Cosy Cooking: Creamy Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta
Song suggestions:
All the Pretty Girls: Kaleo
Postcards - Jeremy Loops
Ingredients: (serves 4)
400g cherry tomatoes (on the vine, preferably), 1 tsp olive oil
1 whole garlic bulb plus the cloves from another half
350g silken tofu
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
6 tbsp pasta water
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt, crack of pepper
Curly parsley to garnish or fresh basil
Extra: tofu mince, recipe in Jacket Potacos (optional, but a stunning addition if you can add it)
Recipe:
In an ovenproof dish, lay the tomatoes and very light drizzle of olive oil over the top.
Peel the white flaky skin off the garlic bulb and place it whole, alongside the cloves from half of another, in a sheet of tin foil. Wrap the foil closed.
Roast both in the oven for 40 minutes at 180o.
* you can either now leave your things to roast and just cook your pasta and blend the sauce a few minutes before you’re ready to eat, or make some tofu mince now to fill your time! *
Make the sauce by blending the silken tofu, nutritional yeast, pasta water, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Add to the pasta once cooked and mix well.
Serve with the tomatoes on top (avoid mixing the tomatoes in with the pasta: they will disintegrate after having just been roasted in the oven).
Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and a generous serving of tofu mince on top (optional, but delicious).
A Bite Out of Life
Our flat Christmas dinner… where do I begin? This was almost a military operation between all of us and the organising was worth every last little morsel of Christmas dinner. We had an absolute blast going to Aldi with our suitcases to pick up everything we needed and we started cooking at 4pm, for an 8pm dinner! So, what was on our menu? We had stuffed olives and hummus with Christmas tree-shaped tortilla chips to start, mulled wine and drinks to kick off the evening. We then put together three mushroom and chestnut Wellingtons (one gluten free, one vegan and one vegetarian), gluten free sage and onion stuffing, roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts, maple and mustard roasted parsnips and carrots, and Yorkshire puddings. Ambiance was not a problem: a 4K fireplace was found on YouTube, no fire hazard and the crackling was drowned out by our flat favourite Christmas playlist. Dinner was served drowned in gravy and with some cranberry sauce, we snapped open some crackers and lit a sparkler in the Wellington (left over from Bonfire Night). Christmas origami cranes as napkins and rubber ducks were to be found on every plate at the table before we ate and the night ended with an aquafaba chocolate mousse for dessert washed down with a Bailey’s hot chocolate from our local Christmas tipi-tent bar. A night to remember for Flat 7A!
