Skill Building

One thing I wasn’t sure about before preparing this recipe was the pasta part. Would I have to make the lasagna sheets myself? Or would it be “okay” to buy the dry ones at a store? After watching a couple of YouTube videos the question answered itself: I would do it with the dry ones! If the Italian YouTubers were using it, with wouldn’t I as well? 😊

The second decision was on the filling. In the beginning, I considered buying some kind of vegan grounded beef (apparently, there’s one brand that makes a good alternative). The second option was using soy crumbles. And the third one, lentils or some other thing. I chose the latter because I wanted to try something different. I never use lentils as a meat substitute (usually I do soy crumbles), so I wanted to see -and taste!- how it was like.

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 7) Lasagne

Did you know that you don’t need to put eggs in your gnocchi? It turns out that gnocchi is one of the easiest recipes to veganize. You just ditch the egg, and there you have it: vegan gnocchi! I have eaten them many, many times. They are just like the non-vegan ones. Most people cannot tell the difference: with or without eggs are pretty much the same.

For the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina I would also need mozzarella and grated cheese. Lately, Argentina has started to produce really good mozzarella cheese. My favorite brand so far is “Felices las Vacas“. They not only have mozzarella, but also cream cheese (“queso cremoso”, also known as “queso mantecoso”). The grated cheese is easy enough to make it at home: you just blend cashew nuts, nutritional yeast (ideally, cheese-flavored), salt, and some garlic powder.

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 6) Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Have I already mention how much I like pastry and bakery? I love that stuff! Last year I tried doing my first cinnamon rolls at home. I tried the regular (vegan) version with white flour, and also whole wheat flour recipes. All of them are great 😊. While doing the sfogliatelle, I had a dejavù: I thought I was making rolls. I guess it’s just because in both recipes there’s some sort of rolling involved. Also, there’s butter/oil spread over the dough.

Every time I try a new recipe I look forward to learning something new. But, at the same time, I keep an eye on opportunities to reutilize something I learned in the past. I think this is key in cooking (and in life!). Trying to remember what worked well in the past, how can we use something that served us in the past. In this recipe, I did just that when I replaced the margarine with coconut oil, a healthier and tastier alternative. That’s how I did it with the cinnamon rolls (coconut oil instead of vegan butter 😋). If you’re doing baking vegan, make sure to always have coconut oil nearby!

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 5) Sfogliatelle

I have to say I hadn’t never heard of the cannoli siciliani before attempting this cooking project. As I started researching popular Italian recipes, I took note of those that popped up more often. The cannoli were one of those. I looked further into them and I just loved the concept and the presentation of the sweet/desert.

Those colorful tips with pistachio nuts looked lovely. Later on, as I’d start looking for general recipes and vegan versions, I noticed that the original ones were fried 😁. That was no option for me. First, because IMO it’s not a healthy cooking method. And second — and most importantly– because I’m scared to death of frying anything. I’d never try that! So, that narrow my search to recipes that were baked in the oven 😊.

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 4) Cannoli Siciliani

When I was a child we used to buy pizza at a place that made it with a wood-fired clay oven. The pizza was very thin in the middle and had wide borders. It was just like a pizza napoletana. Except for one thing: they didn’t call it “napolitana” or even “Italian”. It was just pizza. But it was different than all the other pizzas we used to buy. And I liked that! Maybe I like that pizza just because of how different it was.

That pizza was the closest I’ve ever tried to a pizza napoletana. But I can tell that 25 years later, after learning about the Italian pizzas while I try to make one myself. This is one of the recipes I’m going to do even though I have never tried it made by others. In Buenos Aires there are pizzerias that make pizza napoletana. I would try one of those… if they had a vegan version 😁.

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 3) Pizza Napoletana

There are many theories on the origin of the Carbonara. Some people claim that it was created many centuries ago, others say that’s a recent invention. This week I’ve heard that it might have started during the Second World War, as a mix created out of the Italian and North American culture. Supposedly, the American allies brought the bacon and eggs and added that to the Italian pasta. I don’t know if that’s how it all started, but it might be 😊.

I enjoy pasta, even though I have never kneaded it from scratch (this time I’m also using dry spaghetti). Regularly, I prepare a vegan version of the Spaghetti alla Bolognese (pasta with meat). I also like a lot lasagne, cannelloni, and any other stuffed (or not!) pasta. In the coming weeks, I intend to go back to other pasta-based recipes.

[Read more…] about Cooking in Italian (Week 2) Spaghetti alla Carbonara