Creamy Orzo and Chickpea Bake (from the Pantry)

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This dead-simple baked pasta is going to solve all your early-spring meals. It starts out as a welcome hot dish for gray, blustery days. But it also eats fine at room temperature. Leftovers served as chilled pasta salad make an instant lunch on sunny afternoons. Whatever spring throws your way, this dish has you covered. And it comes together in a snap: you chop the pepper and quickly blend the sauce while the orzo cooks on the stove top. Then the whole thing goes in the oven, and done.

This pasta and bean number is homey and comforting, thanks to cooking the orzo in veggie broth with a sprig of rosemary. Then you'll bathe the pasta and chickpeas in a creamy, high-protein sauce of silken tofu blended with herbs, a little white wine, and a good dose of spring onions. Green peas and diced roasted red peppers add welcome color and gorgeous little pops of sweetness. Plus, with frozen peas and jarred red peppers, you can keep the ingredients for this guy on hand to toss together on any given evening.

And if you're in the mood for something a little richer, feel free to top the whole thing with some panko crumbs tossed in oil and a little salt.

Creamy Orzo and Chickpea Bake (from the Pantry)

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serves 2-4

2 cups water

2 no-salt-added vegetable bouillon cubes

1 fresh rosemary sprig

1 cup orzo

1 15-oz can chickpeas

1 large jarred roasted red pepper (or freshly roasted, if preferred)

6 oz silken tofu (half an aseptic pack)

1/4 cup dry white wine

4 scallions

2 TBSP canola oil (or other neutral oil, but olive oil is not recommended [see Note])

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup frozen peas

Add water and bouillon cubes to a medium pot over high heat. Dissolve cubes and bring to a boil. Add rosemary sprig and orzo. Boil 9 minutes (or according to package directions), stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Do not drain. Discard rosemary sprig.

While the pasta cooks, heat oven to 375. Drain and rinse chickpeas in a sieve and set aside to let drain thoroughly. Chop pepper into small dice.

Next, prepare the sauce. Add tofu, wine, white and firm pale green portions of scallions (reserve tops for garnish or for another purpose), oil, thyme, oregano, salt, and black pepper to a food processor. Blend until smooth.

Add chickpeas, diced pepper, and frozen peas to the orzo pot. Stir to combine. Add sauce and mix thoroughly. Transfer contents to a  1 1/2-quart baking dish (shallow, app 8"x12") and bake 20 minutes. Let cool five minutes before serving. Garnish with sliced scallion tops, if desired.

[Note: food processors and immersion blenders can turn olive oil bitter. I found that to be true when processing this sauce with olive oil and had good results using canola oil instead.]

White Wine-Braised Chickpea, Tempeh, and Spinach Linguine from the Slow Cooker

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Spring: some days are too hot for the oven, then you're hit with a blustery, rainy day that calls for a bowl of comfort. Either way, this recipe has you covered. Toss chickpeas, tempeh, spinach, artichoke hearts, and blissfully salty Kalamata olives into the slow cooker with a dose of herbs and white wine. Let it cook all day, and there's nothing left for you to do but boil the amount of pasta needed for the meal, and done. Repeat with leftovers, should you have them.

The whole thing depends on the garnishes to really shine, so don't skip them. A generous spoonful of chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a final squeeze of lemon over your plate are necessary ingredients to add color, intense bits of flavor, and brightness.

White Wine-Braised Chickpea, Tempeh, and Spinach Linguine from the Slow Cooker

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serves 4-6

For the legume-veggie mix:

8 oz frozen chopped spinach

1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

3 TBSP quick-cooking tapioca

1 no-salt-added vegetable bouillon cube

2 15-oz can chickpeas, drained, but not rinsed

8 oz tempeh

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried marjoram

1 cup dry white wine

6 oz canned (and drained) or frozen (and thawed) artichoke hearts, chopped

fine sea or kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

To serve:

1 lb linguine

generous 1/4-1/2 cup julienned oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained well

lemon wedges, from 1-2 lemons

Layer spinach and olives into the crock of a slow cooker. Sprinkle tapioca evenly over the spinach. Place bouillon cube in the center of the crock. Pour drained chickpeas in evenly, then roughly crumble tempeh into the crock in small bite-size pieces. Sprinkle in each of the herbs, then slowly and evenly pour wine over the whole thing. Cover and cook on low seven to eight hours.

When ready to serve, stir in chopped artichoke hearts, add salt and pepper, to taste, and cover again. Cook pasta according to package directions. Divide pasta among plates and top with chickpea mixture. Add a generous tablespoon of sun-dried tomatoes to each plate and give a squeeze of lemon juice over the whole thing. Serve at once.

Creamy Lemon Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Fresh Zucchini

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This breezy pasta salad is what happens you have an abundance of zucchini (hi, summer), a limited amount of patience, and a need for loaded-in nutrition that eats well for lunch and dinner.

