For Monday's menu I am preparing a Tour of Italy, without leaving your dining room.
Great traditional "Farmer's Wife" soups, and stews; simple pasta sauces that are all Vegan, in fact the only thing not vegan on this entire menu are the baked fennel in cream and the cheese-thyme polenta triangles.
You may add cheese if you like but really there is no need the rich & fresh tasting vegetable stand out.
I always find that simple, traditional food is the best..just a few fresh ingredients and you have a healthy and satisfying meal.
These dishes remind me of the "laid back" attitude of inland Italy and Spain, where the meals are dependent of just what is available either in the garden, or the market.
Hardly anything preserved ..everything fresh.
Also fresh own made "rustic" bread makes all the difference.
The menu and info:
Soups:
A soup from Tuscany..'Minestra Paesana"..carrots and zucchini poached slowly then just before serving added sauteed in olive oil, onion, garlic, chopped parsley and celery..very fresh and flavorful.
From the southern Amalfi coast ( famous for limoncello and anchovies) a zucchini and chopped parsley soup I love the fact that the parsley is treated as a vegetable not a herb, this is finished with chopped fresh basil & lemon zest.
A Spring soup...onions and garlic ( I added carrots & celery), with kale, parsley and arugala
For the entrees:
Pompei style...Tomato, potato and artichoke stew with baked cheese-thyme polenta triangles
( I know Polenta is enjoyed more in the North, but I am serving it with my stews for this menu).
I am adding some non-traditional yams to the stew, and the polenta is made in the Northern Italian fashion with ground corn polenta and buckwheat flour, flavored with onion, butter, thyme and nutmeg..to be baked at the client's home on Monday
A great Sicilian style Fava beans and fennel "cream" sauce with whole wheat pasta..the peeled Fava bean are slowly cooked then blended with poached fennel, garlic & onions and this is the cream sauce..fabulous..the favas beans are first poached in water then soaked for 1 hour, drained and slowy cooked in a little water for 2 hours with bay laurel ( adding water as it reduces)..in this dish both the bean and fennel flavors stand out.
Also from Sicily another Vegan classic..Mint-basil pesto with almonds and walnuts, also has garlic, arugala & tomatoes
Sides:
Cauliflower Roman style with almonds..sauteed in olive oil & lemon slices
Green & white beans salad with lemon dressing
Fresh Fennel Gratin with cream and cheese
The bread is a "Rustic" whole wheat fennel & anise with molasses
I have just been to the market..here are the vegetables air drying after being washed.....
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| Arugala |
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| Flat leaf parsley |
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| own growing mint |
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| Culinary Sage |
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| Yes! I am picking tomatoes now |
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| This year's harvest..growing |
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| English Thyme |
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| Globe basil |
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| arugala |
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| Red Bell Pepper for the summer |
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