Sweet Blueberry Semolina Porridge

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Vanessa Gregoria

Its been raining a lot here in Brisbane and I really felt like a warm porridge. Something I have never used other then for pasta is semolina. I looked at a few different recipes that used semolina, water and milk, but I wasn’t sure how many people they served. So I just thought I would experiment and see what happens. It is very much like cooking polenta, but it comes out a lot thicker a lot faster. It was really delicious, especially with blue berry maple syrup! This is a quick easy breakfast that takes no earlier preparation and will warm you up and keep you satisfied for longer.

If you love warm porridge then also see my Vanilla Maple Breakfast Polenta.

Sweet Blueberry Semolina Porridge (vegan soy free, nut free)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

3 tablespoons semolina

1/4 cup plant milk and more to serve (coconut, rice or oat; almond or soy if you can tolerate)

1 teaspoon coconut sugar (or raw sugar)

serve blueberry maple syrup and fresh berries

Method:

1. Place water, semolina and milk in a small pot. Bring to the boil then let it simmer for 3-5 mins or until thick. Add more soy milk if it is too thick.

2. Serve with a drizzle of cold soy milk, blueberry maple syrup and fresh blueberries

*Serves 1

Orecchiette ai broccoli

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Vanessa Gregoria

Orecchiette pasta is my favorite short pasta. I tried in a restaurant years ago and have loved it ever since. I don’t buy it very often because its hard to find and usually quite expensive. I also found the store bought Orecchiette can be a bit tough as well.

Orecchiette is actually from the region of Puglia (the heel of Italy). It’s name translates to ‘little ears’, because that is what it looks like. It is made of only semolina pasta, water and salt. It is often paired with broccoli, turnip greens or tomato sauce (vegetarian or with ragu/meatballs/brasciole) or strong sheeps cheese. In the city of Cisternino (Puglia), there is a variant of this pasta, which is a bit larger and has deep internal ribs, which looks more like an ear. It is called recch’ d’privt, which means ears of the priest. This variant uses soft wheat flour.

The origins of Orecchiette is not actually from Italy, but from the south of France, during in the Middle Ages. Back then it was a made of a thick paste, which was shaped into discs and hollowed in the center using the thumb. They made it this shape because it was easily dried. It was used during times of famine and was also loaded on ships and sent abroad.

How did it come to Italy? Well in the 13th century the French Anjou dystasy ruled the lands, which are now the modern Italian regions of Basicilica and Puglia. So it may have came to Italy this way. Alternatively, expert scholars of food and wine in Puglia, think that Orecchiette would have originated in Sannicandro di Bari, in Bari (Puglia), when the Normal-Swabian ruled during the 12th and 13th century. It was perhaps created as protection again the local Jewish communities and/or derived from the Jewish recipe Hamantash, which translates to the ears of Haman (from the book Esther).

I found many recipes for Orecchiette that combining wheat flour and semolina. However, there were comments left by some Italian said they would lynch you in Puglia for doing that. So I thought I would stick to the original recipe of just using semolina. It was incredibly easy and quick to make. After being cooked it was not tough and not to soft. It is completely different texture to other pastas, yet it is still pleasant to eat. It is chewy, but not too chewy. Well you just have to try it! There are heaps of videos on youtube showing you how to shape the pasta. It is very easy and you get better as you go.

I decided to make it with broccoli, because I have had this dish before in Milan, at my favorite place to eat Osteria al 29. I loved the simplicity of broccoli, good olive oil and a hint of chili. Sometimes simple is the best way. Marco, who isn’t a fan of broccoli loved this dish. I was going to add some sauce to his to take to work, but strangely enough he was happy to go without. The photo on the right is at Osteria al 29, but I can’t find a picture of the originally dish. It was offered for lunch on many menus in Milan and is one of the few vegan pasta dishes I saw other then Pasta al pomodoro.

Homemade Orecchiette (vegan, soy free, nut free)

Ingredients:

250g semolina flour

bit more than 1/4 cup hot water (not boiling)

pinch of salt

Method:

1. Place the semolina in a bowl and add salt. Stir through.

2. Then place the semolina on a large wooden board or work space and make a well in the center.

3. Add a little water in the center of the well, and stir through. Gradually adding enough so that it firms a a hard dough. Knead for a few minutes. Then let it sit for 10 mins.

4. Cut the dough into 6 segments. Then roll each segment with your hands into a tube shape. Cut it in half again, and continue to roll the two tubes so they are 1 cm wide. Continue rolling the rest, until you have used all the dough and have several tube shaped pasta.

5. Now cut the tubes into small pieces, of about 1 cm wide each.

6. Once all the small pieces have been cut its time to shape your orecchiette. Take one piece of pasta and a rounded knife (without serrated edge). Drag the knife from the center of the piece of dough to the edge. Then turn the piece around and curve it around your finger, so it looks like a shell or a miniature bowl. Continue till you have shaped all the pasta.

