Mushroom Walnut & Mixed Veggie Loaf

Ingredients:

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 - 2 medium or 1 large carrot, finely chopped

3/4 large or 1 medium zucchini, diced into small pieces

a few cauliflower florets, chopped up a bit (roughly 1 cup's worth)

3 or 4 large cauliflower leaves, finely chopped

1 very large onion, finely chopped

2 large handfulls walnuts, finely chopped

2 - 3 large portabello mushrooms, finely chopped 

1 brick medium firm tofu, crumbled

2 160ml cans tomato paste

1 tsp salt

several dashes savoury

1 to 1.5 tsp each thyme and sage

Extra options:

black olives, finely chopped

several cloves garlic, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Transfer to a large casserole dish, cover with lid or foil and bake for 1 hour.

When serving, drizzle with a miso ginger sauce, or something similar.  Also nice to top with thick slabs of tomato for final 10 minutes, or when re-heating.

Recipe created by me

Creamy Shiitake Mushroom Pasta Sauce

This recipe was on the cover of the December 2012 issue of vegetarian times magazine and is the only way I'll prepare pasta now.  If you love mushrooms, this recipe is for you!

The recipe calls for linguine, but I use a penne rice pasta as I always have problems with linguine clumping together.

ingredients:

• 14 - 16 oz pasta (about 1 lb)
• 2 Tbsp chopped up arame or dulse (I use dulse)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic (yes, 6!), minced (about 2 Tbsp)
• 3 - 4 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (the magazine calls for 3 cups but I find you can never have too many, so I use more)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy, rice or nut milk
• 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 tsp pine nuts or crushed walnuts (optional, I usually forget to add these and it's just as good)

method:

Cook pasta as per package instructions

Soak arame or dulse in 1/2 cup hot water, set aside.

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add mushrooms, wine and lemon juice, saute 5 minute, adding up to 1/4 cup water (if needed) to prevent sticking.

Add soymilk, nutritional yeast, Earth Balance, red pepper flakes, and arame / dulse (including the soaking liquid); season with salt and pepper if desired. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Divide pasta among 4 plates or pasta bowls , top with sauce, garnish with pine nuts and copped parsley if desired. 

I often make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it to take along in our camper or on a trip to a vacation rental.  The sauce freezes very nicely, and instead of serving it all fancy for just my husband and myself we just dump the sauce over the whole pot of cooked pasta and mix it all together and it's good for 2 dinners.