Jen’s making dinner tonight, which means:
- Dinner will be served in 40 minutes or less, (even if the food isn’t ready:) )
- A lot of vegetables will be involved
- Pre-packaged items will be involved (probably cheese)
- It’s possible that something might burn
As a general rule, any beautiful, interesting dishes are a vision of Ash, but I like to share the sloppy stuff I make too, because they are definitely easy options for anyone in a hurry. And will taste good, I promise.
On tonight’s menu: Kite Hill spinach and ricotta ravioli with vegetable sauce and roasted brussel sprouts.
First up: brussel sprouts. One of the best things that came out my plant-based transition is the discovery of roasting veg. I go on these great roast-sprees sometimes, shoving carrots, beets, cauliflower, garlic, squash, brussel sprouts (and any other unassuming vegetable casually passing through the fridge at the moment) into the oven to pre-make meals for later. It’s my firm belief that the reason veggies like brussel sprouts have a bad rap is because people try to boil them down to a goopy, bitter blahfest, instead of helping them realize their full potential in the oven.
Anyway, starting with the sprouts makes sense because that will take the longest. My favorite recipe is Barefoot Contessa‘s. So easy: mix halved brussel sprouts in olive oil, salt, and a lemon squeeze, then roast for 40 minutes at 400. Depending on the size of the brussel sprouts, you might go less (tonight’s were a 30-minute job, partially because I was hun-gray).
While that action is in progress, you can kick off the raviolis. These Kite Hill raviolis literally take 5 minutes because they are made already and refrigerated! Kite Hill is an amazing plant-based food company that primarily specializes in delicious cheese. All of their products are at Whole Foods. That’s just so you know. For now, start boiling some water and set them aside.
For sauce, I’m proudly ‘that guy’ that uses stuff in a jar. Tonight, we went with 365 Portobella Mushroom sauce (showing off its Vegan branding on the back). A lot of pre-made pasta sauces have milk in them, so I always check out the ingredients list or hope for the vegan insignia on the back of the bottle, like this one has.
Even though I can’t be bothered to sweat for something I can get in a jar, doesn’t mean I’m completely lazy. Chopping up 1 zucchini, 3 baby portobellos, and 5 cherry tomatoes to sautee with the sauce makes a world of difference. Once the vegetables have spent 5-10 minutes on the stove with some olive oil, we stirred in about half the jar of 365 sauce with a teaspoon of Go Veggie dairy-free parmesan, along with some chopped up basil from our herb garden. Then, set to dumping our raviolis in the boiling water.
Once the raviolis have spent about 5 minutes in boiling water and the sauce has heated, you’re done! Don’t forget about the brussel sprouts for chrissake!!
NouVeauGan 