Posted by Lyndon | Posted in Fat to Fit, Recipes | Posted on 30-07-2009
I’ve never been good with purely vegetarian dishes -- I always want to add a bit of meat for texture and flavour! However in an attempt to reduce my meat intake I knocked together this tasty, filling and more importantly healthy dish in under 15 minutes last night and more importantly I didn’t miss the meat at all!
For those of you on a Slimming World diet it should fit in perfectly as an evening meal on a green day. It’s not a completely free meal, but as with most of my recipes each ingredient is optional, so feel free to add/remove bits to your hearts content!
The first thing you need to do is finely chop a red onion or two. It does need to be fine, not chunky -- the rest of the veg makes up the chunky part of this recipe. Here’s Gordon to show you how…
If you are cooking alone then you’ll probably want to pre-chop all of your veg so read ahead, otherwise chop as you go with your cooking partner stiring as you go!
Once you have your finely chopped onion, put your wok or large pan on a low heat and add about a tablespoon of Olive Oil.
Once the oil starts to warm up add your onion and add a pinch of salt, which will not only bring out some of the flavour but also help stop it browning too quickly. After a few minutes your onion should start to soften then a few cloves of finely chopped garlic to taste.
You’ll now want to get your linguini on as you start to add the rest of your veg.
Next, dice a courgette into 1-2cm chunks and add with a good grind of black pepper. As you start adding the veg you may want to turn the heat up a little to keep the heat in the pan.
Next add your peppers -- I’ve used one red and green, again cut into 1-2cm chunks.
Now halve or quarter (depending on size) a handful of baby plum tomatos and toss them in and drain a tin of plum tomatoes, adding the juice to the pan. Remove and dispose of the hard stalk ends and chop until the the tinned tomatoes are almost a pure, add to the mix!
Don’t forget to check your pasta at this point! Now, this is important -- TASTE the vegetable mix and add seasoning as required.
Hopefully all is well and your pasta is only a few minutes away from being cooked so now halve 4-5 chesnut mushrooms then slice the halves finely -- I’m talking 2-3mm thick and add to the rest of the delicious vegetables.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the sauce, toss, serve with some freshly grated parmesan and enjoy!
