We've been excited to launch our children's range which includes our Aubergine Polpette Spaghetti. This child-friendly version has less salt and spice than the adult one and we are confident your little ones will enjoy feasting on this for dinner as much as you'll enjoy the saltier adult version! Perfect for a mid-week cosy warming supper in the winter when your children may be feeling even more tired and hungry than usual. It's packed full of nutritional goodness not least because of the multi vegetable tomato sauce that the Polpette are served on.
We tested the dish out on Cosmo last week and it was an absolute hit!
Our sauce takes time to prepare. Like most of the finest recipes in the Dovebrook Kitchen, it is a labour of love. We take a lot of care and attention ensuring our tomatoes are perfectly roasted, so we wanted to share with you another Italian sauce recipe that you can easily whip up in 15 minutes and is a perfect mid-week supper when you only have a few store cupboard ingredients.
Puttanesca is traditionally made with anchovies which is what gives it that irresistible saltiness. In our version we compensate for this by adding more capers, and then mixing in some cornichons and a mixture of black and green olives which work surprisingly well and cut through the sweetness of the tomatoes. We happened to have some beautifully ripe and sweet cherry tomatoes so we used them to make up the tomato base of the sauce, but you could easily use regular tomatoes- just ensure you get them when they are seasonal and perfectly ripe! Roma tomatoes are my favourite to use in these kinds of sources.
From childhood we've bot always adored Italian food and it was of course a bit of an adjustment adapting classic Italian dished into plant-based versions, not least because cheese and certain meats do form the base of quite a few dishes. We have learnt how to make vegan mozzarella, parmesan (like the miso walnut parmesan that features in the polpette dish) and we have a great recipe for sausages too. We look forward to sharing these ideas soon. In the meantime, have fun with this simple easy classic. Ready to serve in 15 minutes!
Plant-based Puttanesca Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
220g cherry (or Roma) tomatoes
400g Italian tinned chopped tomatoes
80g chopped sun-dried tomatoes
3 Tbsp capers or caper berries
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (we used Urfa)
50g tomato purée
60 ml red wine
100g pitted black olives
60g green olives
60g cornichons
Method:
Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion along with a generous pinch of salt and fry for 10 mins, or until soft. Add the garlic and chilli, and cook for a further minute.
Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the wine and let it simmer gently fora few more minutes.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives and cornichons. Bring to a gentle simmer and let it cook for 15 minutes uncovered.
Serve with your favourite pasta. Garnish with fresh parsley, basil and/or oregano.
