Sneaky Vegan Organic Whole Wheat Pasta with Field Roast "Sausages", Bok Choy and Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

Sneaky Vegan Organic Whole Wheat Pasta with Field Roast "Sausages", Bok Choy and Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

The story behind those sneaky vegan sausages from Seattle

 and how to roast your cauliflower (without losing your head.)

Recipe follows story

This blog took an incredibly long time to write because I had to keep getting up and going in the kitchen to eat more of these sausages. And they aren't even sausages, really. They're vegan. But these sausages were so good, even my strapping teenage carnivore son gobbled these down while grunting,  "erg, good, erg, mmm hmm, good."

I picked these Field Roast Sausages up at Costco and wasn't sure if I would like them. I noticed they were soy free, artisan (food as art!) and from Seattle so I suspected they were worthy of a risk.  The risk paid off! They have a very complex texture that is similar to regular sausage, and doesn't taste like other soy sausage. The wheat, yukon gold potato, herbs and spices combine to create a really wonderful taste sensation. There are three flavors in the Costco pack, for this dish I used the Mexican Spicy Chipotle flavor. These vegan sausages may fool your meat eaters, and at the very least will impress them, which can be quite hard.

As you may know by now, my daughters are vegetarian (one is vegan), my son is a meat lover, and my husband and I like to mix it up.  Therefore, I am a veritable Venn diagram of menu ideas, constantly cooking up meals that will reach beyond borders and straddle the common ground.  No, we aren't talking about international relations here, just the modern family dinner table. How did my life get this complicated?! What can I say, I'm a food enabler.

Truth be told, I love the challenge.

If you are not a food enabler, then today's dish would be quite simple to just 'meat up' with real sausage or even a bit of leftover roast chicken.  You could also omit the sausage completely. If you want extra protein, toss in a handful of beans which will be more cost effective than artisan vegan sausages.  But the Mexican Spicy Chipotle sausage adds a real kick to this dish, so you may want to add a little cayenne,  hot smoked chili pepper,or your favorite chipotle powder to the dish instead.

This is a one dish wonder, filled with hearty fiber rich pasta, spicy and dense sausages, and water laden cauliflower and bok choy to lighten it all up, giving a nice balance to the other strong flavors.

I serve the pasta, sauteed bok choy, cauliflower and sausage separately, and let everyone "dress" their plates at the kitchen table.  Naturally I combined all of my ingredients into one big party. It was so good, I forgot to even think of grated cheese, which of course would be an excellent addition too.

Sneaky vegan slurp!

RECIPE

 Sneaky Vegan Organic Whole Wheat Pasta with Field Roast "Sausages", Bok Choy and Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

• 1 pound pkg Delallo organic Italian pasta (or similar, I used these shells which have 6g fiber/serving) http://www.delallo.com/video/commercials/whole-wheat-pasta
• 1 pkg Field Roast Grain Meat Sausages (I used Hot-n-Spicy Mexican Chipotle flavor, but bundle from Costco comes with other flavors) http://fieldroast.com/products/
• 1 large head of bok choy, chopped
• 1 large wholehead of cauliflower
• 6 cloves (+/-) garlic, chopped 
• As much olive oil as you like so your pants fit comfortably
• A few freshly chopped herbs (optional, such as thyme or parsley)

I have included 'Super Hurry Mama' variations for this recipe

Put your largest pot of water on the stove to boil and preheat your oven to 350F.

(Super Hurry Mama-- you could roast pre-cut cauliflower florets just as easily, or even just microwave bags of cauliflower florets.)

Roasted Cauliflower:  Take your whole head of cauliflower to a cutting board and carefully slice into thick discs, like you are cutting bread.  Some of the pieces will fall off because raw cauliflower is not as easy to slice as bread.  No matter. Those little 'crumbs' will be the best part. You do not need to cut the base out when you roast cauliflower, you can just roast that too, then cut the little florets off when they are soft. 

Place discs and crumbs and any florets onto baking sheet and smear each piece with some of your freshly chopped garlic. Sprinkle a little thyme or parsley on top if you have some, but it's not essential.  Drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, pop in to the oven and roast for about 35-45 minutes or until all florets soft (I like them browned, mmm.) 

Sauteed Bok Choy:  In a large pan, saute 2 (+/-) cloves garlic and olive oil in pan until fragrant, then add chopped head bok choy and half a glass of water. (about 3 fingers high), sprinkle with a little salt, stir, cover and cook until bok choy is soft, about 5-10 minutes.  

Pasta: Salt your boiling water and boil whole wheat pasta according to time on package, drain and put in large bowl.

Field Roast Grain Meat Company Sausage: Slice each sausage into little discs, then place in a pan and saute until looking browned and gorgeous, about 5 minutes. (The advantage of vegetarian sausage is that it doesn't need to cook as long as regular sausage so good for Super Hurry Mama!)

When roasted cauliflower done, take out of oven and cut all yummy bits up, discarding any hard or leafy pieces.  Pour all juices, garlic oil and cauliflower over pasta.

Add sauteed bok choy. 

Top with browned sausage. 

Toss through and take a picture of your fiber rich, vegetable laden, glorious tasting sneaky 'sausage' dish. 

You are a kitchen hero. Be proud of your creation!