No Need to Break the Bank
October 28th 2009 12:30
You can never have too much pasta, especially if it’s dressed up with healthy greens and a variety of colourful vegetables for a simple but nutritious meal.
Spinach and Mushroom Pasta with a *Twist
What you need:
2 cups of Fusili/spirals – $2.30,depending on variety/brand
A bunch of spinach – $0.99-1.50, depending on season
4-6 medium sized mushrooms, sliced thinly – $2.50
2 fresh tomatoes, diced – $1.00
1/4 cup of vegetable stock– $1.50
^2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly – minimal cost
^1 eshallot, sliced thinly
^Olive oil
^Salt to taste
*4 pieces of anchovies, roughly chopped – $1.00
*^2 bullet chillies, sliced – optional
What to do:
The sauce…
1…sauté garlic and shallot with olive oil until fragrant, add anchovies and stir for a couple of minutes. Then toss in spinach and mushrooms.
2…cover and allow the steam to slowly cook the vegetables.
3…add vegetable stock and 1-2 ladles of the water from the cooking pasta.
4…add a little salt to taste and chilli (optional) – turn heat down, and allow the steam to slowly cook the vegetables and to blend in the flavours from the anchovies.
5…it’s ready when the vegetables are at your desired texture.
The pasta…
1…cook the pasta (according to package instructions) in boiling salted water until al dente, as you are simultaneously cooking the vegetables.
2…add to the sauce when it’s done. Serve immediately.
Tips…
…because it’s not quite a sauce, adding the pasta water (which has some starch) to the vegetables gives it a bit more of a saucy texture
…bottled or canned anchovies work well with this dish – I like using anchovies marinated with chilli and olive oil
…It’ll be even cheaper if you went with homebrand pasta
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