Rice and vegetable wok

This comes nowhere near Finnish or Italian cuisine, but however enjoyes the reputation of my favourite food since some months already :) So I'm writing the recipe here both for you and me!

Ingredients (x4):
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 carrots
1 red onion
1 bell pepper
4 tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
2 teaspoons of dried basil
some curry
100-150 grams basmati rice
half a package (or more) of feta cheese

Preparation:
Peel the carrot and cut it into rather thin sticks. Cut the red onion into small cubes. Throw some olive oil on the pan and fry the carrot and red onion for a couple of minutes. Then put the heat rather low while you are cutting other vegetables. Cut the bell pepper into sticks and the tomatoes into (big) cubes. Grind the garlic clove. Add these vegetables onto the pan. Add the oregano and basil too, and mix carefully. Make the heat hotter for some four minutes while mixing the vegetables. Then make the heat low and let the vegetables lie there for the time that you are cooking the rice (but remember to mix every now and then).


Cook the rice in a pan. When you will have poured the water off the tice, dust some curry on the rice and mix. Add more curry until the rice is yellow (but it doesn't need to be deep yellow - it depends on your taste).


Pour the rice on the pan and mix it with the vegetables. Add salt. Let the rice and the veggies accomodate each others' tastes by letting them lie there together on low heat for 10 minutes. Mix every now and then. If you think the wok is getting too dry, add a tiny bit of water.

Cut the feta cheese into cubes and add it into the dish right before serving. You can mix it into the wok or alternatively use it as a topping.

Finnish-syle hamburgers with vegetarian steaks

This hamburger is inspired by Hesburger, which is Finland's biggest native fast food chain. They have got hamburgers with rye bread, and I remember them, but they don't yet have a rye bread vegetarian hamburger. I created one myself! They turned out so yummy, especially yummy for my Finnish taste. The vegetarian steaks I used I made with this recipe, but you can just as well buy ready made veggie steaks.

Ingredients (x2):
Two loaves of rye bread cut in two halves (in Finland for example Puikulat and Ruispalat work well)
butter
2 veggie steaks
2 slices of cheese
1 tomato
a small part of a bell pepper
salad leaves
ketchup
mayo
black pepper
salt
oregano

Preparation:
spread butter on the breads. Add a slice of cheese on two of the bread halves. Put the breads into the oven along with the vegetarian steaks (since they need to be heated too). Remove the breads from the oven when the cheese will have melted. You may need to keep the steaks in the oven somewhat longer.

Place the breads that have a layer of cheese on separate plates. Stuff first some salad on these breads. Then add mayonnaise evenly on the whole bread. Take the heated steaks and cut them into halves. Place the two halves next to each other on the bread, looking like two consecutive full moons. Now it's time to add a bit of ketchup. Then, cut the tomatoes into slices and lay 2-3 slices of tomato on each bread. At the end add some bell pepper that you have cut into thin sticks. Dust a bit of pepper, salt and oregano over the creations before topping them with the top half of bread. You may desire to serve these hamburgers wrapped into paper in order to make eating easier and more enjoyable!

Fusilli with tomato&soy sauce, roasted pine nuts and minced rucola

I prepared this for lunch yesterday and it really made my day!

Ingredients (x2):
160 g fusilli
70 g grinded soy
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
2 tomatoes
1 tablespoon white winegar
50 g pine nuts
30 g fresh rucola
salt
pepper
olive oil
parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Roast the pine nuts on a frying pan if they are not readily roasted.

Chop the garlic and the onion finely. Peel the tomatoes and remove their insides, and then cut them into cubes. Pour some olive oil on a pan and add the garlic. Heat it on relatively high heat until the garlic has gained some colour, and then add the onion. Remember to mix. Soon after lower the heat a bit and add the grinded soy and the winegar, and dust some salt and pepper on it. Mix the soy frequently and let it gain a bit darker colour. Next, add the cubes of tomatoes on the pan. Keep a medium heat and mix the sauce in 5-7 minutes every once in a while.

Cook the fusilli in salted water.

Rinse the rucola and stuff it into a mixer. Add a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Mince the rucola with the mixer.

Pour the water off the pasta. Mix the soy&tomato sauce and pine nuts with the pasta and then (separately) add the minced rucola. Turn the pasta around a bit so that the rucola spreads more evenly. Add grated parmesan cheese on top.

Pipe rigate with tomatoes from the oven and rucola

This is a very easy-to-prepare dish. It will always come out good, unless you add too much (sea) salt, like I once did and made my boyfriend's heart go too fast... Only a few ingredients and a fresh, warm taste.

Ingredients (x2):
175 g pipe rigate or another short pasta
2 big or 3 medium-sized tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
olive oil
black pepper
salt
1 bundle of rucola
parmesan cheese

Preparation:
Chop the garlic and onion. Cut the tomatoes into slices in shape of a half moon. Lay these tomato slices on each other in domino-like rows on an oven plate. Add the chopped onion and garlic all along these rows on top of the tomatoes. Grind black pepper on top and dust some salt. Pour a bit of olive oil throughout the rows of tomato. Put the oven plate into the oven and bake it for 30 minutes on 180 c degrees. Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted water and rinse the rucola. Pour the water off the pasta when it is al dente. When the tomatoes have been baked, take them out of the oven and mix them with the pasta and add the rucola into the mix. Serve the dish with grated or sliced parmesan cheese.

