Italian – Vegans.UK

Nova Pizza Vegetarian Kitchen, Edinburgh

July 25, 2017 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

Nova Pizza in Edinburgh is one of my favourite restaurants. Although it’s not fully vegan, it is all vegetarian and the choice for vegans is vast. I think that’s what I love about it. Normally in an Italian (or any other) restaurant, I’ve located the one or two vegan options on the menu and made my decision by the time my companions have taken their jackets off. In Nova Pizza however, I can do that thing that people do of perusing the options and saying things like ‘oooh, that looks good’ and feel, dare I say it, normal for a change. I have the mad luxury of being indecisive.

It's a small, cosy restaurant — It’s a small, cosy restaurant

This wondrous restaurant is situated in Edinburgh’s Newtown. It’s far enough away from the pulsing centre of the city to be calm, but near enough to be within easy walking distance. The establishment itself is small, and with the largest tables only seating four (maybe five at a push) it feels pretty homely. There are fewer than ten tables, so do book in advance to be sure of getting a spot, especially at the weekends. They’re open every day apart from Tuesday. The decor feels Italian and village-like as does the hustle and bustle. The aromas that greet you as you wander in are just heavenly.

One thing I’ve missed since going vegan is creamy mushroom pasta. I need miss it no more! The penne 4 cheese & mushroom that I had on this occasion was to die for. Made with soy cream, it tastes just like the stuff I remember from my pre-vegan days.

There is so much to choose from of course, that you don’t have to stick with pasta, although it’s tricky to resist being able to order lasagne, spaghetti alla carbonara or penne al salmone from a restaurant. My companion had a vegan calzone, of which there are many to choose from. Again, this is such a novelty that it almost feels a bit naughty.

It goes without saying that the pizza selection is fabulous and I can personally recommend the Parmigiana, with it’s roasted aubergines and genuine parmesan taste. If you miss meat on pizza (or in pasta for that matter) there are vegan versions of ham, pepperoni, chicken and even salmon to tempt your taste buds. They use smoked mheat (wheat meat) and seitan to give further variety to the menu, so there really is something for everyone.

All this of course, is to say nothing of the desserts. They do vegan crème brulee, vegan dolche pizza (which is pizza base covered in chocolate spread and icing sugar – yum!) and be warned, their vegan cheesecakes are massive and really filling, so only order them if you’re sure you have room left!

A highlight of Edinburgh's newtown — A highlight of Edinburgh’s newtown

This is somewhere I’d be proud to take my meat-loving friends, my veggie friends and my vegan ones. Nova Pizza Vegetarian Kitchen is proof that you can have the indulgent, filling food you had before you were vegan. It’s flavoursome, satisfying and above all, guilt free. Head along there if you can.

Highly recommended

Cecina

March 10, 2017 by Tofu Temptress 4 Comments

I’ll be honest and say that the yummy Italian dish cecina isn’t particularly visually arresting. In fact it looks quite boring. However, the taste is phenomenal. It’s amazing that such a simple, ordinary-looking dish with so few ingredients can be so wonderfully tasty.

It is normally served as a starter or side dish in Tuscany, but the quantities I’ve given provide two people with a hearty meal by itself. Obviously, feel free to cut the recipe in half or even into quarters to suit whatever portion size you’d like.

Ingredients

Sieving gram flour makes it easier to work with

280g chickpea (gram) flour

1 litre water

60 ml olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Ground pepper

Here’s how I do it:

Firstly, sieve the flour into a large bowl. Gradually stir in the water, making it into a paste then a thinner batter. This way you can keep it relatively lump-free as opposed to adding the water all at once.

It'll be a thin batter once all the water's incorporated — It’ll be a thin batter once all the water’s incorporated

Once all the water is incorporated stir in the olive oil.

Finally, stir in the salt. Rest the batter for about thirty minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375/190 degrees/gas mark 5. Prepare two medium or three smaller baking trays by spraying them with a little oil. (I use one tray 40cm X 25cm and two trays 20cm X 30cm.) Pour in the batter so that it covers the bottom of the trays, but not so full that it’ll spill when you carry them over to the oven!

Pop them in the oven and bake until golden brown, which is usually about 20-25 minutes.

Let the cecina come away from the sides a little

Take the trays out and leave them to cool for a couple of minutes so the cecina can come away from the sides a bit.

Ease the cecina out with a spatula onto a plate and grind some pepper over it to taste.

You can fancy it up a little... — You can fancy it up a little…

As I said before, normally it looks pretty boring, but I don’t mind as the taste is so good. However, if you’d like to pretty it up a bit, cut it into shapes with your most attractive cookie cutters – great for a dinner party.

Enjoy!

