Cooking With Dia

I guess you could say I am going back to my “roots” with this recipe. I am Italian American, and Cotolette di Melanzane was something I frequently ate growing up. This is however, my revamped gluten free & vegan version. Hope you enjoy! New print recipe buttons available now on my posts!!

If you are like me, you are constantly trying to veganize dishes you remember from your pre-vegan life. I for one have been obsessing on how to make the perfect vegan mozzarella. I’m pleased to say I’ve finally cracked the code, and managed to make a ball of vegan mozzarella, and I will be sharing that recipe with you soon. While obsessing on things like that, I forgot that the best part of being vegan is staring right in front of me-All the wonderful fruit and veg I get every week. So, today it’s back to basics with this very simple spicy risotto. If you’ve never made risotto before, this is a good starter recipe, and then as you get more confident, you can add whatever you like to it.

I have been wanting to make Dolma for a while now, it is an Eastern European way of hollowing and stuffing vegetables which have the typical appearance of looking rolled. Most cooks will stuff their chosen vegetable with cheese and meat, or cheese and fish. I decided to stuff mine with Orzo, a rice shaped pasta, sweet peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes, garlic and onions. Why not just use rice instead? Orzo has the most delicious flavor, that even the finest risotto rice cannot duplicate. I use this a lot in my pasta dishes and soups. Be sure to try it some time!