Farfalle with soy-tomato-zucchini sauce

Ingredients (x3):
260 g farfalle
1 onion
1 clove garlic
150 g grinded soy
1/3 zucchino
2 tomatoes
4 tablespoons tomato puree
1 tablespoon white vinegar
olive oil
salt
black pepper
parsley

Preparation:
Remove the seeds of the tomatoes and peel them. Start cooking the pasta. Chop the onion and grind the garlic. Heat these two on a pan with olive oil. Pour the grinded soy on them. Cut the zucchino into thin sticks max. 3 cm of length and add it on the pan. Cut into small cubes the tomatoes that you previously peeled. Add the tomato cubes on the pan along with tomato puree. Keep the heat pretty high but not at maximum. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar. Add salt and black pepper according to your taste. Cook on high heat for a couple of more minutes and then let the sauce cook on lower heat for still some minutes.

When the pasta is al dente, pour the water off. Serve the pasta with the sauce and with chopped parsley.

Penne in tomato-basil sauce, au gratin

This is the pasta I (or most Italians) do on a regular basis when we don't have any special idea on what to cook, hehe. This is the way I do it. This time I however cooked it au gratin at the end with readily grated regular cheese and parmesan on top. Yum!

Ingredients (x3):
270 g penne (I prefer my penne rigate and integrali)
2 cloves garlic
1 big onion
5 tomatoes
70 g tomato sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar or apple vinegar
a tiny pinch of dried peperoncino
pepper
salt
olive oil
grated cheese
grated parmesan
basil (fresh or dry)

Preparation:
Cook the pasta in salted water. Grind the garlic and chop the onion quite fine. Peel the tomatoes and remove their insides. Cut the tomatoes into sticks. Fry the garlic and onion on a pan with olive oil, and when they have gained a little bit of colour, add the tomatoes. Add salt and pepper plus a tiny bit of peperoncino. Pour in the 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Cook on heavy heat for some 2-3 minutes and then lower the heat by half. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 6-8 minutes still. At the end add the basil.
Mix the pasta and the sauce together and pour it on an oven baking plate. Add some regular cheese and parmesan on top.
Bake in the oven set to the gratin function for 10 minutes.

Soy, tomato and bell pepper filling for crepes and cannelloni

As a vegetarian person I like the use of soy - vegetarians need their proteines too. This filling goes as well for crêpes as cannelloni. If you want to make the tomato flavour stronger, add more passata (=tomato puree).

Ingredients (x 4-5 crêpes):
140 g grinded tofu (soy)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 small tomatoes
½ bell pepper
1 egg
100 g ricotta
80 g tomato puree
70 g cheese
a few tablespoons Béchamel sauce
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation:
Fry the minced onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the grinded soy. Add a cup of water. Keep the heat pretty high. Cut the bell pepper into small pieces and add it into the pan. Pour in the tomato puree. Cut the tomatoes into slices and add them on the pan too. Add salt and pepper and let it cook until it becomes pretty condensed. Knead the filling with an egg, cheese cu into small pieces, ricotta and some tablespoons of Béchamel. Fill your crêpes or cannelloni with this filling.

Here are the crêpes I made this time. After I had filled them I still let them heat up in the microwave. I like to serve them with some plain salad.

Penne with tomato and aubergine sauce

Feel the need to break away from the usual (at least for me the most usual) tomato sauce? Introducing just one additional ingredient, such as aubergine (for you on the other side of the ocean; eggplant) is a nice variation. With this pasta sauce your meal will surely feel filling and satisfying. Penne and pipe rigate are the best shapes of pasta for this one.

Ingredients (x2):
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
1 dl tomato sauce
½ aubergine
2 tablespoons white vinegar or better yet, apple vinegar
about ½ dl milk
salt
pepper
parsley
parmesan or grana padano

Preparation:
Peel the tomatoes and remove their seeds. Grind the garlic and onion. Fry them on a frying pan with three tablespoons of olive oil. Cut the half aubergine into cubes. Place them as well on the frying pan and keep the heat still pretty hot. Pour ready tomato sauce on the pan and then cut your tomatoes into pieces and add them into the mix. At this point, add salt and pepper according to your preference. Add the vinegar also. Lower the heat by half and cook it for 4-5 minutes. Then start adding milk little by little. The colour of the sauce will get lighter and the taste will get a softer and more delicate feeling to it, but don't make the sauce look almost orange by adding too much milk. Cook the pasta in salted water and when al dente, pour the water off. Put the pasta in the frying pan and let it be together with the sauce for a while. Chop some parsley that you'll serve it with and grate the cheese. You can serve it either now or if you want, put it on a heat-resistant dish and top it with grated parmesan or grana and let it be in the oven heated to 200 c for a while. Add parsley right before serving.

Fusilli with zucchini and tomato sauce

I make this dish quite often. It won't fail and it is not complicated. Celery (the white cube kind) and basil make this dish perfect, but you don't have to run to the shop if you don't have them at home right now. Dried basil is also acceptable. Just as well as fusilli, you can use almost any type of short pasta (from my experience I'd say that conchiglie and orecchiete are pretty good for it).

Ingredients x2:
175 g fusilli or other short pasta
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
a small zucchina
3 tomatoes
70 g white celery
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
basil
parmesan

Preparation:
Grind the garlic and chop the onion and celery finely. Fry them all on a frying pan with olive oil. Once they have got a bit of colour, add the zucchina that you previously have cut into a few centimeters' long sticks. Peel the tomatoes and remove their seeds. Cut the tomatoes into pieces and add them into the pan. Fry the vegetables on a rather hot heat for some three minutes, then lower the heat. Add salt and pepper according to your taste. As last ingredient add the basil and let the sauce still rest a few minutes on the cooker on low heat. Cook the pasta in lightly salted water and when 'al dente', remove the water. Set the pasta on plates and add the sauce. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.