Vegetarian for the week

Choosing a diet for this blog was quit an easy one, I’ve always wanted to try vegetarianism and I thought this assignment was the perfect opportunity!. 

When it came to an allergen, I foolishly thought I could easily give up nuts for a couple of days! That won’t be a problem. Right? Right? Spoiler alert it was challenging to say the least. 

I did try to go vegan for a month back in August, but I stupidly timed it with a trip to Turkey. The moment I stood foot in Istanbul, I caved and had shawarma. 

However, this time I was determined to stick for at least a week, and I did!. I sat a grocery list for the week, and went shopping. I usually pay one or two types of animal protein for the week, but this time I substitute this with a couple of legumes I had in my pantry, I already winning! 

One of my favorite recipes that I made was inspired by Alison Roman’s cauliflower pasta. It was so so good and hearty, and pretty sure even though it has a lot of cauliflower, it would be classified as junk food. I wanted to take pictures of the dish but it did not look as good as I’d hoped, and honestly I’m all about the aesthetic. So here is the recipe.

 

Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Kalen Kaminski.

So to feed two very hungry people or three normals you will need the following:

Ingredients:
1	Cauliflower	1 head
2	Onion	1 medium
3	Garlic	2 cloves
4	Tomatoes	1 medium
5	Cooking Cream	1/2 cup
6	Rigatoni	2 cups
7	Chilli flakes	1 tbs
8	Pecorino Romano	3/4 cup
9	Olive oil	3 tbs
10	Salt/Black pepper	To taste

For the extremely important garnish you will need: 

Ingredients:
1	Stale Bread -highly recommend sourdough-	4 slices
2	Pecorino Romano	2 tbs
3	Olive Oil	3 tbs
4	Salt/Black Pepper	To taste

Recipe Preparation:

1- Slice cauliflower into 1/2 cm thickness, thinly slice your online, mince the garlic, and small dice the tomatoes.

2- On a hot pan put olive oil and add to it the sliced cauliflower, onion and garlic and let it cook until the cauliflower starts taking color. Season as you go.

3- While you are waiting for your cauliflower to cook, using a food processor, cut bread into small pieces.

4- Place bread crumbs on a hot pan with olive oil and season, keep mixing until the bread turns gold and crispy. Add the pecorino, mix and turn off the heat.

5- When the cauliflower starts changing color, add the tomatoes to it. And in a pot filled with boiling salted water cook the pasta for two min less then the package'recommendation.

6- Reserve some of the pasta water, strain pasta and add to the cauliflower mixture.

7- Add cooking cream with some of the pasta water, and cook while mixing.

8- when the sauce's consistency looks good, add in the cheese, mix and serve topped with the bread crumps.

At the end of the week I was surprised to fined out that I can actually stick to a vegetarian diet, only if I did eat out. Cooking with out animal protein was quit easy, but finding good options

at non vegan/vegetarian restaurants was challenging. On the other hand, eliminating nuts from my diet was tortuous!I believe the food scene is leaning towards inclusivity, and presenting choses for most dietary restrictions. So I don't believe a vegetarian would face a problem finding a place that does not serve meet to work at. Also, the fact that many people work in one kitchen, allows for one to stick to their dietary restriction with out any issues, if you can't taste something, someone else can. I for example do not eat pork, and never had a problem cooking it in any of my classes, because my colleague always taste it for me.

Reference
(2019, April 17). Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGgbA3B8eO0.