Vegetarian Meal Ideas

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Servings:  2-3

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Boil the pasta. Bring 3 quarts of water and 1 tsp of salt to a boil. Break the noodles in half and add to the boiling water. Reduce the heat to a low boil (5). Follow the boiling times on the package. Drain in a colander.
2. Make the cheese sauce. In a small saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 min. Slowly pour in warmed milk while constantly stirring with the whisk. Add in the salt, pepper and basil. Bring just to a simmer on a medium heat (6), constantly stirring until it thickens, 2-3 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan until fully melted.
3. In a large stainless steel fry pan, sauté the mushrooms at a medium-lo heat (4) in 2 Tbsp canola oil for about 5 minutes until the water comes out and they are browned. Cover in between flips.
4. When the mushrooms are done, add in the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. If using a frozen Dorot garlic cube instead, add it to the sauce when bringing the milk to a simmer.
5. Add in the spinach and 2 Tbsp of water. Reduce the heat (3) and cover to steam. After a few minutes, remove the cover and boil off any remaining water.
6. Add in the tomatoes and cheese sauce and bring just to a simmer.
7. Turn off the heat, add in the noodles and toss until coated.
8. Serve immediately. If this dish sits, the sauce will thicken and become sticky. You may need to add a little milk later if reheating to get the right consistency.

Notes:
Serve with baguette or artisan bread.

This was a difficult challenge, to come up with a healthier version of Alfredo sauce. Traditionally, Alfredo sauce was just parmesan cheese and butter. Most recipes today have just three main ingredients; butter, cream and parmesan with some salt & pepper. Many commercial jarred varieties (Bertolli, Classico, Prego, Ragu, etc. ) also include egg yolks. So this dish by definition is loaded with saturated fat!

The main goal is to get a good parmesan flavor and the sauce is just a medium to convey it and coat the pasta. To reduce the saturated fat, this recipe uses a standard béchamel thickened with a roux. The butter is greatly reduced and milk is used instead of cream. To reduce the SF lower, you can use olive oil instead of butter and reduce the parmesan to 1/3 cup. This is really simple and quick to make so no need to use the jarred sauces.