Spring Green Onion Pasta with Asparagus

We've been making our own pasta lately and it really transforms Italian eating.  I have been singing its praises ever since Christmas, when we got our pasta press.  If you have one sitting in a dusty cupboard, dig it out!  If you don't have one, this can be made by hand but it is a bit more labor intensive.

We made this delicious pasta last week and I wanted to write down a few notes about it before I forgot.  This is less of a "recipe" per se and more of some general guidelines.

Spring Pasta With Asparagus

The Pasta

Green Onion Pasta (devised and crafted by Barry!)

(We use this basic recipe.  The key to eggless pasta is to use semolina flour and knead it a lot!  A KitchenAid works wonders here!  You can add a lot of seasonings to the pasta.  This time we added about a cup of chopped green onions.  Often we'll add herbs, garlic, sundried tomatoes, etc.  The possibilities are endless!)

The Toppings

Steamed asparagus spears

Zest of one lemon

Slivered basil leaves

Carmelized onions

The Dressing

Juice of one lemon

2 TBSP olive oil (I added in a dash of truffle-flavored olive oil as well)

Salt

Garlic powder

Italian seasoning

Smooth Celery and Allium Soup

I found this recipe for a celery bisque this morning and felt like I had stumbled upon a revelation.  Smooth, creamy, celery (i.e. cheap, abundant, easy) soup!  It was the perfect way to use up that wilting head of celery in the crisper.  

Then I started contemplating, I had leeks that needed using.  That would be a nice addition.  I got out my chopping board and started down the list of ingredients.  I rummaged in our onion basket for a yellow onion - and came up empty handed.  Grrr!  We were out of onions again!  Barry asked why I couldn't use the purple onion that was in the fridge.  It was a logical, level-minded question to which I replied, aghast "No!  I can't use a PURPLE onion in my celery soup! Think of the HORRIBLE color it would make!"  

So, he suggested another logical option.  "We have those huge green onions in the garden that need to be picked.  I bet you could use the white parts of those instead of the onion."  And so, Barry solved the dilemma.  He's good at that :)

The picture you see below is not leeks, like they appear to be.  Instead, they are massive green onions which we should have picked months ago.  But instead they've been happily growing away, waiting for a moment such as this.

These are the real leeks, picked yesterday.

The celery, in progress.

Leeks, green onions, celery - an aromatic soup in the making.

The final product - delicious and creamy!

Recipe (adapted from Honest Fare)

Celery cluster (I only had about 2/3 left of mine)

Half a white onion OR the whites of 10 LARGE green onions

2 leeks (whites and 2-4 inches of green)

3 cloves of garlic

2 tsp salt

1 TBSP sugar

2-3 TBSP McKay's Chicken Seasoning

1 TBSP Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Couple dashes of cayenne pepper 

3 cups water

Parsley, basil, or cilantro, chopped (for topping)

Directions

Roughly chop celery (including leaves), onion, and leeks.  Sauté with garlic and olive oil in heavy soup pot until tender.  Add water and seasonings.  Boil for additional 15-20 minutes.  Blend until smooth.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Serve hot with chopped herbs on top.

(The original recipe called for silken tofu, which I was going to use but the soup turned out deliciously creamy without it so I left it out.  Maybe I'll give it a try next time; it does sound delicious!)

Garlic Cream Sauce (Vegan)

I have a confession to make.  I've been holding out on you.  I haven't yet shared this incredible, amazing, delicious, over-the-top garlic cream sauce that I found.  I first described it as akin to an alfredo sauce - but I think it's better than that because it's vegan and doesn't feel as heavy.  We've eaten it in some form or another almost every week since I found it!  It has showed it's creamy self on many things: pizza's, lasagna's and more.  But this baked pasta dish takes the prize.  Mixed with sun-dried tomatoes (my favorite!), spinach or peas, and pasta, this vegan cream sauce almost makes me want to become an opera star so that I could sing it's glories to the world!

Creamy Garlic Sauce

Adapted from Sweet Beet and Green Bean

2 whole heads of garlic, roasted

1 block silken tofu*

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

onion powder, cayenne, paprika, pepper, etc to taste

Breadcrumb Topping

2 pieces stale, hardened bread

1/4 cup flax seed meal

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1-2 TBSP McKay's Chicken seasoning

1-2 TBSP Brewer's yeast

1 TBSP garlic herb seasoning

Directions

-Roast the garlic as follows: wrap the whole head (unpeeled) in tin foil and then bake at 400 F for 30 minutes.  Remove and open the tin foil package.  Once cool, the individual bulbs of garlic squeeze out very easily.
-Blend garlic, tofu, oil, and seasonings until smooth.
-Mix with pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, and greens (spinach, peas, etc).  Place in baking dish.
-Coarsely blend all breadcrumb topping ingredients.  Sprinkle on top of pasta dish.
-Bake at 350 F just until top is slightly browned.

A few notes:
*I've used regular tofu and it works well, just not quite as creamy
** This sauce is endlessly versatile - I've added tomato paste, sundried tomatoes and the oil they come in to the sauce before blending (in lieu of the canola oi) and it makes the sauce into a delicious tomato garlic cream sauce.
***The pasta will absorb quite a bit of the sauce while baking.  To counter this, I only bake it for a short amount of time and, if making a large dish, I'll double the sauce.  It's also handy to save aside a little extra for spooning on top if things get too dry.