Italian Food | The Tofu Diaries

Mini vegan ‘frittata di carciofi’ or artichoke omelette with the delicious fresh sage and black pepper. Accompanied by crisped ‘fagioli’ or white cannellini beans baked in truffle oil and crushed garlic. All served with lashings of fresh lemon juice.

“A Tuscan dish? But we were expecting some Sicilian recipes!” I hear you cry (just play along with me here…) It is true that I promised you all some Sicilian recipes of my own, but I heard a rumour that Tuscany Now are currently hosting a food blogger challenge. The competition is actually open to all Italian-inspired recipes but as soon as I heard the word ‘Tuscan’ my attention immediately wandered and I became curious about Tuscan cuisine.

Simple cooking and flavourful, fresh seasoning forms the basis of the region’s food with its roots firmly in peasant cooking. Free-flowing olive oil, rich truffle, an abundance of beans, garlic and sage; the more I read the more I could already taste the flavours of Tuscany! The artichoke omelette, ‘Frittata di carciofi,’ was one dish that caught my eye, as was the idea of making the most of the area’s love of the humble bean. Tuscan-Inspired Frittata di Carciofi con Fagioli | Vegan

This dish is by no means the same as you would find in a Tuscan cookbook. It is very much an interpretation, but the flavours are 100% authentic and I hope enough to pique the taste buds of any Italian mangione.

The vegan omelette mix here can be a little on the tricky side so take great care when turning – wait until the underside has turned golden brown and the edges are cooked through first. This is definitely not a mix for flipping! It’s worth letting the beans crisp a little to add a wonderful contrast of textures. The truffle oil can be substituted for an oil of your choice but it adds an extra dimension to the flavour that I wouldn’t recommend missing out on.

Ingredients:

Makes around 12 mini omelettes.

For the omelettes:

1 tin/jar of artichoke hearts, sliced

400g firm tofu

1tbsp milk of your choice (I used soy)

1tbsp tahini

4tbsp cornflour

2tsp vegetable bouillon

2 stalks fresh sage, roughly torn; extra to serve

Generous amount of black pepper

Oilve oil, for cooking

For the beans:

1 tin/235g white cannellini beans (drained weight)

2tbsp truffle oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with the back of a knife

Juice of one lemon; extra slices to serve

Method:

1.Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 6. Put the beans, truffle oil and garlic into an oven-proof dish. Mix well to ensure that the beans are fully coated in the oil and the garlic is well distributed.

2. In the meantime, place the block of tofu in a large bowl. Using a spoon, mash well until it is fully crumbled. Add the milk, tahini, cornflour, vegetable bouillon, fresh sage and black pepper to the tofu and mix thoroughly until it forms a batter. Stir in the artichokes.

3. Place the beans in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges of the beans have become crispy.

4. In a frying pan, heat 2-3tbsp olive oil (depending on the size of the pan) over a medium-high heat. Spoon in the batter to create individual mini omelettes, leaving a little space between each so they don’t run together.

5. Slightly lower the heat and cook for around 7-8 minutes until the edges have cooked through. Carefully turn the omelette and cook for a further 2-3 minutes on the other side. If they are not browning, add a small amount of additional olive oil. Depending on the size of your pan, you will need to cook them in 2-3 batches.

6. Remove the beans from the oven and pour over the lemon juice. Serve atop the omelettes. Garnish with fresh lemon and fresh sage. This is my entry to the #TuscanyNowCookOff – for more details and to enter visit their blog. Have you ever cooked any Tuscan dishes?

Thick rigatoni tubes in a rich tomato pasta sauce full of the dark sweetness of black garlic and roasted squash with earthy chestnut mushrooms and aubergine.

I’ll readily admit that black garlic was an ingredient I didn’t even know existed until the day I made this. Whilst browsing ingredients in the supermarket one weekend and trying to decide what would go well with the rigatoni pasta I already had, my boyfriend announced he wanted something ‘exotic.’ The pouch of black garlic caught my eye and we agreed that seemed exotic enough. Black garlic has an almost jelly-like texture so chopping it roughly works fine. It adds an unexpected sweetness to the dish with its molasses-esque flavour.

Speaking of “exotic” ingredients, this dish also uses a coquina squash – a squash very similar to the butternut squash but cooks slightly softer and it almost became one with this sauce instead of holding in chunks. Either would work a treat in this recipe but if you can hunt down a coquina it is worth it.

Ingredients:

400g rigatoni tubes

1 Coquina squash, cut into small cubes and roasted for 20 minutes

1 aubergine, cut into thick strips

2 onions, finely chopped

400g chestnut mushrooms, cut into thick slices

2 cans chopped tomatoes

3 cloves black garlic, chopped

1tsp thyme

Plenty of black pepper

Preheat an oven to 200c / 180C fan / gas mark 6. Pour 2tbsp olive oil onto a baking tray. Place in the oven for around 4-5 minutes until the oil has heated up, then add the squash cubes onto the baking tray, covering well with the hot oil. Roast for twenty minutes or until browned, turning halfway.
Whilst the squash is roasting, add the rigatoni pasta to a pan of boiling water and cook for around eight minutes or as directed on the packet. Once cooked al dente, drain well.
Whilst the squash is roasting and the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 2tbsp olive oil in a deep frying pan or large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions, cook for around five minutes until they have softened.
Add the mushrooms and aubergine to the pan. Stirring well, cook for around five minutes until they have begun to brown.
Pour the tomatoes into the pan, along with the black garlic. Once the squash has roasted, add this to the pan.
Simmer for around fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme and stir for a further two minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
Mix the drained rigatoni pasta together with the sauce until it is well coated and serve.

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