Who can say no to Italian food; after all the cuisine has so much to offer. Almost everyone has a special place for pasta in their heart as it is the most loved dish. Today, I want to share my linguine pasta tossed with sautéed portabello mushrooms, coated in homemade garlic herb sauce and topped with blistered cherry tomatoes. It takes you to Italy in minutes.
How to choose dried pasta?
Pasta dishes are a no-fuss, stress-free kind of meal loved by everyone. A good quality wheat pasta is rich in essential nutritious elements. When picking your pasta, it's a good idea to know the process used to make the pasta. Most of the commercial pasta companies shape their pasta by pushing them through Teflon or plastic inserts; steaming the pasta to kill any existing bacteria; and then dumping it into a drying tank under high heat before packaging.
The process of making artisan dried pasta consists of hand-mixing the ingredients, rolling and extruding the dough, and then drying the pasta at a low temperature; no chemicals or high heat procedures are used to sacrifice the quality of the pasta. All this information will be on the packaging when selecting your pasta. The result is in the great taste.
For this recipe, I used Seggiano's organic whole wheat linguine pasta; slow dried and uses bronze die to extrude the pasta for best nutrition and flavor. You are not restricted to linguine; any type of pasta will go for this recipe because the secret is actually in the sauce.
What's so special about this sauce?
The homemade garlic herb sauce is what makes this dish fresh and full of life. The method starts with a roux (1:2 mixture of vegan butter to all-purpose flour), and completes with the aroma of sweet garlic & fresh oregano. This incredibly delicious sauce can be used on anything from pasta to gravy for your vegetables.
Linguini Pasta with Garlic Herb Sauce
DESCRIPTION
INGREDIENTS
- 13.2 oz Linguine Pasta I used Seggiano's, but any will do.
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 4 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
- ¼ cup scallion minced
- 2 cups vegan broth
- ¾ oz oregano fresh
- 3 whole portabello mushrooms chopped
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon for sauce + ½ teaspoon for tomatoes
- crushed black peppercorn per taste
- basil leaves garnish
METHOD
- Cook pasta according to the package instructions.
- In a medium size pan, heat extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons) over medium heat. Once the pan and oil are heated, add mushrooms and stir till evenly coated with the oil. Cook on medium high heat for 5 to 8 minutes until mushrooms are lightly browned. Reduce heat to low and add a pinch of salt and cook for another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Remove mushrooms and set aside in a bowl.
- Use the same pan to cook cherry tomatoes. Heat extra virgin olive oil (1 tablespoon) over medium heat. Add cherry tomatoes and stir till evenly coated with the oil. Add a pinch of salt and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes to 8 minutes until the tomatoes are tender, and blistered. Remove blistered cherry tomatoes, and set aside in another bowl.
- Using the same pan again, melt vegan butter and extra virgin olive oil (1 tablespoon) in a medium size sauce pan over low heat. Add minced garlic, scallion and stir till fragrant (about 30 seconds to 1 min). Then whisk in flour over medium heat and continue whisking for about a minute until bubbly and golden.
- Gradually whisk in the broth until nice and smooth for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and whisk for another 2 minutes until it is in a sauce like consistency.
- Remove oregano leaves from the stems- Pinch the stem near the top with the fingers of one hand, then run the fingers of your other hand down the length of the stem from top to bottom. Mix the oregano leaves, sautéed mushrooms in the sauce and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Remove the sauce from the heat. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce and mix till pasta is evenly coated with the sauce.
- Top off the pasta with blistered cherry tomatoes and garnish with basil leaves.
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