Edamame and Tomato Pasta

In my house, we love food. We love good food, good for you food, not so good for you food and everything in between. We eat a wide variety of foods and try hard to incorporate lots of fruits and veggies into our meals. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we have chicken strips with Buffalo sauce and sweet potato fries dunked in Sriracha mayo for dinner. I do serve carrot sticks and celery with it if I happen to have it on hand:)

To balance out these occasional Buffalo indulgences I try to make sure that most other meals I serve contain at least one large helping of veggies (many nights this is canned green beans or corn), I try to drink water with my meals, I try not to take seconds unless the food is truly calling to me and I cannot resist and I try to plan a meatless night at least once every week. On busy weeks I will sometimes end up with pancakes on the table. Pancakes are in fact meatless, but once you invite maple syrup and butter to the party you are pretty much back to Buffalo strips drowning in good Blue cheese dip;)

However, some weeks the stars align, we have a light practice/Scout schedule, I make it out of the store with the exact items on my list and not 20 things that are not, and then I’m ready to make one heck of a healthy and meatless main. On one of these weeks, I came across a recipe for a spaghetti dish tossed with raw onions, tomatoes, oil and edamame and decided to give this a try (sort of). I was not loving the raw onions so I doctored those up with some time in a skillet and some garlic and gave it all some love from Parmesan cheese and a true meatless star was born. If you are feeling very healthy, you can omit the cheese and make this a vegan meal and since I am not one to EVER omit the cheese let me know how it turns out!

Edamame and Tomato Pasta

**Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 box of thin spaghetti (regular works too if that is what you have)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 bag (8 ounces) frozen shelled edamame
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Prepare spaghetti according to package directions While spaghetti is cooking, warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once skillet is hot, add diced onion, season with salt and pepper and sauté for 5-7 minutes or until onion just begins to turn golden
2. Add minced garlic to the skillet and cook for 1 minute, stirring well to combine onion and garlic. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm
3. Cook edamame according to package directions
4. Once the spaghetti is done cooking, strain all the water from the spaghetti and return hot spaghetti to the pot
5. To the pot, add 1/3 cup olive oil, the cooked onion and garlic, diced tomatoes, edamame, salt and pepper to taste and half of the Parmesan cheese. Toss well to combine and add remaining Parmesan cheese. Toss again until well combined, taste and adjust seasoning per your taste
6. Serve immediately and savor the flavors!

Tips

• Edamame are, simply put, fancy soybeans. The green bean like seeds have a chewy but firm texture and a mild flavor. Most decent sized grocery stores will sell frozen edamame both in the pod and shelled (out of the pod). If it is available I highly, highly recommend purchasing the shelled edamame to save time and keep this meal weeknight do-able.
• Do not use powdered or canned Parmesan cheese for this (the kind in the green container that is powder like). It will not properly melt and will create a gritty texture on the spaghetti. I highly recommend getting a small chunk of Parmesan and shredding it yourself. If you are price conscious, my local Aldi sells a large triangle of Parmesan cheese for $4.
• I like to double this recipe and have the tasty leftovers for lunch for a few days. It reheats well and you can add a bit of olive oil to the mixture if the spaghetti is sticking or clumping together.
• This dish is a perfect late spring or summer meal when you don’t want to heat up the whole house but need a fresh and fast dinner. Add some fresh bread and you will have a meatless meal worth repeating!