Forty days without meat (40 dagen zonder vlees) is a campaign of a student in Maastricht. She proposes to eat vegetarian for Lent (the forty days between Ash Wednesday -today- and Easter Monday). Another interesting campaign in Belgium is Donderdag Veggiedag, where people are encouraged to eat vegetarian one day a week (Thursdays).
I am not taking part because I am already vegetarian, and the point is convincing people that eating less meat (and fish) can be healthier for them and for the planet, as well as tasty.
What I do want to do (hopefully) is during these forty days tell you (and perhaps show you if I remember to take pictures) what I eat as a vegetarian. So, without more blabla:
Forty vegetarian days – Day 1:
Breakfast:
- Glass of orange juice
- Musli with milk
Lunch:
- Bread with quorn slice (vegetarian cold cut), cheese, and nutella (not all on the same slice!)
Dinner:
- Pasta with mushroom sauce and quorn pieces
Snacks:
- Apple
- Tea
- Mandarins
- A cookie
And as a bonus point, the recipe for the pasta dish:
Pasta with mushroom sauce and quorn pieces
Ingredients:
- olive oil, salt & pepper
- 500 grams mushrooms, clean, sliced
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 150 gr quorn pieces
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp marmite
- 1/2 glass white wine
- 1/2 glass water
- 1 tsp maizena
- 2-3 tbsp light cream (7%)
- 125 gr whole wheat pasta
Multitask:
- Put a pot of salted water to boil to cook the pasta. When it starts boiling, cook pasta according to package instructions. I like my pasta al dente so I tend to boil it for a couple minutes less.
- In a wide bottomed pot, heat two tablespoons of oil. Sautee the quorn so it has some nice color and remove it from the pot. In the same pot, add another tablespoon of oil, and sautee garlic & shallot until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and let them cook until they have more than halved their volume. You can help them along with a sprinkle of salt. If the pan seems dry, wet it with a tablespoon or two of water. Add the thyme.
- Once the mushrooms are cooked, add the wine and boil for a few minutes. Add the marmite and stir. Dissolve the maizena in the rest of the water and add it to the pot to thicken the sauce. Boil for two-three minutes. Add the cream and the quorn pieces, and heat through.
- By now the pasta should be ready. Drain it and add it to the mushrooms. Stir to combine.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cheese if desired.
Makes two servings.
