The Mediterranean Vegan

Here is a recipe for the Valencian classic arròs al forn, which means "oven rice." Typically this is made with a variety of sausages and other meats, so this recipe leaves out the meat and substitutes the beef stock for vegetable broth. Serves 3-4 What you need: 3.5 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, chopped down the middle once and with skin 2 tomatoes, 1 sliced and 1 grated 2 cups cooked chickpeas 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp salt 2 1/2 cups short-grain rice, uncooked 1 pinch saffron 5 1/2 cups vegetable broth, hot 1 potato, sliced 1/4 inch thick (.5 cm) Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Typically you would use a ceramic dish for this. You'll need a pan that can go on the stove-top as well as the oven. If you don't have one, first follow the instructions for the stove-top and then move the ingredients to an oven-safe pan. In a large pan on medium-high heat, sauté the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 7 minutes. Add the grated tomato and chickpeas and saut...

The Greek dish prassorizo is the same concept as spanakorizo but with leeks. Serves 3 What you need: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, diced 3 leeks, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 2 cups short-grain rice 5 1/2 cups water In a large pan on medium-high heat, sauté the onion in the olive oil for five minutes. Add the leeks and carrots and sauté for another 15 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, and rice and stir for 1 minute. Add the water and let boil, stirring occasionally for around 18 minutes or until the rice is completely cooked with a creamy texture.

Ensaimada is native to the island of Mallorca, Spain. It comes from the Arabic word saim which means pork lard, a main ingredient in the pastry. The sweet bread can be filled with caramelized pumpkin hair, chocolate, or topped with apricots. This is the most traditional version, plain with powdered sugar. Serves 2 medium ensaimadas What you need: 2 cups flour 9 grams yeast 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 egg replacer 1/4 cup margarine Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). In a medium-size bowl, mix the water, yeast, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and egg replacer (I used Ener-g). In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the margarine until fluffy. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing well. When a dough forms, make into a ball with your hands and let sit (covered) for two hours. The dough should double in size. After two hours, flour a surface, separate the dough into two balls and begin forming the balls into long snake-shaped rolls. The length should be a ...

This recipe comes from Greece. The word yemista/gemista means stuffed in Greek, and there are various combinations of vegetables used for this oven-baked dish. Yemista is often stuffed with minced meat and rice, but the vegetarian version is just as common. Kalí óreksi! Serves 4-6 stuffed vegetables What you need: 2 1/2 bell peppers 2 tomatoes 1/2 cup olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 onion, diced 1 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced 1 1/2 cup spinach 1 tsp parsley 1 tsp oregano 2 tsp basil 1 cup water 2 cups short-grain rice 1 tsp salt Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Carefully remove the tops of two peppers and two tomatoes (or more depending on how many you make) using a sharp knife. Remove the seeds from the peppers and scoop out the insides of the tomatoes with a teaspoon. Put the tops of the vegetables and the insides of the tomatoes to the side. Chop up the other half of the bell pepper to use in the rice. In a medium frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic in the 1/2 cup olive oil u...

This bread comes from Croatia, where they make it on very large wooden boards over hot ashes and serve it to groups of people. It is a dish meant to share, so make sure you have some friends around when you make it. Serves 3-4 What you need: 3 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 3 cups swiss chard, chopped 1/4 cup parsley, chopped 1 tsp salt 3 cloves garlic, diced 1 tbsp olive oil Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (350 ° F). In a mixing bowl, mix the 3 1/2 cups flour with the 1 tsp salt. Add the water and olive oil slowly, mixing until a dough forms. Seperate the dough into two equal size balls. Chop the swiss chard and parsley and set aside. Flour a large surface and roll one of the balls of dough into a 10-inch diameter (25 cm) circle using a rolling pin (or a similar shaped object). Place dough on lightly oiled pizza sheet (or other baking sheet, you can change the shape of the bread depending on your baking sheet). Sprinkle the swiss chard, parsley, and salt on the rolled out la...

This recipe comes from Madrid, but patatas bravas can be found throughout Spain. They serve these fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce at every bar and restaurant, and most vegetarians depend on this dish when there aren't any other veg options. Serves 2-3 What you need: for the brava sauce 1/2 onion, finely diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tbsp olive oil 2 dried cayenne peppers 1 tsp paprika pinch of saffron 2 cups crushed tomatoes, canned 1 tsp sugar 1 tbsp flour 1 tbsp water 1 tsp vinegar salt for the allioli 8 cloves garlic 1 cup olive oil salt for the potatoes 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped olive oil salt Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Peel and chop potatoes and add to boiling water for around 7 minutes. This tenderizes the potatoes before frying them. In a saucepan on medium heat, fry the garlic and onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil until the onions are translucent. Stir in the crushed cayenne pepper, paprika, and saffron. Add the 2 cups crushed tomatoes and 1 tsp of ...