I love pasta (well, i say this a lot!) and this is my go-to pasta dish almost always. I have fed this to almost all the people i know of! well, most of them if not all! And above all i was able to convert 3 anti-pasta people with this particular pasta recipe so i guess we have a legit point to bring this post to life!
My forever-on-going attempt to eat less carbs is an inspiration for this pasta. The more veggies in this pasta substitutes for the actual wheat pasta and yet still leaves you satisfied and filling. And since when did more veggies hurt anyone right?
As i type this i suddenly remember a rainy evening i spent with my best friend Prakshu savoring this pasta while i was in India. In the past, he had the divine pleasure to taste test some of my early culinary adventures along with my rock-hard cookies. Boiii and he still ate them all! And complimented me each time! I even once rushed to his office campus in utter excitement to feed him this cucumber-cream cheese sandwiches and he patiently answered (10 times) my questions “how is it?” “is it good?” “don’t you just love it?” “i love it, do u like it?” 😀
So back to the picnic part – I had packed this for our picnic and the goal was to just drive off to our mutual friends’ village, get some pictures clicked on the farmland, eat pasta and and enjoy the ride. But the rain-gods had planned us a different picnic and we both ended up eating this in our car and it sure made it even more fun! Prakshu loved it so much (if i can say so myself) that after that day he had requested me to make these few more times! This is one of my favorite memory of us hanging out together. Now before you jump to the conclusion that this is some god-send, utterly delicious, crazy-good pasta recipe, let me tell you, its a pretty basic one! This is what i can come close to calling it “close to authentic” pasta recipe. And this is a combination of what i saw on master chef few years back + my trip to Italy + few additions here and there of my own!
So I hope you would make this and feed some people you love! And who knows you might make a memory of a life-time or an interesting story to tell years later 🙂
Moreover isn’t this one beautiful looking pasta-dish? and with all those colors – what’s there not to like, ehhh?
- SAUCE INGREDIENTS -
- 6 large ripe-juicy tomatoes, cut into big cubes OR 2x cans of peeled whole tomatoes
- 1 cup canned tomato sauce (8 oz can)
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes
- 1-2 green chilies (optional)
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon black pepper, freshly cracked
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1¼ tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon chili flakes
- handful of fresh basil leaves, chiffonade or chopped
- salt to taste
- PASTA INGREDIENTS -
- 4 cups of pasta ( that has ridges- i used radiators)
- salt and water to boil pasta
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup onion, chopped lengthwise
- 1 cup broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 cup mushrooms (button or baby-bella), sliced
- 1 cup carrots, cut into thick discs
- 1 cup zucchini, sliced
- 1 cup yellow squash, sliced
- 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups red, yellow, orange bell peppers, diced
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- parmesan cheese, grated, as required
- basil for garnish (optional)
- salt to taste
- Grab a sauce pan and add olive oil, immediately add the crushed garlic and cook for 45 seconds or so. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add chopped tomatoes and canned tomato sauce and if you like little bit of heat then go ahead and add those green chilies, for less heat add de-seeded green chili or simply skip them for no heat.
- Add freshly ground black pepper, oregano, chili flakes, half of the basil, brown sugar and salt to taste.
- Break the tomatoes with wooden spoon or use a potato masher, i like to leave few chunks as is while breaking them with the wooden spoon.
- Add sun dried tomatoes and let it simmer for 20 mins.
- Add the remaining basil, stir and set aside.
- In a Large pan or pot, get your pasta boiling in salted water and cook them until al-dente or as per the package instructions.
- Drain the pasta and set it aside. Reserve some of the pasta water if you like your sauce on thinner side to add to the sauce later.
- In the same pan heat (on medium-high) couple tablespoons of olive oil, add freshly cracked black pepper.
- Add onion and let it cook for a minute.
- Add carrots and zucchini first. The idea is to add hard veggies first and let them cook for a minute.
- Add rest of the veggies and cook it like stir fry. We want them to be cooked but retain the crunch.
- Add salt to taste.
- Lower the heat and add the tomato sauce. Coat all veggies well with the sauce.
- Add boiled pasta, stir again gently.
- Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and a spring of basil.(optional)
- Serve immediately.
OR - use canned tomatoes, an Italian chef once told me, canned tomatoes are harvested and canned at the peak of the season so using them in pasta and pizza sauce is ideal, unless you are living in Italy!
Sun-dried tomatoes is an addition, i believe it adds an extra depth of flavor and i love the chewy rustic texture of it. If you do not add it, its still okay.
Use pasta that has ridges on them, that way sauce sticks better on it!
Go easy on the red chili flakes if you cant handle the heat, same goes with green chilies.
If you do not have fresh basil, substitute with 1 tablespoon of dried basil, it will have a small flavor variation though.
Skip the cheese to make it Vegan* OR add vegan-cheese and Use Gluten Free pasta to make it GF*
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