Chickpeas provide protein and heft, the fresh thinly sliced zucchini is a light element with gently crisp texture, and the sauce is made from blended tofu to really pack in the protein and other good stuff. Lemon juice and zest brighten the whole thing up. Fluffy, mild white orzo makes a particularly nice canvas for these summery flavors, but if you can't give up your whole wheat pasta, it should still make for a pile of seasonal and convenient meals.

Creamy Lemon Orzo Salad with Chickpeas and Fresh Zucchini

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serves about 6

1 lb dried orzo

15 oz firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

1 small clove garlic

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1 15-oz can chickpeas

1 medium zucchini

Cook pasta in unsalted boiling water for seven minutes, or until tender but firm.

Meanwhile, combine tofu, oil, lemon juice, basil, salt, and garlic in a food processor. Process until very smooth, about a minute, pausing to scrape the sides as needed. Stir in lemon zest and pepper.

When pasta is done, drain well and transfer to serving bowl. Add tofu puree and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.

While pasta cools, drain chickpeas in a fine sieve. Set aside to let drain thoroughly. Slice zucchini into very thin half-moons. Add both to serving bowl and toss to mix. Taste, and adjust salt to taste.

Fluff the whole thing again before serving slightly warm or at room temperature. Bring chilled leftovers to room temperature before fluffing and serving.

Strawberry-Tempeh Orzo Salad with Lemon-Parsley Dressing

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Strawberry season! If you're interested in finding a way to put your brilliantly red gems to work outside of eating them straight from the basket, there's always pasta salad.

Start with the nicest strawberries you can get your hands on.

You'll leave the berries in the biggest chunks to really accentuate them. Their sweetness will contrast the earthy tempeh (which you'll cut into smaller dice) and grassy scallions. The tempeh is also balanced by a seriously lemon-forward dressing packed with not a little parsley and a bit of pepitas blended in for additional body.

Give those bold flavors a soft, welcoming bed of orzo to sink into, and you're all set.

Strawberry-Tempeh Orzo Salad with Lemon-Parsley Dressing

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serves 4

For the dressing:

2 TBSP hulled raw, unsalted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

3 scallions, white and tender green parts roughly chopped, tops reserved for the salad

1/4 cup tightly packed parsley leaves

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP water

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

For the salad:

8 oz tempeh

8 oz dried orzo

8 oz fresh strawberries, rinsed and dried

Fill a pot that can also hold a steamer basket with enough unsalted water to cook the pasta. Place the whole block of tempeh in a steamer basket, place into the pot (leaving enough room underneath for the water to boil), and cover. Bring to a boil over high heat.

While the water heats, puree all dressing ingredients (using only the white and light green parts of the scallions for the dressing) until smooth. There will still be flecks of parsley left—the focus is to get the pepitas well blended so that the dressing isn't chunky. Set aside.

When the water boils, carefully remove the steamer and add pasta. Replace steamer and cover, ensure the water comes back to a boil, and reduce heat to medium or medium-low to maintain a steady boil. Cook 8-9 minutes.

While the pasta cooks and the tempeh steams, trim and halve the strawberries (leave smaller berries whole). Slice scallion tops into 1/4-inch-thick rings. Add both to a serving bowl.

When pasta is done, transfer tempeh to a cutting board and drain pasta thoroughly. Add pasta to serving bowl, pour the dressing over, and toss everything.

As soon as tempeh is cool enough to handle, cut it into scant half-inch cubes. Add to serving bowl and toss everything again. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Penne in Dead Simple Eggplant Sauce with Smoked Almonds and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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You get a lot of lovable stuff on this plate: chewy pasta, silky eggplant, smoked almonds, and sun-dried tomatoes. They sell themselves.

Eggplant is notoriously difficult to cook to pleasing texture. It can turn mushy, which becomes an advantage if you're making pasta sauce. Cooked with white wine and garlic, it's a great autumnal alternative to tomato sauce.

Now for the ease with which you can get all that lovable stuff onto your plate. Come home, pour yourself a glass of wine (or don't), chop an eggplant, chop some garlic, run your knife through the tomatoes and almonds. Put the sauce ingredients in a pan (don't even bother sauteing), cover, and walk away while it simmers. Put your feet up. Read a magazine story (or don't). Sweat absolutely nothing. Boil some pasta, and dinner is served.

Penne in Dead Simple Eggplant Sauce with Smoked Almonds and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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serves about 6

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium globe eggplant, 1 1/4 lbs total weight, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch cubes

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBSP nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

1 cup dry white wine

scant 1/4 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP salted smoked almonds, chopped

1 lb whole wheat penne, or other pasta

Add the oil, cubed eggplant, garlic, oregano, salt, and nutritional yeast to a large skillet. Pour wine over skillet contents. Cover, bring wine to a boil, and reduce heat to low to maintain a steady simmer. Cook, covered, 30 minutes. Use a potato masher to create a pulpy sauce. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, cover again, and keep warm.

Cook pasta according to package directions (10-11 minutes for al dente whole wheat penne). Drain well. Add to a large serving bowl. Pour the sauce in, toss well, and top with chopped smoked almonds. Serve at once.

