My husband and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary later this year. Seven years of marriage, and just over a year of dating before we got married. Yet, after almost 8 years, I am still surprised when I find out things about him that I didn’t know. Like that if he wouldn’t have pursued baseball after high school, he would have probably gone into the Navy. Or that he hates spiders more than just about anything. (Ok, I learned that one pretty early in the marriage…) Or that after almost 8 years of thinking that he didn’t like egg noodles, he does, in fact, like egg noodles.
It is true. I have put off numerous recipes, simply because I thought that my husband didn’t like egg noodles. Sometimes, I would adapt a recipe and use another kind of pasta, but overall, I’ve just skipped over them. But lately, I’ve been seriously struggling with my menu planning. It honestly takes me like half a day to plan a week’s worth of meals. I’m totally blaming it on the pregnancy. But I came across this recipe, and it sounded good. So husband liking egg noodles or not, I was making it!!
The recipe actually calls for pappardelle, but I have never seen pappardelle in my grocery store. But I did run across these homestyle egg noodles, and they looked perfect. So I went for it. The recipe was super straightforward and pretty easy – except for the fact that I had the hardest time making the ribbons with the vegetables. But I eventually got it, and dinner was done in a snap. My husband wasn’t there to eat dinner with us, but the kids and I ate. Honestly, when it came down to it, I was afraid that this would be totally bland, but I actually really liked it. The kids ate the noodles, (of course leaving the veggies behind…), but I was very happy with it.
Later that night, when my husband sat down to eat, he scarfed this down. And he ate all of the leftovers the next day. I didn’t even ask him what he thought of it, but he willingly told me that he thought this was a 9.5 out of 10 recipe. My jaw just about dropped to the floor. “I thought you didn’t like egg noodles,” was all I could respond with. This was when he informed me that yes, he actually really likes egg noodles.
So the meal was definitely a win/win. Win that he liked the dish, and win that I can now stop avoiding egg noodles!
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Vegetable Ribbon Pasta
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Egg noodles are served with ribbons of carrots and zucchini in a light cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 pound homestyle egg noodles
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 large carrots, peeled, halved crosswise then thinly sliced lengthwise*
- 1 large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
- salt and pepper
- 4 small zucchini, halved crosswise then thinly sliced lengthwise*
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2/3 cup toasted pine nuts
- *to get thin slices, use a mandoline or a vegetable peeler
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, drain the noodles and return to the pan.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion and carrot and cook until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the zucchini adn cream, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the parsley and pinenuts, then add the vegetables and sauce to the pot with the noodles. Stir together. Add as much of the reserved cooking water that you need to make the sauce. Serve.
- ————
- adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray June/July 2008
More egg noodle goodness:
Hoisin Pork Stir-Fry with Egg Noodles from Culinary Cory
Shortcut Chicken and Noodles from The Cooking Photographer
Pappardelle with Pork Ragu from Taste Food
Chels R. says
I can never find those types of noodles in my store either and it drives me crazy cuz when Rachael cooks with them, they always look so pretty but I can never find them. I have however seen these homestyle egg noodles. What a great alternative. I would of never thought of using these instead.
Barbara @ Barbara Bakes says
Looks like a pasta dish my family would love too.
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
Yay for egg noodles! Jason and I have been together for 3 yrs and I’m actually finding out that some of the things that I make for him are things that he doesn’t really like, but because he doesn’t have the heart to tell me, I keep making it!
Joanne says
Oh man, if I stopped serving things the boyfriend thinks he doesn’t like then I might not be able to cook anything. In reality, as long as i don’t tell him what’s in it, he tends to eat and like everything. Mind over matter? I love the sound of these noodles!
Heather of Kitchen Concoctions says
Some weeks meal planning is a breeze for me because basically every meal is already planned out based on what I have to make for blogging/freelance work. But other weeks I struggle intensely. I guess I just need to remember simple meals like this!
Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy says
looks absolutely delicious! yum!!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
Glad that you founda “new” dinner to make after 8 years using something you thought he didn’t like. I find that my husband just thinks he doesn’t like something so if I get creative with said ingredient, I can usually work it in 🙂
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
What a funny story, this looks delicious – I love ribbons of veggies in my pasta!
Karen F. says
This looks so good and easy. Thanks for sharing. Do you think it would be as successful if I substituted whole milk (or 2%) for the heavy cream? Obviously, I’d lose some richness, but would the whole dish fall sort of flat?
Deborah says
@Karen F., I’m really not sure. I think if you substituted evaporated milk for the cream, it would probably work. I’ve found that evaporated milk works a lot of time in place of cream. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
Karly says
That looks amazing! I absolutely love egg noodles, but only ever use them in one recipe. I need to expand my egg noodle repertoire!
And, yeah. It’s always fun finding out weird facts about the husband. Why don’t they just tell us every single little detail about themselves like we do? 😉
Katrina says
This looks awesome!!
Rosa says
Delicious and healthy!
Cheers,
Rosa