Fresh garden broccoli stir-fry over quinoa pasta

© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking

It seems like just yesterday I bought teeny tiny broccoli plugs for 25 cents each from a farmers market vendor. They looked so small and helpless I couldn't believe they'd survive the rabbits and other predators of tender young plants. The first week I bought four plants, and they did so well in the garden that the next week I bought four more. All have survived and grown huge and one has just yielded a large head of broccoli. It may be just a broccoli plant to you, but to me it was a gardening milestone. The broccoli got planted. The broccoli survived. The broccoli will be eaten by me and not the rabbits! I was practically hysterical with glee. I couldn't decide if I should do something simple or fancy with this ultra-fresh vegetable but decided I really wanted to focus on tasting, not disguising, the broccoli. I made a simple but delicious stir fry with artichoke hearts and lemon zest adding a special punch. Since I have lemon thyme and chives growing in the garden, I added some of those herbs, too.

The Ancient Harvest quinoa spaghetti that we used is gluten-free, and although we're not intolerant of gluten, this noodle has become a favorite of ours. The noodles are bright yellow and have a very good texture and taste. I think the only thing in the dish that wasn't gluten-free was my husband's home-made seitan sausage, and that could easily be substituted with cashews, mushrooms or beans.


© 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking

Ingredient list
broccoli, cut into bite-sized piecesgarlic, minced finevegan sausage or substitute a gluten-free itemartichoke heartsshredded carrotQuinoa pastalemon zestlemon thymechivesfresh ground black peppercrushed red pepperFirst, I steamed the broccoli gently in a covered wok until almost tender. Then I removed the cover and added some oil to the wok, and added finely minced garlic to cook for a minute. Thin slices of homemade seitan sausage were stir-fried in, then artichoke hearts, shredded carrot, lemon zest and lemon thyme. The cooked veggies were placed on top of quinoa spaghetti, and crushed red pepper, fresh ground black pepper and chives were added.

Garden tour (of our garden) on July 20.

Dill © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


Basil © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


This has been eaten. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


Three kinds of lettuce. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


One of the tomato plants. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


Tumbling Tom. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


Swiss chard. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking


Asian lily. © 2009 Andrea's easy vegan cooking