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Recipes

Meat and Fish

Nutrients per serving

Beef

Goblin's Pasta Dinner

Stir -fried fall veggies team up with pasta and frozen cooked meatballs for a quick dinner before trick or treating on Halloween night. For fun you can pretend that the curly pasta looks like worms and the meatballs look like eyeballs.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4 (makes 8 cups/2L)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp (50 mL) each ketchup and rice wine or cider winegar
2 tbsp (25 mL) each reduced salt soy sauce and sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) cornstarch
1/2 pkg (12 oz/340 g) curly twisted vegetable pasta (e.g. scoobi do) about 2 cups/500 mL
2 tbsp (25 mL) vegetable oil, divided
1 medium Ontario onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) finely grated gingerroot
1/2 lb (25o g) frozen Swedish cooked meatballs (about 2 cups/500 mL)
2 cups (500 mL) Ontario Broccoli florets
1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) beef broth

Preparation:

In a small bowl or measuring cup combine ketchup, vinegar, soy, sugar and cornstarch; whisk or mix with a fork until smooth and set aside.
Cook the pasta according to package directions, but omitting the salt, until al dente; drain and toss with 1 tsp (5 mL) oil and cover to keep warm.
While pasta is cooking, heat remaining oil in a large deep non-stick skillet over medium heat; stir-fry onion 1-2 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic, ginger and meatballs; stir-fry until meatballs are slightly browned about 3-4 minutes.
Add broccoli and red pepper, stir-fry 2-3 minutes. Add broth, cover and bring to boil and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until broccoli is crisp- tender (depending on size of florets).
Stir the cornstarch mixture to blend; push ingredients to one side of pan and gradually stir in the starch mixture, stirring constantly until thickened. Stir in cooked pasta and heat until hot. Serve in bowls.

Variation: Substitute turkey or chicken meatballs for the Swedish meat balls and chicken broth for the beef broth.