I call this “Cleaning Out The Fridge Pasta”.
At the end of the day on Friday, I opened my fridge to see what I had to inspire me to prepare dinner. All week long I save little bits of leftover vegetables, sauce and stock – and lo and behold, put them together and dinner presents itself!
This week I had a container of mushrooms that needed to be sauteed. I had some white beans left over from a salad. I had extra garlic chopped. I had a handful of arugula. I had vegetable broth that needed to be used. And I had a cup of homemade marinara sauce. Not to mention that I try to have organic green peas (fresh or frozen) on hand at all times. In addition I had some fun tri- color pasta that I wanted to try.
There’s not really an exact recipe here- just let it flow.
In a large skillet, I lightly sauteed the garlic in EVOO, added the mushrooms with salt to taste. Let that go until the mushrooms were almost done. Next, I added the marinara sauce and some vegetable broth and the beans.
While that was simmering away I cooked the pasta until almost done and then added the peas for the last 3 minutes of cooking.
Back to the sauce- I added the arugula and let it wilt. And a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
Pasta is cooked- so out comes my spider and I scoop the pasta into the skillet with the sauce.
I let the pasta and sauce cook for a minute or two, added more vegetable broth to taste and- DINNER WAS READY!!
The lesson here is that nothing really goes to waste. And when you cook with vegetables, mostly everything goes well together. So next time that you have a few stalks of broccoli left over, or a small handful of spinach or not enough tomato sauce to stand on it’s own- you can have a new (and thoroughly your own) dinner ready in just a few minutes.
P.S. Happy Mother’s Day!!
Vegan Except Dessert 