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Spaghetti with Kidney Beans Sauce

Madhuram — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:26:49 +0000

Couple of months back I tried a spaghetti recipe. I prepared some rajma using red kidney beans, cooked whole grain spaghetti as per package directions and topped the pasta with rajma. That was one satisfying meal. I wanted to prepare something similar with Italian flavors. I came across a sauce recipe with borlotti beans in a book called Vegetarian Bible. I didn’t have that beans in hand, so I thought I would use canned kidney beans instead, add some Italian seasoning and top it over the cooked spaghetti. And that’s how this spaghetti recipe was born.

Ingredients

Spaghetti, uncooked I used half a pack of 13.5oz pack

Olive oil 2 teaspoons

Onion, large, thinly sliced 1

Kidney beans One 15.5oz can or 2 cups cooked beans

Tomato sauce, I used Prego Heart Smart Italian Sauce 2 cups

Itaian seasoning/or fresh/dried herbs of your choice as per taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Baking soda a pinch (optional)

Yield: The above measurement makes a lot of pasta and sauce. It was definitely more than enough for the 2 of us. So you may want to halve the measurements to make a smaller serving. I found out another way to use the leftovers, will post it shortly. Actually that leftover spaghetti recipe was a bigger hit with my son than the original one.

Procedure 1 Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Simultaneously boil water in a large stock pot to cook the spaghetti.

2 Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until softened.

3 Stir the tomato sauce into the skillet with the cooked beans and seasoning of your choice. I used 1
teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning.

4 While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta as per package directions. Once the pasta is cooked,
drain it, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of the water. Add the reserved water to the sauce if required.

5 Increase the heat and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring. Add baking soda, if using and lower the heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until th sauce has slightly reduced.

6 Add salt/pepper to the sauce as per taste, transfer to a serving bowl. Serve the sauce over pasta and enjoy a hearty meal.

My Notes 1 For the pasta I used Barilla whole grain thin spaghetti. It tastes
so good and is healthy too. My tall stockpot is burried somewhere in the closet and I didn’t have the patience to take it out. So I broke the spaghetti into half and cooked it in a big sauce pan.

1 I read in a magazine that adding baking soda to tomato sauce or any other tomato dish would reduce
the acidity of the tomatoes. Since we are slightly sensitive to excessive tomatoes I added it.

This spaghetti recipe goes to Vaishali’s It’s a Vegan World – Italian event.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Vegan Pizza Pepporanata

Madhuram — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:05:24 +0000

Even though I love to bake and have had little success with cakes and cookies, I’m not good enough to create my own recipes. I’m simply a “recipe follower”. I can make some substitutions here and there, but that’s it. That’s why I prefer cooking and other non-risky oven tasks like baking pizzas etc. You can come up with different recipes and even though it does not turn out as expected, there is always something you can do to make it right.

I think some culinary Muse has laid her merciful eyes upon me, because I have had lot of success creating new recipes in my kitchen in the past one week. It started with this vegan pizza recipe. I got the idea for this pizza from my vegan pasta pepporanata recipe. I thought why not cook the peppers, top it over refrigerated pizza dough and bake it. I also got another idea to use the oven preheating time efficiently. I wanted to cook the peppers before topping it on the pizza. Instead of preheating an empty oven and cooking the peppers on stove top, I decided to roast the vegetables in the oven itself while it was preheating.

The idea worked very well. The peppers, onions and garlic cooked enough in the 15 minutes. It was also my first try with thin crust pizza dough and I loved it. The pizza slices were nice and crispy. The added bonus, my son loved the pepper masala very much. He was simply eating the peppers not letting me to top it on the pizza dough. I did not miss the cheese at all. You also don’t need to be a vegan to enjoy this vegan pizza.

Ingredients

Refrigerated pizza crust (I used Pillsbury Thin crust) 1 pack

Green Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Red Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Yellow Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Orange Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Onion, big, thinly sliced 1

Olive oil 1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon

Garlic cloves, minced or sliced 2-3

Salt as per taste

Black pepper powder as per taste

Red chilli flakes as per taste

Italian seasoning 1/2 to 1 tablespoon

Sugar 1/4 teaspoon

Yield: 8 rectangles

Procedure 1 Switch on the oven to 400F. In a large cookie sheet (use the one which you think will fit the pizza dough) add all the ingredients except the pizza dough. That is, the thinly sliced peppers, onion, garlic, oil and the seasonings. Mix it well and spread it on the baking sheet.

2 Cook it for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. I also broiled it for another 5 minutes, keeping the oven door open. Transfer the caramelized vegetables to a plate or wax paper.

3 Usually while baking the pizza dough you have to oil the baking sheet. Since we have roasted the vegetables already you can see that the baking sheet is already greased. So simply remove the dough from the can and unfold it on the cookie sheet. Spread it evenly to cover the cookie sheet. The dough may tear, but don’t worry, because you can always repair it using your fingers to stretch the dough and cover the holes.

4 Top the dough with the cooked pepper and onion mixture evenly.

5 Bake it for 12-16 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown and the top is also baked enough.

6 I did not want to scratch my baking sheet while cutting the pizza, so removed it from the cookie sheet before cutting it.

My Notes 1 Since it is a thin crust dough the bottom starts becoming brown around 10-11 minutes itself but the top does not get cooked properly by then. After another 5 minutes the top also is baked enough. I took out mine after 16 minutes.

2 This pizza is slightly on the sweeter side because of the sweet peppers. I think that’s the reason my son liked it so much. So for the adult version you may want to spice it up with some extra black pepper powder and red chili flakes.

This vegan pizza is my entry for It’s a Vegan World:Italian started by Vaishali.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Asparagus and Pepper Stromboli

Madhuram — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:04:56 +0000

I saw this recipe in Parents magazine. The original recipe was not completely vegetarian, so I changed it a little bit.

Ingredients:
Asparagus, sliced – 1 cup (approximately 10-12 spears)
Yellow Peeper, diced – 1 cup (1 medium size)
Plum Tomatoes, seeded and chopped – 2 (I used 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes instead)
Garlic, minced – 1 clove (I used 2 cloves)
Olive oil – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Italian seasoning
Pepper – 1/4 teaspoon (not mentioned in the original recipe)
Refrigerated Pizza tube – 1 (I used Pillsburry Pizza Crust)
Italian blend Cheese, shredded – 1 cup (I used part skim pizza blend cheese)

Procedure:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a glass bowl, combine asparagus, peepers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, Italian seasoning and pepper.

3. Mix them well and here is how it looks:

4. Cover and microwave for 4 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Let cool 5 minutes. Drain off excess liquid. (But I did not have any excess liquid)

5. Unroll pizza dough onto baking sheet and shape into a rectangle.

6. Place half of cheese onto bottom third of dough along its length.

7. Spread veegie filling onto cheese.

8. Top with remaining cheese.

9. Roll up to shape stromboli (into a log).

10. Bake for 25 minutes.

11. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

I got around 23 pieces for this measurement. My husband and I loved it. A different twist to the regular pizza.

My Notes:
1. This was a bit salty, so you may want to increase the amount of pepper if you want it spicy.

2. I suggest to cool the baked stromboli even for 10 minutes, so that slicing will not be difficult and you will also get neat slices.

This is my entry for Mansi’s Monthly Mingle originally started by Meeta.