Fettuccine with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Baby Spinach

Past few days might have been the most humdrum foodie days of our lifetime. There hasn’t been any cooking happening in our house, and actually not much eating either. I won’t go into the details today, but it’s really been a difficult time. I might feel like writing about it some other time, today is definitely not the day.

One good thing that happened out of this near starvation was that I got a new found appreciation for an old favorite. Don’t laugh; I am talking about Red Robin. Yes, that Red Robin. About a decade ago, when we first came to this country dining out meant Chili’s or Red Robin. After we slowly graduated to finer restaurants, the old favorites have been forgotten. These days it seems we only appreciate certain genres of restaurants. On one side the expensive fine dining restaurants and the happening nightspots, and on the other side the hole-in-the-wall, one of a kind places where you get really great food for really low prices. The broad range of restaurants in the middle are often forgotten, especially the chains. It is just not cool enough anymore to eat at these places… But I had to go there for a work event. I am not sure whether it was the near starvation, but the Blackened Bayou Burger had to be one of the tastiest, juiciest burgers I’ve eaten recently. It reminded me how much we used to love this place. That got me thinking, have we become such food snobs that we are ignoring some places just because of the low coolness index? I think so… I have resolved to keep an open mind about such places; I think we are missing out a lot!

Anyway I digress as usual. Coming back to the recipe of the day, this dish was invented as a way of cleaning out the fridge. Last weekend I had done some grocery shopping, and most were not used up. The meats were moved off to the freezer at the beginning of the week itself, but the veggies in the crisper were starting to show the signs of a slow but imminent death, I had to do something quick. I have a bunch of different types of pasta in the pantry now, a recent addition after my resolve to start incorporating more non-rice main dishes into our diet. Combine the two, and that is how this one dish meal was born, and must I add it was a delicious dish for such an easy breezy recipe. You can use your favorite pasta and any leftover veggies in the fridge, but I think mushrooms really add a special something extra to this pasta preparation.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

• 8 oz Fettuccine
• 1/4 lb Asparagus spears tough ends trimmed and sliced
• 1 cup brown crimini mushrooms quartered
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 cup sliced leeks (substitute shallots)
• 1 cup chicken/vegetable stock (use water if you don’t have stock)
• 5 large cloves of garlic
• red chili flakes to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

Cook the Fettuccine according to the package instructions, but make sure it is still firm or al dente. Al Dente means the pasta is still firm, but not hard. Rinse with cold water and drain and keep aside.

Crush the garlic cloves well using a mortar and pestle.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil and add the leeks or shallots. Saute till soft. Add the crushed garlic and saute till it just starts to brown.

Add the asparagus and saute for about 3-4 minutes till the asparagus turns bright green. Add the mushrooms and saute for couple of minutes till the mushrooms starts to sweat. Add red chili flakes and salt and stir well to combine.

Pour the stock and stir well. Cook on high heat till the liquid is reduced to about 3/4th. Add the baby spinach and the cooked pasta to the pan and toss well. Cook on high heat, stirring frequently till all the liquid is absorbed.

Serve hot. Season with more red chili flakes and salt if needed.

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Category: Asparagus, Greens, Mains, Mushroom, Pastas, Vegetarian