Spicy spaghetti with assorted vegetables

Spicy vegan spaghetti How-To

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare potatoes.
  Peel and cut potatoes in little pieces (look at the photo for more details).
  Put half the olive oil in a non-stick little pan. Let potatoes fry slightly, overy low heat, until crispy. Remember to stir often. Season to taste with salt once cooked.
• - Prepare remaining vegetables.
  Clean and slice courgettes and mushrooms.
  Slice onions, finely.
  Put remaining olive oil, bay leaf, hot chilli peppers and courgette slices in a large non-stick pan. Let all fry slightly, on very low heat, some minutes, stirring often. Add mushrooms, increase heat, season to taste with salt and complete cooking. You'll need only some minutes.
• - Meanwhile ...
  ... cook spaghetti.
  Bring to a boil a plenty of salted water.
  Boil spaghetti "al dente" stage and drain very well.

Just before serving

• - Transfer your drained spaghetti into the pan with the courgette and mushroom sauce.
• - Add chives and potatoes.
• - Cook over high heat, stirring frequently but with delicacy, 1 minute.
  This is the secret for a tasty Italian pasta dish: to finish cooking your pasta in its sauce!
• - Serve your spicy vegetable spaghetti very hot at once.

Note

Tips

• - You should use this spicy sauce with wholemeal spaghetti or emmer or kamut spaghetti for a healthy eating as suggested by nutritionists. In this case you'll eat a real Mediterranean diet recipe.
• - I tested frozen vegetables in winter. I use 1 450g (1lb) package of assorted vegetables that I thaw directly in the pan with the same amount of olive oil. I add hot chilli pepper too. It would not be proper to make a comparison with the fresh vegetable sauce, but it can be a solution for people with limited time.
• - Here are some variants: add 1 to 2 tablespoons of capers in vinegar to courgette and mushroom sauce; sprinkle with plain breadcrumbs when you put all your ingredients in the pan for the final step.

Menu planning

• - This is a great vegan pasta dish. If you are not vegetarian or vegan, add anchovy fillets to increase its flavor. Enjoy this great dish, Italian-style with your family or friends!

Healthy eating

• - Obviously this dish is a perfect one-plate meal. Complete your meal with fresh fruit but if you are still hungry you can also add raw vegetables such as bell peppers in summer and fennel in winter.
  Here are the doses per head: 60 to 70g (2.1 to 2 1/2 ounces) spaghetti, 150g (5 1/3 ounces) assorted vegetables, aromatic herbs, a piece of chilli pepper, 2 teaspoons olive oil. As you can read, I use less than 80g (2.8 ounces) pasta (serving suggested by the nutritionists) for there are a lot of ingredients. It's a satisfying dish, anyway!
• - If you use fresh seasonal vegetables, you'll have more vitamins.
• - It's a tomato-free recipe, ideal for people intolerant to tomatoes.
• - Note the amount of protein. If you choose this spicy spaghetti at lunch, you can have meat or fish rich in protein at dinner.
• - Preferably use chilli pepper and not black pepper in your recipes, if you want to eat healthy.
• - Fiber per serving: 4.5 grams (suggested daily intake is 30 grams).
  If you use whole wheat pasta, fiber per serving increase to 7.7 grams. On the contrary, total carbo become 53 grams and your dish will be healthier.

Loretta

What's the right wine ?

My husband and I match a red wine to this spicy spaghetti such as Lambrusco di Sorbara (red wine of Emilia Romagna - Italy)