The Odd Fork

The Odd's Fork summer tribute to pasta ends with this recipe. However, it ends the right way!
How is this? With a pasta dish containing very few ingredients while at the same time, it has everything (like they say, less is more)!
Meaning it is tasty, lowcal, vegan, quick and easy to prepare, low in cost, mediterranean and suitable for the summer season. It is indeed the absolute summer pasta!

Of course, it is also strange. The strange thing about this recipe, is the different kind of tomato sauce. No onion or garlic, no need to saute anything, the fresh summer tomatoes, peach and herbs here, do all the work.
During springtime instead of peach, the Odd Fork thinks of using fresh strawberries.

To start, you 're going to need some cherry mini tomatoes or 1 - 2 fresh tomatoes and a peach. Peel the peach and cut it in three equal pieces, as you need only the 1/3 of the peach. Cut it in small cubes.
If using cherry tomatoes, dip them in boiled water for 1 - 2 minutes to peel them easily. You will use one part of peach pieces and three parts of tomato pieces. The Odd Fork used cherry tomatoes mainly for aesthetic reasons, but feel free to use big tomatoes if that suits you better.

In a medium pot over low heat place the peeled cherry tomatoes or tomato pieces (add also the tomato liquids), the peach pieces, a tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper and a little ground nutmeg and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes until tomatoes and peach are tender.
Remove the lid, increase the heat and let the sauce thicken. In the end, just before removing from heat, add some chopped fresh basil.

Mix the sauce with your boiled and strained spaghetti of choice, and serve!
For a non vegan option, you can sprinkle the pasta with your favorite shredded yellow cheese.

The Odd Fork goes vegan, lowcal and gluten free today! After many pinches, it turned out that chickpea pasta is the No1 gluten free option for tasty, nutritious pasta meals. An avocado pesto chickpea pasta was the first successful recipe that turned the Odd Fork into a chickpea pasta fan!

So for the above vegan pasta recipe, the Odd Fork used a medium beetroot which it washed thoroughly, dried and wrapped in aluminum foil. It baked the beetroot in a preheated oven at 400F, for approximately an hour until the beetroot was tender.

Meanwhile, the Odd Fork boiled a portion of its favorite chickpea pasta, drained it but kept one cup of boiled pasta water aside. It soaked into this water 2 tbsps of dried cranberries.
When the beetroot cooled, the Odd Fork unwrapped it, peeled it easily and cut it in small pieces.

For the beet - cranberry pesto the Odd Fork just mixed in its blender the baked beetroot pieces, a tbsp of red vinegar, 2 tbsps of olive oil, a clove of garlic finely chopped, salt, a pinch of hot paprika, a pinch of sweet, red paprika, a pinch of nutmeg, 2 - 3 fresh spearmint leaves, a small spring onion finely chopped and the soaked (and of course drained) cranberries.
The Odd Fork blended well on a high speed all the above until a smooth paste formed. To adjust the thickness of the pesto it added some of the pasta water that had kept aside.

The Odd Fork mixed quickly the warm, boiled pasta with the beet - cranberry pesto and served immediately with fresh chopped parsley and sunflower seeds.

The Odd Fork does not stick to food categories, nutrition plans, food trends etc .;
It tries, as much as possible, to pinch everything! So, when it discovered in an organic store chickpea flour pasta, it thought to give it a try.

For a simple first recipe in order to taste more the genuine flavor of the main ingredient (the chickpea pasta), and less the sauce flavor, it thought of making a quick avocado pesto. Besides, avocado is a superfood and so are Chickpeas, so why not follow this healthy food road to the end? -the odd fork thought.
And with this decision, it made in no time a vegan, light and gluten free meal full of protein which gave it the energy to pinch strange food even harder, like this:

It peeled a ripe avocado, cut it into pieces and blended it with the juice and zest of a lemon, a clove of garlic, some black pepper, a little olive oil, and enough oregano until the mixture was a smooth, green cream. This happened while the pasta was boiling, but the odd fork was pleasantly surprised when it found out that the pasta had already boiled even before the pesto was ready!
The odd fork kept aside some water from the boiling pasta and poured it into the pesto -it was never keen on very thick pasta sauces.
Missing something? Of course, salt is missing but you see the odd fork went through a "free" phase that day (gluten-free, lactose-free, salt-free, etc.).
The pasta however, turned out to have a great taste!

Although salt-free, the spicy black pepper, the aromatic, juicy lemon, the umami flavor of the garlic and the intensity of the wild, Greek oregano gave the pasta a Mediterranean mark which made the fork really happy! The chickpea pasta had a slight chickpea flavor but not to the point of being annoying to the palate.

But the odd fork does not stop its healthy pinches here. It has other vegan posts at his blog store which it will soon upload.

They say it's an exaggeration to eat pasta with bread. But if you like to do that, don't feel anymore strange or odd because the Odd Fork presents today this recipe especially for you!
Fresh ravioli here is served with a rich -vegetarian however- milky sauce with whole grain bread, walnuts and parmesan cheese.
The key ingredient though, is fresh sage and it shouldn't be omitted!

