How to make delicious vegetable pasta? How do I choose products? TOP 6 recipes for vegetable pasta.
Vegetable Pasta is a unique combination of delicious gourmet pasta and vegetables. The dish is the second most popular dish on the entire planet, and this is right after pizza. The first mention of pasta comes to us from the Neolithic, when people just learned how to grow cereals and grind flour, after a while - make dough, roll it out and dry it in the sun. Nowadays, Italy is considered the homeland of pasta, but not everyone knows that noodles appeared in China much earlier. The Italians' "finest hour" of this product came when there was not enough food for everyone. At first, this dish was considered the food of the poor, but later the recipe was improved and modified, conquered the country's elite and went far beyond its borders. Now in Italy, the production of pasta is very developed. There are more than 500 varieties of this product, which is why it turns out that this country is considered the birthplace of modern pasta.
How to choose the right paste?
Many pasta recipes involve quick cooking. They can feed unexpected guests or satisfy hunger in the shortest possible time. But there are also options for which a lot of knowledge in the culinary business is required.
There are some aspects when choosing products that every housewife should know, they will help make your dish not only tasty, but also healthy. Manufacturers divide pasta into three grades: superior, first and second. Each of them differs in the type of flour and the quality of the ingredients used.
Pasta selection rules:
- When developing a menu for people suffering from diabetes mellitus, it is better to use the highest grade pasta, because it has a lower glycemic index.
- Those who are gluten intolerant should look for pasta made from rice or buckwheat flour.
- When buying, pay attention to the cooking time of the pasta, the longer it is, the healthier and more satisfying the product.
- The color of the pasta may vary depending on the use of food coloring. The main additives are spinach, beets, carrots, and tomatoes.
- The second variety of pasta is quite edible, but soft wheat varieties are used for the manufacture of such products, so the dish will be less useful.
It is noteworthy that the well-known dumplings (ravioli) are also a type of pasta. For their preparation, dough from soft flours with the addition of eggs is used, which is not dried, but immediately goes to work.
Features of cooking vegetable pasta
Durum wheat pasta in combination with vegetables is an excellent independent dish, but it is very often combined with fish and meat. It perfectly saturates and enriches the body with essential nutrients.
There are very few rules, adhering to which you can protect yourself from mistakes in cooking vegetable pasta:
- Vegetables should be purchased according to the season. Only natural, naturally grown vegetables can truly be useful, while maintaining their natural composition. In winter, it is better to use frozen or sun-dried blanks.
- As it is fashionable to say, the pasta must be boiled to the state of al dente, i.e. so that inside it remains hard. Then the pasta will show its true great taste, and will not resemble a mushy dough. To do this, you must strictly adhere to the method of application indicated on the package. Basically, this is the observance of the following proportions - 1 liter of water per 100 g of dry product and the cooking time strictly set by the manufacturer.
- To reduce the time spent on preparing this dish, vegetables or sauce from them can be cooked simultaneously with the preparation of the pasta itself. Then the dish will be equally fresh and hot with minimal waste of time.
TOP 6 recipes for vegetable pasta
In fact, there are a lot of ways to cook pasta in combination with vegetables. Depending on national influence, seasonal needs and simply taste preferences, any type of pasta can be prepared and served with almost any food. This publication contains the most successful recipes for cooking this dish, but they do not cover even a hundredth of the whole variety.
Vegetable pasta with chicken
One of the most common vegetable pasta recipes is to combine it with chicken meat. With the addition of chicken, the dish becomes more satisfying and at the same time not fatty. It is high in protein and fiber. It is undoubtedly the perfect culinary solution with maximum health benefits.
- Calorie content per 100 g - 380 kcal.
- Servings - 3-4
- Cooking time - 30-40 minutes
Ingredients:
- Chicken fillet - 400 g
- Pasta (spaghetti) - 400 g
- Bulgarian red pepper - 2 pcs.
- Tomatoes (can be sun-dried) - 2 pcs.
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Broccoli cabbage - 400 g
- Olive oil for frying - 1 tablespoon
- Salt and spices to taste
- Water or broth - 2-3 cups
Step by step cooking of vegetable pasta with chicken:
- Remove films and excess fat from the chicken fillet. Chop onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes with a knife or pass through a meat grinder. We divide the cabbage into inflorescences.
- Take a deep frying pan or stewpan, pour in the olive oil, heat it up a little and lay out the chicken fillet. In the process of frying the meat until golden brown, you need to salt it and grind it with spices.
- Put the fried fillet aside, and put the chopped vegetables in the pan.
- When you notice that the onion has just begun to brown, then it’s time to add spaghetti and broccoli here. Add a little salt, cover with water or broth and cover. In this state, the dish must be stewed for 15 minutes.
- When serving vegetable pasta with chicken, the fillet is cut into pieces and laid out in portions on a plate. If you wish, you can decorate everything with greens.
Pasta with vegetable sauce
This recipe is perfect for a lean menu. The liquid sauce does not in any way impair the taste, but, on the contrary, perfectly suits any type of pasta. You can use both short curly and long noodles. To prepare pasta with vegetable sauce according to a recipe, we need products that are quite familiar in our country.
