Ingredients

For the seitan ragù

3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (and 2 more when ready to serve)
half an onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 small carrot, cleaned and finely chopped
1 celery stalk, cleaned and finely chopped
1 teaspoon powdered vegetable stock
whole sea salt, just enough to taste
150 ml white wine
350 g seitan, finely chopped (you can use a food processor)
100 ml filtered water
500 g tomato puree
1 teaspoon rice malt syrup
1-2 teaspoons dried thyme
1-2 teaspoons dried oregano
a small handful of fresh parsley, cleaned and finely chopped
chili powder, to taste
freshly ground white pepper, to taste
paprika, to taste

Makes about 6 servings (you can refrigerate it for up to 2 days or freeze it and save it for later).

For the polenta

500 ml filtered water
500 ml vegetable stock
a few pinches of whole sea salt
150 g fine cornmeal

Makes 2-3 servings.

To complete

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

To make the seitan ragù, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the onion, carrot, celery, vegetable stock and salt and sweat until the vegetables are slightly soft and translucent. Add the wine and the seitan and cook for a few minutes, stirring continuously, until the wine has evaporated. Pour the water and tomato puree, add the rice malt syrup, the herbs and spice and stir well. Simmer over low heat for about 1 hour. Remove from the heat, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and stir.
To make the polenta, heat the water and vegetable stock in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the salt and whisk in the cornmeal until fully incorporated, stirring constantly (use a wooden spoon).
Lower the heat and cook, stirring almost continuously, for about 15 minutes or until you reach a velvety texture. Remove from the heat and divide the polenta between individual serving bowls, spoon the warm seitan ragù on top, sprinkle with black pepper and serve.

Ingredients

150 g whole rice, washed in cold water, well drained then cooked in water until very tender
160 g rice malt syrup
3 tablespoons light and fruity extra virgin olive oil
zest of 1 organic lemon, grated
3 tablespoons whole rice flour
80 g corn flour (GMO-free)
a pinch of whole sea salt
a few pinches of vanilla powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch (GMO-free)
3 handfuls of sultanas, soaked in 3 tablespoons mirin for about 15 minutes then drained and pat dried
powdered brown cane sugar or extra fine almond flour, to serve

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170° C. Place cooked rice, malt syrup and oil in the bowl of a mixer and process until very smooth. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, add all remaining ingredients and stir well until everything is incorporated. Place a sheet of parchment-paper on a baking tray and scoop up a spoonful of batter and drop it onto the parchment-paper. Repeat with remaining mixture. Once the fritters have been placed on the baking sheet bake for 20-25 minutes or until crisp and golden on both sides (you can turn the fritters over with a spatula). Remove from the oven, transfer onto a plate, absorb any excess oil with kitchen paper (this step shouldn’t be really necessary), sprinkle with some powdered sugar or almond flour and eat warm.

Ingredients

For the crust

50 g cornmeal (GMO-free)
100 g whole wheat flour
100 g whole rice flakes’ flour
a pinch of whole sea salt
a pinch of vanilla powder
70 ml extra virgin olive oil
70 ml natural mineral or filtered water, at room temperature

Makes about  24 discs (tartlets) or 1 20-22 cm crust.

For the custard

4 tablespoons plain and unsweetened soy yogurt (GMO-free)
4 tablespoons rice malt syrup
3 tablespoons raw almond butter
a pinch of whole sea salt

Makes about half a cup of custard, which is just enough to top 6-8 tartlets, 6-8 cm each.

To complete

fresh berries (I used raspberries and blueberries)
a sprinkle of powdered whole cane sugar

Directions

First, make the custard. In a bowl, mix the soy yogurt, malt syrup, almond butter and salt. Whisk until very smooth then refrigerate for about 1 hour.

