Vegan with a Vengeance

until soft (10 to 15 minutes). Reserve ¼ cup of the soaking water and drain away the rest. Puree the tomatoes in a blender or food processor until smooth, adding the soaking water by the tablespoon if needed to achieve a smooth puree. Add the tomatoes to the mashed potatoes. You may need to add ¼ cup or so more flour to the mixture.
    Spinach Gnocchi: Chop finely one bunch of well-rinsed spinach. Cook in a skillet over medium heat in about ¼ cup of water until it is completely wilted. Place in a strainer and press all the water out. Add to the potatoes after they have been mashed.
    PUNK POINTS
    The best way to freeze gnocchi and not have them stick together is to line up the uncooked gnocchi on a cutting board or baking sheet (or anything big and flat) lined with parchment paper and sprinkled lightly with flour. Place the pan in the freezer for about an hour. Then you can transfer the gnocchi to zip-top bags or lidded plastic containers and place back in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to cook, follow the directions in this recipe.

Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes and Kalamata Tapenade
    SERVES 2-4
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    Salty olives and tart, sweet cherry tomatoes taste luscious in this easy-to-prepare dish. I like to use orecchiette here because they cup the thick sauce nicely—but of course you can use whatever pasta you want to. This recipe is fora½pound of pasta, which is supposedly four servings. If you are like most people I know, four servings = two servings, so plan accordingly. The tapenade recipe makes enough for a pound of pasta, though, so you can double the pasta and still have plenty of tapenade-y goodness to go around. If you have some left over, I suggest spreading it on toasted French bread for crostini or adding it to your sammiches throughout the week.
    Â½ pound orecchiette
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 medium-size red onion, sliced into thin half moons (about 1 cup)
    1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
    FOR THE TAPENADE:
    1½ cups kalamata olives, pitted
    3 tablespoons capers, drained
    2 cloves garlic, chopped
    Handful fresh parsley (about ½ cup lightly packed)
    Â½ teaspoon dried oregano
    Â½ teaspoon dried tarragon
    A few dashes fresh ground pepper
    1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    Prepare the tapenade:
    Combine all the tapenade ingredients in a blender or food processor.
    Prepare everything else:
    Prepare the pasta according to its package directions. While the pasta is boiling, sauté the onions and cherry tomatoes in the olive oil over medium heat for about 7 minutes.

    Reservea½cup of cooking water from the pasta and drain the rest. Add the pasta to the tomatoes and sauté for a few seconds (I use a pasta spoon to sauté because it mixes everything well and doesn’t crush anything). Add 1 cup of the tapenade and the reserved pasta water; stir to coat. When the tapenade is heated through it is ready to serve.

Fettuccine Alfreda
    SERVES 4
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    This recipe is from my old friends the Baltimorons, but by the time this recipe was invented they had moved to Minneapolis. Anyway, one of them found a bag of pine nuts and they taught me to make this sauce, or something like it. I can’t exactly duplicate the recipe because I think a lot of the flavor came from the fact that the pine nuts were “found.” It’s yummy to add some sautéed veggies on top of the pasta and some Grilled Tofu (page 145) wouldn’t hurt either. Serve it with some home brew that may not have come out quite right. I guess it’s like a vegan fettuccine Alfredo, but so so so much better.
    Â½ pound fettuccine
    2 teaspoons olive oil
    1 medium-size onion, chopped into big chunks
    4 cloves garlic, chopped
    Â½ cup water or vegetable broth
    2‘teaspoons yellow mustard
    Â½ cup pine nuts, toasted (see Punk Points)
    2 teaspoons soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos
    2 teaspoons chile powder
    1 cup nutritional yeast
    Â½ teaspoon salt
    A few dashes fresh black pepper
    Prepare pasta according to package directions.
    In a skillet over moderate heat, sauté the onions in olive oil for 3 minutes, until just slightly softened. Add the garlic, sauté for 2 more minutes. Transfer to a blender, add all the other ingredients, and blend away. It should be somewhat smooth but still a bit grainy.
    This amount should be enough for four servings of pasta. You can reheat it in a saucepan
    PUNK POINTS
    To toast pine nuts, heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over mediumhigh