Creamy-Tomato Pasta in a Flash

As a cheese substitute I have been using Daiya brand vegan cheeses.  It is the only cheese at my local store that is both dairy free and soy free.  Almost all of the vegetable based cheese contains casein from milk, and the only other vegan cheese contains soy.  

Daiya makes three varieties, and of course I can only find two.  I am still looking for the pepper jack.  This dish uses the mozzarella and cheddar.  I like the Daiya cheeses, although it somewhat, but not completely resembles texture of American cheese when it melts.  It is different enough from American so that I like it enough to use it for pizza, pasta, and omelets.  (As you can tell, I am not a fan of melted American cheese.)

This is a quick and easy dinner to make.  The cheese melts giving it a nice and creamy taste.  I had some canned chicken to use up, so it was the seed for this recipe.  It was not enough to be the center of a meal on its own, but in a pasta dish, you would hardly notice.  You could easily leave the chicken out for a completely vegan meal.  Some chickpeas would make a nice substitute.  

Creamy-Tomato Pasta in a Flash (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free)

Two Servings

1 cup of Daiya cheese mixed between yellow and white 

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (do not drain)

4 oz. can of mushrooms (drained, but reserve if you want to add in step 6)

3 oz. of tomato paste (1/2 of a 6 oz. can)

2 small onions

5-6 cloves garlic

10-15 canned olives halved

a few oz. of left over chicken or canned chicken

rice pasta of choice (enough for two servings)

Basil

Salt 

Red Pepper Flakes

Red Wine vinegar

1. Start salted water for pasta.  
2. Begin dicing onions and mincing garlic, and heat oil in saute pan.
3. Start cooking onions in pan.  
4. Whenever pasta water is boiling, add and cook pasta for 3/4 of the time required on the package.  Drain; shock with cold water to stop cooking process.
5. When onions are soft, add garlic, mushrooms, olives, chicken, and spices to taste.  Cook covered for a few minutes more before adding tomato products.  Add a splash of red wine vinegar.  Stir.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
6. Add partly cooked pasta and a little water if there is not a lot from the canned tomatoes.  The idea is to allow the pasta to soak up any excess liquid without becoming soggy.  Allow to cook for a minute or so and test for doneness.  When pasta is almost done, add cheese to top and cover to melt.  Turn off heat if pasta is done.  Stir in melted cheese and serve.  

Thinking Ahead

Summer is coming and if you are planning a garden you may like to put in some shelling beans.  Beans are not my favorite food usually, but I do love beans fresh from the garden.  A couple of years ago I thought that it would be nice to try out some shelling beans even though I like dried beans the least.  We ordered Italian Red Rose Beans from Burpee’s Seed Catalog.  They were great as a summer bean salad cooked from freshly shelled beans, or in a soup in February made from the beans that were dried (recipes below).  

For this recipe, you do not need to worry about exact amounts of ingredients, because this will change depending on how many beans you plan to cook.  Generally speaking you want the lesser half of the bowl to have the vegetable puree and the greater half stock (not counting beans and ham).

Fresh Shelling Bean Salad

Full cook freshly shelled beans by simmering at least 30 minutes.  Meanwhile cut fresh peppers and seeded tomatoes into strips.  Select some fresh herbs that you like.  Toss everything together with some olive oil and a splash of vinegar.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Since I really do not like bean soups as a rule, I decided that I wanted to make a bean soup that had a rich and satisfying flavor.  I accomplished this with the use of salt pork and ham broth.  The soup has a rich flavor, but it is not a rich soup.  Even though the recipe makes a lot, you do not have to worry about using it all up at once because this soup freezes well.  

Italian Red Rose Bean Soup

Recommended Beans: Italian Red Rose; Cranberry Beans; or a mild white bean like a Great Northern Beans or Cannellini Beans.

Ingredients: 

1.5-2 pounds dry beans (4.5-6cups)*

1-2 Smoked ham hocks (as meaty as you can find: one really meaty hock is great)**

8-16 oz. of Salt pork [fat back] (that is about 30-50% lean is good) (possible substitutes, 3 tbsp. bacon fat or olive oil.)

Onions (2-4 large or 5-7 medium or small)

Carrots (1/2 to 3/4’s of a pound)

Celery (at least Half a Bunch)

Oregano (~1 tbsp. for a large pot)

Thyme (1 tsp. thyme)

Bay Leaf [2 for a large stock pot] 

Pepper to taste

Salt (only if necessary after all ingredients have been combined and simmered)

10 Quart Stock Pot

Day before: 

1. Make a ham broth from a smoked hock. Cover with water and simmer 3-5 hours on the stove, or place on low heat in a crockpot for 6-8 hours or high for 5-6.  Skim off fat (optional). 
2. When broth is done, remove bone and meat to cool and pick apart.  Make sure to cut up large pieces of meat before putting them into the soup.  
3. Put dry beans in water according to package directions, maybe with a little less water (6 cups). Bring to a boil and turn off. Soak beans overnight.* 
4. You may wish to prep vegetables for processing a day ahead.  Chop into 1/2” pieces and place in an airtight container overnight.  

Day to make soup:

1. Cook beans until just tender. Meanwhile reheat ham broth.
2. Cut vegetables into 1/2” pieces and chop until fine in food processor
3. Separate fat from lean of salt pork. Dice the meat Render the fat in the bottom of your stock pot and remove. Add the diced salt pork to cook. 
4. When the salt pork is cooked (remove if you wish and) put in the chopped veggies and cook them 10-15 minutes.  They should be turning translucent.  You can add the bay leaf in this step.
5. Add the seasonings to taste - suggestions above.
6. Add ham meat (if your hocks were not meaty, add some cubed ham also); then beans; add however much of the bean water and ham broth you can fit in your pot (at a 1 to 1 ratio).  Fill the pot three-quarters of the way up.  Extra broth or bean water can be frozen for other uses.
7. Simmer 30-45 minutes before serving.  Taste and add salt if needed.

Serves: 8-10 or more...

Recipe Notes:

* Use fresh shelling beans if you have them.  If you do, then only cook them the morning of.  Fully cook them before combining with other ingredients.  

**Any smoked ham and bones would work.  For example, you could use ham neck bones, however, there are more small bones to watch out for.  

Make and serve same day or make ahead and re-heat. This soup tastes even better as it sits. 

If you are watching your intake of saturated fat you could leave out the sat pork and use another oil of your choice.  The soup is very light and not rich, so this may not be necessary.  

If you want to make it vegetarian; use the oil of your choice and a vegetable broth.  Some mushroom broth would help to give it the depth that the ham broth gives the soup.