To
help my portions "look big but count small", I always
make sure that my vegetables-to-pasta ratio is high on vegetables and low
on pasta. Additional variations of this pasta dish will be published in future
articles.
This
dish can be served fleishkes, milchicks or pareve. It can be served hot or room temperature or
even cold, as this dish is cooked without any oil that would congeal
when it turns cold.
Yochi's Pasta Side Dish
Ingredients:
·
Whole wheat pasta. One
cup of UNCOOKED pasta makes between four and six pasta and sauce portions. See below for a discussion of pasta shapes
and choices **.
·
Large pasta pot
·
Vegetable
sauce ingredients
o
1-2 medium onions,
chopped
o
2-3 fresh cloves of
garlic (depending on how "garlicky" you want the sauce)
o
Vegetables: squash,
tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms*, spinach*
and eggplant*
* A
note about using mushrooms, spinach and eggplant. I've discussed mushrooms in previous
articles, make sure to add them near the end of the cooking process as
they tend to soak up all the liquid like a sponge.
I
love fresh spinach, but feel that cooked spinach has a strong "spinachy"
taste and smell and so I avoid adding it to this kind of dish.
In
a previous article I discussed how to work with eggplant; make sure you slice,
soak and then squeeze out all the water, as eggplant can turn the sauce too
dark.
·
water
·
PAM
·
Basic spices:
o
garlic powder
o
freshly ground pepper
o
paprika
o
chopped fresh parsley
·
For a more pronounced
'Italian' flavor add the following spices.
These spices can be either fresh or dried or a combination of the two.
o
oregano
o
basil
o
thyme
o
rosemary
o
sage
Avoid using a ready-to-buy,
bottled version of "Italian spices"; these versions usually filled
with tons of unwanted salt and never have the same intense flavor as fresh,
individual spices.
How to work:
1. Preparing the pasta: I'm sure you've heard this a million times, to
make good pasta you need to start with good quality pasta; in our case, whole
wheat pasta. (I discuss pasta shapes and choices below.) You should cook your
pasta in a large pasta pot with lots of water.
I love my pasta pot; I
keep it pareve so I can make pasta for any meal. My pasta pot consists of a large, tall pot,
with a nearly-as-large strainer insert and lid with slats to let off steam.
2. Fill the water to cover about a third more of the pot above the level
of the pasta.
3. Measure out your pasta. Get
used to doing this on a regular basis; it is the KEY to portion control. Basic rule of thumb: A cup of dried penne makes about
two cups to two and half cups of cooked pasta.
You must measure out your pasta for yourself as pasta sizes do vary.
4. Bring the water to boil. Once it
achieves a rolling boil, shpritz the water with PAM to prevent the pasta
from sticking and then add the pasta. I
no longer add oil or salt to my boiling water.
5. Cook the pasta until it is al dente: pliable, but not
soggy. Keep in mind that the pasta will
also be cooked with the sauce, so you want to make sure you do not overcook
the pasta.
6. Once the pasta is done; immediately remove it from the cooking
water and strain; so the cooking process is stopped. You can rinse the pasta with cold water if
you wish or just leave it to cool as it is (the pasta may stick together a bit).
7. DO NOT THROW AWAY THE COOKING WATER!
This starchy water is perfect for thickening your sauce, without using
any flour or other ingredients. Leave
your pasta to cool in the sink and keep your cooking water in its pot on the
stove top.
8. Now begin to cook your sauce.
9. Clean and chop your vegetables into either bite-size, chunky pieces or
Julian slices (the kind you would see in a stir fry). The way you cut and chop
your vegetables can depend on your personal preference or the type of pasta you
make.
I enjoy eating vegetables
and pasta that are basically the same length and width; for example short penne
with short, chunky vegetables pieces and Julian cut, long slices with tortiglioni
or
linguini.
10.
Spray a pot that is big
and deep enough to comfortably cook the vegetables and later hold both
the pasta and the vegetable sauce.
11.
Spray the pot with PAM
and put on the flame.
12.
Add the vegetables to the
hot pot in the order they cook; harder vegetables that take longer to cook
should be added first and then the softer vegetables.
As you can see, I did not list
the quantities for the vegetables, as I truly believe that there is no
such thing as too many vegetables in this sauce!
13.
Always cook and toss the
vegetables with a wooden spoon, to avoid cutting or ruining the vegetables'
(and the pasta's) shape.
