Some may cringe at the thought of a Vegan dinner party but last night Chris and I ate and enjoyed a delicious, flavorful, and very satisfying diner party with our friends Kiley and Yasemin.
Yasemin and I both made a dish, and for mine I decided to make a sorta homemade butternut squash recipe. This recipe is all mine except I made it as a non-vegan before. To replace the store bought ricotta cheese I used a recipe in Vegan With a Vengeance for the tofu ricotta (p.133).
To start the Tofu Ricotta is something I will definitely use again even when I'm not eating solely vegan. It was really good and tasted almost exactly the same with a LOT less fat and more protein.
Tofu Ricotta Recipe (slightly adapted from Vegan With a Vengeance)
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, pressed
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 or 2 cloves of garlic depending on your love of garlic
1/4 tsp. of salt
Dash of pepper
1/2 tsp. of dried basil
1 tsp. of olive oil
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend till smooth. I swear it has the same texture and taste as the real thing.
Warning this recipe is slightly labor intensive so give yourself at least two hours.
Cheri's Butternut Squash Ravioli
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash de-seeded and cut into larger chunks
1 package of vegan wanton wrappers (no egg check the label)
1 tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. of ground ginger
1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of allspice
dash of pepper
sprinkle of salt
1 1/2 cup of tofu ricotta
Pesto Sauce:
2 tbs. of pine nuts
2 cups of fresh basil
2 tsp. of lemon juice
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 tsp. of sea salt
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and lay squash on a foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle oil over all the squash and then evenly disperse spices. Bake squash for 1 hour till squash is fully cooked and tender.
2. Remove squash from oven let cool. Remove meat from the shell of the squash and put into food processor and blend until very smooth.
3. Combine blended squash with tofu ricotta and mix with a large spoon.
4. (Labor intensive part) Then lay out wanton wrappers, and have a little bowl of water to the side of your work space. With a small spoon put a dollop of the mixture in the middle of the wanton wrapper. Use your finger to moisten all four sides of the wrapper and all four sides of the wrapper you will put on top. Press firmly on all four sides with your finger and then use a fork and push along each ravioli's side to make sure the ravioli will stay together when you cook them.
5. The pesto sauce is really easy you can either chop very finely by hand or use the food processor. Yasemin was making this while I was cooking the ravioli. She chopped the basil and pine nuts by hand very finely. Then in a large bowl she combined all the ingredients.
6. Cooking these can be slightly challenging because they are so delicate. I like to fill up a large frying pan with deep sides with water and dash of salt. Once the water is boiling carefully place ravioli in the pan. Because they are fresh they only need to boil for about 5 to 8 minutes. drain off water and put ravioli back in the same pan.
7. Evenly spread pesto sauce over ravioli and heat for 3 to 4 minutes till everything is warm.
The ravioli were a big hit Yasemin also made a delicious ratatouille you will see in the pictures, and I will post her recipe soon. Enjoy this meal with some fresh French Bread and some good wine.
For desert I bought these really yummy double chocolate vegan cupcakes from Whole foods.
Good food, wine, friends, and board games who needs cheese?!
Here's Yasemine's Yummy Vegan Recipe:
about 2 cups white onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, seeded and thinly sliced in strips
1 large clove garlic, pressed
7 oz beech mushrooms (white, brown or both) - I have found these at Stanley's in the organic section or asian groceries
7-9 spears asparagus, julienned
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons fresh parsley (dried works too)
2 tablespoons ketchup
Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute about 5-7 minutes until the onions start to get translucent. Add asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, salt, pepper, remaining oil and ketchup. Saute for another few minutes until the mushrooms start to get tender. Add tomatoes on top and cover, reducing heat to low. Allow to cook about 5 minutes, then put all contents into a 2.5 quart pot and add the parsley. Cook an additional 5-10 minutes on low heat to let the flavors really mesh together.
This can be made up to several hours ahead, then heated up on low just prior to eating. I'll bet this is delicious with a simple quinoa or brown rice. I put together a few different recipes that sounded good which I had found on the internets. Its interesting, this is very similar to Guvec, which is a Turkish dish, in that you mix together a bunch of stuff in a pot and let it cook for a while and its so good.
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