if you make nothing but the sauce you are still a winner. 

After all those components are done, make your sandwich and eat it, too. 

Short cuts: hummus, salad, sauce. Make the eggplant-fava bean ahead or the same day, either way it'll be delish.

Sabich - Israeli Sandwich

Serves 4

Sautee:

1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped

1/2 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/4 jalapeno chile, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon paprika

1 (15-ounce) can fava beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup vegetable broth

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Salad:

1/2 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped or shaved

1/2 small onion, shaved or sliced thin

1/4 cup parsley, minced

Fresh lemon juice, to taste

Sauce:

6 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons tahini

3 tablespoons mango chutney

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Other:

4 pita breads

1/2 cup shaved cabbage

Hummus

1. Sautee: Combine the eggplant, tomato, onion, jalapeno, cumin and paprika in a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat until the eggplant softens, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the fava beans and broth and continue to cook covered until the eggplant is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and cook until there is no more broth left in the pot. Season with salt and black pepper. 

2. Salad: Combine the tomato, cucumber, onion and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. 

3. Sauce: Add the garlic to a food processor or blender and process to mince. Add the tahini, chutney, water and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Add a little more water if needed. The sauce should be pourable but still thick. Season with salt and pepper.

4. To serve, warm the pita and split. Spread with hummus and add the bean mixture. Top with the salad, cabbage and the sauce. 

© 2016 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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