Spaghetti and T-Balls with Marinara Sauce

A vegan take on a classic dish: Spaghetti and T-Balls (page 194) with Marinara Sauce (page 194).

Let's start with the marinara sauce. Super easy to throw together with pantry staples. This recipe is a great base for your tomato sauces and easily customised to your tastes. The better the quality of your crushed tomatoes, the better your sauce will be. I added in lots of chopped garlic (see the chunks up there), diced onions, some red pepper flakes and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I like adding balsamic because it adds a bit of depth to tomato sauces.

The T-Balls were also really easy to throw together. Similar to the Tempeh Tantrum Burgers, everything goes into a food processor and then cooked. The only thing I changed was that I used regular flour instead of vital wheat gluten and they still held together really well. I opted for the baking method but before I threw them in the oven I gave everything a spritz of oil. They baked up perfectly and held together.

The seasonings were just right combined with the sauce in this dish. Tasty but not overpowering. If you are going to use these without a sauce, ramp up the seasonings. These T-Balls would totally be great in sandwiches too. Of course they still taste like tempeh, so if you don't like tempeh, skip these.

This dish was a nice break from the usual "meat" balls that I've made for spaghetti (usually TVP-based) and it was nice to have pasta with a homemade sauce again instead of jarred (I confess I use jarred a lot). If you're looking for a hearty and comforting meal, make this.

— Ms. Veganorama

Carbonara-Style Spaghetti - Guest Post by Kristin

The Carbonara-Style Spaghetti {page 208} is super-yummy and very easy to make. I've made it twice now and my husband keeps begging me to add this to the menu again. I made it last week for some out-of-town guests and they loved it too. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with Fakin' Bacon in any dish, especially when you combine it with shallots. I don’t have much else to say about this other than YUM.

I used my own homemade vegan parmesan, spaghettini (thin spaghetti), Fakin’ Bacon, and added peas as suggested in the notes. I just stirred in all of the Fakin' Bacon/Shallot mixture rather than saving some for the topping because I am lazy and that happens to work just fine. Go make this because it is amazing!

--Kristin
Beans and Greens

Drunken Spaghetti with Tofu

Drunken Spaghetti with Tofu {page 240} is apparently a Thai hangover cure, hence the name. While I did not have a hangover this morning, I am exhausted and sick, so I was hoping it would have the same wellness effect on me. While it didn't necessarily make me feel better, it was very delicious.

The noodles are bathed in a mixture of vegetarian oyster sauce, sugar, and soy sauce before they're tossed into a pan of sizzling vegetables and tofu. The flavors were spot on, and the vegetables provided a contrasting crunch to the soft noodles and toothsome tofu.

I served this with vegetarian "beef" steak {terrible!} and scallion pancake {awesome!}, both random "let's try this!" items from my last trip to the Asian market.

While making them the noodles felt very "busy", like there were a lot of steps, but it all came together really quickly. Now that I know how to do it, I'm confident I could do it faster next time. And with flavor like this, there will definitely be a next time.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl