Trying to cut down on meat consumption, our family has been having alternatives to meat in our food. Two of our choices as meat alternatives are fresh mushrooms and non-meat “formulations”.
For this pasta dish, I used a cup of non-meat grounds (Quorn brand which is available in the freezer section of leading supermarkets) and 250 grams of fresh brown mushrooms to make the sauce for the penne pasta.
Ingredients:
- a cup of non-meat grounds
- 250g of fresh brown mushrooms, sliced thinly
- 1 medium carrot cubed in small pieces (you can also grate so these are not too obvious for kids who are not fond of carrots)
- around 300-400g of penne pasta (or other kinds of pasta), cooked according to package instructions
- A small onion, diced
- 3-4pcs minced garlic
- spaghetti sauce (i used tomato sauce for this dish)
- Italian seasoning, garlic powder and ground pepper (or other herbs and spices that you want to add)
Procedure:
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Save around 1/4 cup of the water used to cook the pasta.
- Using the water from boiling the pasta, sauté the onions and garlic. Once done, add the fresh mushrooms.
- After the fresh mushrooms have been cooked, add the non-meat grounds. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add the carrots and cook for a few more minutes.
- Add the herbs and spices.
- Add the spaghetti sauce and stir to prevent it from sticking on the bottom of the pan. Simmer the sauce.
- Mix the pasta in the sauce.
- Serve warm.
- NOTE: If you don’t have enough time to putter in the kitchen, you can cook the sauce and freeze. Then cook it with the pasta using your RICE COOKER. Here is a RICE COOKER PASTA DISH you might want to try.