Creamy Tomato and Salami Pasta
Servings: 4 serves
Ingredients
- 60 to 80 g raw baby spinach about 2 large handfuls
- 1 medium brown onion cut into quarters
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 6 sprigs flat leaf parsley
- 1 large red pepper or 2 small, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 200 g zucchini chopped into chunks
- 50 g olive oil
- 450 g mini Roma tomatoes halved or left whole if preferred (or large ripe Romas cut into chunks)
- 300 g cream
- 300 g filtered water
- 2 tbls veggie stock concentrate
- 300 g pasta of choice penne, shells or spirals work well
- 150 g salami finely sliced (or one of the other protein options listed)
Instructions
- Place spinach into Thermoserver and put aside
- Place onion, garlic and parsley into TM bowl and chop 3 seconds / speed 7
- Add capsicum and zucchini and chop 2 seconds / speed 5 (if you prefer it finer then chop for another 1 second / speed 5 ... or until desired consistency is achieved if you are trying to hide veggies ... wink wink!)
- Scrape down sides
- Add oil and sauté 5 minutes / Veroma / speed 1 / MC off
- Add tomatoes, cream, water and veggie stock concentrate and cook 10 minutes / 100 / speed 1
- Add pasta and salami and carefully press them into the sauce (or chick peas and seasoning, or one of the other options) and cook 10 minutes / 100 / reverse / speed soft (check the cooking time of your pasta and go with that, but mine usually says 10 minutes)
- Pour pasta into Thermoserver on top of spinach and stir spinach through with your spatula
- Replace lid and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving
Notes
Adaptions I have used and work are:
* GLUTEN FREE: use GF pasta … there are so many available these days
* DAIRY FREE: replace cream with coconut cream … I use Ayam brand and that works beautifully
* VEGGIE: replace salami with one can of drained chicks peas, along with 1 tsp each of ground cumin/coriander/paprika and add at the same time as the pasta
* MEAT OPTIONS: replace salami with finely sliced bacon, ham, raw chicken (thinly sliced thighs work best … use up to 200g), or chorizo (which I pan fry first to reduce fat, or if you already have some cooked in the fridge and left over from another meal use that)
Please note that a 300ml container of cream generally weighs 270g to 280g, and the Ayam brand of coconut cream is available in 270g tins … so when using these add in extra water so that the combined cream/water comes to 600g when weighing it into the Thermomix. If you don't have veggie stock paste, then use any stock of choice to replace the water.
This dish can be prepared in advance and placed into a baking dish, topped with white sauce, sprinkled with sourdough breadcrumbs or parmesan and then baked for 25 to 30 minutes at 180 degrees fan forced until nicely golden on top. It can be made a day ahead and cooked the following night … just ensure you take it out of fridge 30 minutes before baking.
The pasta is also lovely cold the next day so great for lunchboxes (with a little fork to eat it with) ... it is definitely one of my family's favourites!