Arugula Lasagna with Garlic Scape Pesto and Tofu Ricotta...

Okay, so I know it’s summer, and I know a lot of you are living in placed where it’s currently hot, hot, hot, but here in IL yesterday it was actually quite nice. It felt more like spring then summer with a cool breeze and no humidity. It was a perfect day, and while it might not have been a lasagna day per say, that’s inevitably what I ended up making for dinner.

You see, yesterday I was extremely busy writing essays and doing other homework. It consumed most of my day up until about 3pm. By then I was feeling a little tired and brain-fried and so I didn’t really feel like thinking to hard about making dinner. Originally I was just going to cook something from a cook book, but every recipe I found that was ‘quick and easy’ and looked appealing didn’t really utilize the bounty of fresh produce I had on hand. I had pounds of arugula, garlic scapes, kale, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage and beets and so I really wanted to make something that would use at least one or more of the most perishable items in that list. I started thinking about noodles, using my garlic scapes and kale to make a pasta dish but I didn’t feel like spaghetti. Then I remembered a box of whole wheat lasagna noodles my mom gave me to take home with me when I left Vancouver in May. Hm... Lasagna.....

So the wheels got turning, and I must say as much as I love a good lasagna I really hate actually making lasagna. It’s always such a process, but once I got thinking about it I couldn’t stop. I mean what if I put garlic scapes and arugula in a lasagna? I’d never heard of that before, It could be very interesting. What about some olives? Do I have tofu to make ricotta? What if I made a pesto out of the garlic scapes? Hm.. The questions just kept on coming and finally I decided, ‘lets do this thing!’ Of course pesto alone in a lasagna might be a bit too overpowering I thought, so I made a red sauce too, and everything combined together made the most perfect, and delicious lasagna. My husband says this is one of my best ever. No one flavor overpowers another, they all work In perfect harmony together. So If you like lasagna I urge you to make this one, it’s unique blend of flavors is really a pleasure. Of course, if it’s a bit too hot where you live to turn on the oven, then wait for a cool day to try it!

Arugula Lasagna with Garlic Scape Pesto and Tofu Ricotta 

Lasagna

14oz Whole Wheat or Gluten Free Lasagna Noodles
1 Large Yellow Onion Diced
½-1 lb Baby Arugula (I used roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a 1 lb package)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tomatoes Sliced
Handful of Kalamata Olives
Sea salt and Black Pepper to garnish if desired
1 Recipe Tomato Sauce
1 Recipe Garlic Scape Pesto
1 Recipe Tofu Ricotta

Tomato Sauce 

1 28oz Can Diced Tomatoes
8oz Can Tomato Sauce
3 Cloves Garlic
2 tsp Dried Basil
2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1/4 C Capers

Garlic Scape Pesto 

14 Garlic Scapes Steamed
½ C Walnuts
½ C Olive Oil
½ C Water
2-4 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast (to taste)
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Smokes Paprika
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
2oz Fresh Basil

Tofu Ricotta 

1 lb Extra Firm Tofu drained and Pressed
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 tsp Dried Basil
2 tsp Dried Oregano
½-1 tsp Sea salt
Black Pepper to taste
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Tahini
1 Tbsp Mellow White Miso
Slightly less then 1/4 C Water

To Make the Tomato Sauce 

- Combine all ingredients except capers and blend until smooth, add in the capers and give a gentle blend for 2 seconds just to incorporate.

- Set aside until ready to use.

To Make the Pesto 

- Trim the ends off of your garlic scapes and steam in a pot fitted with a steamer basket for 5-7 minutes until bright and fragrant.

- Pulse Walnuts in a food processor until very fine.

- Add in Olive oil and garlic scapes. Process until relatively smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

- Add in all other ingredients along with the water. Process again until you reach your desired consistency. (I like my pesto slightly textured.)

- Set aside till ready to use

*** Note - You can use more or less water depending on your desired thickness. You can also leave the garlic scapes raw if you prefer, but some people find the taste too strong which is why I suggest steaming them for a few minutes before hand.***

To Make the Tofu Ricotta 

- Crumble Tofu into a mixing bowl.

- Mix the White Miso with the water until smooth.

- Add all other ingredients to the tofu including the miso water mixture and use a fork to mash until everything is thoroughly combined and tofu reached desired ricotta-like consistency.

- Set aside until ready to use.

For the Lasagna 

- Boil the Noodles per package directions then drain and rinse under cold water.

- Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a pan and saute the onion until soft. Add in the arugula and saute for roughly 5 minutes until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Assembly 

- Preheat oven to 400'F

- Fill the bottom of a baking dish with a thin layer of the sauce. Place a layer of cooked noodles over top.

- Place half of the pesto mixture on top of the Noodles and spread to coat evenly.

- Spread half of the arugula mixture over top of the pesto.

- Spread half of the tofu mixture over top of the arugula mixture and spread as evenly as possible.

It’s okay if the Arugula shows through the tofu.

- Spread another thin layer of sauce over the tofu mixture, then top with another layer of noodles.

- Spread the remaining pesto over the noodles.

- Spread the remaining arugula mixture over the pesto

- Spread the remaining tofu over the arugula and top with another layer of noodles.

- Spread the remaining sauce over top of the noodles. Then garnish with thinly sliced tomatoes, kalamata olives and a bit of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper if desired.

- Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until tomatoes are shriveled and sauce is bubbling.

- Let cool for 15 minutes then cut into the Lasagna and enjoy!

***Note: This can be made gluten-free by using gluten-free noodles.*** 

White Beans and Garlic Scapes with Caramelized Tempeh...

Garlic Scapes are still abundant at many markets, and since the season for them is so short I love to take advantage of them. Unfortunately last week I had a ton of them in my fridge but hardly anytime to cook. Still one afternoon as I was preparing to leave for work I needed something quick and easy to throw together to take with me for lunch and this just happened to be it.

It was one of those ‘Grab whatever’s around’ affairs. One of those ‘throw everything into a pot’ deals, you know? I’m becoming more and more fond of this style of cooking because it seems no matter what I throw together it always comes out great. With this dish in particular the scapes work so well with the creamy white beans. I used Italian flavors as inspiration and caramelized some tempeh for a bit of extra oomph and a little sweetness, By the way, caramelized tempeh is like my new favorite thing ever. If you’ve got some garlic scapes you don’t know what to do with I urge you to try this dish. It’s packed with good stuff and you can whip it together in under 30 minutes.

White Beans and Garlic Scapes with Caramelized Tempeh 

1 15oz Can White Beans (rinsed and drained)
1 Large Tomato Diced
12 Garlic Scapes cut into 1 inch dice
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 tsp Dried Rosemary - (or fresh if you have it)
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
8 oz Tempeh cubed and steamed for 10 minutes
3 Tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s - or Tamari or Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

- Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic scapes and saute until nearly tender 4 minutes.

- Add in the White Beans, Tomato, Red Pepper Flakes, Rosemary, Sea salt and pepper and saute until the scapes are tender, the tomatoes have softened and the beans are heated through. About 4 more minutes.

- Add the lemon juice and stir to combine then transfer to a serving dish.

- Using the same pan as you used to cook the scapes and beans turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the cubed tempeh and saute until beginning to brown on all sides. About 5-6 minutes.

- Add in the Bragg’s, and Maple syrup. Let the mixture bubble up and get thick using a wooden spoon or spatula stir the tempeh around so that it all gets coated with the mixture. Cook about 2-3 minutes until most of the sauce has been absorbed into the tempeh and the tempeh takes on a ‘sticky’ look.

- Add the caramelized tempeh to the bean and scape mixture and enjoy!

PS: You can eat this as is, or you can enjoy it over a bed of greens or a bed of cous cous or rice.

Garlic Scape Socca with Hummus and Steamed Greens in Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette...

Where does the time go? I’ve been sitting on numerous recipes that I’ve been dying to share and yet it seems this week I didn’t have a spare moment to post. It was a busy week though, and Monday was my birthday so I’ve spent my free time over the past few days celebrating. Monday was also Canada day so to all my fellow Canadian friends and readers I hope you had a good holiday and enjoyed yourself!

So anyway, back to those recipes. Well, the whole reason I posted my Classic Hummus  recipe last week, was because I was planning to post this socca recipe the day after! But time got away from me and now I’m posting it a week late, though better late then never right?

Now, the last time I posted about Socca was last December, and I had fully intended to post more Socca recipes because it really is a new favorite food of mine and I make it quite often. Though it seems to always work out that I tend to make socca when I have limited time - which means my camera is never at the ready and so I wolf the food down without snapping any pics. This time however I was preparing a socca recipe with the full intention of posting about it because one of my absolute favorite things is back in season GARLIC SCAPES! As soon as I saw them at the market I knew I would have to use them to make Socca, it seemed to me to be the perfect marriage of two amazing things. I’m sure you recall my love of Garlic Scapes, and if you haven’t tried them yet I strongly encourage you to go out and buy some. If you don’t know what to do with them you can always try these recipes Mighty Green Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce , Garlic Scape Soup,  Garlic Scape and Collard Green Pizza or make this socca!

