Don’t toss your scraps just yet. Turn plant stems into the stars of the meal—and honor Mother Earth in the process—with this delicious, low-waste pasta sauce recipe. Simply gather whatever's left on your cutting board, be it carrot tops or broccoli, herb, cauliflower, or mushroom stems, and combine with pantry staples for a comforting, veggie-forward dish.
INGREDIENTS
3 cups of any green veggie scraps you have on hand (like broccoli, cauliflower, and herb stems, carrot tops, and/or beet greens)
4 cloves skin-on garlic, smashed
1 skin-on shallot or ¼ onion, chopped
¼ cup mushroom stems, chopped
Lemon peel or juice from one small lemon
⅓ cup seeds (like pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, or pine nuts)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt + pepper to taste
2 servings of cooked pasta
DIRECTIONS
- Sauté garlic + onion skins in oiled pan until fragrant and softened.
- Add in finely chopped mushroom stems and sauté, stirring often for 2 minutes.
- Add sautéed garlic, onion, and mushrooms into a blender with all the greens, vegetable scraps, and lemon peel. Blend on high, adding water until the sauce is to your preferred consistency.
- Add in seeds and olive oil and blend again until smooth.
- Transfer sauce to a pot and heat gently over low. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Drop cooked pasta into the sauce and coat well.
- Top with seeds and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
