I am about to give up on these whole grain orecchiette imported from Italy that I bought through Amazon. There are no directions on how long to cook them and even at 16 minutes they still seemed doughy! Anyway, here is my process for making pasta with mushrooms and vegetables
First slice and sauté mushrooms. I use 1 teaspoon of oil per person. This pan holds mushrooms for the two of us. When the mushrooms are browned, add the chopped up onions (1/2 large) and when those become translucent, add the garlic and broccolini stems. Spray with some olive oil spray if pan is too dry.This is what broccolini looks like. Cook the chopped up stems first and add the tops shortly before you add the pasta.Here’s my pan with the stems, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Be sure to add salt along the way and I also have added some dried oregano and a dash of pepper flakes. The pasta is still cooking and at this point I add a quarter cup of pasta water to make sure the stems get cooked through.When the pasta is al dente, reserve a cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and add it to the vegetable pan. Over heat stir everything together and add 1/2 to 1 cup of the pasta water to create a little sauce. Serve in bowls with a drizzle of good olive oil. Parmesan cheese, optional.
Normally cooking our 6 oz. of pasta takes only about 8 minutes since you want it quite al dente when it goes into the vegetables because it will cook a bit more in the vegetable pan. So from the time you turn your salted water on to boil and start chopping vegetables, the whole process takes 15 or so minutes.
Today is Day 59 in my countdown to Getting Back to Goal. My WW points are 9 for this dinner. A vegetarian or vegan pasta dish is always on my menu once a week!
Omnivore 