creamy mushroom & spinach pasta

Tonight's meal is based on "creamy spinach & mushroom pasta" recipe in "Vegetarian, 100 everyday recipes". A few tweaks later and:

creamy mushroom & spinach pasta

12 oz gluten free penne
2 tablespoons olive oil
500 g mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic (heaping teaspoon of already chopped stuff if you're lazy like me)
1 teaspoon ginger
White wine
12 oz vegetable stock
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp dried oregano
250 g light cream cheese
12 oz frozen spinach leaves
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan
Salt & pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water (I boil the water in a kettle to save a bit of time). When al dente, reserve a cup of cooking liquid, drain the remainder.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger and mushrooms, cook while stirring frequently for about 8 minutes. Add in two small slugs of wine. Cook and stir for about two minutes. Stir in oregano, stock, lemon juice and cook for 10-12 minutes or until sauce is reduced by half.

Stir in cream cheese and spinach and cook over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes. Add cooked pasta, mix well. Add in reserved water a bit at a time, mixing well, only add as much as you need or want. Add in Parmesan and remove from heat.

Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with pea shots.

leek & potato soup with tofu

I love soup, always have.  If I'm feeling up to making soup, I'll typically make minestrone (confession: I've never made one from scratch, I always use the slow cooker started package), Italian wedding soup, chicken or tomato base beef and veggie soup.  When planning this weeks meal, I decided to try a different soup, one that's pureed.  Now A hates soup, he believes that you eat your food, not drink it, so getting him to agree to have soup one night is a feat.

I found a leek and potato soup in the Meatless Mondays cookbook and added a spin to it.

leek & potato soup with tofu

3 red potatoes (not peeled), diced into small cubes (less than 1 inch)
2 small sweet potatoes, diced into small cubes (less than 1 inch)
2 leeks,
1 large shallot
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
5 cups of vegetable broth (organic and low/reduced sodium)
2/3 of a package of organic extra firm tofu
1 1/2 cup of milk

Diced in small cubes (less than 1 inch). Cut the root off the leeks,  sliced in half lengthwise, thoroughly wash each half by gently opening the leaves all the way, chop off and put aside the leafy dark green sections, thinly slice the white and light green section. Dice the shallot.  Add the potatoes, leeks and shallot to a Dutch oven with the olive oil, heat on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Add a bit of water in the bottom of the pan so that there is about 1 cm.  Season lightly with salt and pepper, add the large pieces of the leeks on top.  Simmer for another 5 minutes.  Add the vegetable broth and let it start simmering; let simmer for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and carefully remove the large leek pieces.  With a small measuring cup or ladle  carefully transfer 2 cups of soup to the blender, add a few pieces of tofu and blend for 10-15 seconds.  Transfer blended soup into a large bowl.  Repeat this until all the soup was blended along with the tofu.  Transfer the soup back into the Dutch oven.  Add milk and lightly season with salt and pepper.  Gently reheat.

Serve with sour cream or greek yogurt and garnish with chives (I used parsley)



*I need to remember to take photos through the process, I made crunchy cauliflower macaroni and completely forgot.