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.

Spicy Tomato Shrimp Stir Fry

This is another dish that I miss from home. My grandma used to make this dish with jumbo shrimps, but I’m using vegetarian shrimps instead. You can also use cubed firm tofu instead. This dish can be eaten with rice, pasta or couscous. 

Ingredients

8 to 10 pieces of medium to big size vegetarian shrimps, OR

2 cups firm tofu, cubed

4 big cloves of garlic (more if desired), chopped 

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded, cut to 1″ X 1″ pieces

1 jalapeno peppers (more if desired), sliced, OR

1 long red pepper (more if desired), sliced

2 roma tomatoes, quartered

1 handful of white mushrooms, quartered

1/3 cup ketchup

2 T chili sauce (Maggi or Sriracha)

2 T sugar

Salt / Soy Sauce to taste

Method

1. Place cubed tofu or shrimps on paper towels to soak up excess water.
2. Cook half the amount of chopped garlic and tofu or shrimps in 2 T oil until semi-browned. Remove from wok and place on paper towel to drain excess oil.
3. Using the remaining oil in the wok, saute the remaining chopped garlic, green pepper, jalapeno or red pepper and tomatoes for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and the cooked shrimps or tofu to the wok.
4. Pour ketchup, chili sauce and sugar to the vegetables in the wok. Turn the heat down. Season with salt and/or soy sauce or perhaps maybe more sugar if the ketchup or tomatoes are sour.
5. Remove from heat and devour immediately.