Sainsbury’s Deliciously Free From Vegetable Lasagne

November 18, 2016 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t like lasagne. As a vegan though, unless you go to some super cool vegan Italian restaurant or have the time and patience to make one for yourself, lasagne can be a bit thin on the ground. There are recipes out there, some good ones too, but the list of ingredients tends to be long and the time required to prepare also tends to be, well, long. There are some lovely vegan cheese sauces that can be used or you can make your own. Most traditional lasagne recipes can be easily veganised, using soy mince as a substitute for beef, or perhaps lentils or maybe even veggies. But again we come down to the time element. It’s all very well if you have ages to lovingly assemble a homemade Italian classic, but if you don’t, Sainsbury’s have come up with the answer.

My Mum is always asking what she can have in the fridge or freezer that’s just ready to go if I come over and decide to stay for dinner. Sainsbury’s new vegan lasagne has been added to the list of possibilities that includes vegan sausages, pasta and dairy free pesto amongst other things. The lasagne is in the fridge section of the supermarket and it looks just like a normal ready meal-style lasagne, except of course, it’s cruelty free.

I must admit to being quite thrilled when I saw it in my local Sainsbury’s. It just seems to be one of the many little signs I’ve noticed recently that veganism is becoming more mainstream. I normally have it with a few vegetables on the side and it makes for a satisfying meal.

Each pack is one portion and it only takes 35 minutes to cook in the oven and you can also do it in the microwave. Priced at £3 it’s much the same as any other ready meal and it tastes really nice. It’s a vegetable lasagne, so no mince or anything, but the pasta’s good, the flavour’s good and it’s super easy to make. You have to peel the film off part way though cooking and it comes off easily, like a dream! There’s many a ready meal where the film is so stubborn I’ve been hacking away at it with a knife and still end up with some in my dinner. No such problems here. It’s the little things that please me you know…

The Restaurants of Pisa, Italy

November 2, 2016 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

I was lucky enough to take a trip to Pisa, Italy recently. The hotel had been booked in a hurry so we had no time to check how vegan friendly Pisa was. We needn’t have worried. You’ll probably know that Italian food is generally pretty flexible and there’s always penne all’arrabbiata to fall back on, but in this beautiful university town, we had plenty more to choose from than just that.

We not only found mainstream restaurants to be incredibly accommodating but there were dedicated vegetarian and even vegan restaurants to choose from – all within easy walking distance from the famous leaning tower!

Homemade bread - delicious! — Homemade bread – delicious!

One of the first places we tried for dinner was Ristorante Ben d’Iddio which is a vegetarian restaurant just round the corner from the tower. At least half the menu is vegan and our waiter was very thorough in explaining the dishes to us. We were absolutely spoiled for choice. While we pored over the menu we were served olives and some of the tastiest morsels of bread I’ve ever eaten.

Finally we decided on a mixed starter consisting of beautifully prepared aubergine, mushrooms, pepper, courgette, bruschetta and a local chilli pepper which, although incredibly mild, was tasty and the waiter was impressed I’d finished it! There were some gorgeous homemade sauces that came along which was the icing on the cake. My companion had a salad of cucumber, tomato, onion, croutons and basil which was dressed to perfection.

To follow, he chose the mushroom stuffed gnocchi which looked amazing. I went for their award winning seitan in a gorgeous bolognaise sauce on top of linguini. We were both wanting to try dessert at this place, but were simply too full to contemplate it!

Instead we were served some limoncello and then some of the local hazelnut liqueur to aid digestion. What a wonderful evening.

It was very warm every day during our visit, so we normally felt like a sandwich or something similar for lunch. Luckily for us there was a fully vegan sandwich takeaway nearby. Vegan Come Koala is run by just one guy, but he’s there every day from about noon till teatime and the extensive menu belies the tiny size of his shop.

There was a choice of wraps every day from corn to spelt to wholegrain and you could fill them with whatever you pleased from falafel to seitan to tofu and the selection of sauces were equally impressive.

The extensive menu would be happily translated

You could have a hot Panini, pizza, burger, hot dog or even a gluten free beer (which I did, very nice) or any other veggie sandwich shop delicacy you could think of. We came here most days at lunchtime (our visit to Pisa lasted a week as there were loads of things to see and it was just a pleasant place to hang out.)

The selection of drinks was as impressive as the food

We sought out Pizzeria Il Montino as we’d been told they had good Cecina, which is a traditional Tuscan dish made from chickpea flour and olive oil and looks a bit like a pancake. We had some and it was gorgeous, but quite small, so we had a pizza there too and it was wonderful. Just a simple combination of roasted peppers and aubergine was made special by the sheer quality of the tomato sauce and base. The Italians do simple yet delicious very, very well.

Across the river near the university was another totally vegan restaurant called Il Vegusto. It had lovely decor including a piano and nice soft lighting. Although the staff’s English was limited, the menu was in English as well as Italian, so was very easy for us to negotiate.

