We love spaghetti. It’s a go to meal. But I like playing around with the basic concept of it to get a similar feel but with a slightly different flavor, so my family (and yours) does not get tired of the same thing. Here is a spin on the spaghetti classic that should put dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. Even though it does not seem like a super kid friendly approach, my whole family loves this meal, and keeps asking for it. So give it a try and let me know what you think.
Feeds my family of 4, 2 bigs and 2 growing. You may need to double if you have a larger family or serve with some bread and a salad to make it go further.
Ingredients:
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 medium shallot, diced
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 pint of mushrooms, diced
2 teaspoon salt + 1 tablespoon
2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon of tamari (or soy sauce)
Fresh block Parmigiano, grated
Pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil of choice
Noodles of choice, we like angel hair chickpea paste for the extra protein
Directions:
Set water to boil for noodles, salt water with 1 tablespoon of salt.
Chop bell pepper and add to a skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil.
Cook on medium-low heat while you dice shallot.
Add shallot and 1 tsp salt to pan, stirring occasionally.
Chop the pint of tomatoes and add to the pan and another tbsp of oil.
Add seasonings, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tsp sugar and dried oregano, stirring together.
While that simmers, dice garlic cloves (or use pre minced garlic) add to pan, stirring frequently.
Add 1 can of diced tomatoes to the pan.
Dice the mushroom and add to sauce with 1 tbsp of tamari and a pinch of pepper.
Stir the sauce together. Let simmer while you cook the noodles according to package directions or a minute less so they do not over cook.
The sauce should simmer with mushrooms for about 7ish minutes while the noodles cook.
Once noodles are cooked, instead of straining them use tongs or a slotted spoon to pull them directly from the water to the saucepan.
Stir to incorporate the noodles and add ½ cup to 1 cup of the water from the noodles into the sauce.
Depending on the package size you may not end up using all of the noodles.
The noodles will not be “swimming in the sauce”.
The sauce lightly coats the noodles.
Spoon pasta dish out into individual bowls and top with fresh grated parmigiano.
Tips:
I love the combo of fresh and canned tomatoes in this but if you need a little less chopping then sub the pint of tomatoes with a 28oz can of diced tomatoes instead of the 14oz.
If it sounds like a lot of chopping, it goes by so fast if you do it as you cook, but of course you can chop it all up front and then add the ingredients in the order as suggested. Some of the items like the bell peppers need a longer cook time than the garlic and the tomatoes.
Other spaghetti inspired recipes on the blog:
Big Batch of spaghetti sauce (more traditional)
Better than spaghetti sauce (with red bell peppers)
Live well friends,
Christy
