Happy Friday lovelies! Today I have a special guest post from my super talented photograpaher + blogger friend Rika.
If you would like to hear about my week, the wedding + holiday prep plus a super exciting opportunity I’ll be launching in November click here to sign up to my weekly newsletter. As always I’d love to hear from you so make sure you hit reply to my newsletter if you would like to share something with me :) Take it away Rika!
I would like to thank the lovely Jessica for inviting me to be a guest blogger
- I’d love to go back to Australia one day soon ! My name is Rika, founder of the vegan and travel blog Vegan Miam. I will be embarking on a long trip to Asia starting this mid-September for 3 months travelling through Manila —> Phuket —-> Fiji —-> Taiwan —–> Manila. Be sure to check out my tweets and website for travel updates!
Summer is already over here in the lush Willamette Valley of Oregon, but it is never too late to create a summer dish with simple and fresh ingredients.
This dish involves an amazing raw tomato sauce, plus you will need a very good olive oil. I would highly recommend this amazing extra-virgin olive oil from Crete (sorry, you will have to fly to Crete to get it :) It’s made exclusively from Winery Stilianou, that makes dry wines from the traditional Crete grapes. There is a fruity and spicy combination in the olive oil which is delicious!
Let’s move on, you can use any pasta from linguine to gluten-free. I use organic, fresh spaghetti.
Lightly grilled asparagus recipe:
Ingredients
1/2 lb fresh asparagus
6 – 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Salt to taste
Preparation
1. Preheat grill for high heat.
2. Lightly oil the asparagus with olive oil and cook to desired tenderness.
3. Season with salt and loads of lemon zest.
The raw tomato sauce is adapted from Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh tomatoes
2 medium cloves garlic
7 sprigs flat-leaf Italian parsley
14 fresh basil leaves
Salt
1 pound organic spaghetti or your choice of pasta
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation
1. Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to boil.
2. Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds, and cut into small 1/4-inch dice. Put them in the bowl you will be serving the pasta in. Peel and lightly crush the garlic cloves and add them to the bowl.
3. Finely chop enough parsley to measure 2 tablespoons and add it to the bowl.
4. Coarsely chop the basil and mix into the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.
5. As the water for pasta is boiling, add about 1 tablespoon salt, add the spaghetti, and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.
6. When the pasta is almost done, add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and olive oil to the sauce in the bowl. Mix well. When the pasta is complete, drain well, toss with the sauce.
7. Enjoy!
About – Rika
Based in Oregon and worldwide, a first-generation Taiwanese vegan, Rika runs international and travel vegan blog, “Vegan Miam” (also known as “Taiwan Vegan”) since July 2011. In 2008, she traveled more than half way around the world with her partner (who is a vegetarian) and lived in several countries. As an editorial photographer, Rika documents and photographs vegan cuisine, restaurants, airports, lounges, international flights, groceries, products and home cooking. She spends her time abroad caring for and feeding feral cats and dogs.
Connect with Rika
Website: www.veganmiam.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/veganmiam
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/veganmiam
Finding Vegan: www.findingvegan.com/tagged/veganmiam
Instagram: veganmiam
What’s your favourite pasta recipe?
PS Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter if you want to hear about my exciting new opportunity launching in November..I don’t want you to miss out!
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