So since Socca are French, I decided that for this particular recipe I wanted to use some French flavor pairings like Herbs de Provence, and Dijon Mustard, with a lot of greens and a nice bean spread. After some careful consideration I thought a simple classic hummus would taste fantastic spread over socca, and so that’s how this recipe was born. It’s an interesting amalgamation of flavors and somehow they all work beautifully together. Try it and See, I think you’ll be just as happy as we were with the finished result.

Garlic Scape Socca with Hummus and Steamed Greens in Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette

Socca 

8 Garlic Scapes sliced
1/4 red onion diced
3 Tbsp Capers
1 ½ C chickpea flour
1 ½ C water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Herbs de Provence
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
½ tsp White Pepper
Sea Salt to taste

Greens 

1 Bunch Kale
1 Bunch Arugula
2 ½ Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 ½ Tbsp Maple Syrup

1 Recipe Classic Hummus  or Hummus of your choice

For the Socca -

- Preheat the Oven to 425'F

- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the water and stir to combine into a smooth batter. Add the sliced garlic scapes, red onion, and capers. Stir to combine.

- Lightly oil a cast iron skillet, then heat it over medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, pour in the batter and let it cook for 1 minute.

- Remove the skillet from the heat, and place it into the preheated oven. Cook for 20 minutes or until the socca is dry and pulling away slightly from the edges. Let the Socca cool for ten minutes then slice into quarters or eighths.

For the Greens - 

- Fill a medium sized pot with an inch or two of water. Fit with a steamer basket and place the greens inside. Steam lightly for 3-5 minutes until the greens are wilted but the kale still has a bit of texture. Transfer mixture to a bowl.

- Combine the Balsamic Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, and Maple Syrup in a bowl. Whisk until smooth then pour over the steamed greens.

Assembly - 

- Spread a generous amount of humus on each slice of Socca, and top with a generous amount of the steamed greens/ Then enjoy.

- Alternately, you can spread the humus over the socca, and eat the steamed greens on the side as a salad. It’s up to you, but it all tastes great mixed together!

PS: Apologies for the pictures, I know it's kind of hard to see the socca because I really loaded up my plate with the steamed greens. That's the way it's suppose to be though right? 

Garlic Scape and Collard Green Pizza...

There are few things better then a truly good pizza, and I’ve made plenty of tasty pizza’s in my life, but this one beats them all by a thousand miles. The flavors in this pizza are out of this world amazing! It’s truly amazing what you can create when you’re making every effort to use every last bit of fresh produce in your fridge. Collard greens, tomatoes, and non-dairy cheese were all staring at me yesterday afternoon threatening to spoil unless I used them before vacation. A quarter of a jar of garlic and green onion olive oil had been sitting on my counter for the better part of a month. A jar of sun-dried tomatoes sat nearly empty in my fridge, and I had just purchased 4 bunches of garlic scapes from my local grocery.

I was not suppose to buy groceries this week, but when I saw that scapes were back in season I knew I’d have to have them before I left, because by the time I get back they’ll surely be gone. It was a total impulse by, and my stomach not my brain was responsible. When I got them home, I thought “What am I going to do?” I have hardly anything left in my fridge. I stared down the contents of my fridge for a good long while and then the above mentioned ingredients started calling to me. They started saying “pizza, pizza, piiiizzzzaaaa!” Until I just had to listen.

Though this was my own idea, I was skeptical at first. Collard greens on a pizza? I’d never hear of such a thing, and collards - love them though I do - are just one of those things that one immediately identifies with ‘health food’ not pizza. Still, I decided it was better to try and fail and have to through the collards out because dinner was terrible, vs throwing the collards out because they went bad. I can not tell you how amazed I was by the end result. This is literally the best pizza I have ever made, perhaps even the best pizza I have ever eaten and I do not say that lightly. We’re talking mind-blowing, mouth-watering, tastebud-tickling good, so good that you’ll crave it! Even my husband, a pizza eating fanatic said it was one of the best pizza’s he’d ever eaten, and last night he simply couldn’t get enough of it!

