BURN BLACK Blog

Meat Free Mondays

I decided last week that, since a) I love to cook, b) am Vegetarian and c) following the Weight Watchers program that from now on I'm going to post either a recipe or a veggie discovery each Monday and thus call it Meat Free Mondays (very original no???).  This week I thought I would kick off MFM's with my favourite ever pasta dish which is cheap, easy and best of all vegan.  If you're following the Weight Watchers program this works out at 5.5 points with the oil or 3 if you use the no points low calorie spray oil.  Parmesan (dairy or vegan) is optional and obviously you will need to point it.

Carrot Pasta

If you like you can use flavoured oil (I sometimes use garlic infused or chilli infused olive oil) or you can use the low fat spray oil instead.  Also ASDA do tins of chopped tomatoes with chilli which work well with this if you fancy your meal with a bit of a kick.

Ingredients

• 120 g pasta (dried)
• 4 medium carrots
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons of Olive oil
• 300 g Passata / 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh or dried herbs

Instructions
Boil a pan of water (for the pasta) and whilst waiting for it to boil wash and peel the carrots with a vegetable peeler. Set the pasta off to boil and slice the carrots into thin slices (literally as thin as you can make them). Finely dice the garlic and the onion.

With another pan, coat the bottom with oil and heat on medium-high heat. When hot, add the carrots, stirring frequently. When the carrots start to soften, add the garlic and onion. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes until some of the carrots get brown around the edges and the garlic is golden. Next add the passata/tin of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and herbs until it's all warmed through and serve with the cooked and drained pasta.

Preparation time: Roughly 30 minutes if that.

Serves: 2

If you like the idea of MFM or you actually cooked this dish then I would love to hear from you.  I do love this pasta dish and must eat it at least once a week.