Vegan Cream Sauce

I read a recipe for “cream sauce without the cream” in Eating Well magazine (the February 2013 issue) and decided to adapt it for our tastes.

 

This makes a big batch, so I froze much of it, for later use in soups or other dishes, such as the gratin I’ll post next.

 

Ingredients:

1 onion

olive oil

1 vegetable stock cube

2/3 cup rice

5 cups boiling water

1 tsp lemon juice

 

Instructions:

1. Dice the onion and cook it lightly in the oil in a big saucepan.

2. Add the stock cube and the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the water and cook, covered, for about 30 minutes.

4. Add the lemon juice.

5. Puree with a handheld blender in the pot until smooth. If too thick, add a little more water.

Dairy-Free Hollandaise Sauce

This is great with poached eggs and spinach or watercress.

 

Ingredients:

100 g Pure spread or other margarine

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp water

1-2 tsp salt

lemon juice, to taste (1-3 tbsp)

black pepper, to taste

Tabasco, to taste

 

Instructions:

1. Melt the spread.

2. Over low heat, warm the egg yolks with the water, salt, and lemon juice, whisking the whole time.

3. Slowly add a little of the spread at a time, always whisking.

4. Season with black pepper and Tabasco and more lemon juice to taste.

Cheat’s Aioli

I confess: I wanted a quick way to make a garlic mayonnaise. So here it is. Maybe one day I’ll make it all from scratch.

 

Ingredients:

1 head garlic

4-6 tbsp mayonnaise

black pepper

herbs (parsley and/or basil)

 

Instructions:

1. Roast the head of garlic at 200 C for 30-40 minutes.

2. Let it cool, then squeeze the garlic out and discard all the skin.

3. Mix the garlic into the mayo and season with pepper and herbs, as desired.

Vegan Red Pesto

Ingredients:

½ bunch basil (about1/3 cup)

2-3 garlic cloves

50 ml olive oil

2 roasted red peppers (jarred is fine)

6-8 sun-dried tomatoes (ideally in oil)

40 g pine nuts

35 g nutritional yeast

black pepper to taste

 

Instructions:

1. Wash the basil. Peel the garlic.

2. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

Vegan Green Pesto

The nutritional yeast replaces the cheese here and helps make a delicious pesto. Spread it on tofu, eat it as a dip, or, of course, have it on pasta.

 

We freeze it in ice-cube trays and then take out one or two cubes when we need it.

 

Ingredients:

1 bunch basil (about ¾ cup)

3-4 garlic cloves

100 ml olive oil

40 g pine nuts

35 g nutritional yeast

1 tbsp lemon juice

black pepper to taste

 

Instructions:

1. Wash the basil. Peel the garlic.

2. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

Sabayon

Okay, this is not a traditional sabayon/zabaglione recipe, which usually calls for sweet wine. But we don’t drink much in the Veggie Dyke household and I wanted the same flavour, so this is what I came up with.

You can either cook the mixture over a water bath, so that it stays liquid but also is safe to eat, or you can pour it over fruit into a lightly greased dish and bake it in the oven at 180 C for 6-8 minutes. If you do this, some of it becomes a lovely mushy solid, while the rest stays liquid. Either way, it’s lovely.

I recently served this over strawberries and I baked it in the oven for 8 minutes; it was delicious.

Ingredients:

3 eggs (I used the whole eggs, but some say you should just use yolks)

2-3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice, optional

Instructions:

1. Mix or whisk the eggs until light and frothy.

2. Add the other ingredients and continue to mix.

3. Cook briefly over a water bath or bake over fruit, or serve raw, if you know the provenance of your eggs.

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp agave or sugar

1 tin tomatoes

Instructions:

1. Warm some olive oil in a saucepan.

2. Peel and dice the onion and garlic and cook them in the oil. Add the agave or sugar so they caramelise. Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes. Continue to cook, stirring now and then, for 5-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

Coconut Pasta Sauce

Stay with me here, because I know this sounds weird. But I had this ½ tin of coconut milk leftover from the rice pudding I posted in the last post and I was going to make a Thai red curry. But M’s tummy was being sensitive, so she suggested I use it to make a pasta sauce instead of something spicy. I lightly stir-fried some spring greens in sesame oil, added sugar snap peas, and then threw in the coconut milk. We had this with farfalle and it worked out really well. It was full of flavour and lightly sweet. You could also add smoked fish for an extra dimension, if you eat fish.

An Unusual Tomato Sauce

I often make curries with curry paste and coconut milk and I was planning to do that one recent night when I suddenly discovered I didn’t have any curry paste. I had to quickly rethink my dish. I looked in the cupboard and found that there was a jar of tomato-olive pasta sauce that M had bought while I was out of town. I decided to use that instead.

Oddly enough, it worked quite well with the coconut milk. I stir-fried courgette, cabbage, and cauliflower together, added some coconut milk and tomato sauce, and let that simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I made some sticky rice, to which I added the rest of the coconut milk and another tablespoonful of the tomato sauce. The meal worked out quite well and I would actually make it again. I might also use the leftover tomato sauce to marinate some tofu.

Green Stir-Fry

Green Stir-Fry

This can be endlessly varied, depending on what sort of veg or spices you have on hand. It’s fast for weekdays.

Ingredients:
1 leek
½ green garlic
1 courgette
½ cabbage
1 handful cherry tomatoes
oil
spice (curry paste, miso paste, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce, etc)
noodles (I like rice noodles)

Instructions:
1. Wash the vegetables and dice them.
2. Stir-fry them in the oil and add the spice of your choice. Mix well.
3. When it is all nearly cooked, add in the noodles. Stir-fry for a couple more minutes, then serve.

Goat Cheese Sauce

Someone brought M’s mum lemon pasta from Italy, so I wanted to make a simple sauce to go with the light noodles. This sauce can also be used on a pizza.

