PastaPigs: wholemeal pasta, red cabbage, baby spinach and walnuts, or: I copy a dish

I didn't even mean to go to the supermarket today, but deciding that another day without coffee was untenable, I ended up doing a full shop and halted, skidding-style, in front of half a red cabbage.

I don't usually venture far outside my usual fruit'n'veg preferences. I ignored a number of things today including cucumber apple and dragon fruit in favour of my bananas, avocados, tomatoes, proper garlic, zucchini, eggplant, red onion and asparagus (I'm not really a fruit-eater; I like bananas, avocados and tomatoes, watermelon and some apples as a rule - all others are eaten only provisionally, and don't even get me started on stone fruit and berries).

Red cabbage, however, has been on mind. It started back in New York (you know, daaahling, when I was in Noo Yaaaaahk last year) when Buzz and I had a delicious pasta/soba salady thing with red cabbage here, and I was reminded about that combo last week when Buzz's mum cooked a great teriyaki-red cabbage-spaghetti dish from Vegan Cooking for Idiots for us (isn't she the bestest for buying that book to help her cook for me? I'm all warm and fuzzy about it; it's totally generous and kind and awesome).

So the red cabbage made it home today, along with wholemeal spaghetti, baby spinach and walnuts. Natch, I had plenty of garlic on hand.

I cooked some of the spaghetti al dente, and I think the wholemeal pasta works just as well as what Buzz swears was in the original 'sNice version, buckwheat noodles. I sliced some red cabbage - I took a half a cabbage, and just cut a big slice of about 1 centimetre in width straight down. It looks like a lot but it's not - keep going and chop it up. I minced some garlic and added some sesame seeds and black olives for good measure (and also those bloody sesame seeds have been sitting there for ages daring me to find inventive uses for them). I simply tossed these ingredients, along with the baby spinach and a massive dollop of olive oil, into the drained pasta and shook it all about.


Buzz once told me that my love of garlic can lead me astray. He is quite right, having borne the brunt of it regularly. I did it again here; it wasn't as disastrous as it could have been as I was just cooking for one and the little furry boys don't care, but for future reference, Miss T, one clove of the top shelf stuff is more than sufficient.

Otherwise I think this one will be great once I tweak it, and it would work very well as either a cold salad or a warm main (served hot? No. Don't.).


The brine from the olives was surprisingly effective at cutting through the soft oil and crunchy bitterness without adding too much salt, and I would add more next time. I think I should break down the walnut pieces and be more judicious with them, as even though they provide an almost creamy counterpoint to the bitter cabbage, they are too overwhelming and jarring in bigger pieces. I also overestimated the amount of oil I needed, which was ironic as one of my criticisms of the 'sNice version was over the same fault.

I would also consider adding some halved cherry tomatoes to act in the same way as the olive brine, but I would strongly advise against any other pungents such as onion or spring onion - the cabbage is more than enough.

I'm quite pleased I deviated from my usual pasta cravings here (tinned diced tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, chili flakes, salt, pepper, sometimes some NinjaVegan MasterFoods bacon flavoured chips, a dash of passata, drowning a little bit of penne) and will give this one a fair airing as I tweak it to get it right - all potluckers can expect to try endless variations soon!

From NYC - 'sNice, or: I realise that my daily skinny-soy-latte is in fact pure gold

Yes, ‘sNice. Having been described in my NYC Bible (Vegan Restaurant Guide to NYC 2008, Friends of Animals) as a café/sandwich shop/baker, I was expecting a linoleum style counter-type place with little bits of sandwich filling in individual containers. Instead, ‘sNice is a rustic, relaxed, artsy-boho eatery on par with the finest of Smith Street’s wood-filled, nod-to-the-retro faux-ho.

A combination of individual and communal tables make for a missed crowd – couples, families, groups of friends – and the provision of the day’s papers was something we hadn’t seen much of in NYC. I was, however, a little perplexed by the service arrangements – either let me take my own food to my table, or give me a table number and bring it out yourself. But don’t take my order, prepare it, and then spend five minutes shouting my name out in a busy café on a Saturday morning to find out where I am so you can bring it over. I mean, dudes!

