Creamy Vegetable Spaghetti

This is a wonderful warming vegetarian pasta meal for a cold winters night.  It is absolutely delicious and satisfies the sprogs never ending demand for noodles. If you have a die hard meat eater to please you could add a few finely chopped rashers of bacon.

This is another recipe adapted from the Australian Good Taste ‘Cook the Issue’ challenge (July 2012).  The recipe calls for dried egg spaghetti pasta, but making your own is a great activity to share with the sprogs on a cold afternoon during winter school holidays. Obviously this turns a quick easy meal into a lengthy afternoon of cooking acitivity, but homemade pasta is always a joy and kids love making pasta!

Spaghetti Recipe

• 325 g  flour (pasta flour is definitely best and is readily available in supermarkets)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 T olive oil

Place flour in a mound on a smooth clean surface and hollow out a depression in the middle. Crack eggs into the depression and add salt and oil.  Mix the ingredients in the well and gradually incorporate the flour around it.  If the dough is too dry or wet you can adjust it. If too dry, add a few drops of oil or water at a time and re-mix, or if too wet, add a sprinkle of flour and re-mix until the dough forms a workable consistency.

Knead the dough by pushing down and away from your body, then turning and pushing down and away again.  Knead for about 5 minutes if you are intending to roll it out using a pasta machine.  The process with a pasta machine also kneads the dough so if you are going to roll it by hand you will need to knead it for longer (closer to 10 minutes). Pasta needs to be well needed to make the dough smooth and elastic.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes at room temperature. Roll out and cut using pasta machine as per manufacturer’s instructions. If you are rolling out by hand, lightly dust the rolling surface and rolling pin with flour. Flatten the dough out by hand and then roll.  Always roll away from your body and turn the dough, just as you do when kneading.  Roll it until it is an thin as you can make it – 3mm is good. Cut into desired widths.

Once pasta has been cut, spread it out on a flat surface with a light sprinkle of flour to stop it sticking, until you are ready to cook it.

Creamy Vegetable Sauce

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 2 button mushrooms, finely sliced\
• 1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1/3 red capsicum, diced
• 1 t dried marjoram
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 c vegetable stock (or 1/2 c boiling water and 1 vegetable stock cube)
• 250ml ctn Philadelphia Light Cream for Cooking
• chopped fresh parsley for serving

Put water on to boil for the pasta. Saute leek and mushrooms until getting soft. Add remaining vegetables and cook until just tender.

Add pasta to boiling water.  Add stock and cream to vegetables and bring to boil. Stir until mixture has thickened slightly.  Pour some of the liquid from the sauce into strained pasta and mix.  Place pasta in dishes to serve and ladle sauce on top. Garnish with freshly ground pepper and parsley.