Fab Pasta Recipe for Teetotal Vegetarian Visitor

[HelebethH]

I am hoping that you may be able to help me with a great, fail safe pasta recipe. I have a visitor next weekend and need a really tasty filling recipe. Our friend works away from home a lot and has to eat out or canteen food. I would like to offer him something other than the normal mac and cheese, veggie burger, quiche, lentil bolognaise and veggie chilli/fajitas he usually falls back on. I pep up lots of sauces with cider or wine often but, as he is teetotal that's not possible. We are eating out one night at a curry house , so though pasta would be filling for the night he arrives. Also it needs to satisfy my commited carnivore husband who will eat veggie that night. Help , all suggestions greatly appreciated.

Meant to say I have trawled my cook books and the web and there are so many recipes that i feel swamped with the choice. Nothing beats a time tested personal recommendation . Thanks in advance for any suggestions .

This time of year when it's warm I sometimes do pasta with courgette ribbons just marinaded in lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Add in some mint and Parmesan at the end.

This one! www.happyveggiekitchen.com/tomato-mascarpone-one-pot-pasta/

I like a halloumi and courgette pasta? Both quite substantial ingredients that work well as a substitute for meat for your hubby.

I fry the halloumi and courgette, (both cut into chunks) and mix with the pasta, along with some green pesto - and fling some sun dried tomatoes on top.

I'm sure could do something more elaborate with the sauce!

Pasta ala Norma is delicious. Basically an aubergine tomatoe sauce with salted ricotta on top

I had a pasta dish at a wedding the other weekend that was penne in a creamy, lemon sauce with asparagus and other green veg - it was really delicious.
Make sure that any cheese you buy is vegetarian - parmesan isn't suitable for strict vegetarians.

Buy the best cherry tomatoes you can afford. Halve them and put them in a roasting dish with olive oil, chilli flakes, salt, garlic and herbs (or just use Schwartz Spicy Italian herb mix - its perfect for this). Roast in the oven in high until they are just starting to turn brown at the edges.

Cook spaghetti in salty water while youbare doing this. Drain the spaghetti except for a little bit of the cooking liquid, take the tomatoes out of the oven, smush them a bit with the back of a fork and then add the whole lot including oil to the spaghetti and mix it altogether.

Serve with plenty of vegetarian hard cheese.

It's so simple and so delicious. The key really is to use really good quality tasty tomatoes though otherwise it doesn't work.

Truffle mushroom tagliatelle or rolled lasagne

Recently I made the "Shrimp with cashews and peanuts pasta" which has now become the favorite dish in my home. I have taken the recipe from goodycs and all credit goes to the amazing recipe on this site.

And that fits the briefs of "vegetarian" how exactly?

Surely the teetotal thing is irrelevant? The alcohol from wine etc is eliminated in the cooking process.

How about a vegetarian puttanesca?

Mary Berry has a gorgeous recipe for butternut squash lasagne that we all love.

Why isn't it possible? If you cook wine in a pasta sauce the alcohol will boil off.

I'd do a lasagne: you could pre-prep it, leave it in the fridge and pop it in the oven when he arrives which would make life easier. I'd do a lentil-based sauce which would certainly fit the bill of "filling", or veggie mince with my normal bolognaise recipe, but there are alternative vegetable-based sauces.

Broken Pasta with Broad Beans and Rocket I made this recently and loved it. I did a few small changes, which I will state below. It was super fresh and summery too, very quick and quite low effort. If you husband really can't handle a single meal without meat he can easily top his with some parma ham which I think would work well.

-Flaked almonds > pine nuts (personal preference and what I had in)
-Nutritional yeast > parmigiano reggiano (I don’t keep nutritional yeast in, I understand it has an cheesy/umami flavour hence the substitution, you would have to ensure the cheese you use is veggie, I think Sainsburys Basics Italian Hard Cheese normally is)
-Lemon juice > lime juice (what I had in)
-Added some basil leaves as I love the flavour
-Used fresh homemade pasta rather than dried

We love this Tuscan Lentil & Roasted Courgette Ragù. I use the tomatoey French puy and green lentils by Merchant instead of the ones in the recipe.
Recipe

Broccoli pasta is amazing.
Chop up a head of broccoli and boil as you would normally. In another pan Cook farfalle pasta until al dente.
In a large wide based on hea a little butter and olive oil. Fry off some chopped spring onions and finely sliced leek. Once the broccoli is soft, drain it and chop smaller. Add to the fried leek and spring onion. Add a vegetable stock cube and spoonful of pasta water. Drain the pasta and add to the pan, mixing well so it is coated in the broccoli. The vegetables should just coat the pasta, not a wet watery sauce. Add a generous serving of vegetarian parmesan/gran pedano and stir well. Serve, add a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil, another sprinkle of hard cheese. Season with black pepper.

So delicious.

This is really yummy www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/spring-veg-pasta/

I think it depends on reason for teetotal as to whether you can cook with alcohol. Just doesn’t like alcohol, probably fine. Religious reasons, avoid. Recovering alcoholic, probably ok, but check first!

As to the question, I have made a delicious (and v easy) aubergine, courgette and macaroni bake before. From rukmini iyer quick roasting tin book.
Or mixed mushrooms with fresh tagliatelle?

Quinoa Salad if it's hot.

We had this yesterday.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/watermelon-spinach-super-salad

This one looks intimidating but really isn't, especially if you have a food processor. It's just "chop everying, roast it, add all wet stuff, tinfoil and bake it". A very rich and tasty sauce that's good on pasta or in a lasagne

thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/yotam-ottolenghis-ultimate-traybake-ragu/

If your friend is teetotal for either allergies or recovering do not put alcohol in it. Plus there are many recipes that dont need it!

Halloumi with pasta is a good call. As is Pasta alla norma. Or something with spinach and ricotta lasagne or canneloni

I'd suggest not spinach and ricotta - not that it isn't tasty, but it's in so many ready-meal options and restaurant menus it's a bit overused for many vegetarians.

The guest has been and gone…

However just wanted to point out that It takes 3 hours to completely ‘burn off’ alcohol by cooking – after 30mins a third will remain.

Alcohol burn off chart-source US Dept of Agriculture

The OP was respectful of the fact that the guest is teetotal.