It’s taken me a long time to get round to it, but over the last few months I’ve been glued to Sopranos DVDs. Since I started watching them they’ve taken over my life and I’ve been watching them 3 or 4 episodes at a time. Last night I just had the last 2 episodes to watch, and I intended to savour every last minute of them.
I decided to cook something Italian in honour of the occasion. There’s a lot of eating in the Sopranos but I’d be surprised if much of it is vegan. Baked ziti seems to feature quite heavily, lots of different Italian meats, cannoli and other creamy delights dominate the Sopranos household.
I just used what I had in my fridge – half an aubergine, some courgettes and some slightly aging basil. I pulled out my food smoker for the aubergine and courgette because I like the idea of a smoky risotto. I made my risotto as normal, but just added the smoked and fried aubergine into it towards the end. I cubed the smoked courgette and piled it on to the top for a little crunch, and made a garlicky basil oil to drizzle round the edges. It was tasty enough but I think that risotto is one of the dishes that really benefits from a good home made stock and I just used Marigold powder. It needed a lot of seasoning. Still, it was tasty and went well with the Italian wine I opened to go with it.
And as for the Sopranos – well, if you’ve seen it you know all about the ending. If you haven’t seen it, why on earth not?
Salute!
Cooking the Vegan Books 
During the last season we had an Italian feast every Sunday at a friend’s house. Very appropriate!
I’m currently ploughing my way through the box sets too – I’m hooked! I think an Italian feast is a great idea.