Vegetarian Creamy Seafood Pasta

I have a confession. I love alfredo sauce, or any cream-based pasta dishes. I also loved seafood prior to being a vegetarian, but I’m severely allergic to shellfish/seafood. One mock meat that I love to use is vegetarian shrimp/prawn and so, I’ve incorporated it into this dish. You don’t have to use vegetarian shrimps if you can’t find them. The dish would still be very good. Vegetarian mock meats can be very expensive. Also, I love to combine my cream sauce with lemon, I think it gives it a nice tangy taste.

Ingredient

• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced (roll on counter prior to get the most juice from the fruit)
• 2 cups of cream (I use 18% table cream)
• 1 cup of grated parmesan regianno cheese
• 1 packet of wholewheat spaghetti or linguine
• 1 zuchinni or yellow squash, diced into 1cm cubes
• 1 red bell pepper, diced into 1cm cubes
• 10 vegetarian shrimps, halved lengthwise or 20 whole 
• Salt (we use seasalt or kosher salt because it is healthier and taste so much better than iodized salt)

Method

1. Cook spaghetti/linguine according to package instruction until al dente. Drain pasta from water but reserve some of the starchy water to help thicken the sauce.
2. Brown the shrimps in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Set aside.
3. Add another tbsp of olive oil and cook minced garlic, cubed zuchinni and peppers over medium heat. Season with 1 tsp of seasalt.
4. As vegetables begin to soften (about 3 mins), add the semi-cooked pasta. Stir thoroughly.
5. Add cream and bring to boil for half a minute, then season with 2 tsp of salt. Turn off the heat.
6. Add browned shrimps back into pasta.
7. Add lemon zest, juice and grated cheese. It should thicken up or else use the leftover pasta water or more cheese.
8. Serve while warm with a few cracked of black pepper if desired.

Velvety Brocolli and Feta Pasta

Cooking is one thing that Andy and I  love to do together. Although he’s is constantly asking me for directions, we work amazingly well together in our small kitchen. He has gotten used to following my instructions and online recipes to prepare the necessary ingredients for our meals while waiting for me to get home. Today, I can’t help but to realize how blessed I am to have him in my life. Our wedding anniversary is in about 6 weeks and it has been a great year living together thus far. Here’s what we cooked up together this lovely Sunday evening.

I chanced upon this simple and healthy recipe while browsing on one of my favourite daily reads, ApartmentTherapy.com. Their sister site is called The Kitchn, and I love reading it for simple and inspiring ideas in and out of the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 pound broccoli
• 2 tablespoons water
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• 1/2 small onion or two shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped flat parsley
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup feta cheese (low-fat if you want to be good) – divided
• 1/4 cup water

Method

1. Cut the broccoli into small florets and steam on the stove or in the microwave with the 2 tablespoons of water. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Cook the onion and garlic until it just begins to soften then add the broccoli. Cook for several minutes or until the onion turns translucent. Add the parsley and cook until it’s well wilted. Pour in the lemon juice and simmer for about two minutes.
3. Transfer to a blender and add 1/4 cup of the feta cheese and the 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth, adding a drizzle of olive oil and a little more water if it sticks and turns to a lump. Puree until as smooth or chunky as you prefer.w
4. Taste and add any necessary additional salt and pepper. Serve with a good ridged pasta. (I used wholewheat penne instead).
5. Garnish with extra crumbled feta and lemon zest.

Source

Greek Pasta Salad

I’ve made this pasta salad many times, and every time is quite different.

This has cucumbers, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and feta cheese. I just use store bought Greek dressing, but jazzed it up with extra lemon juice for a nice twangy taste I also sprinkle crushed dried chilli peppers in it before eating.
You can pre-toss the cucumbers, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil before adding in the pasta. Add the feta cheese last so that it doesn’t get melted when you add in the hot cooked pasta.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.