A couple of my Ironman training partners are on a vegan diet. Both maintain a busy schedule working full-time while training 6 days a week. This doesn’t leave much time to prepare healthy vegan meals. One hired a nutritionist to cook meals for her while the other is a single bachelor. I created My Broccoli and Mushroom Pasta with Red Pepper Flakes for them. It’s a healthy, carbo-loaded recipe that is quick and easy to prepare.
A single serving of this dish contains a cup of broccoli, one of the super-foods. Broccoli is low in calories and rich in nutrients including protein. Broccoli also contains the highest levels of certain glucosinolates, which scientists believe may reduce the risk of certain cancers.
The broccoli is cooked for only a couple minutes. Experts recommend that broccoli be cooked for only 2-3 minutes and remain crunchy in order to retain its health benefits.
For more information on broccoli, check out this article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111011112501.htm
Serving size: 2
Ingredients:
- 1 small garlic clove or ½ large garlic clove
- 1 cup of cooked whole wheat pasta (or gluten-free pasta)
- 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes, plus more if desired
- ½ cup pasta water
- ¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese freshly grated (optional and may be omitted for a non-dairy diet)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Slice off enough of the top of the garlic clove to expose the cloves. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast for 25 minutes.
While the garlic is roasting, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt to the water and then add pasta. Cook until al dente, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water. Uncooked spaghetti, about the diameter of a quarter when held together between your thumb and index finger, should yield about a cup of cooked spaghetti.
In small sauté pan, sauté mushrooms in 2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Saute for about 5 minutes until mushrooms are lightly brown. Season with a pinch of salt and freshly cracked peppercorns.
Boil or steam broccoli for 1 minute. Discard the water in the pot used to boil or steam the broccoli. Return cooked broccoli to the empty pot.
Once the garlic is roasted, peel each garlic clove by removing the outer most cloves first. Then cut the tip of the skin off the top of each clove. The roasted garlic clove should now be easy to remove.
Course chop the garlic gloves and add to the broccoli. Then add mushrooms, red chili pepper flakes and olive oil. Saute over medium heat, for approximately 1 minute, mashing the garlic into the broccoli and mushrooms.
Add the pasta and reserved pasta water. Season with salt and freshly cracked peppercorns and toss for 1 more minute.
Place in individual serving bowls and add grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese before serving. Sprinkling a pinch of red chili pepper flakes on top makes a nice presentation.
The Hungry Athlete 