Non-dairy penne sauce

[primalclaws1974]

I watched a YouTube video that just looked delicious, and very healthy. The man cooked his penne noodles in water, but instead of throwing out the starchy water, he used it in place of milk. He made a reduction sauce with a little wine, and added in broccoli. The meal was diary-free, meat-free, but it was not gluten-free. I realize that is all the rage these days, but you can't have everything. Would you eat something like this?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

So the recipe was pasta (?) penne as I know it, not noodles, their cooking water with some wine and broccoli? Nothing else? Do you have a link to this YouTube recipe?

I know I cook some pretty basic meals and often recycle for instance the coming water that chickpeas or other brands have been cooked it instead of adding extra stock, but that 'recipe' sounds pretty lean to me and leaving on an awful lot including vitamins and minerals to day the least. As far as I can see keeping the cooking water would probably double to vitamins and mineral content of the meal!

 

[Ella]

Most people use the pasta water as stock for a sauce. My friend uses it for her marinara sauce and reduces it. Many chefs use the water from what they cook to create sauces, one not to waste it and also it has nutrients in it and saves time.

I imagine the sauce had some flavoring added and some cornflour at least to thicken it.

 

[primalclaws1974]

There is more to the recipe than the three ingredients I mentioned. I was just amazed that the sauce was made from the starchy water. I don't know what chefs do in restaurants, but I know no one I know makes sauce for noodles from the water. It actually sounds healthy and looks delicious. He added walnuts on top, for extra flavor, and an extra boost of health. Here is the link:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpriRF4L1I
.

 

[Food4thought]

I often use the starchy water from a pan of pasta to thicken a sauce I'm preparing to serve with it.

Most of my pasta sauces are tomato-based, but sometimes I just use lightly fried onions, spices and cooked vegetables before adding the starchy water to soak up the oily spicy mix.

 

[OhioTom76]

I've had mixed results with the whole starchy water thing. I think it also depends on how much water you are boiling the pasta with in the first place. Perhaps you need to intentionally use a lesser amount of water to cook it in so it's not too diluted to make a "sauce" with it. I've tried similar recipes, though not meat and dairy free, that suggested a dish such as Orichette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage only needed some starchy pasta water and some parmesan cheese to form the pan "sauce". I either wound up with a watery puddle on my plate and none of it was coating the pasta or the pasta dish was bone dry, so I ended up dressing it with some extra olive oil.

Incidentally, if you simply want to make a pan sauce for pasta that is dairy and meat free, you could just use margarine for the butter, and a golden vegetable stock for the chicken broth, along with the usual stuff like shallots, herbs and wine - plus maybe a hit of lemon juice.

Whole Food's make's a pretty good store brand vegetable stock, their "365" brand, which looks and sort of tastes like chicken stock. Some veggie stocks can be very tomato-ey and a reddish brown, while some others are also a brownish color and have a mushroom-y taste to them.

 

[primalclaws1974]

I think this recipe sounds great, but he admits it's not a diet meal, and he is using soy milk. I have watched most of his videos, so I know he is not lactose intolerant. I don't see the point of replacing one milk for the other. I think that the recipe would be just as good without the soy milk, but instead add some more starchy water. Yes, I agree that one should use a bare minimum of water, to ensure the water is starchy enough. But this might make the penne chewy, and less appetizing.