14.
As the vegetables cook
they turn a deeper shade of their natural color, this is the time to begin to
add your spices. Stir continuously.
15.
Now begin to add the cooking
water you reserved earlier. This is an
important stage, as your sauce will be based on this water – not on oil,
milk or any other liquid. Add the water slowly;
pour a little and allow it to cook, bubble and thicken. You may need to add more spices than you are
used to, as the water will dilute the taste of the spices and vegetables. Taste your sauce after each addition of water,
to ensure that you have not watered down its taste too much.
 |
| Cooking the vegetables for the pasta |
16.
Continue to stir and
allow the vegetables, spices and water to cook, thicken and become a
"real" sauce. This may take a
bit of "trial and error" at the beginning to get the right ratios,
but it is certainly worth the effort.
Your sauce is ready when the vegetables are al dente and have a vivid
color.
By the way, this is also
a great way to make a vegetable (sans pasta) side dish!
Make sure you have a made
at least twice as much sauce as vegetables.
17.
Now add your pasta ladle
spoonfuls at a time. Mix into the vegetables sauce and then add more
pasta. Work this way until all the
vegetables and pasta are gently but well mixed.
18.
Heat through and
taste. Once it is done, remove the pot immediately
from the flame to avoid burning or drying out the dish.
Be'teyavon!
**
The shape of the pasta you use is a personal choice. There are times I enjoy round, thick pastas,
usually in the winter and times I enjoy linguine. For a look at pasta shapes and explanations,
please click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pasta
The
pasta shapes I most enjoy for my pasta dishes are: penne, tortiglioni and fusilli. These pastas have a shape that
"holds" the sauce, well as look appealing and we all know that we eat
with our eyes before we take even one bite of food. Linguine is also a good
choice, but I feel that portion control is easier with the smaller, bite-size
pastas I listed.
Doing it
together – Working with a Partner is a KEY to Success!
I truly believe that one
of the keys (yes, yet another key) to our success was the fact that Sid
and I worked together! We took on the weight loss challenge together. Taking
a partner, whether it is your husband, wife or a good friend will absolutely
improve your chances of success.
However when I talk about working together, and we are
talking about me, "together" also means "competition". Our weight loss competition, whether it was
obvious or covert, was for the most part healthy.
But things can go amiss,
this is especially true if one partner loses weight more rapidly or
simply loses more weight or one partner takes this process more
seriously than the other partner.
These are tough issues
that, thank G-d, we never had to deal with, but they need to be taken into
consideration if you want to "take someone" on this journey with you. Like everything else in life, you have to be ready
to change your life and accept the responsibility, the hard work and the
commitment that goes along with this journey.
I was lucky that we met both
the challenge with the same degree of determination. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must
report that as far as a division of labor was concerned, the playing field was
less than even: I cooked and he ate (ok, we both ate, but I did
the cooking!). This meant that I wanted
every other aspect concerning food to be a shared effort: we created the menus
together, we went shopping together, we weighed and measured the food (for the
most part) together. OK, Sid did more
of the measuring and calculating!
While we were spared
crises of "faith", there were plenty of times when I walked around
just shaking my head and saying "there is no justice"! This was usually when Sid – who as a male began
our journey with more WW points to eat than me; Sid – who did not
exercise and yes I know, men burn up more calories while they eat than
women – I told you there is no justice in the world! Sid just continued to lose weight without any
hitches, glitches or hiccups.
I could tell you the
story about Sid eating a falafel at the falafel stand down the block (Mosa –
great falafel!) before weighing in at a meeting, so he wouldn't lose more weight than
he should. But why rub it in? What did I say – there is no justice in the
world!
Part of working together
is also celebrating together. We planned
a celebratory dinner when we both attained our goal weights. I know, I know, celebrating losing weight by
EATING. But it worked for us!
We ate at 2C http://www.2-c.co.il/ a crazy expensive, but gorgeous restaurant in
Azrielli Towers in Tel Aviv. The restaurant
is located on one of the top floors of one of the towers, looking out over Tel Aviv and the ocean. By
the way, the tables facing the floor-to-ceiling windows are all reserved for
couples only. It's a treat, but once in
a while is it DEFINTELY WORTH IT!
The point was and is,
this is not an easy journey, so find a good partner and DO IT Together and then
celebrate a little!