Instead of sauce I decided to coat the crust in home-made garlic and green onion infused olive oil. I wanted a lighter, cleaner tasting pizza, and wasn’t in the mood for a heavy acidic tomato based sauce. Of course if you’re anti-oil this may not be the pizza for you, but you can control how much oil you brush onto the crust. You don’t have to go overboard and if you’re only eating a slice or two it’s really not all that bad. You can of course try it with a tomato based sauce though I can’t grantee that it’ll taste at all the same. The infused oil is highly recommend. Also though I list the non-dairy cheese as optional I highly recommend that too. I used Daiya’s Garlic Jalapeno Havarti which was amazing and really kicked the pizza up to a new level, but you could use vegan mozzarella if that’s all you can find. Remember though to use just a little bit, you want it more as a garnish than anything else, the pizza shouldn’t be dripping with it. Just sprinkle on enough that you get a few good bites of it per slice. On it’s own the pizza is hearty and filling, but to make it even more of a meal you could serve it with a nice side salad and perhaps even a glass of red wine if wine is your thing. However you serve it, just be sure to enjoy it! And trust me when I say this comes together a lot quicker then the length of the recipe may imply. Also the topping can be made ahead and saved till needed, which makes it that much easier!

Garlic Scape and Collard Green Pizza 

Topping 

2 Leeks white and light green parts only sliced thin
2 bunches collard greens chopped into bite size pieces
3 Roma tomatoes sliced thin
1-2 Bunches garlic scapes sliced into 1 inch lengths
Garlic and Green Onion infused Olive Oil for brushing ***
1/8 C Shredded non-dariy cheese (optional)
10-15 sun-dried tomatoes sliced into strips
Rosemary sea salt ***
Fresh Black pepper to taste (Optional)
1 ½ Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar to drizzle over top

Dough

2 1/4 C All Purpose Flour
1 ½ Whole Wheat Flour
1 pack active dry yeast
1 C warm water
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Preheat Oven to 400'F

- Water Saute leeks, collard greens, and garlic scapes in large pan over medium-high heat. Saute about 10 minutes until veggies are tender and all the water has been absorbed. You want the mixture to be a bit dry. Transfer to a bowl when finished and set aside, or if making ahead refrigerate until ready to use.

- To make the dough, combine all purpose and whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor and pulse to incorporate.

- Combine Active Dry Yeast with Warm water and set aside for five minutes

- Drizzle the olive oil into the food processor and add the yeast/water mixture. Process until mixture forms a cohesive dough. If the dough is too moist or sticky add in more flour until you’ve reached your desired consistency.

- Remove the dough from the food processor, shape into a ball and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

- After the dough has sat, you can either divide it to make two smaller thin crust pizzas or leave it as is to make one large regular crust pizza.

- Flour a clean work surface and flour a rolling pin. Gently roll dough out into a large circle. Start with the edge closest to you and roll the dough outwards in a circular motion. Flip the dough over and continue rolling outwards in a circle. Flip the dough one more time and continue to roll outwards until the circle is large enough to fit your pizza pan.

- Lightly grease your pizza pan with some non-stick cooking spray. Then gently transfer your pizza dough to the pan. There should be excess dough flowing over the edge of the pan. Roll it up to form a crust around the edge of the pan. Trim some off as needed if the excess is too much.

- Poke your pizza dough with the tings of a fork a few times. Then brush the dough with a generous amount of garlic and green onion olive oil (or regular olive oil) make sure to brush both the base of the dough as well as the crust.

- Place pan in preheated oven and cook for 10-15 minutes until dough is firm. Remove from the oven.

- Brush with a little more garlic and green onion oil, then layer sliced Roma tomatoes around the crust. Evenly distribute the collard green, leek and garlic scape mixture over top of the tomatoes. There will be a lot but that’s okay, pile it all one and spread it as evenly as possible.

- Next scatter the sun-dried tomato strips over top of the pizza, and the shredded non-dairy cheese if using.

- Finish the pizza by drizzling the balsamic vinegar over top, sprinkling with Rosemary sea salt and a few twists of a black pepper mill.

- Return the pizza to the oven and bake for 15 or so minutes until the cheese has melted, and the edges of the crust begin to golden.

- Slice and serve hot with a bowl of garlic and green onion olive oil dotted with balsamic vinegar for dipping your pizza crusts! Enjoy!

