Boosting up flavor on Italian-California Vegetarian-Vegan Cuisine..prep for tomorrow's deliveries

The sour dough olive-fennel breads with scallion are in the middle of a 6 hour prove, and  I have my sauces and soup prep done for tomorrow..this afternoon is bake the breads and make the cookies.
I am just letting my eggplant-tomato sauce simmer for the polenta a la Norma.


Here are the photographs and descriptions of how to make Great Italian Food  packed with more flavor &  veggies and less oil  & cheese.
By making a vegetable base for the "pesto"..and adding fresh herbs tomorrow, the result will be  flavorful yet light dishes.
The flavor will be of traditional  "pesto" yet the vegetables will remain coarse and not smooth, again to add texture to the dishes.

Pitted olives, nutritional yeast, & wine( to de-glaze any saute)..all add a "meaty" depth to any dish and is great for any vegan dishes.
 

The zucchini, carrots, parsnips, celery  onions & raw sunflower seeds, garlic..sweat down for the "pesto base", adding white wine to de-glaze.

previous 3 making the 1 gallon of pasta sauce

Nutritional yeast added

previous 2 the base for any  cooked pesto dishes...reducing the amount of cheese and oil in the recipes and adding more vegetables..this base will be combined with fresh basil from the garden, and added cheese where necessary, one client is Vegan so I have added Fava beans to her dish, and her pesto will be cheese-free.

Fava bean, zucchini, onion, garlic base for the Vegan pesto roasted mushrooms to be completed at client's home

Eggplant, artichokes, green olives, onions, garlic, pasta sauce. for pasta bake with cheese, to be completed at Client's home.

Lentil-kale soup with barley

Light tomato-basil soup with vermicelli pasta

The eggplant-artichoke base for the pasta bake.This will marinate overnight

The sunflower seed-pesto base, also cooling, will add fresh basil tomorrow

The fava bean, zucchini base for the roasted pesto mushrooms..marinate overnight