Clear Vegetable Soup and Italian Pasta Delight in Mornay Sauce

A Perfect Quick Healthy Meal!

Are you feeling tired or lethargic? Or you've been out all day and are back home for dinner, but you don't have sufficient time to cook a complete meal. Do you wish to wrap up a quick meal not wanting to spend too much time in the kitchen? But your better half is hungry and expecting a good meal tonight? I am sure you have been through this sometime. Well, this is what you can do?

The trick here is not to strain yourself too much, but making a meal that looks worth a day effort! Now here's something that can make it look elaborate, but isn't as much as it looks. Adding to it, it's a great meal loaded with nutrition. I started with boiling vegetables on one hand, cooking pasta and making the white sauce simultaneously.

Step 1: Choose a mix of veggies available in your pantry. 1/2 cup each of the following veggies diced and boiled. Carrots, peas, spring onions, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, sweetcorn or baby corn, french beans, mushrooms, spinach (boil separately as they leave color), etc. Add a finely chopped green chilli for some spice (optional).

Boil these veggies (sufficient for both clear veg soup and pasta) in water. Add salt while cooking. It takes about 10 mins. Cabbage and mushrooms are added just before the other vegetables are about to cook. Make sure that the vegetables are just cooked and they retain their crispness. We don't want them mushy.

Step 2: While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the pasta. Cook the pasta in boiling water with salt and a tsp of oil till they are just done. Drain the water, add another tsp of oil.

Step 3: Using a slotted spoon, transfer a part of these veggies (without the broth) to another bowl and kept them aside for dressing the pasta.

Now for the Mornay Sauce, we require the following

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 garlic pods pods
1 onion slit to 4 pieces
4 cloves (pierced them onto each onion piece)
2 cups milk salt freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat until melted. Slowly add the milk to the butter and whisk continuously. Pierce about 4 cloves to the onion. Add this with garlic to the milk. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Turn up the heat to medium and cook the flour for about 6 to 7 minutes. This will prevent the sauce from having a raw flour taste. Whisk continously to prevent lumps. Bring to a boil. Remove the onion pieces and then add 1/2 cup grated cheese to 1 cup of hot sauce; stir over low heat until cheese is melted. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, then remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm until ready to use.

Clear Vegetable Soup

Scoop out the remaining veggies with the broth into serving bowls. Add freshly ground pepper to them and serve hot.

Italian pasta in Mornay Sauce

Here's how we can arrange the pasta. It's done in 3 layers with pasta as the base, following the veggies and then the sauce.

Base: Place a layer of steaming hot pasta as the base.
Middle Layer: Layer the next layer with the cooked veggies.
Topping: A nice serving of the Mornay white sauce. Garnish with basil leaves.

Believe me, I just took 20 mins to prepare and serve this one! 5-7 mins to chop, 10-12 mins to boil veggies and pasta and another 3-5 mins to layer and serve. And not just for those lazy days, this one is a sure hit among your family and friends and will be loved by all!