Welcome to our vegan dinner series - "FALL" special!
I hope this autumn menu will make you fall (no pun intended) in love with this magical season.
Ok, let's start with the kale chips. I use 10 to 12 leaves of black kale.
Wash and dry the kale leaves, and preheat your oven to 280F or 140C. Low temp is the secret to crisp kale.
Also, It's important that the leaves are dried well. Or else the water will prevent them from being crisp when we bake them.
Cut off the woody end of the leaves, then arrange then on two baking trays, without too much overlapping.
Grate the zest of half a lemon on top of the kale leaves.
To a small bowl, add 1 clove of grated garlic (or minced)
and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Brush each kale leave with the olive oil and garlic mixture.
Best if you give them a brush of oil on both sides :-)
If you can't find whole leaves of black cabbage, you can replace it with pre-chopped curly kale, or with any other type of kale.
Bake them the oven at 280F or 140C for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Check the kale at the 20 minute mark, if it's crisp take it out, if not, cook it for a few more minutes, checking often, till it's crisp.
I add a pinch of salt and grated lemon to finish.
And some chili flakes too, if you like it spicy.
And here you go - beautiful and crunchy kale chips as a starter.
The best thing is eating them! They are crisp and delicious!
Next is our pasta! It's creamy, cheesy, and earthy. And it's with chestnuts!
You can either boil the chestnuts yourself or you can use store-bought pre-boiled, or steamed chestnuts to speed things up.
Your need 1 cup (160 grams) of chestnuts boiled or steamed.
Here I use the store-bought pre-cooked version. I get them in Lidl.
Prepare a blender, and add 1 cup (160 grams) of chestnuts and ¼ cup (30 grams) of hazelnuts.
2 tablespoons (30 grams) of bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon (5 grams) of nutritional yeast (optional).
½ teaspoon (3 grams) of salt and 1 cup (240 grams) of soy milk - unsweetened!
Now, blend all the ingredients together until you have a thick cream, almost like a hummus.
Add a little more soy milk if the pesto is difficult to blend.
And when smooth, set aside. Btw, this thing is delicious also as a spread on bread! Perfect for breakfast.
Anyway, back to the pasta. For the sauce, I use 1 clove of crushed garlic that I add
to a pan with 1 tablespoon (15 grams) of olive oil.
Chop 9 ounces (250 grams) of brown mushrooms - I use portobello here, but any other are good.
Add to the pan, and cook the mushrooms on medium heat for about 8 mins.
I had to change pan, it was too small :-)
Add ⅓ teaspoon (3 grams) of salt
Let it cook while chopping 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley and
add half of it to the mushrooms.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta. I use 1 gallon (3 liters) water + 1 tbsp of coarse salt to cook 11 ounces (310 grams) of spaghetti.
Save two cups of pasta cooking water before draining the pasta. We'll need it for the sauce.
Now add 4 to 5 spoonfuls of chestnut pesto and 1 cup of pasta cooking water.
On very low heat, stir to dissolve the pesto and turn it into a sauce. Add more pasta water if necessary.
At this point, your pasta should be very al dente, that is about 1 minute undercooked.
Add it to the pan and stir well.
Finish cooking the pasta for a minute, until creamy and al dente. And the remaining chopped parsley.
If the sauce is too thick, simply add more pasta water.
And it's ready! Creamy and super delicious.
You can serve it like this if you like.
Add a little extra sauce on top, sprinkle with parsley, and a drizzle of olive oil.
This is a crazy good pasta dish, and so easy to make! I am just gonna taste it...
*uhmmm*
Alright, next chestnut recipe is a kind of a bliss ball, but Italian style, which means that is basically more of a chocolate praline.
I start by blending ¾ cup (100 grams) of toasted hazelnuts.
Blend only for a few seconds, you should get a coarse hazelnut powder.
Add the hazelnut powder to a bowl, then sift in the chestnut flour.
Chestnut flour is gluten-free. I use 2 cups (240 grams) of chestnut flour
Sift the flour as it tends to clump up.
Then mix with a spoon.
Add ¼ cup (50 grams) of sugar
And ⅓ cup (70 grams) of coffee. It's best if espresso!
Optional: 1 - 2 tablespoons (10 grams) of rum. I personally LOVE it with rum. But your choice here.
And 5 ounces (150 grams) of hazelnut chocolate spread, I use a dairy-free/vegan version.
With a silicon spatula, or a spoon, mix the ingredients till you get a compact dough, that is a little sticky.
If needed, add a tablespoon of soy milk to make it easier to mix.
The mixing should take a couple of minutes. You can also mix with your hands to be faster.
It should look like this: compact and a little sticky :-)
Divide the dough into small pieces of about 22 grams each. I like to use a scale here.
22 grams is the best weight to make these praline bite-size. You should be able to get about 25 pieces.
On a small plate, add 2 tablespoons (15 grams) of unsweetened cacao powder.
On another small plate, add 2 tablespoons (15 grams) of shredded coconut (that's optional)
With the palms of your hands, shape the dough pieces into smooth balls.
And roll each ball into either the cacao powder or the shredded coconut.
They are very cute and bite-size friendly, I think :-)
Set aside on a serving plate and serve.
If you don't serve them immediately you can put the in the refrigerator for up to 3 - 4 days.
These pralines are just delicious.
To end this menu, I want to share the recipe of castagnaccio: a traditional Italian chestnut flour cake.
To a blender, add 2 cups (240 grams) of chestnut flour and ¼ cups (50 grams) of sugar
2 tablespoons (30 grams) of olive oil and 1⅔ cups (400 grams) water
Blend for a couple of minutes till completely smooth
add ⅓ cups (30 grams) of walnuts (cut in pieces) or pine nuts, then
add in ⅓ cups (30 grams) of raisins that you soaked for 10 minutes. Save a little bit of both for topping.
Mix with a spoon (DO NOT BLEND AGAIN) then prepare a springform pan greased with olive oil
Pour the cake batter into the springform pan.
Then add the remaining raisins and walnuts on top, randomly.
Finally, add a few rosemary needles on top.
Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil
And bake in the oven at 400F or 200C for 35 minutes.
Take out of the oven, let cool down 10 minutes, and remove from the pan.
Our dinner is ready!! Perfect as a fall or winter menu.
If you've never tried chestnuts (or you think you don't like them) give this recipes a try! You'll love them.
Cut the cake in slices and enjoy slightly warm or at room temperature.
(Sorry, my legs make this shot look weird. I am standing on a chair, trying to take a photo)