Ok so this is my first post in a while. Truth be known I have been doing a lot of reviewing of what I had considered VEGAN cooking. You see I am new to veganism and very much still learning. So I must say I am sorry for some of my prior post which were not entirely vegan but rather nice vegeterian dishes. It was a nice attempt at vegan, but what I have learned is that this is MUCH harder than it looks which is why I think vegans get such a bad wrap. People think we are crazy because manufactures HIDE animal products in the ingredients which make finding a 100% PURELY animal free product difficult to find.
So I have been doing a lot of ingredient reading and a lot of garden planting along with a lot of experimenting with 100% animal free vegetables. My wife giggles at me when I say this because of course vegetables are animal free. I just get so impatient with animal products in so many things you would consider not an animal product. My whole thing is I want to be healthy, I want to be vegan and I want to do so while shopping at a "normal" grocery store vs going to a speciality store which makes me crazy. I think people would be more apt to experiment with food in general if they can get what they need from their coroner market.
So here is an animal free dish, it is fresh as spring and has a great zest. I fixed it this mothers day for my family, my wife, grand-mother, mom and dad all came in. Ok my wife was already here but you get the idea.
My dad did not eat this he says he is not a fan of green. Ok not going to force this on him, I did make a nice lemon tarragon chicken for them and this dish as the side salad but my main dish.
You will need the following ingredients:
1 lemon
8 artichoke hearts fresh or can will do
1 tbl spoon EVOO
1 fresh rosemary sprig
3/4 fresh fava beans or snow peas (optional)
8 medium asparagus spears cut into 2 inch lengths
1 pound of wheat pasta with no animal product such as egg
1 small bag of frozen peas
3/4 cup tarragon leaves (optional)
1 small bag of fresh baby sspinach
(Parmesan cheese will make it vegetarian if used as a garnish)
1/2 cup or so of the pasta water so don't discard it
1/2 cup or so of vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves crushed and finely minced
1-2 tspn of lemon zest (optional)
Cook your pasta, once done drain well and place in a bowl over the spinach. The heat from the pasta will wilt the spinach. Keep your pasta water you will need some for the puree.
While the pasta is cooking get your asparagus ready, pick 8 nice spears place in boiling water for about 2 min you want them crisp so don't leave them in the boiling water too long. After you remove them from the boil place in ice cold water, this will stop the cooking process, preserve the color and cool them down. Once done cut them into 2 inch segments and set them aside.
I used Artichokes from a can, they work just as well for me in this recipe. If you like you can also make them from fresh. Again I did not see the point for this recipe. Open can, drain and rinse the artichokes then cut in half and set aside.
If you are using another bean such as fava or snow peas then read them now. I did not choose to use any further bean as I wanted to keep this simple and fresh.
In a blender or food processor put your frozen peas in with 1 clove of garlic, add some salt if you like I didn't use any extra. Once the peas are pureed then add in some of the pasta water and vegetable broth. You want to add the broth mixture until you have a consistency of a loose puree or how ever you like it.
Lets make the dressing, in a measuring cup or some other sort of container put some EVOO tarragon, lemon peal, garlic and rosemary.
Now you can start to assemble, I like to put some puree on the pasta and lightly mix some. Then add in your vegetables artichoke, asparagus and any other bean you liked and drizzle with the dressing.
I got the origional receipe from bon appetit magazine and have modified it to my taste. The great thing about this receipe is that you can add or subtract anyting you like. I think next time I will add caper berries for some more savory flavor.
Calories per serving of Pasta with Asparagus, artichokes and spinach153 calories of Olive Oil, (0.08 cup)
116 calories of Whole Wheat Spaghetti, cooked (pasta), (0.67 cup)
80 calories of Artichokes, fresh, (1.33 artichoke, medium)
10 calories of Asparagus, fresh, (0.33 cup)
5 calories of Lemon Juice, (0.08 cup)
3 calories of Vegetable Broth, (0.17 cup)
2 calories of Tarragon, ground, (0.17 tbsp)
1 calories of Spinach, fresh, (0.17 cup)
1 calories of Rosemary, (0.25 tbsp)
116 calories of Whole Wheat Spaghetti, cooked (pasta), (0.67 cup)
80 calories of Artichokes, fresh, (1.33 artichoke, medium)
10 calories of Asparagus, fresh, (0.33 cup)
5 calories of Lemon Juice, (0.08 cup)
3 calories of Vegetable Broth, (0.17 cup)
2 calories of Tarragon, ground, (0.17 tbsp)
1 calories of Spinach, fresh, (0.17 cup)
1 calories of Rosemary, (0.25 tbsp)
Nutritional Info
- Servings Per Recipe: 6 - 8
- Amount Per Serving about a cup
- Calories: 377.1
- Total Fat: 19.0 g
- Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
- Sodium: 325.6 mg
- Total Carbs: 47.7 g
- Dietary Fiber: 14.7 g
- Protein: 12.0 g