*** Note - The Garlic and Green Onion Olive Oil is super easy to make and tastes amazing on this pizza. If you prefer you can use regular olive oil, but this oil really does kick the pizza up a notch and infuses it with such great flavor. I highly recommend it, especially since it’s so easy. All you do is pour 2 cups of olive oil in a mason jar. Add 1 cup of sliced green onions (just the green parts) ½ cup of finely minced parsley or basil (or a mixture of both) a pinch of sea salt, and 10-12 garlic cloves finely minced. Screw a lid on tight, give it a good shake then leave it on your kitchen counter for 24 hours to let the flavors develop. So delicious! ***

*** Note - Rosemary Sea Salt is easy to make. All you need is fresh Rosemary springs and sea salt. Remove the Rosemary leaves from the stems and grind in a food processor. Then add to a shaker with an equal (or slightly less) amount of sea salt. Use on everything because it tastes delicious! ***

*** Note - This pizza is only soy-free if you use a soy-free non-dairy cheese.*** 

Vegan Mofo #15 - Heidi’s Garlic Scapes Soup...

Vegan Mofo #15 - Heidi’s Garlic Scapes Soup

The Book - Super Natural Cooking
The Author - Heidi Swanson
The Recipe -
Page #
Difficulty - Easy
Duration 45-60 minutes

Super Natural Cooking is a vegetarian cook book, but many of the recipes - such as this one - can easily be veganized with a few painless substitutions. I was actually quite excited about getting this cook book. In fact it was my first ever vegetarian cook book. I purchased it more then a year ago, back when I was still an omnivore, only a couple of months away from transitioning to a vegetarian diet. There are a lot of inspired dishes in this book, and some really delicious ones too. Unfortunately I went form vegetarian to vegan so fast I hardly had any time to use it. In the beginning I wasn’t as savvy about subbing vegan ingredients for non-vegan ones, but now that I am I’d like to use this book a little more.

When I first purchased this book, the Garlic Scapes Soup recipe was one of the first to pop out at me. The picture was just so beautiful, so green! So mouth watering! I wanted to make the soup right away except I’d never heard of garlic scapes before let alone seen them anywhere. I looked around but to no avail I guess garlic scape season either hadn’t yet begun or was just over. The season for garlic scapes you see is very short indeed, and if you miss it you miss it until next year.

It wasn’t until this June that I found garlic scapes at my local market, and I was very excited about them. They look so neat, so bright and curly. I immediately picked up a few dozen and went straight home to make this soup.

The soup was certainly tasty, and worth the wait, but it was a lot milder then I thought it would be. The scape it seems has quite a mild flavor, so if you’re like me and like a really strong garlic taste I would suggest either using 3-4 dozen scapes rather then just 2, or adding in some cloves of garlic as well. There is one thing about this soup, a taste - a flavor that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s a flavor very reminiscent of a soup my Oma use to make when I was younger and now I can’t for the life of me remember what that soup might have been. In any case the soup was very good, and I quite enjoyed it. Garlic scapes are amazing, and I highly suggest that if you ever see them in the market you pick up a couple dozen without the slightest bit of hesitation.

As far as changes to this soup go, veganizing it was very easy. Instead of clarified butter I used olive oil, and instead of heavy cream I used unsweetened almond milk. Presto Changeo - easy as pie. Also for some reason she says to not peel the potatoes, but I did because I wanted a smoother consistency, and it was grand.

PS: Remember today is going to be my last Vegan Mofo Post until Sunday October 23^rd. That is 15 days away from now. During that time I’ll be on vacation without access to the internet. I’m very excited about my little vacation but at the same time sad to be leaving during the middle of Mofo when things are really starting to rev up. I am going to have so many blogs to catch up on when I return but I will catch up. Also when I return I’ll have a lot more great posts ready for you guys. A lot more great meals cooked from a lot of great cook books. I can’t wait to share it all, and of course after Mofo is over I’ll have to post about traveling in ‘remote’ areas as a vegan and how it is to be on vacation as a vegan. Looking forward to seeing you all back here for some exciting stuff on October 23^rd. Happy Mofo to everyone! See you soon!
Peace!

Mighty Green Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce...

You’ll have to excuse the poor quality of the pictures, the lighting in my kitchen at anytime of day is not very good, not ‘photographer’ good anyway, and it’s particularly bad at night. On top of that, on the particular day that I made this recipe I was cooking for a guest, and because the hour was growing late I was in something of a hurry to take the photograph. Don’t let the poor photo quality deter you in any way from trying this dish though, trust me when I say it’s phenomenal. It far exceeded even my wildest expectations.

