Cooking for Pleasure: Stir-fried veggies with pasta

The nice thing about this dish is that you can choose your favorite vegetables or whatever is in season

Ready to eat stir-fried veggies with pasta! (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

If you are looking for an easy vegetarian meal or want a quick side dish for dinner, I suggest trying stir-frying a variety of vegetables, then tossing them with pasta and some grated cheese. The nice thing about this dish is that you can choose your favorite vegetables or whatever is in season. When I made it for dinner last week, I used green onions, mushrooms, frozen peas and thinly sliced red pepper because that is what I had available.

But go ahead and use asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, or forgotten veggies in your crisper.

If you decide to use broccoli or cauliflower in your stir-fry, first cut into small florets, then blanch them in boiling water first, cooking until crisp/tender. Otherwise, they will be too tough to eat.

This will serve about four people as a side dish.

Ingredients for stir-fried veggies with pasta. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

• 1 bunch thinly sliced green onions

• 2 cloves of finely minced garlic

• Veggies: (select for colors, textures and flavors)

• 1 green or red pepper, sliced thin

• ¼ to ½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced thin

• A generous handful of frozen peas

• 1 or 2 thinly sliced zucchini

• ½ pound asparagus, cut into one-inch sections

• ½ pound broccoli or cauliflower blanched in boiling salted water

• Fresh herbs such as Italian parsley, chives, oregano or marjoram, finely minced

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Fresh-grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (as much as you want. I used about 1 cup)

• Two cups of dried pasta such as fettuccine, farfalle, or pappardelle

Prepped veggies. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Directions:

Pasta generally takes about 10 minutes to cook. The stir-fry should take about the same amount of time. In a large saucepan, heat water to boil. Add about one tablespoon of salt then add the pasta to cook while you are preparing the vegetable stir-fry.  Follow package directions, cooking until ‘al dente,’ which means it is not too soft nor tough. Just has a nice bite.

Stir-frying the vegetables. (Photo by Patty Schied)

While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a wok or large sauté pan at medium-high heat. Add green onions and stir-fry until soft. Add minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds (if it burns, it will become bitter), then add the vegetables.

If you are cooking for several people, you may wish to add more olive oil. Stir and toss vegetables until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Always taste before serving.

When the veggies are cooked through, scoop out the cooked pasta from the boiling water and add it to the vegetables. Rapidly toss them together. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a spoonful or more of pasta water (a very Italian technique). Turn off the heat and add fresh herbs if you wish. Toss in the grated cheese and serve.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.