Buzz went for a side serve of pasta salad made with red cabbage, baby spinach and walnuts, with a main of TVP-chicken satay wrap. I plumped for a vegan panini and a Blondie.
The pasta salad, although the teenisest-weensiest bit on the oily side, was a winner,. The pasta was quite al dente to compliment the combination of the crisp cabbage and walnut with the soft spinach. The cabbage, uncooked, lost the worst of its bitterness whilst retaining bite and crunch. The spinach had been softly coated with olive oil. We’re going to attempt this one at home.

The stay wrap contained TVP chunks which were spongey and textured and delicious, but in retrospect remind me a little of the KitEkat Chicken in Gravy that I feed my boys. Good thing it tasted great then. The satay sauce was subtle, lightly creamy and not at all peanut buttery. The serving was large and accompanied by a decently sized fresh salad.

My panini comprised a couple of pieces of sundried tomato, slabs of room temperature tofu and pesto in a quite satisfyingly chewy ciabatta. The traditional combination of tomato and pesto was fine, but the tomatoes were a tad vinegary and sharp and the pesto unremarkable. Imagine a pest – hold it – that’s it. The tofu was a bit of a surprise; unflavoured and unwarmed and slapped between the ciabatta. However, all combined and encased in the excellent bread, and with the same salad, it was tasty and I finished it happily.

My Blondie was big and delightfully soft and chewy. It was pretty sweet, but not being a sweet-tooth by nature it’s hard for me to judge. The chocolate chunks were just at that soft and semi-melted but not dissipated stage; the crust was not crisp or think but of just the right consistency to both hold firm-ish and break off in bite-sized chunks; and the dough inside was on the right side of light and chewy.
A word on coffee: I can see why Starbucks does so well in the States. It’s oft repeated that prior to Starbucks’ ‘third place’ concept – the idea of a coffee shop being the third place between home and work where you could relax, hang out and bide a while – there was no such thing in the US. Starbucks began its success on the backs of urbanites who appreciated its plush velvet chairs, power points for laptops, and all the other soft-warm-welcoming design features. And from what I saw in NYC, this is a market niche otherwise unfilled. There aren’t really any other chain coffee shops and certainly none of the small, independent businesses or hole-in-the-walls we’re so spoiled with in Melbourne. What this makes for is that Starbucks’ cookie-cutter coffees are in fact the best cup available. They offer a standard taste, they’re familiar, and their stores are in fact used by people as their third place, which is nice in its way. One thing that did absolutely appal us though was the shocking and abominable practice of using pre-brewed coffee from tin coffee pots and then pouring freshly steamed milk on top. Shame! Surely this is corrupting the youth of America!

So back at Chez ‘sNice, we were served coffees that were the best we’d had Stateside. The were fine by Melbourne standards, but superlative in NYC, and I mean that as the highest of compliments to ‘sNice.

If this all sounds like Melbourne-centric arrogance, hubris, snobbery and plain up-yourself-ness – it is. Melbourne’s coffee is the PhD to NYC’s crèche. NYC might out-perform Melbourne in many (many) categories, but in this one, Melbourne is the one who rawks.


Below: we returned to ‘sNice a couple of times for the comforting and warm atmosphere, drinkable coffee and range of vegan foodstuffs– here are some of our meals and a few thoughts.

From NYC - 'sNice, or: I realise that my daily skinny-soy-latte is in fact pure gold

Yes, ‘sNice. Having been described in my NYC Bible (Vegan Restaurant Guide to NYC 2008, Friends of Animals) as a café/sandwich shop/bakery, I was expecting a linoleum style counter-type place with little bits of sandwich filling in individual containers. Instead, ‘sNice is a rustic, relaxed, artsy-boho eatery on par with the finest of Smith Street’s wood-filled, nod-to-the-retro faux-ho.

A combination of individual and communal tables makes for a mixed crowd – couples, families, groups of friends – and the provision of the day’s papers was something we hadn’t seen much of in NYC. I was, however, a little perplexed by the service arrangements – either let me take my own food to my table, or give me a table number and bring it out yourself. But don’t take my order, prepare it, and then spend five minutes shouting my name out in a busy café on a Saturday morning to find out where I am so you can bring it over. I mean, dudes!

Buzz went for a side serve of pasta salad made with red cabbage, baby spinach and walnuts, with a main of TVP-chicken satay wrap. I plumped for a vegan panini and a Blondie.