Now, a note about Garlic Scapes, they are a revelation! I can’t believe I’ve never eaten them before! Now, if you’re like me, and not very familiar with Garlic Scapes, it’s very simple. All they are is the green shoots that grow out of the garlic bulb. In order for the bulb to grow into maturity the scapes have to be removed. Usually they were just tossed away into the garbage or compost, but it seems that some ingenious person decided, "Hey, why don’t I cook them?" and that set the foodie world on fire, as garlic scapes are now quite the in and trendy thing to cook with. Garlic Scape pesto in particular seems to be the hot new dish making the rounds, but since I don’t care much for food fashion or food trends, and I generally approach the foodie elite with scorn and much eye rolling I chose to do something else with them.

Look at all those beautiful Scapes!

Originally I bought the scapes for a soup I planned to make using a recipe from "Super Natural Cooking" however as I didn’t have the recipe on hand I bought six bunches of scapes just to cover my bases. Turns out I only needed three for the soup, and so the other three I decided to stir-fry with various other green vegetables and toss with pasta. It was a wonderful combination, as the scapes have a texture similar to asparagus, and a flavor like mild garlic. Mixed with Lemon and Dill it was a winning combination.

Mighty Green Pasta with Garlic Scapes

1 lb Whole Wheat Spaghetti
2 Tbsp Earth Balance Coconut Butter or non-dairy butter or olive oil (optional)

3 Bunches Garlic scapes (Roughly 24 scapes)
1-2 heads Broccoli chopped into florets (or more to taste)
Roughly ½ lb Shaved Asparagus
½ Yellow Onion cut into half-moons
2-3 large handfuls baby Spinach
1 tsp olive oil

Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce

7 tbsp olive Oil
Half a large bunch of fresh Dill
5 tbsp Lemon Juice (or to taste)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp agave nectar
1-2 cloves garlic
4-5 sprigs fresh Oregano (or more to taste)
1/4 C Mellow White Miso
water to thin as needed
Black pepper and Sea Salt to taste

- Fill a pot with water and set in on the stove to boil. Once boiling cook pasta as directed by package.

- In the meantime trim all the flowers or buds from your garlic scapes. You really only want to use the firm part of the scapes, the bud and the thin wispy curl beyond it you can discard. Once trimmed, cut your scapes in 2-3 inch pieces.

- In a pan heat your tsp of olive oil, add your sliced onions and garlic scapes and cook for 5-10 minutes on medium until onions are translucent and scapes are soft.

- While onions and scapes are sauteeing in oil shave your asparagus. This is a very easy thing to do. All you need is a vegetable peeler. Peel thin strips off of your asparagus spears until you’re only left with the asparagus tops and some nubs. I recommend keeping the nubs and top pieces and tossing them in at this point to soften up a bit.

- Once onions and garlic scapes are softened add in your broccoli florets and saute for another 5-7 minutes until broccoli has softened and turned a bright green. You want to get the broccoli in that perfect stage of doneness. A little crisp but not overly crunchy, so keep an eye on it and keep testing.

- Once Broccoli is softened, reduce heat slightly and add in both the shaved asparagus and spinach. Stirring them both in until the spinach has wilted slightly. Remove from heat.

- By now your pasta should be done, drain it, and return it to the pot with 2 tbsp of Earth Balance Coconut Butter or your favorite non-dairy butter, or oil. (Optional of course) Stir to combine and add in your pan of mixed vegetables. Stirring again until combined.

- To make your sauce, add all of your ingredients into a food processor or high speed blender. (Food processor works great for this so a Vitamix isn’t necessary for those of you who don’t have one) pulse, or blend until sauce is creamy and smooth. Taste for flavor, tartness, and spices and adjust as needed. Then pour the sauce into your pot of pasta and veggies, stir well until all pasta and veg are coated and sauce is well combined. Then distribute amongst plates or bowls and enjoy, perhaps with a small side salad, or a slice of crusty garlic bread. Though it’s entirely suitable on it’s own as well.

*** Note- Garlic Scapes are apparently only available for a shot time each year, between June and July, so if you can’t find them you could always substitute with some additional chopped asparagus in addition to the shaved, some whole green onions, and a few garlic cloves. ***

P.S. Apologies to my good friend C.S, for I promised to post this recipe for you weeks ago and I never did. Better late then never though I suppose right? Peace/Love.