Spaghetti (with Carrot-Tomato Sauce).
I, like most runners, like to schedule my long runs and spaghetti nights to coincide. Whilst on the treadmill, I was, within five minutes, already fantasizing about the various sauce options at my disposal. Around minute twenty, I remembered the carrot purée still kicking around in our refrigerator.
Once a week, I make various spreads to use as bases for sandwiches (more on that in the next post). During least week's epic blending festivities, without really thinking it through, I cooked up three big carrots (including one beautiful purple one) and made them into a paste. When tin tried a spoonful the next day, she rightly concluded that simply eating puréed carrot reminded her of baby food. We put the jar back in the refrigerator and I promised to "come up with something to get rid of it."
I've used squash as a base for many pasta recipes (especially oven-baked specialties) because of its creamy consistency and sweet/savory flavor. I'm not a huge fan of imitation meat/cheese products, but I, like every other human being trying to make the switch to an animal-/earth-friendly, healthy lifestyle, didn't want to lose all of the beautiful textures found in animal-based proteins. I won't lie, I had a hard time giving up cheese -- and it's not easy to mimic that flavor, or its creamy melty-ness. But a good squash (butternut, hokkaido, etc.) promises a pretty similar mouth-feeling.
I know what you're thinking -- a carrot is a root vegetable, not a squash.
Luckily, carrots & sweet potatoes are good flavor partners for squash, if not suitable substitutes.
Since the carrot purée was already on hand*, I began by putting a pot of spaghetti on the stove -- with a pinch of salt, and let them boil in peace. I had some leftover, large hollow noodles -- not enough for an entire meal -- so I mixed them together with some traditional wheat spaghetti noodles.
*If you are starting from square one, the first step is selecting your carrots. You probably think that seems self-explanatory and not worth a description, but I disagree. Remember my purple carrot? There are SO many beautiful colors when it comes to carrots (and potatoes), and I recommend that you try them all. Each has a subtly different flavor & sweetness. And above all, I find that the biggest joy of vegan cooking is the opportunity to work with the entire spectrum of colors. Don't be afraid -- each color has its own set of vitamins and minerals to offer. -- Anyway -- Whatever colors you have on hand, peel them, and cut them into rounds. You'll want to put them in a pot with just enough water to cover about 1/3 of them -- simmer them on low, covered, until soft enough to purée, stirring occasionally to move carrots from the bottom to the top & vice-versa (remembering that, thanks to the rising steam, those on top are also cooking). You'll need a little bit of liquid to make the purée, but if you got overly-anxious about the possibility of scorching your carrots and thus added too much water (which, you're right, is certainly better than too little), you can drain off a bit of it (but save it -- it's full of awesome vitamins! You can add it to the water you use the next time you make rice/couscous/bulgar -- oatmeal --, anything that absorbs water.)
This will take a while, more or less time depending upon the quantity of carrots in your pot. I recommend preparing it ahead of time, on the weekend -- it'll keep surprisingly long in your refrigerator and be ready to use later in the week.
While my pasta was boiling, I chopped one clove of garlic and about 1 Tbsp. of fresh ginger. I put both in a nonstick skillet along with one medium-sized white onion, roughly chopped. I added, as always, a few grinds of fresh black pepper and left the skillet alone for a moment to chop two sun-dried tomatoes. Sun-dried tomatoes have a really intense flavor as it is, but I recommend giving yourself some time to test various kinds. A good jar of sun-dried tomatoes contains not only great tomatoes, but the most wonderful oil packed with herbs -- each brand has its own special combination, and if you're patient enough/not willing to settle, you'll find your favorite(s). In my kitchen, nothing goes to waste, so the quality of the oil in that glass is very important to me.
I added the two sun-dried tomatoes along with two fresh Roma tomatoes (cut into chunks) to the skillet, gave the whole thing a quick stir, and covered it again.
I then drained the pasta, retaining about one ladle-full of the water (which I set aside for a moment), and returned the pot to the stove. I emptied the contents of my skillet also into the pot, and the carrot pureé. You want to create a thick sauce out of the carrot purée, so don't add the entire ladle of water at once -- take your time and stir it in a bit at a time, because once it's too soupy, there's no going back. The advantage of adding the water from your pasta is that it contains some of the starches derived from the noodles -- it'll help to give the sauce the classic thickness (and stickiness -- so that it will cling to the noodles) that you expect. I added a drizzle of oil from my jar of sun-dried tomatoes, stirred everything really well, and let all warm through for a minute before turning the heat off.
At this point, you're ready to eat. I served mine with chopped fresh parsley, a bit of grated fresh nutmeg, and black pepper. (And a glass of red wine.)
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