Meatless Monday with Mushroom Pasta and Ricotta

Welcome (back) to the blog and thank you for joining us for another Meatless Monday.  Miratel Solutions took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption by 15% to improve personal health and the health of the planet. You can learn more about the positive impact of giving up meat just one day per week at www.meatlessmonday.com. Now let’s get to our recipe.

Today’s recipe for mushroom pasta with homemade ricotta is perfect if you are looking for a simple, tasty and affordable meal as “this simple pasta highlights the great taste of affordable button mushrooms.” This recipe for mushroom pasta with ricotta comes from the granddame of cooking, daytime talk show guru Martha Stewart. Let’s get cooking.

Mushroom Pasta with Ricotta courtesy of marthastewart.com

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 12 ounces rigatoni, or other short pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 pound white button or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
• 1 cup ricotta
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Shaved Parmesan, for serving

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add wine and cook until almost evaporated, 4 to 6 minutes. Add mushrooms; season with salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter.
3. Add mushroom mixture, ricotta, and lemon juice to pasta; stir to combine, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce. Serve topped with Parmesan.

This recipe for mushroom pasta with ricotta takes only 30 minutes to make including prep and yields four servings but can be easily adjusted to accommodate a crowd. “For even more flavor [in the pasta dish], experiment with dried porcini mushrooms.” Another great tip is to add in some freshly cooked spinach for added fibre, colour and flavour. As with any pasta dish, if you substitute regular semolina flour pasta for whole wheat or spelt pasta you will be making the dish much healthier. If you’re following a gluten-free diet, brown rice pasta will fit this dish perfect as well. Serve with a mixed green salad with a balsamic or other vinaigrette dressing.

If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit www.meatlessmonday.com and join us in taking the Meatless Monday pledge today. Spread the word at home and at work to promote CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop or salon even greener.

Enjoy!