Rachael Ray knows how to make a healthy home cooked meal! If you’re staying in this Saturday night and looking for the perfect recipe to host friends for dinner, try the vegetarian variant on sausage or chicken cacciatore: Portabella Cacciatore!
What To Get:
4 C. vegetable or chicken stock (32 ounces)
1 oz. dried porcini or mixed wild mushrooms
1/4 C. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
6 portabella mushroom caps, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 cubanelle peppers, halved, seeded and thinly sliced width-wise
2 sm. ribs celery, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. marjoram or oregano (1/3 palmful)
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 C. tomato paste
1 C. dry white wine or red wine
1 can stewed tomatoes (15 ounces)
1 lb. regular or whole wheat rigatoni or penne pasta
2 Tbsp. butter
1 C. grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus some to pass at table
What To Do:
In a saucepan, heat the stock along with the dried mushrooms and simmer to soften. Heat a large, heavy skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat with the EVOO, four turns of the pan. Add the mushroom caps and cook until darkened and softened, 12-15 minutes. Add the onion, peppers, celery, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes, marjoram or oregano and salt and pepper and cook for 8-10 minutes more to soften. Stir in the tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, then add the wine and reduce for a minute or two. Remove the dried mushrooms from the stock with slotted spoon. Chop them up and add them to the skillet with the cacciatore. Add all but the last 2 tablespoons of warm stock to the stew, leaving any grit that may have settled in the bottom of the pot behind. Stir the tomatoes into the cacciatore and reduce the heat to simmer. Heat a large pot of water to a boil; salt it and cook the pasta to al dente. Drain the pasta and return it to the hot pot. Remove the bay leaf from the cacciatore. Toss the pasta with the butter and cheese and two ladlefuls of cacciatore sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls topped with additional cacciatore, passing extra cheese at the table.
