Yep, that’s right the person who convinced you to make a tomato sauce is now saying “no sauce”…
But be patient hopefully you’ll believe me soon; sometimes for veggie and seafood pasta dishes, I like it just as it is with no tomato, pesto or creamy sauce. In my (non-professional) opinion, it allows the ingredients to stand on their own more. This does not mean your pasta dish will end up dry, so do not worry.
- Cut up some onion or leek along with garlic and fry the veg you want to include for example mushrooms or courgette. Don’t skimp on the oil or butter and make sure you salt everything well.
- When your veg is cooking start cooking your pasta according to the packet instructions
- Once your pasta is nearly done, ever so slightly too “Al dente”. It has a bite but a bit more than you’d like, get some tongs and lift the pasta into the pan with the veg (which should also be not quite ready yet). If you don’t have tongs or the pasta shape can’t easily be manoeuvred then, drain it normally. However, get a mug/glass and scoop out some of the pasta water set that aside and then drain the pasta.
- Make sure for this step the stove (gas, electric or induction) is on low, you aren’t trying to cook anything a lot more, you’re mainly just trying to keep it all warm and allow the pasta water to do its magic. Add the pasta in with the veg and combine it, add a splash or two of the pasta water and mix it through. The gluten in the pasta water will create a nice coating and sheen ensuring that you don’t have a dry meal. At this point, you could also add some lemon juice (from an actual lemon, not a squeeze tube).
- Finally, serve with some extra olive oil, flakey sea salt and maybe an extra squeeze of lemon.
I like to do something I call “triple veg” which is; spinach, peas and courgette. Spinach and courgette have high water content and, so you’ll never get dry pasta with them. This also works with prawns and, you can just add some more lemon or chilli to elevate it.
A “no sauce” pasta is perfect for a quick dinner if pasta needed to be any quicker…
It also can elevate the dish by concentrating on the individual flavours.
I recently made this prawn dish which I loved. I made the most complicated version and added some spinach to it.
Here are some more :
https://www.madeleineolivia.co.uk/blog/lemon-sundried-tomato-spaghetti?rq=pasta
https://www.madeleineolivia.co.uk/blog/lemon-sundried-tomato-spaghetti?rq=pasta