Ingredients:
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Champignons - 200 g
- Capers - 1 tablespoon
- Zucchini or zucchini - 200 g
- Fresh tomatoes or juice - 200 g
- Salt and Provencal herbs to taste
Step by step preparation of pasta with vegetable sauce:
- Cut the carefully washed vegetables into small cubes or small slices.
- Chop the onion and garlic and place in a preheated frying pan.
- When the onion is browned, add pepper and capers to it. Then carrots, zucchini and mushrooms.
- Pour the vegetable mixture on top with tomato juice or chopped tomatoes.
- Simmer the vegetables until they become soft.
- Add and sprinkle with Provencal herbs.
- Cooking pasta. Put on plates and pour over the sauce.
Cannelloni with vegetables and minced meat
Pasta in the form of hollow tubes for stuffing has such an unusual name. There can be a lot of filling options - from seafood to cottage cheese with berries. But our recipe includes vegetables and minced meat. In the presence of ready-made semi-finished products, the dish is prepared very quickly and can be served both to a daily table and during a festive feast.
Ingredients:
- Cannelloni packaging - 500 g
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Minced chicken or turkey - 300 g
- Mushrooms - 200 g
- Pitted olives - 50 g
- Sweet potato - 150 g
- Mozzarella - 200 g
- Tomatoes - 4 pcs.
- Salt, spices - to taste
- Frying oil.
Step by step cooking of cannelloni with vegetables and minced meat:
- To reveal the appetizing aroma, place the chopped garlic in a preheated pan with oil for frying.
- Cut the peppers, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and tomatoes into small cubes, removing the peel if necessary.
- When the garlic is slightly browned, add the prepared vegetables to it.
- Add minced meat, add spices to taste and also send to the pan. Fry together with vegetables until moisture completely evaporates.
- Boil the cannelloni in salted water, take it out and place it on a flat plate to cool.
- Stuff the pasta with the finished mixture, put the resulting tubes in a greased baking dish, crush on top with chopped olives and slices of mozzarella.
- We place the mold in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
- After cooking, let it cool slightly. The finished dish looks and smells amazing.
Fresh vegetable salad with pasta
Vegetable pasta can be used not only as a main course. There are many more combinations with amazing fresh summer salads. Such a solution will be extremely tasty and healthy, moreover, very satisfying with a minimum amount of calories.
Ingredients:
- Arugula - 100 g
- Cherry tomatoes - 50-100 g
- Avocado - 1 pc.
- Sweet pepper red or orange - 1 pc.
- Bacon or ham - 50 g
- Thick yogurt - 4 tablespoons
- A couple of drops of lemon juice
- Pasta (preferably short) - 150 g
Step by step preparation of fresh vegetable salad with pasta:
- We wash the arugula. Cut the tomatoes in half. Peel the avocado, remove the bone and cut into large squares with a side of at least 1 cm. Wash the sweet pepper, remove the seeds and cut into large squares.
- Cut the bacon or ham into a square shape.
- Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
- We put all the ingredients in a deep container, sprinkle with juice and season with yogurt. If desired, you can add salt and basil greens.
Tuna Vegetable Pasta
The modern way of life dictates its own conditions, loading our day so that there is absolutely no time to prepare a full meal. Pasta dishes have all the necessary elements for healthy saturation. How to make vegetable pasta quickly? A recipe for canned tuna is suitable for this.
Ingredients:
- Short pasta, you can spiral - 200 g
- Tuna, canned in its own juice - 1 can
- Bulgarian red pepper - 1 pc.
- Medium cucumber - 1 pc.
- Fresh tomatoes, cherry can be used - 100 g
- Handful of lettuce leaves
- Soy sauce - 2 tablespoons
- Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
- Lemon juice - 0.5 tbsp.
Step by step preparation of vegetable tuna pasta:
- Boil the pasta according to the recipe indicated on the package.
- Rinse the pepper, cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce and cut into large pieces.
- We place the finished products in a suitable container, add canned tuna, after draining the juice from it.
- Pour the workpiece with soy sauce, oil and lemon juice, mix everything thoroughly. The dish is ready to eat!
Vegetable pasta with shrimps
The combination of pasta with shrimp is considered very successful. This vegetable paste recipe is suitable for all types of pasta, including stuffing cannelloni. Such a dish will not leave anyone indifferent, it is prepared quite simply, so pasta with shrimps can please the whole family and suddenly arriving guests.
Ingredients:
- Spaghetti - 400 g
- Frozen shrimps - 200 g
- Cream - 50 g
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Eggplant - 1 pc.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Dill and parsley greens - 20-30 g
- Hard cheese - 100 g
- Cashew nuts - 30 g
- Olive oil - 1 tbsp l.
Step by step cooking shrimp vegetable pasta:
- Chop the garlic and put in a pan with warmed olive oil.
- When it is a little fried, add peeled shrimp to it.
- Remove the peel from the eggplant and cut it into small cubes, like pepper. Carrots can be grated on a coarse grater.
- Add the prepared vegetables to the pan and fry for 15 minutes.
- Then add the cream and chopped greens and simmer over low heat for another 15 minutes.
- Boil the spaghetti in salted water.
- You can decorate the dish with grated cheese and nuts in portions, or add all the ingredients to a deep container and mix thoroughly.
