PASTA WITH SPINACH

2020-05-27 15:34:58

This vegan pasta with spinach is a main dish for everybody who prefers to cook quick and easy, with pleasure and wants something tasty. It was created spontaneously, using ingredients currently at hand and in a hurry. The frozen spinach played first fiddle in the original version, but I decided to use the fresh one on the blog. The dish tastes very good with fresh spinach as well as with the frozen one, and by the way it is always worth keeping stocks of spinach in the freezer.

The second fiddle is played by smoked tofu and chickpeas - you can of course add only one of these ingredients, but I suggest to include in the dish, both protein components, because they are really well matched in terms of both taste and texture.

ingredients

for 2 people

150 g fresh spinach (the frozen one is also okay)
100 g dried tomatoes in oil (the rest of the dried tomatoes you can blend with cashew nuts to make a delicious spread for bread)
110 g chickpeas from a jar or previously soaked overnight and cooked
110 g smoked tofu
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
a small handful of fresh lovage
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
1 teaspoon coloured pepper
3 tablespoons soy sauce
oil for frying e.g. rapeseed oil
150 g pasta – I’ve chosen the wholemeal rice penne

recipe

Peel and rinse the onion and garlic cloves. Heat oil in a frying pan, cut the onion into crescents, chop the garlic finely. Then put the onion into the pan and after a few minutes add also the chopped garlic. Place the chickpeas in a sieve, rinse them under running cold water, and then throw them into the pan. Cut the tofu into small cubes, and the dried tomatoes into thin strips. Add tofu cubes and tomato strips to the remaining ingredients and fry for 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime cook the pasta in salted water – the wholemeal rice penne cooks in only 9 minutes.

When the pasta is cooking, season the ingredients in the pan: add soy sauce, a pinch of salt, ground coloured pepper and chopped fresh lovage. Rinse the spinach thoroughly, cut into smaller pieces and add to the pan too. Fry for about 5-10 minutes. When the pasta is cooked, strain and place it in the pan. Then stir the pasta carefully with other ingredients and finally put the ready dish on the plates.

Bon appétit!