Party Animals Nos. 26 and 27: Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day Brunch 2013

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We celebrated Christmas Eve this year by putting together a comforting spread of homemade foods inspired by some of the U.S.'s favorite bits of Japanese cuisine. We kicked off the evening with a cocktail, which we found here.

This Shiba Dog, as they're calling it, is a lovable, dead simple drink. We made one adjustment to the suggested recipe by using nigori sake. We suggest you make an additional adjustment by forgetting the salted rim altogether. It was an overwhelming nuisance. But by all means, mix equal parts nigori sake and grapefruit juice at every opportunity. (And check Barnivore before buying your sake. We somehow failed to back when we bought this bottle, and ended up with a brand that isn't vegan-friendly.)

Next up, Miso Soup with Mushroom Wonton Dumplings. We're working to nail down MSV's official dashi, so the soup recipe isn't quite ready to share. In the meantime, we're enjoying every last test bowl.

For this special occasion, we added some gorgeously salty and savory mushroom wonton dumplings using our gorgeously salty and savory mushroom filling recipe. We omitted the cashews, so the only crunch in the soup would come from the spring onion garnish, and we substituted for the morels the shiitakes we used to make the dashi. Feel free to use nothing but button mushrooms, and you'll still have tasty morsels on your hands.

With time running out after a quick look around town yielded not a single commercial vegan wonton wrapper, we decided we'd have to make our own pasta for the dumplings. Method here, but we used a dough much easier to work with by using roughly 1 1/3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup warm water. The great little folding tutorial we used is here. Adorable.

Vegan nigiri sushi trio: roasted red pepper (jarred, and we looked for a variety that, contrary to our usual preference, contained added sugar to make sure we got a lovely shot of sweetness); sliced avocado; and blanched, pressed tofu marinated in a simple, addictive soy-miso sauce from Kansha. (Knoxville readers, remember that Lawson-McGhee has a copy of Kansha you can check out--highly recommended.)

And finally, for dessert, we continued the theme by using both matcha and ginger, but also included a nod to the common Western European-American Christmas tradition by including a heap of sorghum (in lieu of molasses) and other spices. The result was a dense, moist, terrific gingerbread cake with a matcha glaze. (Cake veganized from Tartine, matcha glaze spotted in Pure Vegan.) You can see the cake at the very top of this post. It wasn't very pretty, but it was incredibly tasty. And paired beautifully with straight nigori sake.

The following morning, brunch! The MSV kitchen doesn't host this brunch, but we do make a few contributions.

Almond-crusted zucchini strips. So incredibly good. You can find our coating recipe here, but instead of using mushrooms, we cut one giant zucchini into 6 1/4-inch-thick planks. Bake on one side for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 10-15 minutes, until golden (more golden than this shot indicates, sorry) and mind-blowingly fragrant.

On the side, fluffly little corn muffins seasoned like hush puppies. Yum. This was a first test of this recipe, and we have some ambitions for it, we think. It may reappear before long, depending on our progress with these.

And, finally, Apple-Blueberry Doughnut Cobbler. This bit of ridiculousness comes from BHG. Be warned, the mini doughnuts got a little too crispy in spots (they tasted fine, but were a bit difficult to cut), so we suggest using either full-size doughnuts or covering the cobbler for the first half of baking. And, if you hadn't already guessed, this is only for the serious sweet tooth.

Our version is different from BHG's a little, so here goes:

We made old-fashioned doughnuts the day before to make this a snap to assemble. For the filling, we used two Granny Smith apples, two Honeycrisp apples, and one cup of frozen blueberries. First, measure out the blueberries, but keep them in the freezer. Slice the apples, and cut those slices in half. Toss them with the juice of half a lemon (or lime, of course, but juice the whole lime, if substituting). Whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg. Toss the apples with that mixture, then carefully stir in the blueberries. Top with the doughnuts, drizzle with 2 TBSP of melted nondairy butter or coconut oil, and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

See you all next year.

Simmer-Free Savory Summer Tomato Pasta

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We're in love with summer tomatoes, and we're in love with this no-cook tomato sauce. In the time it takes to cook pasta, fresh, ripe tomatoes mingle with a few assertive ingredients (use the best quality olive oil you can afford) to produce summer eating at its easiest and most flavorful.  It works for instant dinners or unexpected casual entertaining. It just plain works. Garnish with fresh herbs, if you have some handy.

Simmer-Free Savory Summer Tomato Pasta

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serves 2, adapted from No-Cook Pasta Sauces

3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 large clove garlic

3/4 lb tomatoes, chopped

2 umeboshi, minced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

zest of 1 lemon

1 TBSP nutritional yeast

8 oz whole wheat penne, or pasta of choice

Combine all ingredients, except pasta, in a serving bowl, being sure to catch all the tomato juices. Stir well and set aside while you cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Drain the pasta well, add it to the serving bowl, and toss thoroughly. Serve immediately garnished with fresh herbs, if desired.