If you like to try it, use the following:

- a small packet of fresh ravioli (about 250 grams)
- a slice of whole grain bread
- a cup of milk (fresh milk or evaporated, anything you like)
- a tbsp of butter
- 3 to 4 fresh sage leaves
- 1/3 cup ground walnuts
- salt, pepper, ground nutmeg
- ground parmesan cheese to serve

Start by cutting off the bread crust, as you 're going to need only the breadcrumbs for the recipe. Grind the soft breadcrumbs with your fingers and soak them in milk.
Boil the ravioli (the Odd Fork used spinach and ricotta filled ravioli, but feel free to choose your favorite) and strain. Fresh ravioli take only a couple of minutes to cook.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the sage leaves. After a while, the kitchen will be filled with a lovely fragrance so add the ravioli and mix, to give it this nice sage butter flavor. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium pot, at medium-low temperature bring milk with soaked breadcrumbs to a boil, add the walnuts (you don't want walnuts to be ground in powder, the texture should be a little bit chunky), salt, pepper and a little ground nutmeg and by stirring frequently to prevent mixture from sticking to the pot or from getting a crust, let it thicken.
Add sage buttered ravioli to the pot stirring softly with a wooden spatula, until mixture thickens more.
Remove from heat, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

If you also wish to try it, you ‘ll need:

For the goji berry tomato sauce:

- a tbsp of olive oil
- a medium onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- a small wine glass of Greek Rakomelo (or red wine if Rakomelo is not available)
- 70 grams of tomato paste
- a small carrot, grinded in the cheese grater
- some dried spearmint
- salt, pepper (both black pepper and non hot red paprika)
- a small, dried hot red pepper
- 2 whole cloves, 3 whole grains of allspice, half of a cinnamon stick
- 1/3 cup approximately, dried goji berries

In a small pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the Rakomelo or the wine and after a while the tomato paste dissolved into a big glass of water. Add all the remaining tomato sauce ingredients, cover and let it simmer for 20 - 30 minutes so that onion and carrot are tender.
Then remove the lid, increase the heat and allow sauce to thicken and reduce. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the vegetable - feta cheese "bechamel":

- a big carrot
- an onion
- a zucchini
- fresh dill
- a bay leaf
- some whole grains of black pepper, coriander and allspice
- 2 tbsps of olive oil
- 2 tbsps of all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of light evaporated milk
- some feta cheese finely chopped
- an egg
- salt (to taste), ground nutmeg

Boil together carrot, onion, zucchini, fresh dill, bay leaf, pepper, coriander and allspice grains. Strain, keeping though about a cup of the water.
Puree boiled carrot, onion and zucchini in your blender adding some of the water that you kept aside, so that a smooth, silky purée forms. Add in a clean pot 2 tbsps of olive oil and when it heats, add the flour stirring constantly. Continue to stir and add the vegetable puree. Lower the heat and stirring with a wooden spatula, allow the vegetable mixture to thicken.
Remove from heat and add the evaporated milk, feta cheese, pepper, ground nutmeg and salt (taste before adding the salt). Finally, add the egg and mix well. You should have a nice, smooth light green cream.

For the pasta:

- half a packet of whole wheat penne pasta (about 250 to 300 grams)
- a tbsp of olive oil
- 2 small cloves of garlic finely chopped
- half a bunch of fresh dill
- some feta cheese finely chopped

Boil the penne pasta al dente in salted water. Dip the dill for 1 - 2 minutes in the boiling water (you want it to soften, not to boil), chop it and mince it in a mortar grinder with the garlic and the olive oil -it is almost like making a dill pesto.
Strain the penne pasta and mix with the dill "pesto" and the feta cheese.
Arrange half the pasta mixture on a baking casserole, cover with the tomato - goji berry sauce, add the remaining pasta mixture and cover the top evenly with the light green vegetable "bechamel".
Bake in a preheated oven, at 400F, for about 30 - 45 minutes (depending on the oven).
Allow to cool for 30 - 45 minutes before serving, cut in squares and enjoy with red wine or beer!

Sticking to pasta recipes, the Odd Fork pinches pasta like there's no tomorrow! However, the Odd's Fork pasta recipes may be odd but they 're tasty and healthy as well!

There was half a packet of whole wheat penne pasta left from the previous post's recipe, so when the Odd Fork also discovered in its kitchen a can of smoked tuna in olive oil, it came up with the idea for the following pasta dish.

It boiled the pasta in salted water adding also some broccoli cut in small pieces. It drained, keeping aside some of the water.
It opened the can of tuna, drained it from the oil and put the tuna oil in a clean pot. It heated the oil and added a clove of garlic finely chopped and some lemon peel strips (only the yellow part of the lemon peel), mixing only for a few seconds.
The Odd Fork just wanted to give the tuna oil some extra flavor and taste, not to fry the lemon and garlic. Quickly it added in the pot the juice of half a lemon, the boiled pasta and the broccoli, the tuna, fresh oregano from its garden, salt and pepper.
It mixed all the above over medium heat (the water from the boiling pasta can be added to this point if necessary -the Odd Fork didn't use this water after all) and served the pasta immediately hot, adding some extra fresh lemon zest.

Pasta recipes are to be continued of course, all forks stay tuned!