Shiitake, Zucchini & Caramelized Onions with Brown Rice Spaghetti
Posted on 23. Mar, 2009 by kimberlye in Cooking Recipes, Feature, Food & Drink, Lifestyle
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Welcome to another edition of “Kimberly’s Corner”. Today, I’m covering a healthy pasta dish that seems sinful, but isn’t!
Looking for a healthy way to indulge in a tasty pasta with a creamy sauce without all those calories? This is it…Full of flavor, satisfying and full of protein without meat!
~ Kimberly Edwards
Type: Pasta Recipe
Serve With: Freshly grated parmesean cheese
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 18-20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients:
2 large Onions – Sliced
1 dozen Shiitake Mushrooms – Sliced minus stems (Tip: Save stems for soup.)
1/2 Zucchini – Sliced
4 cloves Garlic – Sliced
250 g Firm Tofu – 1″ dice
1/8 cup Fresh Parsley – Minced
1 cup White Wine
3/4 cup Kefir – Or cream
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Butter
1/4 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
450 g pkg Brown Rice Pasta
1 Bay Leaf
1 tbsp Sea Salt
Instructions:
1. Fill a large stock pot 3/4 full with water, and add salt and bay leaf. Heat on high to boil.
2. While waiting for the water to boil for the pasta, heat a large frying pan on medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil and butter.
3. While waiting for frying pan to heat, slice onions and add to pan. Slowly caramelize onions and add pepper and chili flakes.
4. Once onions are completely softened, add mushrooms, garlic, zuchinni and tofu, and continue to sautee in the pan.
* Tip: Don’t add garlic too early because it may burn. Burnt garlic tastes bitter and will ruin your meal’s flavor.
5. When water is boiling, add brown rice pasta to the pot and turn down heat to medium high and allow to simmer.
* Tip: Regular white flour pasta takes under 10 minutes to be al dente. Brown rice takes about 4-5 minutes longer to cook, but don’t allow it to cook past al dente because it will get very mushy.
6. Once mushrooms and zucchini are softened add white wine and reduce by half.
7. Add kefir and parsley and mix thoroughly.
8. Strain water from pasta when cooked to al dente.
9. Put it in a bowl and cover with 2 tbsp olive oil and top with vegetables and sauce.
10. Serve with freshly grated parmesean cheese and Enjoy!
Absolutely delicious, healthy and easy to make in under 30 minutes!
I also add about 1 tbsp flax seeds to make it a little more healthy and give it a nice texture too.
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I hope you enjoyed this Cooking Recipe on CIDA News! Until next time…
Eat Deliciously,
Kimberly Edwards 
CookingWithKimberly.com
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, check out more of Kimberly’s Vegetarian Recipes @ Cooking With Kimberly.
It’s quite tasty Tony…
I do hope you’ll try it out!
Kimberly
Looks like a good recipe.
I’m so glad you will try this one out!
LOL…Well, even the obscure ingredients you can substitute regular ingredients for…
For example, in replacement of kefir, you can use cream or milk.
If you can’t find shiitake mushrooms, feel free to use portabellos, crimini, button mushrooms even…No problem!
I love to teach that you should use whatever it is you have available at home and adapt the recipes that way! You’ll always get a slightly different dish – it keeps things interesting! LOL
Thanks for the great comment!
Kimberly Edwards
This sounds delicious! I really like pasta so I’m going to give this a try. Now, all I have to do is figure out the ingredients. I’ve never heard of most but I think I can manage.
Thanks Kimberly