The pasta salad, although the teenisest-weensiest bit on the oily side, was a winner. The spaghetti was quite al dente to compliment the combination of the crisp cabbage and wiggly walnut with the soft spinach. The cabbage, uncooked, lost the worst of its bitterness whilst retaining bite and crunch. The spinach had been softly coated with olive oil. We’re going to attempt this one at home.


The satay wrap contained TVP chunks which were spongey and textured and delicious, but in retrospect remind me a little of the KitEkat Chicken in Gravy that I feed my boys. Good thing it didn't occur to me at the time or I couldn't have spent quite so long stealing pieces of it off Buzz's plate (sharing is caring doncha know...). The satay sauce was subtle, lightly creamy and not at all peanut buttery. The serving was large and accompanied by a decently sized fresh salad.


My panini comprised a couple of pieces of sundried tomato, slabs of room-temperature tofu and pesto in a quite satisfyingly chewy ciabatta. The traditional combination of tomato and pesto was fine, but the tomatoes were a tad vinegary and sharp and the pesto unremarkable. Imagine a pest – hold it – that’s exactly it. The tofu was a bit of a surprise and I'm not sure it was all pleasant: unflavoured and unwarmed and slapped between the ciabatta. However, all combined and encased in the excellent bread, and with the same salad, it was tasty and I finished it happily.


My Blondie was big and delightfully soft and chewy. It was pretty sweet, but not being a sweet-tooth by nature it’s hard for me to judge. The chocolate chunks were just at that soft and semi-melted but not dissipated stage; the crust was not crisp or thick but of just the right consistency to both hold firm-ish and break off in bite-sized chunks; and the dough inside was on the right side of light and chewy.


A word on coffee: I can see why Starbucks does so well in the States. It’s oft repeated that prior to Starbucks’ ‘third place’ concept – the idea of a coffee shop being the third place between home and work where you could relax, hang out and bide a while – there was no such thing in the US. Starbucks began its success on the backs of urbanites who appreciated its plush velvet chairs, power points for laptops, and all the other soft-warm-welcoming design features. And from what I saw in NYC, this is a market niche otherwise unfilled. There aren’t really any other chain coffee shops and certainly none of the small, independent businesses or hole-in-the-walls we’re so spoiled with in Melbourne. What this makes for is that Starbucks’ cookie-cutter coffees are in fact the best cup available. They offer a standard taste, they’re familiar, and their stores are in fact used by people as their third place, which is nice in its way. One thing that did absolutely appal us though was the shocking and abominable practice of using pre-brewed coffee from tin coffee pots and then pouring freshly steamed milk on top. Shame! Surely this is corrupting the youth of America!

So back at Chez ‘sNice, we were served coffees that were the best we’d had Stateside. The were fine by Melbourne standards, but superlative in NYC, and I mean that as the highest of compliments to ‘sNice.

If this all sounds like Melbourne-centric arrogance, hubris, snobbery and plain up-yourself-ness – it is. Melbourne’s coffee is the PhD to NYC’s crèche. NYC might out-perform Melbourne in many (many) categories, but in this one, Melbourne is the one who rawks.


'sNice Redux:
We returned to ‘sNice a couple of times for the comforting and warm atmosphere, drinkable coffee and range of vegan foodstuffs– here are some of our meals and a few thoughts.

Below: Tempeh wrap with avocado, mixed greens, cilantro (that's coriander for you and me), tomatoes and spicy chipotle dressing. This was a little to smoky, and very Thousand Island Dressing-y. It wasn't as good as Buzz's satay 'chicken' wrap that he ordered again and part of which was stolen again by me.

Below: chocky-nana muffin (with free sugary bickies cos she forgot to charge me for the muffin and had to come over to our table to get more cash!). De-lish. Perfectly light, moist and banana-y. It was big but not mammoth, with more banana than chocolate - and this from a self-avowed muffin-ambivalent. The freebies were cute with their coloured sugar and animal shapes - they were quite 'buttery' but almost a little stale, although it goes without saying that they all made it into my tummy.

Below: finally, a cookie with no name, but by the loving tilt of this photo I can tell it was a good 'un. Just look at that choc-oat mix and just-crackled top.

Below: Thai salad with satay sauce, endamame and peanuts. Quite honestly, this was just a plain ol' green salad with a few beanshoots, a dollop pf stay and some peanuts. No lime, no chilli, no finely sliced nuffing' ... not really Thai at all except for the satay. A bit vinegary too.




'sNice Manhattan: 45 8th Avenue at W4th Street.