Trash Can Annie’s Dirty Rice

½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped red or yellow bell pepper
8 ounces brown mushrooms
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 cups long grain rice
2 tsp. salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3 ½ cups boiling water
1 cup frozen peas
2 tsp. vegan margarine

Gravy
1 tbsp dried Porcini mushrooms
1 small onion
4 ounces brown mushrooms
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsps all purpose flour
2 small or 1 large vegetable bouillon cube
2 tbps dry sherry (optional)
2 cups boiling water

Saute onion, celery, and pepper in olive oil in 4 quart saucepan.  Wipe mushrooms with damp cloth, trim stems, and quarter mushrooms.  Add to vegetables and saute until nicely browned.  Add rice, salt and cayenne pepper; stir to mix thoroughly.  Add boiling water and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.  Add peas to rice mixture.   Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour boiling water over dried mushrooms and bouillon cube(s).  Allow to sit for 15 minutes. Wipe and trim brown mushrooms.  Cut onion and mushrooms into thin slices and saute in olive oil until onions have wilted and mushrooms are nicely browned.  Deglaze pan with sherry.  Stir in flour and allow to cook for about 2 minutes.   Remove softened dried mushrooms from bouillion, chop and add to mixture.   Whisk in the remaining liquid and simmer for 5 minutes.

After 15 minutes, place rice mixture into an ovenproof dish that has been greased with 1 tsp of vegan margarine.  Dot the top of the mixture with 1 tsp vegan margarine.  Brown in the oven for 10 minutes.  Serve with gravy.

Yield: 4 large servings

Pasta Bella Puttanesca

Start with a Simple Red Sauce

8 large or 12 small ripe plum tomatoes, or a 35 oz. can of plum tomatoes
4-6 cloves garlic, sliced fine
½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
olive oil
good quality dry red wine or sherry
fresh basil or thyme, oregano and flat leaf or curly parsley

Remove skins of fresh tomatoes by placing in boiling water for approximately 1 minute, and then plunging into cold water. (If you are using canned tomatoes you can skip this step.) Then place a strainer over a bowl and squeeze the tomatoes to remove most of the seeds. The tomato juice will collect in the bowl; reserve this. Over a medium high flame, place a large frying pan filled with enough olive oil to coat the bottom. When hot, add garlic and red pepper flakes (if you like) and lower flame to medium. Allow garlic to saute for about a thirty seconds, or until you can smell a round garlicky aroma wafting up. Then add the tomatoes. Saute tomatoes, stirring occasionally, until most of their liquid has reduced. Add a splash of wine or sherry. Allow to cook until reduced and add the strained tomato juice, along with about 2 tablespoons each of torn basil leaves or a few stems of thyme, oregano and parsley. Cook for about ten minutes. Salt to taste.

While the red sauce is cooking, prepare the following ingredients:

1 carrot, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped into ½ inch chunks, salted and drained
2 small zucchinis, sliced, or 1 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced thin
1 or 2 bay leaves
10-20 large pitted black olives, sliced thin
10-20 green Spanish olives (stuffed with pimentos), sliced thin

Add carrot, celery, onion, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms and bay leaves to red sauce. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Add all olives, and cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Uncle Herb’s Chickn’t and Turnip Stew

2 cups chunk-style “chiken” TVP, available from The Mail Order Catalog
1 tbsp. vegetable or chicken flavored vegan bouillion
2 cups boiling water

¼ cup white flour
1 tablespoon Red Star Nutritional Yeast
¾ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
oil for frying

1 carrot, diced
2 rib celery, diced
1 onion, diced
Sherry, optional
1 bay leaf
4 medium or three large turnips, cut into ½ inch chunks
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks

Gravy:
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons Red Star Nutritional Yeast
1 Knorr’s vegetable bouillion cube
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water
¼ cup flour dissolved in a little water to form a paste
salt and pepper to taste

Dissolve bouillion in water and soak chiken chunks for fifteen minutes. Combine flour, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt in a plastic food container large enough to hold the rehydrated chiken chunks. Place chunks in container, seal lid and shake for several seconds, until chunks are thoroughly coated. Fry coated chunks over a low heat until thoroughly browned on all sides. Set the chunks aside and add oil to the pan. Now sauté carrots, celery and onion. When vegetables are sweated, deglaze with a little sherry or water. Add potato, turnip, bayleaf and about 1 cup water; cover pan and cook until turnips are fork tender. While vegetables are cooking, make the gravy.

Combine mushrooms, nutritional yeast, onion, oil, bouillion cube and water in a saucepan. Boil for five minutes. Add flour paste and whisk. When gravy has thickened, set aside.

When vegetables are tender, remove bay leaf and add chiken chunks and gravy. Cook for a further five minutes on a medium flame. It is especially good when set into a casserole dish and finished in the oven to form a nice skin on top. Stew can be served alone or on a bed of basmati rice.

Ruffa Ruffa's Red Hot Chili

1 large can (28 ounces) of plum tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 16 ounce can of tomato puree
Olive oil

1 carrot, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 or 2 bay leaves

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped into ½ inch chunks, and salted
2 small zucchinis, sliced, or 1 large zucchini, quartered and sliced
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced thin
1 tbsp. basil
1 tbsp. oregano

10-20 large pitted black olives, sliced thin
10-20 green Spanish olives (stuffed with pimentos), sliced thin 1 tbsp. dried oregano, or several sprigs of fresh oregano with the branches removed
1 tbsp. dried basil, or a handful of fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup of ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt to taste

Drain tomatoes, reserving tomato juice. Squeeze tomatoes over a sieve to remove seeds; again, reserve any juice. Place a large pot on a medium high flame. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot. When oil is hot, add garlic. Saute briefly, just until you smell the garlic; do not let garlic brown. Add tomatoes and saute until soft. Add reserved juice and a splash of red wine. Allow to simmer for ten minutes. Add carrot, celery, onion and bay leaves. Cook a further ten minutes. Rinse eggplant in a colander, shake dry and add to the pot. Add the zucchini, mushrooms, basil and oregano and allow to cook for ten minutes. Add tomato puree, oregano, basil, cayenne and olives. Allow to simmer on low light for an hour. Salt to taste.

When sauce has cooked for an hour, add kidney beans, green olives, black olives, chili powder, curry powder and cumin. Cook a further fifteen minutes on low light and serve over rice.