Guacamole Fettuccini

Because I grew up in Minnesota back in the 40s and 50s, the word "avocado" was unknown to me, as was the fruit itself. Then came the day when an aunt and uncle visited us from The Golden State and nestled inside their suitcases were several large green things they called avocados. I was fascinated with the odd looking produce and even more astonished when I was told they grew on trees.

My aunt cut one of the dark green fruits in half to reveal a seed the size of New York--or so I thought. I was used to berry seeds or even citrus seeds, but nothing I knew came even close to the giant residing inside that light green mass.

My aunt removed the seed and scooped out some of the soft innards. Without any adieu, she slipped the spoon into my waiting mouth. To me, child that I was, it felt slimy and nasty and so mushy I quickly swallowed it. When asked if I wanted more, I shook my head no and escaped to another part of the house.

To my mind, an avocado was the armpit of produce world.

When I was sixteen, my family moved to California. And to my dismay, my mom discovered avocados. I remembered not liking them "way back when" and refused to eat them. Even the rest of the family considered them less than a perfect food. Looking back, I know that mom just didn't know what to do with them. Then one day a neighbor showed her how to make guacamole. Mom bought some tortilla chips and put the two products together on the table.

My sisters and I ate up every last scrap.

Thus began my love affair with the avocado and while there are many brands of the green spheres, the only one I really like is the Haas. These days I can slice an avocado onto fresh bread, add salt and pepper and tomato and sliced onions and eat my way through what I consider to be the perfect sandwich. I slice this lovely fruit into salads or serve it inside my vegan tacos or smear the creamy stuff on a flour tortilla and gobble it up without batting an eye.

So it was one day when I was looking through a vegan cookbook searching for dinner ideas, that I came across a pasta dish with an avocado sauce. I was intrigued. As usual, I tweaked the recipe to suit my own taste buds and served it to my carnivore company. We all had seconds. I guess that means it turned out pretty good. It looked so pretty, I even took its picture.

GUAC-A-CINI

1 lb fettuccine

2 avocados, pitted and removed from skin

1 big bunch of fresh basil

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

4 sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 cup toasted nuts, any kind

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 Tbs. lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil

2 dashes of hot sauce, whichever is your favorite brand

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the fettuccine in a large pot of salted water, according to the directions on the box. Drain and set aside.

Into a food processor bowl put everything from the avocados to the salt and pepper. 

I love one dish meal recipes. They make
being the kitchen bearable.

Pulse until the mixture is well blended, but not so much that it is an indistinguishable mess. There should still be some minuscule chunks visible as in the photo above.

I prepared a few ingredients that might be added, should the guest wish to add them to his plate: a small bowl of finely minced sweet onion, minced tomato--flesh part only, vegan Parmesan cheese for those who wished to sprinkle it on top of the pasta dish.

My guacamole. I changed the recipe
around to turn it into an avocado pesto.

I gave serious thought to using cilantro instead of basil, but came to the conclusion that it may be too spicy to go with the pasta. If I had been making true guacamole, I'd have used cilantro only.

Because the main course was a meal in itself, I served only garlic bread alongside.

Serves 4-6

Depending on how many you're feeding, cook the fettuccine accordingly as
this recipe does not keep well. I had a lot leftover and it quickly went to
a muddy color that was most unappetizing. Since I was feeding only
three, I should have cooked only a half pound of pasta, though I
would have still made the whole recipe of avocado pesto. It would
have made the fettuccine all the more flavorful.

Pizza Margherita

I love pizza. All kinds of pizza. I especially love when it swims in melted cheese and lots of pepperoni. Alas, vegans don't eat that sort of thing. So I wondered if I could come up with a decent alternative. Something that would taste like pizza, have the mouth-feel of melted cheese, and the tangy bite of pepperoni.

I failed time and time again. So I decided to give this illusive entity one last try. Now I'm not going to tell you that it tastes exactly like the real thing. But as a vegan, I was more than happy with the outcome. In fact I'm so happy with it that it will be my Saturday night fare for weeks to come. Hubby and I always indulged ourselves with pepperoni pizza on Saturday nights. And while hubby has gone to live in heaven, I think I'll re-instate my Saturday night fare. Fond memories all around.

Before I give the recipe, let me share some things I've learned. The best vegan cheese I've found that melts like the real thing is Daiya. I used the vegan mozzarella shreds. I put them all over the pizza, just as I would have real mozzarella. When it melted, it was a puddle of white. I used too much. This cheese melts so well, a little goes a long way.

To my palate, the vegan mozzarella doesn't taste like the real thing. It seemed rather like melted provolone in my mouth. No matter. It was quite good and while it didn't string like real mozzarella does, it dripped into a lovely mess on my plate. You'd better know I scraped it all up and stuck it on my leftover crust. Yes, it was that good.

