Hope you guys are well and your weekend was peachy and relaxing? As Duncan was away, I did a bit of pottering around the house and snuggling with my cat on Saturday and on Sunday ventured out to the Bristol Museum with my friend, Melanie. If you follow us on Instagram you might have seen my somewhat hectic Instastory and if you did, apologies, I WILL get better at them, that’s a promise!
It’s a bit of a bummer as we seem to have swapped gorgeous weather for a lot of rain in the past few days so I’m into comfort food again lately. If the weather continues in this vein, you’ll be seeing a lot more desserts on the blog, me thinks. Today’s dish marries overtones of summer in the form of late-summer tomatoes with a bit of comfort. It’s a simple pasta arrabbiata made with ripe fresh tomatoes simmered in a chilli and garlic-infused oil, which comes together rather quickly, as you want the tomatoes to be just cooked. Because of this, the simmering does not take as long as it does for rich, winter sauces. Now, to the traditionally-minded amongst you, I am aware that arrabbiata is rarely served with parmesan, but tradition goes out of the window a bit when you are vegan, plus I’ve been dying to share my vegan parmesan invention with you for a while now. So I’ve used this simple summer pasta as an excuse to do just that. Sorry, Signorina Arrabbiata, I’ve used you – don’t be arrabbiata (=angry in Italian) with me 😛 . This simple concoction of seeds roasted in a slowly dehydrated miso paste and seasoned with some nooch (nutritional yeast) and a pinch of herbs is something I’ve been addicted to lately. It’s really easy to make and has bags of flavour. While it makes for a perfect pasta topping, it’s also delicious sprinkled on salad, lunch bowls and avocado toast, so I hope you’ll give it a go, even if pasta isn’t your thing.
2 tbsp / 30 ml extra virgin olive oil ¼ tsp chilli flakes, or more to taste 2 garlic cloves, diced very finely 700 g / 5 ripe medium tomatoes (approx. 3½ cups chopped) 200 g / 14 oz penne (GF if needed) ½ tsp salt, more to taste black pepper, to taste fresh parsley or basil, to garnish sliced black olives, to garnish (optional)
