Rigatoni with capers and mint

An unforgettable pasta!

Making a pasta is one thing. But making a pasta for your friends and loved ones who will bag you for more please, is just a whole different story! For some reason, I thought this pasta was one of my first posts, but stupid me, that was a totally different one! (It was the penne with rosemary-tomato pesto, which is good too, by the way!) How could I withhold you of this awesome, most simple recipe with the great WOW effect, it always gives!

The recipe originally came from Tessa Kiros. It was a pre-post in a magazine from her first book 'Twelve', she was about to publish herself. (It became such a hit, many books followed).
It was years ago when I first made it, and never forgot about the recipe since. But, to be honest, I have made it so many times, I'm not really sure my recipe is still the same it ones was supposed to be. I can remember her recipe said to use fresh tomatoes, but than the sauce needed sugar and balsamic vinegar to balance the taste. I discovered this balance was already there, when I used a can of organically grown, peeled and chopped tomatoes. It's those little differences which make it your own. Anyway, you should try and see for yourself. But whenever you feel like making something special with just a little effort or ingredients, this absolutely is the one!

SEE THE WHOLE RECIPE HERE

The vegetarian version of 'The Authentic' Pasta Bolognese!

Oh,  so tasty & fine!

To be honest, I'm not really a sucker for meat-replacement products. Not wanting to eat meat doesn't necessarily makes me want to eat fake meat instead. I'm not into the specific taste and structure of meat, and anything made that looks and tastes just like it, isn't really on my list of interests.

However, I do not live alone, and i'm the only 'real' vegetarian in this household. (And the only one that cooks.) Though, Wolf doesn't get any meat (yet), but he's not even two years old, so his opinion doesn't count. He just is a vegetarian, and loves his quinoa-veggies-lentils-egg-or-whatever-dinners deeply.
All the others dó like some meat sometimes, and I don't want to prohibit them from eating it, as long as it is of good quality and just not too often. I hope one day the choise of being a vegetarian will be one of themselves. (Of course I use some discreet propaganda here and there :-) )

This Pasta Bolognese is one of my favorite recipes, because it's always satisfying and very much appreciated by everybody eating it. And the funny things is, the kids really believe they're eating meat. Even Nicolaas didn't taste the difference at first (yes, I told him later on). It's because my kids assured me a Pasta Bolognese without meat is no Bolognese. So I found a meat replacement product from an organic brand named 'Provamel', which doesn't really look apealing at first sight, but works very well in a dish like this. It's made of soy and looks just like the real stuf. (There are so many brands out there, and it's all quite the same i guess.)

Of course I do get questions like 'but mom, why do you eat meat, while you're a vegetarian?' But for some reason, they never seem very much interested in the answer, which I just mumble away. They're happy to eat a real Pasta Bolognese. And that's it.

SEE THE WHOLE RECIPE