Shimeji & Tomato cream pasta

/ Haruka Sugiyama

Description: No cream? You still can make creamy tomato pasta with milk. You can prepare without mushrooms or add your favourite ingredients.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients 

  • Spaghetti – 140g
  • Extra virgin olive oil – 2 tablespoons 
  • Shimeji mushrooms – 160g
  • Bacon – 40g or 2 rasher
  • Tomato tin – ½ tin or 200mL
  • Milk full fat – 200mL
  • Unsalted butter – 20g
  • Garlic – crushed, 2 cloves
  • Salt – 1 dash
  • Ground black pepper – 2 dashes

Method

1. Follow package instructions to cook spaghetti pasta to al dente in plenty of boiling water with salt.
2. When pasta is almost cooked, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then add the garlic over low heat for 30 seconds, stirring regularly. 
3. Add the mushrooms to the pan.
4. When the mushroom is cooked, add in the tomato tin content, milk, salt, butter and black pepper to the pan. Cook until it boils.
5. Add the hot drained pasta and mix well.
To serve: Sprinkle ground black pepper.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

KcalProteinFatCarbsFibreSugarsSaltSaturated FatVitamin CPhorphorus
594.622.1g18.5g85.5g7.0g8.7g0.9g9.8g20.6mg232.5mg
29.7%44.2%26.4%32.9%23.3%9.7%14.7%49.2%51.5%42.3%
*These values are approximate and based on the value from ingredients prepared before cooking (Reference USDA). Percent daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may vary depending on your calorie needs. Iron is over 10%, Calcium, Potassium, Zinc, Folate, Vitamin B12 and E are over 20%, Vitamin B3 and B6 are over 30%, Vitamin B2 is over 50%, Vitamin B1 is over 90%, and D is over 100% of an adult’s daily reference intake. Your daily values may vary depending on your calorie needs. However, some vitamins may be lost while cooking. The values for “Waitrose 12 Rashers of unsmoked dry-cured streaky bacon 250g” were used for the sliced bacon and shimeji mushrooms values were used for the nutritional values above

Nutritional Tips

Tomatoes are low in fat, high in fibre, vitamin C and are a good source of potassium. They also contain some vitamins B1, B2, B6, folates, essential minerals (iron, calcium) and no cholesterol, all while being really low in calories with 18 kcal per 100g. On top of this, tomatoes are very versatile, so you can add them to so many different dishes.

My unforgettable memory of “La tomatina”  is basically a fruit-throwing battle. It is a festival held in Buñol (a Valencian town) in the east of Spain. It is usually held at the end of August every year. I usually hold tomatoes to either cook or eat them, but that day, I was holding a tomato for another purpose. I felt as if I was a piece of tomato to be cooked in sauce. The event lasts about an hour. It was fun, I doubt I can ever do it again but I think the best way to enjoy tomatoes is probably just to eat them when you grow old.

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