Creamy Mushroom Linguine

I love costumes and so I love Halloween, normally. This year, there was no way I going to waste weeks crafting costumes only to forsake festivities for the sake of safety. I was sad, of course, but what's new there? We all have been sad about basically everything since March. Such a sad eight months it has been.

But we couldn't dash the annual sugar dreams of our eight-year-old backup dancer. We tossed out an idea: what if she trick-or-treated inside our house? We have plenty of rooms with doors! She was game, so that's what we did.

We also had ghost pancakes for breakfast.

Not done with scary yet? You're in luck, because now it's Election Day. You maybe want some comfort food, but you also want something to make you feel less guilty about all the Halloween candy you'll binge-eat while binge-watching the election returns. Here is your solution: "Creamy Mushroom Linguine" (Discover Delicious).*

"Not helpful, Jaylbyrd," you're chiding me, using my super-cool nickname. "Why wouldn't I feel guilty about eating pasta with a cream sauce? Aren't you always banging on and on about how meat and dairy are bad for the earth, and also doesn't cream have a billion calories?"

Answer: This recipe contains NO CREAM!! It gets the creaminess from silken tofu. That's right, kids, it is VEGAN. Let that sink in for a moment.

The dish turned out well for me and was easy to make, but I'll offer two suggestions: 1) cook your peas before you add them to the dish (strange that the recipe doesn't state that) and 2) jazz it up a little. Maybe you add some nutritional yeast, some miso, some spices (smoked paprika, anyone?), some hot sauce, some seaweed, some kimchi, some seaweed kimchi, or some of all of the above. I also believe that other green vegetables would work just as well or perhaps better than peas; it's hard to get peas onto a fork with linguine.

*UPDATE as of June 2024: the website doesn't seem to exist anymore, but I used the Wayback Machine to find the page, and the recipe is copied below:

Creamy Mushroom Linguine

Yield: Serves 4

Hands-on time: 20 mins

Hands-off time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

	for the sauce:
1	350g (12oz) pack silken tofu (I use this brand). US equivalent.
2	tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1½	tbsp soy sauce
	for the mushrooms:
400g	(=12oz) chesnut mushrooms, thickly sliced. (Button mushrooms will work too).
2	tbsp olive oil
2	cloves garlic, finely chopped
180g	(=1½ cups) frozen peas
½	a lemon, juice of
	for the pasta:
1	tbsp fine sea salt or table salt
320g	dried linguine (spaghetti will work too)

Process:

1. To make the sauce, put the tofu, soy sauce and extra-virgin olive oil into a blender and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a large saucepan or casserole dish saute the mushrooms over a medium/med-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, for the pasta, bring 2 litres of water to the boil with the salt. Add the pasta to the boiling water, reduce to a low simmer, and cook until just below al dente (around 8-10 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water to stop it cooking.
4. Add the garlic to the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes. Then add the peas and cook for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the pasta to the mushrooms and peas and stir through until everything is hot. Pour the sauce all over and stir through thoroughly.
6. Add the lemon juice and season with pepper to taste.
7. Serve in warm bowls and enjoy.