Cheesy pizza, meat-laced pasta and creamy gelato are synonymous with Italian food – but this doesn’t mean it’s a write-off for vegans. Especially if you have plant-based chef Shannon Martinez’s new cookbook Vegan Italian Food at hand. This colourfully photographed tome is loaded with vegan recipes – both Italian classics that are naturally plant-based and veggie spins on recipes that are traditionally made with animal products.
The cookbook stars dishes that have made Martinez’s venues Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli destination diners for vegans and non-vegans alike, including her meatball subs and tiramisu. And then there’s this cacio e pepe, a dish traditionally based around cheese, which Martinez here makes entirely vegan.
“The chokehold cacio e pepe has had over the last few years means you can find it in any form of food,” writes Martinez. “It’s not to say that I don’t love cacio e pepe, but I don’t believe it’s the pinnacle of pasta dishes. And yet, all the while, vegans have missed out – unless you’ve been to my restaurant, that is. For those who don’t live in Australia, this one is for you.”
Shannon Martinez’s cacio e pepe
Serves 4
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
500g bucatini or spaghetti
100g vegan butter
50ml extra-virgin olive oil
4 black garlic cloves, crushed into a paste
2–3 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
125g silken tofu, blended
150g grated vegan parmesan
250ml pasta water
Salt flakes, to taste
Method
Bring a large saucepan of heavily salted water to the boil. Once boiling, cook the pasta for 1 minute less than what the packet instructions suggest.
A few minutes before the pasta is cooked, place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the butter and oil. Add the black garlic paste and pepper and cook for 1 minute.
Once cooked, pull the pasta directly from the pot into the frying pan and toss to coat.
Add the blended tofu, parmesan and pasta water. Quickly toss and stir to emulsify the sauce.
Finish with salt flakes, to taste.
This is an edited extract from Vegan Italian Food: Over 100 Recipes for a Plant-based Feast by Shannon Martinez, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally from October 29. Photography by Kristoffer Paulsen.
For more Shannon Martinez recipes, check out our Shannon Martinez recipe collection.