I purchased a vegan pepperoni. While it has the slight smell of pepperoni, it is missing the peppery bite of the real thing. Just so you know, it wasn't awful, but in the future, I'll leave it off and just make a regular pizza margherita--my favorite anyway.

The pizza dough I prefer is one that is thin and crisp. The recipe I'm sharing is like that. If you prefer a crust that is soft and bready, this isn't the crust for you. But I like the crunch of the crust to go with the tomato and cheese softness. They pair well together.

Because the pizza dough needs about an hour to rise, I made it early on. I used my food processor and had the whole thing in a greased bowl and rising before more than ten minutes had passed. If you don't have a food processor but you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, use that. If all else fails, make the dough like your grandma did. By hand. It just requires more time and a lot of kneading to get the dough elastic and pliable.

PIZZA DOUGH

Into the food processor bowl put:

3/4 cup of warm water, about 110 degrees

1 package rapid rise dry yeast

Let it set a minute or two until you see bubbles forming. That shows the yeast is alive.

Add to the processor bowl:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. olive oil.

Turn the processor to dough or mix or whatever your appliance has for mixing and let it rip. I always let the processor do all the kneading for me. If your dough doesn't form into a nice ball inside the bowl, add up to 2 more Tbs. water, a bit at a time, until a nice ball forms. Transfer the dough ball to a greased bowl, cover with saran and set it in a warm place to rise. I leave my bowl on the back of the stove top. It will rise to double in 45 minutes to an hour. When the dough is ready, roll it into a large circle if you have a pizza pan or a long rectangle if you're baking it on a sheet pan. 

THE PIZZA PIE

I'm showing the pizza before baking as it is easier to see the arrangement. Once the pie was cooked,
it was difficult to tell how I'd put it together.

Set your oven to 500 degrees

Brush the crust with olive oil to seal the dough. Skip this step and the the toppings will leave the bottom crust limp and doughy.

Cover the oiled crust with red sauce. I cheated and used a jarred spaghetti sauce. It takes less than a cup of sauce. Add more and your topping will all roll off into your lap when you try to eat a slice of this pie.

Atop the red sauce, add the Daiya cheese. Because it melts so well, use less than you think you'll need. You can always change the ratio next time you make pizza.

Now add fresh basil leaves on top. Put them all over the pie. 

Slice 2 large, ripe tomatoes into thin slices. Spread them all over the pie. If your tomatoes are small, use as many as needed to cover the cheese.

I put a few pieces of vegan pepperoni on my pizza. I won't go to that expense again. The pie was great and didn't need the faux meat.

Sprinkle the pizza with a drizzle of olive oil and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and the cheese is melted. Try not to moan while you eat.

Serves 1-4 people, depending on how hungry they are.

When a vegan wants something bad enough, she will go to any extreme to find a way to make it.

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

I don't know about you, but I love the scent of lavender. I spray my home with it, burn candles scented with it, and set bowls of it around my house as a fresh potpourri. But I've NEVER put it in cookies. That is until I saw a food channel chef use it as the main flavor in a butter cookie. Now that intrigued me.

Of course you know I just had to try this recipe. The only changes I made were to use Earth Balance vegan margarine in place of the butter and dried lavender in place of the fresh. This cookie turned out to be a delicate, crunchy, buttery, shatter on the tongue bit of heaven. In fact I suggest that anyone not familiar with the flavor of lavender would be hard pressed to say what was in these cookies that made them so addictive. What they will say is that they want another one. And another one. And yet another one.

Since I had a difficult time finding cooking or culinary grade dried lavender, I ordered mine from www.myspicesage.com.  It's one of my favorite places to buy those spices I can't find anywhere else. I also like them because their spices are inexpensive, they always send a freebie sample, and the company ships so quickly.

To put the cookies together with little effort, I made the dough in my food processor and had them in the oven in less than ten minutes. I think it's the fastest cookie I've ever made. They went perfect with the pot of tea and the vegan Turtle Bay brand ice cream I served them with. One of my guests said the cookies tasted like perfume. I was waiting for her to say she didn't care for them when she smiled, rubbed her tummy and said, "They are delicious."

LAVENDER TEA COOKIES

1 stick of unsalted Earth Balance margarine, cold and cut into pieces

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. of sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dried lavender, food grade

Heat the oven to 350 degrees

Put all the ingredients (minus the 2 extra Tbs. of sugar) into a food processor bowl and pulse to break the margarine into small pieces. When the dough starts to come together, remove it from the bowl and press it together on a floured surface. Smooth the dough and roll into small balls. Place the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and press the balls into disks. Sprinkle the cookies with the remaining 2 Tbs. of sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet. Removing them while they are still warm causes them to break apart.

These cookies will last about a week in an air tight container, though I doubt you'll have them around that long.

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