Tofu or Bean, Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta Sauce

A very simple pasta recipe full of fresh flavours, economical and quick to make.

GF V NF Option DF

Serves 4-6 Storage: This will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Plants: 10 or with peas and spinach 12

Preparation: 10-15 minutes Cooking: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

25g dried wild mushrooms (optional but gives a much more intense flavour

50g chopped walnuts or a mixture of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, or all three.

1 tbls Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

1 medium sized leek chopped or sliced.

300g tenderstem broccoli

300g of fresh mushrooms of your choice sliced.

1-2 cloves of garlic finely chopped or crushed.

2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped or 1 tsp dried herbs rosemary

2 tsp fresh finely chopped or frozen parsley, or 1 tsp dried parsley

300ml white wine (optional replace with juice of one lemon and sufficient water or aquafaba from the beans if using)

2 tins of barlotti, cannellini, butter beans, or white kidney beans or 300g silken tofu or firm plain tofu

1-2 tsp of dried mushroom powder or miso.

1 ltr boiling water or sufficient for your pasta

Pasta to serve, I used Hodmedod’s Emmer and Fava Bean Pasta which has a lovely nutty flavour and firm texture.

Method

Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover and leave them to rehydrate.
In a dry frying pan add the chopped walnuts and/or seeds if using and gently toast in the pan until they start to darken or pop. Set aside to garnish the dish.
Heat the EVOO on a medium heat in a large deep pan.
Thinly slice the stalks of the broccoli and add to the warm oil together with the chopped or sliced leeks and cook gently until they soften, add the sliced fresh mushrooms, garlic and herbs. Put a lid on the pan and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid.
Add the drained dried mushrooms and some of their liquid (avoid adding any of the gritty sediment); add the wine or lemon juice and a little water, and one drained tin of beans if using, turn the heat up to let the alcohol evaporate then put the lid back on the pan turn the heat down to simmer gently, add a little of the water from the beans to avoid the vegetables from sticking.
Boil the water for your pasta and cook as per the instructions for your chosen pasta.
Using a stick blender, food processor or potato masher blend the remaining beans with the mushroom powder or miso and if liked some of the liquid from the tin. If using tofu blend this with mushroom powder or miso and a little water from the pasta pot to make a thick sauce. Add this to the vegetables and stir together. Add more liquid from the mushrooms, pasta pot to make a thick sauce that coats the vegetables.
Add the broccoli florets to the pasta 4 minutes before the end of the pasta cooking time.
Check the sauce, aim for a thick creamy sauce rather than a thin one. Put a lid back on the pot whilst the pasta finishes cooking.
Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the sauce, stir together.
Sprinkle the nuts and/or seeds on the top and serve.

Tip: I always make enough for 2 days reserving the sauce before adding the pasta if possible as pasta never reheats very well, as you can see some had become a bit soft and split as I forgot to reserve the sauce before adding the pasta. It was so fresh and delicious we ate quite a lot, so on the second day I added more broccoli, beans, peas, spinach with some extra freshly cooked pasta.

I hope you enjoy. Any queries or feedback message me on the FB page or Instagram:

Love Food, Eat Healthy

6/005

Judith

Judith Cousin