Pasta Puttanesca (our version)

James cooked me a nice pasta dish a few days ago. It it is a vegan version of pasta puttanesca. Did I mention he is a chef?


ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tins of cherry tomatoes
2 pointed red peppers
1 handfull of pitted kalamata olives
fresh basil
salt and peppers
extra virgin olive oil

Sweat the onion in some olive oil until soft and transluscent. Add garlic and chilli, cook for one minute. Add the tinned tomatoes, season with the salt and pepper and cook gently for 30 minutes. Char the skin of the peppers by roasting over an open flame or under a grill until blackened, put them in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave for 20 minutes and the skin should peel off. Slice in to slivers and add to the sauce together with the olives, roughly chopped.
Once the sauce has cooked for an hour in total add some chopped fresh basil. Serve with pasta. Delicious and very satisfying.

Chilli

I made this delicious two bean chilli the other day. I made it quite spicy, but you can adjust the seasoning to your taste. The smoked whole chilli and smoked paprika gave it a nice "meaty" flavour. I served it with brown rice and topped with some fresh cherry tomatoes to cut through the heat.

Two bean chilli

2 dl cooked/tinned kidney beans

2 dl cooked/tinned canellini beans

2 tins of tomato

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

some olive oil

1 chipotle chili (smoked whole chili)

1 fresh chilli

ground cumin

ground coriander

smoked paprika

thyme

dried chili flakes

2 teaspoons of sugar

salt

black pepper

Chop the onions and sweat in some olive oil in a big saucepan. Add some salt, it helps to sweat the onions. Once the onion is soft and transluscent add the garlic and fresh chili, finely chopped. Add the chipotle, roughly chopped. Add the spices to taste. Be generous with the cumin and coriander, the onions should be coated in spices. Be more careful with the chiliflakes as these add a lot of heat. Cook for a few minutes before adding the tomatoes and sugar. Cook together for a good 40 min - 1 hour. The longer the better to intensify the flavours. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Add the beans and warm through.