Over a couple of nights we sampled the fried vegan omelette, zucchini carpaccio and cocktail of carrots in a pink sauce. For our main course, the pesto gnocchi was a favourite, along with their Tuscan pasta and Seitan with vegetables.

On the first occasion we even had room for dessert, and sampled both the delectable apple cake and the chocolate mousse. All of this was accompanied by fabulous vegan Italian wine and bread and a generally lovely atmosphere.

Another lovely place across the river was a family run place called Rusticanella, where they happily made vegan pizza for us and were very patient with my faltering Italian. They even had vegan friendly local beer Moretti on tap. It was a lovely casual place to sit outside and have the odd Vespa drone past you every now and again. The pizza was delicious. It’s amazing how they can make mushrooms, peppers and aubergine into pizza heaven.

Back near the tower, there were plenty of places who were happy to accommodate us even though they weren’t dedicated veggie eateries. One of these proudly advertised vegan friendly and gluten free dishes, Terrazza Laterale Con Tavoli. They served us pizza without cheese as well as amazing spaghetti in the most heavenly tomato sauce.

Impressively they also had an amazing vegan platter that included the yummy Cecina, as well as mushroom, pepper and tomato bruschetta, aubergine, olives, cabbage and artichoke. Quite a plateful!

Of course, a visit to Italy is never complete without sampling the local ice cream and for vegans in Pisa there’s no need to miss out. A few places had some options, but the best one that we found, Oro, looked onto a bustling square.

Their vegan flavours were dark chocolate, almond, lemon, strawberry, coconut, liquorice, figs & almond and passion fruit & pepper, so, a pretty comprehensive choice! You could enjoy a combination of flavours in a cone or cup and sit on one of the many public benches in the square to enjoy them.

I found in Pisa that there was plenty of choice (spaghetti aglio e olio should be vegan anywhere) it was useful to have a few Italian phrases to hand while ordering.

Sono vegana (I’m vegan, female)

Sono vegano (I’m vegan, male)

Senza formaggio/mozzarella (Without cheese/mozzarella)

Con verdure (with vegetables)

Senza latte (without milk)

Don't forget the beer! — Don’t forget the beer!

Per favore (please)

Grazie (Thank you)

Pisa is definitely somewhere to spend more than a day if you can, if only to try a selection of their fabulous restaurants!

Zizzi (UK wide chain restaurant)

August 24, 2016 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

Branches of Zizzi can be found all over the UK and it’s great to see a chain restaurant making the effort to cater to vegans. They now have a specific vegan menu which you can ask for on arrival and although having a basic pasta with tomato sauce is a tad uninspiring (even though you can add extra veg to it) it’s when you get to the pizzas that the real excitement starts.

Zizzi use a vegan cheese made from rice milk called Mozzarisella which I really like. It’s gooey and melty and really adds to the pizza experience. You can of course ask for veggie pizzas without cheese as Zizzi’s standard pizza bases are vegan already.

We went for the vegan garlic bread (they also do a bruschetta) and when it came it was enormous! Laid out on a big slab, you could really see the cloves of roasted garlic and sprigs of rosemary which made it extremely appetising. It was very tasty and perfect for sharing around. All their vegan dishes come with a little ‘vegan’ sticker on the side, which is a reassuring measure to eliminate confusion.

We ordered a basic pizza with different ‘create your own’ toppings. You can choose from: artichokes; butternut squash; caramelised balsamic onions; roasted garlic cloves; fire roasted red peppers; field mushrooms; black olives; green chillies; balsamic tomatoes; roasted red onions; spinach.

Caramelised balsamic onion and mushroom pizza

(A more limited version of this list is what’s available to pop into your pasta.) I went for caramelised balsamic onions and mushrooms. The onions had quite a strong flavour and added a certain zing. My companion went for peppers, mushrooms and artichoke. The variety of toppings makes for (almost) endless combinations.

After the huge garlic bread and the pizza, we were too full to manage dessert on this occasion. Yes, that’s right, they have vegan dessert! Not only one, but a choice of three. OK, two of them are sorbet (lemon or strawberry), but one isn’t!

The third option is a coconut and mango swirl gelato and I tried this on another visit to Zizzi.

(The picture isn’t so great, but it gives you an idea…) I must say I was impressed with the taste. I love a bit of coconut and this was as satisfying as any gelato, vegan or otherwise, that I’ve had. It was the perfect cooling experience after I’d added a bit of chilli oil to my pizza!

Yes, we took some garlic bread home in a doggy bag!

I find it enormously encouraging that more and more chain restaurants like Zizzi are recognising the importance of catering for everyone. It’s getting easier and easier to eat out as a vegan and surely we’re entering some kind of ‘golden age.’ It’s never been more convenient to be a vegan, so if you have someone in your life who’s interested in this cruelty-free lifestyle, send them to this website. Now you can add Zizzi to your ‘stress free places to dine’ list! Hurray!

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