The Veg Blog

This weekend, my wife and I had some friends over and I cooked up a pair of new dishes that both went over well.

I started with a Fennel and Soy Cheese soup from the Soy for Health Cookbook by Kurumi Hayter, a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law. I wasn’t sure how this dish would turn out or go over with the group since fennel isn’t exactly an everyday ingredient and soy cheese has a bad rep amongst non-vegetarians, but I decided to give it a shot since a number of people at the dinner were lactose intolerant. Soy cheese is much easier to digest and fennel is one of the best natural aids in digestion that I’ve found, which would be important considering what I served as a main dish.

Turns out my concerns were for naught, as the soup went over extremely well with everyone. It was a nice, light and creamy combination of fennel and leeks topped with a bit of Veganrella mozzarella-flavored rice cheese. Personally, I liked this soup so much that I’ll be making it again for another couple of guests that are coming over.

The main dish came from Nava Atlas‘ Vegetariana: Pasta with Cauliflower, Currants, and Pine Nuts. The recipe called for quite a bit of dairy (ricotta cheese, low-fat milk, and parmesan cheese), so I decided to go half-and-half. I used regular part-skim ricotta, Lactaid (lactose-free) low-fat milk, and a soy-based parmesan cheese. That way, there was still enough thickness and “regular” cheese flavor in the dish, but I cut back on the lactose, keeping in mind our guests. The toasted pine nuts added a really nice flavor to the dish, but I think I should have made a little bit more sauce, as it was a bit light on the pasta. Still, the end result was nice and tasty, and reminded me why I love barely-browned cauliflower in a dish.