Chapter Six: The Vegan Starter Kit
(Mary) Since I am trying to convince you and your readers to at least be open to the possibility of vegetarianism, I want to present a few lunches that don’t stray too far away from what you are used to. In other words, no tofu right now, maybe later.
Here’s a hearty soup that everyone will love. Minestrone.
The Ingredients
One can vegetable stock.
One can chopped tomatoes. Use fresh if you have them.
One pound thin spaghetti, broken into bite size
One pound fresh mixed veggies chopped. Use frozen if you have to.
Four tablespoons pesto.
One or two tablespoons olive oil. I like two.
About a cup of grated parmesan cheese
(since this is a starter kit, you can use real cheese for now)
(feel free to be brave and use the real vegetarian substitute)
1. How to: This really couldn’t be easier. Put the stock in a pot to boil
2. Add the tomatoes
3. Upon re-boil shoot the pasta into the pot and cook six minutes.
4. When the pasta is nearly done, combine the veggies
5. Re-boil then simmer for two minutes.
Serve in bowls and trickle in the pesto and parmesan like a gentle rainfall.
This is a truly delicious and filling Minestrone that will even please your Paisan friends. Here’s a hint from my late Nona (grandmother) on how to get the pasta into bite size pieces.
Hold the pound of pasta at either end and snap it in two. Do this over an area that will catch any stray little pieces. Now take the two halves and the strays and put everything into a plastic zipper bag or a clean dish towel. Take a hammer and bash the pasta as if you were gaining revenge on that kid who put gum in your hair in third grade. I’m only kidding. Let go of that. He only did it because he liked you. Little boys are not very bright. He thought he would impress you by sticking your hair together so badly that your Mom had to snip away 10 curls to get rid of it.
A less violent way to prepare the pasta is to grasp it with both hands and smash it against the side of your kitchen counter or table.
Many Italian and Sicilian dishes readily lend themselves to the Vegan diet. In the old country there was little meat so pasta and lentils were the Italian version of hot dogs and fries (and a whole lot more healthful).
One such dish that easily morphs into ‘V’ food is ravioli. Once again you will find that this meal has nothing weird in it and you do not have to learn a foreign language to understand the ingredients.
Ingredients for Nona’s Ravioli
One package cheese ravioli. Frozen or Fresh
The zest of one lemon (the zest is simply the grated outer peel)
Three tablespoons of olive oil
One half butternut squash, peeled and cut into gumdrop size cubes
One clove of garlic, crushed. Get that hammer out again!
One or two cups of real parmesan cheese or the same amount of real vegetarian parmesan style cheese
Half cut of white breadcrumbs
A few pinches of sage and chili flakes or powder
1. Use a large pan and heat the oil to just shy of smoking. Carefully put in the cubes and fry the squash for about eight minutes turning the cubes frequently. Though it is some trouble, it is best to stay with the cubes until they are golden. Add the garlic and fry for about a minute. Add a cup of water, the grated Parmesan, the chilli and the zest of the lemon. Stir well, turn the heat down and cook for 3-4 mins. Mash the squash well and season to taste.
2. In a smaller skillet, heat the rest of the oil, then stir in the white breadcrumbs. Fry until brown, stirring frequently. Scatter in the sage and stir.
3. Cook the ravioli according to directions. Drain, then put into bowls.
4. Pour the squash sauce over everything and finally gently dust the bowls with the sage breadcrumbs.
Enjoy.
(Author) Our thanks to Mary for her invaluable assistance in the production of this little booklet that hopefully can help as a gateway for those folks who wish to learn more about Vegans and vegetarianism; or who perhaps want to give it a try.
As Maria stated, you can get thousands of recipes for free on the internet, so we did not want this to be simply a rehash of old stews available everywhere else.
We attempted, with hopefully a light spirit and an occasional laugh to shed some light on a subject that perhaps does not get enough attention today in a society that is overcrowded with news of horrible events all over the globe.
If readers do desire more of Mary’s recipes, perhaps we will do a second book which will be aimed not as this one was, at neophytes, but at hard-core Vegans and vegetarians.
The End