Sub for pasta water

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

I just found this:

https://www.177milkstreet.com/stories/02-2019-pasta-water-substitute

Which suggests boiling some water with a little corn starch and kosher salt.

This is probably good. The pasta water can be to help sauces stick to the food, as well as a bit of a thickener, and for that smoother mouth feel.

I don't see why freezing pasta water in ice cube trays or something couldn't also be an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

I just found this:

https://www.177milkstreet.com/stories/02-2019-pasta-water-substitute

Which suggests boiling some water with a little corn starch and kosher salt.

This is probably good. The pasta water can be to help sauces stick to the food, as well as a bit of a thickener, and for that smoother mouth feel.

I don't see why freezing pasta water in ice cube trays or something couldn't also be an option.

I am going to try the freezing pasta water thing eventually, but since I don't plan on making pasta today, that will have to be the solution for another day. I'm going to try this today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a vegan kid, and putting various pasta sauces on white beans is becoming a staple in our household.

We have been experimenting with new sauces. This one, made as written with pasta was a recent hit:

https://rainbowplantlife.com/creamy-lemon-asparagus-pasta/

I'd like to make it again without the pasta (so, same sauce, increase the asparagus and beans, leave out the pasta), as a side dish. But I'm not sure what to substitute for the pasta water.

To be clear, we aren't low carb or gluten free.

Does anyone have ideas? I am wondering if I can maybe just blend a few of the beans up, and add that in, or if I can freeze pasta water from other times we make pasta and have it ready?

Has anyone done this?

Why would a vegan leave out pasta?

What about having your vegan kid cook her own meals?

[Anonymous]

OP here:

All my kids take turns cooking or helping to cook. DCUM loves to propose that the kid who is vegan makes their own completely separate meal, but that's not how we operate. Family dinners, where one or two people cook for everyone and we eat mostly the same things together is what works for us. This particular meal, one of her siblings and I cooked together.

As to why not pasta? We eat plenty of pasta, but this particular night we were having salmon burgers with condiments on buns, and sweet potato fries. Vegan kid had avocado and condiments on a bun and fries. There wasn't a need for pasta too, but there was a need, or at least a desire, for more protein. So, we found a menu that we thought sounded good, and modified it to increase the protein and leave out the pasta.

Could we have done it a different way? Sure. If the goal was just to get protein into her, I could have pulled one of the black bean burgers vegan kid and I had made and frozen out of the freezer, or made a side of plain edamame, or figured she'd get her protein from some plant milk.

But this particular day we had time to cook, which we like to do, and we had other goals. Cooking kid and I like to learn new recipes. I like all my kids to try new foods. Serving the beans as a side, rather than as a replacement, led to most of the family trying it, and leftovers, most of which got eaten last night as a snack by hungry teenagers. So, we improved everyone's nutrition in a way that a substitute just for the vegan kid wouldn't have.

We actually ended up changing the recipe more substantially, so we didn't need a pasta water sub, but I will keep the suggestions for the next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So pasta water is added starch for a slight thickener. What could could do is a cornstarch slurry. I wouldn't use a ton, have a little bit add it and see how it goes.

Yes. I've never understood this pasta water thing. It's just a little starch. You can add flour or cornstarch yourself, OP.

Because I don't know how to estimate how much flour or cornstarch is in a cup of pasta water. So, the "recipe" above is helpful.

Also, in this case the starchy water is added at the end. The starch is cooked with the pasta, it's not cooked in the dish. I know that flour needs to be cooked, both for taste and safety.

The thing about cooking is that it's rare for a recipe to ever be dead on, as variations in things like water content of the vegetables can affect it. So the trick is to just add a little, see how it goes, add some more if needed, too much, add a little water.

Cooking is more flexibility and experimenting, especially when adapting a recipe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So pasta water is added starch for a slight thickener. What could could do is a cornstarch slurry. I wouldn't use a ton, have a little bit add it and see how it goes.

Yes. I've never understood this pasta water thing. It's just a little starch. You can add flour or cornstarch yourself, OP.

Because I don't know how to estimate how much flour or cornstarch is in a cup of pasta water. So, the "recipe" above is helpful.

Also, in this case the starchy water is added at the end. The starch is cooked with the pasta, it's not cooked in the dish. I know that flour needs to be cooked, both for taste and safety.

The thing about cooking is that it's rare for a recipe to ever be dead on, as variations in things like water content of the vegetables can affect it. So the trick is to just add a little, see how it goes, add some more if needed, too much, add a little water.

Cooking is more flexibility and experimenting, especially when adapting a recipe.

This is such a DCUM post. Explaining that you can adapt recipes in a post about adapting recipes.