There’s been way too many cookies, both online and IRL. 12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms is a relatively healthier and easy dinner option to help ease you into post-holiday life (or just an idea for dinner tonight).
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I don’t know about you, but these kind of meals with a bit of protein (chicken, fish, etc.) is pretty much our go-to for dinner these days. Maybe I’ve been cooking in schools too long already–my mind instantly goes to two veg-fruit/one protein/one grain for meal planning. I suppose there are worse habits.
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I just noticed that they show rotini in the cover picture and spaghetti in the second picture. Anyway, this is something I would have NOT eaten as a kid (mushrooms…blechhh), but in my older age (because 30 is ancient), I’m learning to appreciate them more.
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Ingredients. I chose farfalle for my pasta, but they’re right, any pasta would do. If i did it again, I might pick a longer pasta like linguini or fettuccini, I think that works better with this kind of dish.
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Extremely exciting picture of salt in the bottom of a pot of water. I suppose this is me telling you to salt your water before you cook pasta–it makes it taste better.
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Slicing my shrooms. I pride myself on thin mushroom slices.
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Prepped veggies, waiting for the pan. There’s a whole thing about how “mushrooms aren’t veggies”, but we’re going with the idea that they are, for simplicity’s sake. It’s like the “tomato is a fruit” thing. The Internet makes us all rather pedantic (myself included).
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Sautéed mushrooms and onions–they cook down significantly after a while, so don’t be intimidated when you first cut them up.
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If you started your water first, and keep your pasta going while you’re cooking your veggies, it should all finish up around the same time.
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Stirring in the sour cream.
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Rinsing my pasta with cold water after pulling it off the stove (stops the cooking process so your pasta doesn’t get mushy). After this, I’ll toss it with a bit of canola oil so the extra plain pasta I store in the fridge doesn’t stick together. As long as you don’t go crazy with it, you’ll never notice it on your final pasta dish.
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Mixing the pasta and sauce/mushrooms together. You could thin it with a bit of olive oil, melted butter, milk, or even water if you think it’s too thick.
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Final product–it’s basically a vegetarian version of beef stroganoff. I used to hate stroganoff (my mom made a turkey version about once a week most of my childhood), but as I’ve learned to appreciate mushrooms, stroganoff has grown on me as well. Even the turkey version. 🙂
Grade: A-