Pasta - the perfect midweek meal. Be inventive with your next dish by trying one of our top 10 vegetarian pasta mains.
Italian food maestro Antonio Carluccio makes us ‘Pappardelle con Frittedda’ (pictured above), which in the Sicilian dialect means a stew of asparagus, young onions, small broad beans, peas and artichokes. Toss this vegetable medley with pappardelle pasta and sprinkle with vegetarian parmesan.
Peter Sidwell picks Farfalle pasta (or, as we like to call it, ‘bow’ pasta) for his summery salad, which combines creamy chunks of avocado with red chilli, fresh mint, red onion, and crumbled feta cheese. Drizzle with a simple dressing made from lime juice and zest with olive oil.
A steaming bowl of broth, made hearty with macaroni pasta and borlotti and cannellini beans. Romilla Arber flavours her main with fresh rosemary, garlic and onions, and serves in big bowls with a sprinkling of parmesan (make sure you pick a veggie one) and some crusty bread.
An oldie but a goodie. Owner of Italian cookery school Katie Caldesi roasts red pepper, courgette, red onion, Tenderstem broccoli and aubergine together in the oven with thyme and olive oil, then tosses the colourful mix together with gigli pasta and toasted flaked almonds for her roast veg pasta.
Another beautiful recipe from Romilla Arber, who this time makes her own thick-ribboned pasta (‘pappardelle’). Just buy it if you haven’t the time to make your own, then toss together with a generous scoop of mascarpone cheese, fresh basil and halved cherry tomatoes.
Aussie TV chef Bill Granger travelled all the way to the Isle of Wight to find the perfect pumpkin for his cannelloni recipe. Each tube of pasta is filled with mashed thyme-roasted pumpkin and ricotta, and then the whole dish is topped with a cheesy sauce and baked until golden and bubbling.
Adrian and Michael Daniel, who set up both The Gate veggie restaurants in London, describe this dish as ‘stir-fry pasta’, because it is so quick to make and best cooked in a wok. Pan-fry garlic with oyster mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and beans, and then add just-cooked pasta, pine nuts and basil.
It’s Carluccio again, and this time he’s kept it very simple. Spaghetti with garlic oil and chilli is probably one of the most popular recipes for native Italians. Make the sauce by heating olive oil gently in a pan, then frying garlic and chilli in it. Then simply toss with your pasta.
Young cook Callum Hann makes this cannelloni for his vegetarian sister, and he promises that it’s simple to make. The filling is spinach, ricotta, parmesan (pick a vegetarian variety), cheddar cheese, egg yolks, garlic and lemon zest, with a cheesy tomato sauce on top.
Mushrooms can steal the show at dinner, if only you cook them right. Simon Rimmer says mushrooms should be fried in a smoking hot pan to seal in moisture and create a lovely crispy texture. Celery, carrots, thyme, star anise, and plenty of red wine are key to this dish.
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