7. To cook place the orecchiette pasta in salted boiling water. Remove from the water once all the orecchiette has floated to the top. It should take 5-10 mins to cook.

*Serves 2 mains or 3 entree size

Orecchiette ai Broccoli (vegan, soy free)

Ingredients:

homemade orecchiette (from recipe above)/dried orecchiette to serve 2

1 large head of broccoli

extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves

red chili flakes to taste

sea salt to taste

vegan parmesan to serve

Method:

1. First put a pot to boil for orecchiette and another to boil the broccoli.

2. In the mean time dice the garlic and cut the broccoli florets into halves or quarters, so that they are bite size. Also cut up the stalks to use.

3. Boil the broccoli for 2-3 minutes or until tender and place a bowl.

4. Once water has boiled for the pasta, add orecchiette and salt to cook.

5. In a pan add olive oil and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Then add broccoli and chili and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add more oil if you need.

6. Pasta should be ready now, so add it to the pan and include a little bit of pasta water. Season with salt and pepper and saute for 1-2 minutes. Serve with vegan parmesan.

*Serves 2 mains or 3 entree

Spinach & ‘Ricotta’ Ravioli with Cherry tomato Sauce

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Vanessa Gregoria

I finally made fresh pasta without eggs tonight. It was pretty much just like making the egg pasta, like I’ve made before (Oh Eggs), except using semolina, instead of just flour. I also used wholemeal wheat flour instead of combining the semolina with white flour, since I didn’t have enough. The dough turned out really good, but I still need some more practice to get the shape of my ravioli down pat. They are jumbo ravioli, but they look more like wontons. To make the pasta, I bought Sostanza Semolina today. I was a bit worried that it wasn’t semolina flour since its quite coarse, like polenta, but I think its meant to be like that.

For the filling I used Tofutti Ricotta that I got from Green Edge the other day. I know that I can make my own vegan ‘ricotta’ with tofu, but when I saw it I had to try it. Its actually really good and doesn’t taste like soy at all. Its not as salty or watery as dairy ricotta, but it is an excellent alternative. I also used a bit of Tofutti Cream Cheese, which made the filling so much more creamier and melted in the mouth. I added lots of salt and some nutritional yeast, so the filling tasted more cheesy.

For the sauce I made a simple cherry tomatoes sauce. I bought the tomatoes today at the Davies Park Market West End. I got 3 punnets of the most ripest, delicious cherry tomatoes for only $1.50. It was my first time going to this market. I can’t believe I have never been there before. They have food stalls from all over the world and including Hungarian langos, German sausages, Spanish paellas and French macaroons. We tried the famous Ykillamoocow vegetarian pies, langos and bought a selection of flavored nuts. Definitely a market worth visiting in Brisbane.

Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli (vegan, nut free)

Ingredients for Pasta dough:

1 cup semolina

1 cup wholemeal flour or unbleached plain flour

pinch sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup warm water

Ingredients for Pasta filling:

120g baby spinach, chopped

1 tablespoon vegan butter (I used Nutlex)

250g vegan ricotta (I used Tofutti Better Than Cheese Ricotta)

2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons fresh basil

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

sea salt & black pepper to taste

Method:

1.Take a large bowl and combine semolina, wholemeal flour and sea salt.

2. Then add olive oil and slowly add warm water. Combine so that it becomes like a dough.

3. On a floury board knead the dough for 10mins, so that the dough is smooth and elastic. Set aside.

4. In a sauce pan melt vegan butter, then add baby spinach and cook on low heat, until spinach has wilted. Then place in a mixing bowl.

5. Split the dough into 6 parts and prepare the pasta machine.

6. Make pasta sheets with the pasta machine and place them on damp tea towls. Trim them and put the excess dough through the machine again, so that all the dough gets used.

7. Take the bowl with the spinach and add the rest of the ingredients for the filling and mix it well. (Preheat a pot of boiling water to cook pasta).

8. To make ravioli place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of the pasta sheets. Remember to leave a space between each bit of filling and at both ends of the pasta sheets. Once you have placed the filling on the pasta sheet, wet the edge of the pasta sheet, with your fingers (so that it will stick) and fold over the pasta sheet. Slice between each bump of the filling to separate the ravioli and then close the edges with a fork. Then place on tray with baking paper and some flour (so it doesn’t stick).

9. In boiling water, add a pinch of table salt and then add the ravioli to cook. They only take 2-3 mins till they begin to float to the top, then they are ready. Remove from water and add straight to hot sauce, to coat, then serve, or place in a strainer till sauce is ready.