In our current
Open Thread,
cmcinnyc says,
I find it so hard to eat light in this cold. We know exactly how you feel. It's 9 below today. Salads and light food are taking a back seat to the most filling, warming food we can find, and that means pasta. Mushroom ravioli is cmcinnyc's dish of choice right now, and we think that sounds wonderful.
But here's the thing: just because it's pasta doesn't mean it can't be light. Here are a few light, meat-free pasta sauces from The Kitchn that also happen to be easy, nourishing, and comforting too.
1. Rich No-Cream Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce - This has been a popular recipe here for a long time. It's delicious without being too rich or heavy; white wine and broth are thickened with a little flour instead of cream.
2. Lemon Pepper Pasta with Capers - Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. This one has just a few ingredients, but it leans heavily on tasty little capers for a big burst of flavor.
3. Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta - This recipe is like several others on this list: it uses steamed vegetables instead of meat or dairy to make up the bulk of the sauce. You can even skip the cheese!
4. Roasted Garlic, Olive and Tomato Pasta Salad - This is a pasta salad recipe, but it works just as well with hot pasta. The principle is simple: Use mashed roasted garlic as a sauce instead of cream or butter. Sub canned tomatoes for the fresh ones, and use the ricotta sparingly -- just enough to bind it all together.
5. Basic Tomato Sauce (with Optional Zing!) - Basic tomato sauce, made with canned tomatoes, is one of the easiest, prettiest, most encouraging things you can eat in the winter! It doesn't hurt that it's healthy too.
6. Spinach Pesto Pasta with Fresh Peas and Mushrooms - Another veggie pesto recipe. You can use frozen peas (very good!).
7. Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Pine Nuts - This meat-free pasta has a rich flavor through the pan-frying process, and we love how creamy the squash is, mashed through the pasta.
8. Spring Greens Pesto - It's not spring, of course, but what about trying bitter greens here instead? Turnip tops, beet greens, steamed collards, kale, Swiss chard -- all of these would give a unique flavor to your pasta dressing.
And if you're looking for a few more ideas on cooking pasta, try these posts:
• Quick Tip: The Best Way to Cook Pasta
• Do You Cook with Whole Wheat Pasta?
That first one looks so yummy! I'll be trying that soon! I completely feel the same, a lot of warm comfort foods are so fattening and calorie rich. It's nice to have a few comort, warm recipes that are lighter. THanks!
view driftandfloat's profile
one time, i put some really good beef broth, shimeji mushrooms, some light chicken sausage and some canned diced tomatoes in the microwave and cooked it for a while. poured it on pasta. it was really good and relatively low in fat. it was kind of a leftovers pasta.
view acslater's profile
The roasted garlic pasta salad is amazing. I've made this many times and with many variations.
view Loki Parker's profile
Yes, that roasted garlic salad is awsome. Totally delicious.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
I love that broccoli feta sauce. It was so easy and took very little time. The sauce has a lot of flavor but is very rich tasting.
view footballfoodie's profile
My favourite light meals to eat in winter are homemade wontons with noodles in a light broth. Also curries (without cream) are good. Chicken curry with carrots and onion. Yummo!
Wontons are surprisingly easy to make (I buy the pastry) and you can freeze what you don't use. I love to know what meat goes into my wontons so making them makes me happy.
view buda's profile
the broccoli feta sauce is delicious!
you can always use spaghetti squash in lieu of actual pasta to make your meal lighter too.
view leilatamar's profile
This posting is genius! Hibernation mode has me craving mac 'n' cheese...
view a_sanzie's profile
whenever I feel like a creamy pasta sauce, I fake a really easy version: a spoon of pesto and a spoon of sour cream. it coats the noodles just enough to get the effect, without dousing them in an ultra-rich sauce with who knows how many calories. it's neither authentic nor calorie-free, but it's tasty and you can easily know and control just how much fat you're putting on your pasta.
and yes, spaghetti squash is amazing. sometimes better than real pasta.
view foodefafa's profile
I just made spaghetti squash the other night. I haven't made it in years and forgot how much it makes and how good it tastes! So yummy!
view girlonthem00n's profile