Pasta Putanesca
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 by cyn
from Vegan Planet
I made this partly in response to a crazy caper craving I was having. This is weird because I've detested capers since childhood, and usually regard them with deep suspicion. But within the last couple of months I have changed my tune with regard to the noble caper, and now I can't get enough of them. This pasta with its caper/green olive/kalamata/tomato combo totally hit all of my salty-tangy-bitter urges in just the right way.
based on recipe from 
from Veganomicon
I was worried this would be kind of bland, but it was actually surprisingly flavorful. I made this after coming back from a beer tasting thing while my boyfriend was passed out on the couch, so it gets props for being easy to make, full of carbs, filling, and nutritious. Also very tasty when I mixed in some of the cashew-cucumber dip. Also points for using chard, because chard is awesome. 
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
I used almond meal instead of hazelnut meal because I had some in the cupboard, but no one was all "ZOMG WRONG NUT" so it turned out okay. I also bought the wrong kind of silken tofu, but again, no one was "ZOMG WRONG TOFU." These were super tasty, with the hazelnut on hazelnut action, and also an attractive dark brown color.
Have I mentioned I totally made my boyfriend eat one of each kind of cupcake so I could try a bite of each them? That is just how high maintenance I am. 
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
These are sort of the leftover cupcakes. I made a double batch of the plain chocolate cupcakes and used half for the Cherry Creme Cupcakes, and then we put some leftover orange pudding in half of these, and used the extra frosting and ganache and shaved chocolate. These are the cupcakes made to appease my inner depression era grandma, basically. However, still tasty. 
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Rosewater = yummy. I had a hard time not just eating the leftover glaze from these cupcakes with my fingers. These totally turned out like something you would buy from a middle eastern bakery, all sweet and perfumey and tasty. 
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Sorry about the blurriness of this photo, I was just so excited about cupcakes. These guys disappeared from the party pretty quick, I think people can't resist maraschino cherries, and the whole cherry sauce/frosting/chocolate combo is pretty damn good. They were also pretty easy to make, so don't be intimidated by the (blurry) fanciness. 
from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
The best part of making these was watching one of my roommates suck leftover orange pudding out of a plastic bag with a hole cut in one corner. (We referred to it as the "pudding teat.") I made these and a four other kinds of cupcakes for my now traditional birthday cupcake party, and recruited my roommates into my cupcake sweatshop. (Most delicious sweatshop ever.) I hadn't ever made these before, and they were tasty. The orange pudding was surprisingly delicious on its own, too. 
from Veganomicon
Despite how it looks in the picture, this doesn't really involve very much olive oil, I was just trying to sort of put some on top of it as a garnish and it didn't really work. It was doesn't involve mint, but the garnish mint tasted really good with it. At first I was a little freaked out by this because the cashew made it taste a little sweet and I was expecting it to taste more like tzatziki, but then I started to really dig it. Also I had some with the Fresh Dill Basmati Rice with Chickpeas and Chard from Veganomicon, and it was super good, the flavors really complicated each other well. 
from Veganomicon
This was good, but it was quite the olive overload I expected from the warning before the recipe. Maybe I was just using substandard kalamatas. However, it was still total olive numminess. I made this for my birthday party, also, and I'm pretty sure no one even suspected that it had tofu in it.