When ready to make the crust, preheat the oven to 180° C. Stir the flours, salt and vanilla together in a large bowl, then add the olive oil to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork. Add the water little by little, to make a good grainy texture. You might not need all the water indicated in the recipe. As soon as the dough holds together, you don’t need any more water. Knead until you have a smooth dough. Transfer the ball of dough in a flour-dusted bowl and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

When the dough is ready to be rolled, take it and place it on a lightly floured surface. Dust your rolling-pin with flour and roll the dough out to the desired thickness (3-4 mm), then cut out  round disc shapes using a round cookie cutter or  a cup and place the  discs on an oven tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper. Poke a few holes in the  tartlets with a fork to let the steam escape, and transfer the pan into the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes until nicely golden (cooking time varies according to the thickness, as well as the oven), then remove from the oven and let cool.

Once the custard is set and the tartlets are cold, arrange them on a serving plate or tray just before serving. Spoon some custard onto each tartlet, top with the raspberries and blueberries and sprinkle with the powdered sugar. Enjoy.

Ingredients

150 g semi-wholemeal wheat flour
100 g cornmeal (OGM-free)
50 g almond flour
a pinch of whole sea salt
3 tablespoons cream of tartar
150 ml agave syrup
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
150 ml unsweetened, unflavoured soy milk (OGM-free)
1 tablespoon natural vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (organic)
200 g long, light green zucchini, grated
8 zucchini flowers, washed, stems and pistils removed, and cut into 4 parts

Preheat oven to 180° C, lightly oil and flour a 20 cm round (stainless steel) cake pan, or alternatively, lay down a sheet of parchment paper on your cake pan. In a large bowl, sift together the semi-wholemeal wheat flour, cornmeal, almond flour, salt, and cream of tartar. Mix well. Place the agave syrup, oil, soy milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a bowl and stir well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is blended. Stir in the grated zucchini and the zucchini flowers. Make sure everything is well combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the centre is firm but still moist (use a wooden stick to check donness). Let cool before removing the cake from the pan.

I think apple crumble is one of the my favourite treats. Fruit crumbles in general are great. They are delicious and economical, it takes less than one hour to make them and they can be served warm or cold. I had the best time when I was living in England, going from place to place trying to find the perfect apple crumble. Actually, they all were perfect to me, I can’t remember having one that I didn’t like. Crumble is not a typical Italian dessert, and that’s the reason why I had to have as much as I could before coming back to Italy. Now that I’ve been here a while, I make my own crumbles. I’ve always used wholemeal flour, because white crumbles don’t taste right to me anymore (if you get used to whole grain it’s hard to go back to refined flours). For lighter crumbles I also substitute butter or vegan margarine with either corn oil or extra virgin olive oil. In this recipe I mix the two, so that none of them confers a strongly marked flavour to the crumble. In this healthy pear and apple version, I almost entirely replace wholemeal with organic corn flour, which makes the crumble unbelievably sweet and fragrant. For this recipe I used organic ingredients.

Ingredients (makes 6-8 servings):

For the filling

3 firm pears (such as Bartlett) peeled, cored, and sliced

3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

the juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup muscovado sugar

ginger powder (to taste)

For the crumble

1 cup corn flour

½ cup wholemeal flour

¼ cup muscovado sugar

¼ teaspoon whole sea salt

¼ cup corn oil

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

the juice of 1 lemon

ginger powder (to taste)

Heat oven to 150° C and lightly grease a baking pan.

Filling

In a large bowl, combine pear slices, apple slices, sugar, lemon juice and ginger. Mix well, transfer the fruit mixture to the baking pan and bake at 150° for 20 minutes.

Crumble

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the corn flour, wholemeal flour, sugar and salt. Mix well ensuring that everything is combined. Add lemon juice and oil. Rub everything together using your fingers until the oil has been evenly dispersed through the flour and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If the mixture happens to be too dry and powdery, add some more oil and lemon juice.

Assembling the crumble

Remove the pear and apple filling from the oven and arrange the crumble randomly on top of the filling. Sprinkle with ground ginger. Bake for another 20 minutes until golden.

Serving suggestion

Cold or warm, this crumble is good on its own…but you might as well try it topped with non-dairy cream or soy yogurt.