Ingredients:
1 tin/package crushed tomatoes
10 or so cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
100 g goat cheese
1 pinch sea salt
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Warm the crushed tomatoes over low heat. Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes and add them and the oil to the crushed tomatoes. Cook for 18-10 minutes.
2. Crumble in the goat cheese and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook another 5 or so minutes, stirring well, and then serve over pasta.

Better and Easier Hollandaise Sauce

I posted a recipe for hollandaise sauce before, but I’ve since improved and simplified it. It is unfortunately easy to curdle the eggs or to end up with a lumpy sauce, so using a blender or food processor fixes that. If you find that the eggs are curdling anyway, add a tiny bit of cold water and then blend again. I served it this time over vegetables.

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
½ tsp mustard
1 dash Tabasco
1 lemon
125 g butter

Instructions:
1. Mix the yolks, mustard, and Tabasco in a blender or food processor. Add the peel and juice from half a lemon (save the other half for another use). Mix again.
2. Melt the butter and add it to the blender or food processor a little bit at a time, mixing constantly.
3. Serve over vegetables or eggs.

Asparagus and Spinach Pizza

Once you’ve made your dough and sauce (see the previous recipes), you can play around with toppings for your pizza. Because it’s been asparagus season, I used asparagus for my most recent pizza, but other toppings having included spinach, olives, and feta, tofu and broccoli, and fake meat products. Anything you’d order from a restaurant or buy at a grocery store you can make at home!

Ingredients:
1 portion pizza dough (see earlier recipe)
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for the tray/dish
1 portion pizza sauce (see previous recipe)
1 bunch asparagus
1 cup fresh spinach
1 package mozzarella cheese (about 200 g)
50 g cheddar cheese
black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pizza dough and place it on an oiled pizza stone or a baking tray, or in an oiled oven-safe dish. Pre-bake at 180 C for 5 minutes.
2. Spread the sauce over the base.
3. Wash and chop the asparagus and spinach. Place it over the sauce.
4. Shred the cheeses and top the veg with the cheese. Sprinkle with olive oil and black pepper.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C.

Pizza Sauce

As with the last recipe (for pizza dough), there’s no real need to buy ready-made pizza sauce when it’s so easy to make it at home yourself. I like combining tinned tomatoes with sun-dried ones for a depth of flavour that many ready-made sauces don’t have. You can also vary which herbs and spices you use; basil, parsley, chilli, and garlic are all fairly traditional, but play around with others as well.

Ingredients:
1 tin peeled whole tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp basil
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
5-6 sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions:
1. Boil the tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, and sugar together over high heat, stirring often.
2. Chop the tomatoes. Add them to the sauce.
3. Continue to cook the sauce until it has reduced.

Olive Tapenade

I used this in a tart (see next recipe), but it would also be great with rolls or bread sticks, as a starter. You can adjust the level of garlickyness depending on your own preferences.

Ingredients:
4-6 cloves garlic
170 g black olives, pitted
2 tbsp olive oil
1 dash sea salt

Instructions:
1. Peel the garlic and chop. Chop the olives (this just makes it easier for the hand mixer; you can keep them whole).
2. Blend the ingredients together with a hand mixture until fairly smooth, with just a hint of texture.

Saffron Sauce

This is a simple sauce that can be used over pasta or with vegetables or even to top eggs. A little bit of saffron goes a long way.

Ingredients:
.5 g saffron
150 ml cream (single is fine)
1 dash olive oil

Instructions:
1. Crush the saffron in a mortar and pestle.
2. Warm the cream gently over low heat and add the saffron to it.
3. Stir frequently and then add the olive oil towards the end.
4. Serve over pasta or with vegetables.

Suzette Sauce

This simple orange sauce can be used over crepes, as in crepes suzette, or regular pancakes, or spooned over a dark chocolate cake.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
4 tbsp sugar
a dash of vanilla

Instructions:
1. Grate the peel of the oranges. Juice the fruit and put the juice and the peel in a saucepan.
2. Add the sugar and vanilla and warm over low heat into a syrup. It takes about 5 minutes.

Easy Blueberry Sauce

This sauce is based on the recipe that I saw on Epicurious. It went well with the lemon cornmeal cake I posted about yesterday, but it would also be a great topping for pancakes or served with a rich chocolate dessert.

Ingredients:
1 tsp butter
2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
juice from ½ lemon

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter. Add the blueberries and sugar.
2. Stir and continue cooking until the blueberries begin popping slightly and the sauce thickens.
3. Add the lemon juice, then cook a bit more.
4. Serve with cake, pancakes, chocolate soufflés, or any other item.

Courgette with Yogurt and Mint Sauce

This is a really easy side dish. You can also use the yogurt and mint sauce for other vegetables or to cook tofu in.

Ingredients:
2 courgettes or 3 baby ones
oil
sea salt
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tsp dried mint

Instructions:
1. Wash and slice the courgettes. Fry them in oil until they are lightly golden on both sides.
2. Sprinkle with salt and add the yogurt to the pan. Continue to cook over low heat until the yogurt breaks apart and becomes a loose sauce.
3. Sprinkle with mint and serve.

Orange Sauce

This is a simple orange sauce that you can use over vegetables, potatoes, tofu, or even fish, if you’re a pescatarian. M thought it was too orangey for her tastes, so if you find that’s the case for you too, you can simply use one orange instead.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
2 tbsp butter
½ cup cream
cinnamon
salt
sugar or agave

Instructions:
1. Zest the oranges and mix the peelings, butter, and cream in a pan over low heat, until the butter has melted.
2. Add cinnamon, salt, and sugar to your taste.
3. Serve over vegetables, potatoes, tofu, or even fish.