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If you're still eating seafood, pizza with little shrimps and squid on it is yummy.
I'm horrified by some of the recipes on the net, I mean talk about muck!, some look like 60's/70's student budget meals.
I make almost any recipe for stews using tofu in place of the meat-- bourguinon, basic beef stew, chicken pot pie -- adapting the tofu and following the rest of the recipe. We can usually find a veg. boullion in 'beef" or "chicken" or I can make a substitute. The tofu can be fresh or frozen and can be simmered in broth then fried, or not, or just added to the main pot.
Our piazzas are Margarita or we add mushrooms. (I like my pizzas simple and fairly minimal.) Pasta with marinara and maybe mushrooms or onions, or Putanesca. Look up recipes from Puglia where they have a large emphasis on vegetables. I make a chickpea soup that doesn't use the pig's head but after that I follow the recipe, using a veg. broth. When it thickens up a day later it makes a great pasta sauce. just go for your favourite recipe and figure out how to adapt it-- barring bifsteak.
An Italian expression IIRC and it's true that you can round out many a recipe with Fungi.
Quality ingredients are going to make a difference-most Italian Olive oil sold in mainstream stores is relatively poor stuff-thin/sour/acidic.
"I'm horrified by some of the recipes on the net, I mean talk about muck!, some look like 60's/70's student budget meals."
LOL!!
Yes Those Were The Days-back when Hamburger Helper was a man's best friend.
However - I just remember another post in which I mentioned possibly making tortellini. A nice cheese tortellini with a marinara or pesto sauce and served with a salad on the side would look and taste yummy. And of course, garlic bread.
The book is really cucina di magro, fast day cooking, so includes fish, but has a lot of purely veggie stuff. One of my favorites is cianfotta, a vegetable stew vaguely related to ratatouille. I can't find it online and I'll be danged if I'll type it all in, but this is pretty close Cianfotta Napoletana.
There are also things called "torta." These are vaguely related to quiche. Torta di Zucchini
There are always fritattas. Or Uova al Pomodoro
Nutrax
The plural of anecdote is not data.
No NorthAmerican it doesn't have to be Italian, it can be Spanish or other Mediterranean, but what I was after in particular was backwoods styles of cooking earthy fragrant and colourful. I do eat pizza but I'm trying not to eat so much bread in one sitting, I have a problem with yeast. I sometimes have torta / tortilla / frittata mainly for the protein.
Basically, get a whole heap of cherry/grape tomatoes, put some sliced garlic in and drizzle with olive oil. Grill until they tomatoes are black, then stir in a few tablespoons of full cream and fresh basil leaves. Makes an amazingly tasty sauce to have with pasta - best pasta to use is orecchiette as it holds the sauce really well, but a fusilli would work too.
Paul
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Meatless Italian
I quit eating meat just before Christmas, a conscious decision and mainly for ethical reasons, such as in humane treatment and ritual slaughter, but I'm not about to bore you with any of that. No, what I'm after is very simple rustic Vegetarian Italian recipes like homemade lasagna with zucchini and ricotta or gnocchi romana/romaine and other stuff without the cover a multitude of sins thick sauce, so fire away. PS pizza included2
As far as I know, you can just make the same stuff you made with meat and substitute veggies, Donkey - squash, zucchini, peppers (green, red, and yellow) are good. You also need to make eggplant parmesan, though I don't have a recipe here at work with me.If you're still eating seafood, pizza with little shrimps and squid on it is yummy.
3
Yeah I know that sashac, but what I'm looking for is rustic as in rural recipes almost verging on peasant food that I can alter slightly without substituting, I'm bored stiff with eggplant Parmesan and all the other overdone cliched stuff.I'm horrified by some of the recipes on the net, I mean talk about muck!, some look like 60's/70's student budget meals.
5
We've been mainly meatless for years, Donkey. (We went back to fowl, occasionally, a number of yrs. ago) And we do eat seafood.I make almost any recipe for stews using tofu in place of the meat-- bourguinon, basic beef stew, chicken pot pie -- adapting the tofu and following the rest of the recipe. We can usually find a veg. boullion in 'beef" or "chicken" or I can make a substitute. The tofu can be fresh or frozen and can be simmered in broth then fried, or not, or just added to the main pot.
Our piazzas are Margarita or we add mushrooms. (I like my pizzas simple and fairly minimal.) Pasta with marinara and maybe mushrooms or onions, or Putanesca. Look up recipes from Puglia where they have a large emphasis on vegetables. I make a chickpea soup that doesn't use the pig's head but after that I follow the recipe, using a veg. broth. When it thickens up a day later it makes a great pasta sauce. just go for your favourite recipe and figure out how to adapt it-- barring bifsteak.
6
Puglia you say, I did make panzerotti for my guests, beats the usual boring looking calzone, I'll have a look at more recipes thanks, and sashac I thank yeow for the input (not a misspelling).7
"Mushrooms are the Meat of the poor"An Italian expression IIRC and it's true that you can round out many a recipe with Fungi.
Quality ingredients are going to make a difference-most Italian Olive oil sold in mainstream stores is relatively poor stuff-thin/sour/acidic.
"I'm horrified by some of the recipes on the net, I mean talk about muck!, some look like 60's/70's student budget meals."
LOL!!
Yes Those Were The Days-back when Hamburger Helper was a man's best friend.
8
I can't get good mushrooms where I am and the oil I use now is Spanish in small quantities as it doesn't keep well in heat, apart from veg everything else of good quality is imported, which is why I'm going for more rustic dishes, something a little more robust than a vegetarian chili / curry and stuff that looks more eye catching than a plate of brown.9
Your welcome Donkey. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful but we're not all that creative about Italian food in our house and we haven't been vegetarian for years.However - I just remember another post in which I mentioned possibly making tortellini. A nice cheese tortellini with a marinara or pesto sauce and served with a salad on the side would look and taste yummy. And of course, garlic bread.
11
I have an out-of-print cookbook called The Romagnolis' Meatless Cookbook. Franco Margaret Romagnoli were public television chefs in the 1970s.The book is really cucina di magro, fast day cooking, so includes fish, but has a lot of purely veggie stuff. One of my favorites is cianfotta, a vegetable stew vaguely related to ratatouille. I can't find it online and I'll be danged if I'll type it all in, but this is pretty close Cianfotta Napoletana.
There are also things called "torta." These are vaguely related to quiche. Torta di Zucchini
There are always fritattas. Or Uova al Pomodoro
Nutrax
The plural of anecdote is not data.
12
Must it be Italian? I particularly like tortilla española, a simple thing of potatoes, onions, and eggs. It can be eaten warm, but I've usually had it at room temperature or chilled, in tapas bars. Here's a recipe so complete it even mentions that you'll need a knife and a couple of mixing bowls. ¡Buen provecho!13
Thanks nutrax, I'll try that.No NorthAmerican it doesn't have to be Italian, it can be Spanish or other Mediterranean, but what I was after in particular was backwoods styles of cooking earthy fragrant and colourful. I do eat pizza but I'm trying not to eat so much bread in one sitting, I have a problem with yeast. I sometimes have torta / tortilla / frittata mainly for the protein.
14
Given that pasta is ok, I have a Nigel Slater recipe that I go back to quite often.Basically, get a whole heap of cherry/grape tomatoes, put some sliced garlic in and drizzle with olive oil. Grill until they tomatoes are black, then stir in a few tablespoons of full cream and fresh basil leaves. Makes an amazingly tasty sauce to have with pasta - best pasta to use is orecchiette as it holds the sauce really well, but a fusilli would work too.
Paul
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