Creamy Beetroot & Friends "Pesto" Pasta v 0.2

Two in one day? Apparently this is what happens when you let yourself have a day or two in recuperation after a gruelling week and another to come. Unfortunately, I ate my dinner before I could take a photo of it. Make it, share your photo.

Creamy Beetroot & Friends "Pesto" Pasta v 0.2

Ingredients

- 3-4 whole beetroot

- 1 whole red capsicum

- 1/2-3/4 cup pine nuts

- 1 large/2 medium cloves of garlic

- kale

- juice of half a lemon

- 1 tbsp white tahini paste

- water

- olive oil

- salt (about 2 tsp)

- white pepper (as much as you want)

- nutritional yeast flakes

- pasta

Method

1. core and roughly slice lengthways the capsicum. Put in baking try, cover in olive oil. Roast at ~200C for about 40 mins or until soft and roast-y.

2. peel and roughly chop beetroot, add to enough water to thoroughly cover, boil until tender.

3. when those ingredients are cooked, drain the beetroot and put in food processor/blender with garlic.

4. add to the food processor the cooked capsicum including any leftover olive oil.

5. add the pine nuts, salt, pepper, yeast flakes, and kale and process/blend until pesto-like in consistency.

6. transfer back to pot and start warming on a low heat, meanwhile begin pasta water boiling and put pasta on to cook. Stir the sauce as necessary.

7. in a small bowl, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, and additional water until a "cream"-like consistency is reached

8. add the "cream" to the sauce and mix, then turn heat off and wait until pasta is cooked.

9. when pasta is cooked (or just before), strain. Put empty put back on low heat and add olive oil. Add pasta to warm oil and stir to make it absorb. 

10. Add two serving spoons worth of sauce and stir through the pasta, slightly cooking.

11. Take off heat and serve pasta then top with another serve of sauce and some extra nutritional yeast flakes.

Apple Pie v. 0.9.

Today, Sunday, was Apple Pie day.

I have also become my own worst social-media nightmare.

A photo posted by Vincent Giles (@composervince) on Jun 25, 2016 at 6:57pm PDT

Apple Pie v. 0.9

Ingredients

- 3 sheets of vegan shortcrust pastry (Pampas, for eg.)

- about 9-12 medium-sized apples (any kind will do, I used pink lady), chopped into rough cubes

- 1/3-1/2 cup vanilla extract (I used my own which was made with Austrian pear schnapps and about 5 vanilla beans)

- 1/2 - 1 cup of boiled water

- 5-6 tsp raw/dark sugar

- 2-3 tbsp tapioca starch

- 1 large cinnamon quill (or 2 smaller ones), broken into three

- 1 star anise broken into parts

- 6-9 cloves

- desiccated coconut

- sultanas

Method

0. Pre-heat oven (non-fanforced) to about 210-220.

1. Spray deep-ish pie dish with olive oil, lightly, to avoid pastry sticking.

2. Place apples and sultanas into a big saucepan, cover with all liquids, spices, and 2-3tsp of sugar. Cover and simmer until apple is slightly fuzzy and tastes like it's absorbed the flavour of the spices a bit.

3. While apple is cooking, line pie dish with pastry. 

4. When apple is cooked, drain the liquid into another, smaller saucepan. This liquid will act as a sauce. Separate out the large spices like cinnamon if possible.

5. While apple is cooling, prepare sauce by mixing in, incrementally, the remaining sugar (to taste) and the tapioca starch, and whisk until desired thickness is achieved. It should be quite thick.

6. When sauce is ready, transfer apples into pie dish and distribute evenly. 

7. Top with a layer of desiccated coconut.

8. Add the sauce reasonably evenly across the top of the coconut/apple/sultanas. 

9. Cover the pie with last piece of pastry and fold IN the pastry to form the crust (see photo).

10. Bake for about 40 minutes until pastry is done.

A photo posted by Vincent Giles (@composervince) on Jun 25, 2016 at 5:14pm PDT