No Tomato Sauce, No Cream Sauce, No Meat and Still a Tasty Pasta Dish

So as you go through life you encounter more and more vegetarians and even the most ravenous carnivore will admit that most are not crazy people but people who just choose to live a different lifestyle; one without meat and potentially a longer lived one because of it. So it was a great thing when you find an inventive new recipe that you can share with your vegetarian friends that is not a salad, has some nice flavor, and doesn’t involve anything near a tofurkey. So this post features a dish that my mom actually surprised the heck out of me with one day since she doesn’t often venture into new culinary territory. If you want a crazy name for the dish let’s say “A-Friendly Kickin Pasta” (A-friendly as in animal-friendly).


A-Friendly Kickin’ Pasta
Servings: 4 healthy ones
Prep Time: ~6min
Cooking Time: ~25min

Ingredients:
• 1 box of penne pasta
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 4 healthy cloves of garlic (pressed then finely chopped or just crushed)
• ~4oz sun-dried tomatoes (no juice)
• ~12oz banana peppers (no juice)
• 1 healthy teaspoon of dried basil
• ~6oz fresh mozzarella (chopped to a size depending on personal preference, explained below)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place EVOO and garlic in a large saucepan or stewing pot (you’re eventually going to put all of the pasta in here) and heat on a medium-low flame to slowly sauté the garlic. At the first sign of the garlic browning (very roughly 5-10 minutes) turn off the heat and add the basil. Next add the banana peppers and sun-dried tomatoes (without the juice; you can drain them or just pick them up with a fork-like utensil). Cover and let sit for a bit.
Boil the pasta (the instructions should be on the box if needed).
Uncover the A-Friendly Kickin’ sauce and taste it (don’t be shy). Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the pasta and toss.
When you are ready to serve, cut the fresh mozzarella into pieces that size is up to you (I went with pieces a little bit thicker and shorter than a stick of gum, but base your decision on how much you like chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese flavor or having that taste spread out over the dish).

Comments
So pressing garlic is great for something like this as it really opens up the garlic and exposes its flavor. However, when you don’t have a garlic crusher (because some friend who shall remain nameless promised to buy you one a year ago…) you can press the garlic under the blade of large kitchen knife and then finely chop it. Also, I like having the fresh mozzarella in the fridge as late as possible and adding it to the dish as its cold milky flavor with provide some contrast to the hot pasta and sauce (I also like the fresh taste of cold fresh mozzarella). However, if you put the mozzarella on the pasta and warm it a bit it will melt on it nicely which is also tasty. Most importantly, I went with the easier and cheaper version of this recipe in that I used canned sun-dried tomatoes and canned+chopped hot banana peppers. My mom makes this with fresh sun-dried tomatoes and fresh sweet banana peppers. I prefer her way but its slightly more expensive, requires chopping the banana peppers, and harder to find depending on your local super market offerings.

Enjoy!


Picture 1: Ingredients


Picture 2: All together in the pot now


Picture 3: Final Product