Hi everyone
It is a Monday and a new week is about to begin. Remember to assure yourself that you will conquer this week and stride each day with patience, positivity and mindfulness. Why not start your week off with a filling booster meal with your loved ones? I have just the perfect recipe, and it is so simple and straight forward while consisting of ingredients that are totally easy to find at any grocery store near by you. On Sunday I decided to make a veggie meal for my big family of 6 and it sure was a hit, I had no complaints!
Let’s get right into it and start with the ingredients for the core of the meal, which is a creamy- saucy spaghetti pasta. I decided to make the pasta before any other element of the dish because the rest of the recipe gradually becomes more and more easier to apply. You will need the following:
1 bag long pasta
1 onion
1 Green Pepper
3 Green Chilies
1 cup cream
½ cup low fat milk
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon heaped crushed garlic (preferably fresh garlic for more intensified flavor and improved taste.)
3 thin slice cheese, cheddar/ gouda or whatever other strains of cheese you prefer to contribute to a taste of your liking.
Spices- Chili flakes, mixed herbs, paprika, salt, black pepper (just about 3 pinches of each spice)
Half a lemon
Half a hand-full of freshly picked coriander.
I started off by placing my pasta into a pot of boiling water. Add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of butter so that the stringy pasta pieces do not stick together. After boiling, strain and set aside for now, next you will need to create the creamy sauce quickly. Add your diced or cubed shaped onions and green peppers to a pot of hot oil and let fry for approximately 5-8 minutes until caramelized. Add the garlic after the onions reach a golden-brown color and then you may begin adding your spices. Take note, we are going for a subtle flavor so just a few pinches of the spices will do, do not have a heavy hand. Next, pour the cream into the pot slowly while stirring. Allow all of the ingredients to sit and simmer on a medium low heat for at least 5-10 minutes. Once it starts thickening up slightly, add lemon juice and then add a tablespoon of flour to promote some thickness. Stir with a whisk utensil while pouring some low far milk into the pot. Add at least 3 slices of cheese or a handful of grated cheese, also to promote thickness and sauciness. As it starts to melt, do not stop stirring until you have reached your desired thickness. Once that is finally done, add your pasta to the sauce and combine it delicately. For the finishing touch add your freshly washed coriander over the mixture and allow to set. Easy and done… For the next part my grandma had to join in on the cooking adventure with me. She prepared the gem squash by: cutting them into separate halves and adding salt, pepper and a teaspoon of butter directly into the separate halves. You do not need to add too much of spices or flavors because it already has an authentic, naturally tasty flavor just by itself. She proceeded to place the seasoned gems into the oven for a slow roast.
Spinach is next up! Normally I do a cream styled spinach for my family but in this case I cannot as we already have a thick creamy element on our plate. The spinach needs to braised and in doing such, you will need the following ingredients:
1 large/ medium portion of fresh spinach
1 onion
2 potatoes
Spices- Thyme, black pepper salt (bout 2 pinches of each spice)
Clean your spinach off and peel all your veggies. When cutting your potatoes, do it in a manner of dices, they do not need to be a particular shape, just cut them small enough to cook quick enough with the rest of the ingredients all together. Add your clean spinach and peeled potatoes to a pot with water at least halfway filled (this really depends on the quantity of spinach you are using, in my case, I served 6 people in total so I used the appropriate amount of spinach) Allow spinach and potatoes to soften up and add a pinch of salt. Remember to keep checking your pot as the water will begin to evaporate over time and sticking needs to be avoided. Keep stirring until the liquid is all gone and then you may add about 3 tablespoons of oil into the braised spinach and add in your fine cut onions. Allow the mixture to sizzle for at least 5-10 minutes on a medium low heat. All this should be done while stirring every minute. Add thyme and allow everything to infuse and blend together for the next 5-10 minutes and by now your kitchen should already be bursting with the pungent aromatic scent of all the spices added along with the fresh spinach. The last and final piece of the dish is the side salad and you can literally make any style of salad according to your own liking. I made a basic carrot cucumber and lettuce- chunky salad. Instead of cutting the veggies fine I cut them vertically so they were big bite sized and covered in freshly squeezed lemon juice for a fresh zesty zing. This meal would go lovely with any wine of your choice or even a sparking water with ice, again drinking options are also just your own preference. I always recommend trying out new and different things so that you can find what satisfies your taste buds most.
This meal is going to fill you up and leave you in a complete relaxed state of contentment, as this is a heavy main course meal. If you have read all my steps I hope that you will be inspired to try out my recipe and maybe add a few methods of your own into the works. Thank you for reading and I appreciate it immensely.
