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Sunday, January 4, 2015

Nutritarian Tubetti Rigati Corn Pasta Marinara



So today I am going to commit what must be a blogger crime: a posting fly by! Yes, my friends, I am about to rush out of the house, but my lunch ended up so amazing and comforting, I just knew I had to share it even if my post is a bit vague. You can jive with that, right? I mean, in my kitchen, I cook mostly with my eyes, sense of smell, and lastly, taste. I don't measure. I just throw stuff wildly together (imagining tomatoes and garlic airborn hehe) and pray that it's edible. And most of the time, lucky me, it is! 



Today was one of those. Enter, the pasta craving. I don't care how long anyone has been a Nutritarian, every now and then, we miss the fun factor of eating pasta! Little bites of childhood memories fill my mind, splotches of spaghetti sauce on the table, crinkled napkins, the smell of sweet and salty sauces and meats wafting through the kitchen into the living areas of the house, beckoning the family together by their noses! hehe Good memories. It's just fun! So, today with my limited time and a bag of 100% corn pasta at the ready, I set out to make a fast food meal, nutritarian style!



So, the sauce. It had to have a creamy mouthfeel without oil, substantial flavor without salt, and fresh ingredients. Not easy to pull off, you might think. Not so! My trick today came thanks to our Excalibur Dehydrator and the last season of veggies from the garden and from our local organic farm share!




I've had mason jars filled to the brim with dehydrated tomatoes of all kinds from the ridiculous avalanche of tomatoes this fall. I also had copious amounts of homemade dried red peppers, dried dill, and dried mushrooms.




This got me thinking, why not just fill the vitamix with a bunch of these, mainly tomato, add some homemade garlic powder, onion powder (in a hurry, remember?) coriander, sage, oregano (lots) chipotle pepper, smoked paprika, fresh basil and a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar, some hot water from my water dispenser and vitamix the heck out of it? So I did!



It was AWESOME! The dehydrated veggies really added a ton of flavor and creaminess I did not expect to have without adding any nuts or seeds to my recipe. The pasta was cooked in a jiffy, add some sauce and.....





VOILA! Om nom nom. Good eats on the fly! I'll be back later to add a proper recipe to the best of my ability, but really, what I hope to do here at Blissful Nutritarian more than anything else, is to empower you to play with your food, and recapture all the joy in cooking healthy fare that won't kill you (another snicker) that you may have longed for when you made the switch. After all, we have ups and downs. What better way to have more ups than downs than to understand your ingredients, and not NEED recipes? It's food science! It's wonderful. It's delicious.

I'm out the door, Ciao!

Jemosielle

AS PROMISED, BACK LATER! See BELOW for the "recipe" the way I threw it together:




Jemoiselle's Nutritarian Tubetti Rigati Corn Pasta Marinara
Serves 1-2

All Approximated Ingredients
Sauce:
1-2c dehydrated tomato slices (cherry and heirloom)
1/2c dehydrated red yellow and green bell peppers
1/4c dehydrated mushrooms (optional)
1-2c very hot water (mine was 160ºF)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (no added sugar)
1 tsp dehydrated dill 
2-3 leaves fresh basil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp garlic powder (ours was homemade, oh my gosh you must try that!)
1/8 tsp chipotle pepper powder
1/8 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
                     
Pasta:
1/2 pkg of Tubetti Rigati 100% Corn Pasta

Let's make some pasta!
For the sauce, Vitamix all ingredients except pasta until extremely smooth. Adjust with water for thickness desired, if necessary. Taste, adjust for spices. Faint because it's amazing! Set aside. 

For the pasta: Boil water in a small sauce pan and add pasta, cooking for approximately 8 minutes until al dente. Plate and top with sauce, and garnish with a fresh basil leaf or two if you like!

Enjoy!