Some vegetarian dishes to make your mouth water and your family happy
By: Richard Pearce, Chef Patron, Totally Kosher
The team at Totally Kosher has brought you some vegetarian recipes that are easy to do at home and enjoy. If you’re not up to making the dishes, we will do the work for you.
Have a look at our frozen meal selection and freshly prepared dinner box offerings feeding a family of four, email us at info@totallykosher.co.za or call us on 011 430-1940 (speak with Mandy).
Red pepper pesto
Ingredients
- 2 large red bell peppers, de-seeded and membranes removed
- 1 clove large garlic
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
- ½ cup loosely packed basil leaves
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Olive oil
- Blend together to form a paste like consistency
Homemade Basil Pesto
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves garlic (roasted or fresh)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional, but recommended)
- ½ teaspoon each salt and fresh ground pepper
Blend together to form a paste like consistency
Butter leaf salad cups
Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced cherry tomatoes.
- 2 cups diced English cucumber.
- ½ cup diced red bell pepper (optional)
- ¼ cup red onion, diced.
- ¼ cup finely chopped mint.
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley.
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice.
- 1 to 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
Strain off excess dressing and place into the butter leaf cup, these can be made before serving. We placed a marinated artichoke as a garnish.
Butterbean salad
Ingredients
- 1 x 400g cans butter beans
- Place the beans in a colander and rinse off the excess brine, then allow to drip off excess water
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 small handful of herbs, such as parsley or thyme, roughly chopped
- A teaspoon of lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil splash of red wine vinegar
- Pinch of salt, to taste
- Pinch of crushed black pepper, to taste
I like to make this salad a day before so that the flavours infuse and are absorbed by the beans
Mixed vegetable ragout
Ingredients
- 3 carrots
- 2 potatoes
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- ¼ cabbage
- ¼ frozen green peas
- 1 Tbsp salt
- dill, parsley
- salt – to taste
- Sugar to neutralise the acidity from the tomatoes (less than a teaspoon)
- ground black pepper – to taste
Cube carrot and potato. Slice cabbage and peppers. Use a slow cooker and cook the vegetables for 30 to 45 minutes. After that add green peas, salt, and ground black pepper. Mix everything thoroughly. Add chopped parsley and dill. Always a winner when served with rice or cous cous.
Marinated olives
1 packet of pitted queen olives (green in colour)
1 packet of Kalamata olives (purple in colour)
Strain the olives in separate colanders.
Stuff the queen olives with small cloves of garlic then place into a container
Take the Kalamata olives and place in container.
Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 Tbsp fresh orange juice
- ¼ teaspoon finely grated orange zest
- Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
Mix all the ingredients and cover the olives with vinaigrette allow to marinate for a few hours, preferabyl overnight.
Strain from the liquid before serving.
Ravioli
Ravioli are pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Served in broth or with a sauce, and are commonly square.
Pasta dough
Ingredients
2 cups flour
3 eggs whole at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water at room temperature
Beat eggs, olive oil, flour and salt together in a bowl. Add water, one teaspoon at a time, to flour mixture until a smooth and very thick dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a work surface and knead for 10 minutes. Let dough rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Spinach filling
1 bag baby leaf spinach
1 clove garlic chopped fine
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tub parev cream cheese substitute. (freeze and defrost to get crumble texture)
1 egg
Heat olive oil in pan at low temperature and in garlic add in salt and mix in the baby leaf spinach.
This will cook in a matter of seconds. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Once cool, squeeze out the excess liquid and chop until fine. Add in cream cheese alternative and mix together with one egg.
Mushroom filling
1 punnet sliced button mushrooms
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp pepper
2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
½ Tbsp dried rubbed sage
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ onion, diced
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Sauté the mushrooms in the olive oil and then add the garlic and herbs and allow the moisture to cook out completely; this will increase the flavour of the mushroom mix.
Sheet out the pasta on a pasta machine or by hand.
Spoon small amounts of filling onto the sheets of pasta. Run some egg wash between the gaps and place the second sheet on top and close the pillows of filling to seal out whole or air getting into the ravioli.
Cut into desired shapes and then cook in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes.
Gnocchi
- 500g of starchy potatoes
- ¼ cup egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour (some like to use semolina)
- fine grain sea salt
Fill a large pot with cold water. Salt the water, then peel and cut potatoes in half and place them in the pot. Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until tender throughout.
Remove the potatoes from the water. Save the potato water. Don’t over-mash – you are simply looking for an even consistency with no lumps.
To shape the gnocchi, hold a fork in one hand and place a gnocchi pillow against the prongs of the fork. With a very light touch, use your thumb and press in and down the length of the fork. The gnocchi should curl into a slight ‘C’ shape, their backs will capture the impression of the prongs as tiny ridges. Set each gnocchi aside, dust with a bit more flour if needed, until you are ready to boil them. This step takes some practice.
Reheat your potato water or start with a fresh pot (salted) and bring to a boil. Cook the gnocchi in batches by dropping them into the boiling water roughly twenty at a time. They will let you know when they are cooked because they will pop back up to the top. Continue cooking in batches until all the gnocchi are done.
We chose to fry ours off in a little olive oil.
Marinated roasted vegetables
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup lemon juice fresh
- ¼ cup orange juice fresh
- 1 large clove garlic
- Whole black pepper corns
- 2 bay leaves
Mix all the ingredients and allow the vegetables to absorb the marinade for 30 minutes and not longer than an hour.
Remove excess liquids and then roast individually at 200°C for 10 to 15 minutes.
Drizzle leftover marinade once out the oven.
Serve as desired; we used the following vegetables:
Brinjals
Artichokes
Red peppers
Courgettes
Tony’s pickled green tomatoes
500g green salad tomatoes (or 1½ punnets green cherry tomatoes)
For the Brine
1 cup white distilled vinegar (5% acidity)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp kosher salt
Dilly Garlicky Pickling Spice Mix
2 teaspoons dill seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 chili, cut and deseeded
Cut larger (slicing) tomatoes into wedges, and cut smaller (cherry or grape) tomatoes in half.
In a small saucepan, bring all of the brine ingredients to a boil and stir until the salt is dissolved. Remove the brine from heat.
Fill a hot, clean quart jar with the pickling spice mix of your choice. Pack the jar tightly with the tomatoes.
Pour the hot brine over the tomatoes, covering them completely and leaving 2cm of headspace.
Stick a chopstick or “bubbling” tool into the jar and move it around to release any trapped air bubbles.
Wipe the rim clean, seal with a lid and band, and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
Remove from the bath and allow two weeks for the flavours to infuse.
