Organic Brown Rice Fusilli Pasta with Thick Mushroom Sauce, Walnut Oat Crackers with Pesto

I wanted to use up the maybe 4-5 ounces of the Fra Diavolo pasta sauce I opened last Wednesday, and wanted to try organic brown rice fusilli pasta by Tinkyada (ricepasta.com) . I've had other pastas by this company and they all have been good.

Into a medium saucepan with a little bit of olive oil, I started sauteeing 1/4 large yellow onion, diced into small-medium 1/4"+ cubes. A minute or so later, I added 4 ounces of sliced mixed mushrooms (baby bella, shiitake, and oyster), and cooked till the mushroom was reduced a bit and fully cooked, though not shrunken and brown. I then added the pasta sauce as well as a small can of tomato paste. To make it less thick, I added a significant amount of red wine, perhaps a bit more than a half cup, as well as a teaspoonful or so of fresh Greek oregano.

The owner-chef of Cafe Trilussa in Chapel Hill, Giovanni, gave me this pot of "Greek oregano" to plant in my garden, telling me it will grow fast and, unlike the oregano I have in my herb bed, will not go dormant in the winter. However, I am pretty sure it is lemon sage that he gave me, which isn't bad as I was thinking a few weeks back of acquiring lemon sage for my garden! The leaves of what Giovanni gave me are small and it has a pronounced lemon taste.

Regardless of oregano or sage, I also added some salt and crushed red pepper, as well as chunks of tempeh, and simmered on low heat for 15 minutes or so. I then added about two tablespoonfuls of finely chopped onion to get both cooked and fresh onion flavors. I let it simmer another minute or two, then served over the pasta.

It was very good! I also served some delicious English walnut oat crackers, topped with pesto. They were great!