Saturday, June 13, 2009

Misc. Cooking Tips for Pasta Night

Instead of watching and stirring pasta- Bring a pot of water to boil. Turn off the heat. Pour in your pasta. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Works great. It gives you just enough time to whip up a homemade sauce with onions, peppers, tomato sauce etc. if you don't have a jar of sauce.

Quickie Spaghetti Sauce-

Melt a tablespoon of butter or oil in a sauce pan. Stir in some chopped onions and peppers. Add some minced garlic to taste (this is when I add rehydrated tvp or veggie crumbles). Pour in a can of tomato sauce and rinse the can with a tablespoon or so of water and throw that in the pan. Add oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, to taste. If you like canned mushrooms add them now. A sprinkle of sugar mellows the tart tomato sauce flavor. If you don't have tomato sauce then use a small can of tomato paste and thin with a rinsed can or two of water. Heat until bubbly.

I know TVP can be kinda tasteless and even unappealing. To make it taste better I soak mine in vegetable broth before cooking. You can use bouillon cubes or homemade if you have them but Kitchen Basics is my favorite broth. And a little broth goes a long way.

3 comments:

Alex said...

Thanks for the great pasta cooking tip! I'll have to try that!

My grandma always added a little brown sugar to her spaghetti sauce, even if it came from a can. It's really good.

Heather said...

I've heard about that for cooking pasta, but have never tried it! Thanks for the idea. One question...is that for whole wheat pasta or for white flour pasta? Does it make a difference in how long it should sit? Just curious.

Thanks!
Heather

Jenny's Vegcafe said...

Heather,
I've used it on both. Works fine.

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