by Judith Willson

Created on: February 20, 2010   Last Updated: October 21, 2010

This recipe came into existence a few hours before writing because I was planning to defrost my fridge freezer and there were several things I wanted to use up.  They included some vegetarian hotdogs, single cream and a courgette.  The result was delicious.  This is suitable for vegetarians, and even committed carnivores are unlikely to realise the hotdogs are only pretend unless you tell them.

 Vegetarian Tagliatelle with a Cream Sauce and Fresh Tomato Salad.

 These quantities serve two people.  Or one greedy person.  Or three or four as a snack.

 Ingredients:

One onion

One courgette (zucchini in American)

Quarter cup lemon juice or white wine

One tablespoon sunflower oil or butter

Four vegetarian frankfurters

Single cream – about half a cup

Salt and black pepper to taste

Tagliatelle or any pasta of your choosing

For the side salad

Tomatoes

Basil

Cucumber (optional)

One small onion (optional)

Olive oil and vinegar

Instructions: 

Prepare the salad, then the flavours can mingle while you are cooking the pasta and sauce.

Put the pasta into unsalted boiling water

 While this is cooking slice the onion thinly and fry in the oil with salt

 Chop the courgette and add when the onion is nearly fried

 Chop the frankfurters and add them too.  Continue to fry this mixture for about 3-5 minutes.

 Add the lemon juice or wine

 Cook for a couple of minutes 

Finally turn the heat down low and add the cream and black pepper.  The pasta should be ready by now so drain.

Serve with the fresh tomato salad, and crusty or garlic bread if you like .

This could be adapted to make use of various vegetables you have lying around.  I think mushrooms would work very well, as would spinach.  It is already fairly rich so I didn’t add parmesan on serving but a little would be nice.  You could also tear some fresh basil leaves and sprinkle these over the top.

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