Saturday, August 2, 2008

A really simple pasta!!



Pasta is one of the dishes, I like to make anytime of the day. What I like most about pasta dish is it's so versatile, that you can really be creative and can make thousands of your own different versions. When I make pasta just for me and my hubby, I try to make it healthy by adding as much vegetables as I can, and by using wheat pasta. I live the variety of wheat pasta you get in Trader Joe's.
As a party menu, I go little beyond my healthy instincts and try to make everyone happy.

So here is one of the healthy kinds I make for just me and my hubby..:)

So you can use pasta of any shape you like. This time I used the one you get at Costco. It comes with a pack of 6 , 1LBS each. There is a combination of radiator and Fusilli or combination of other varieties.

I used radiator for this pasta.
I cooked pasta in a boiling water with some salt in it. If you are using less amount of sauce or a homemade sauce, then this is the only time to add salt to pasta, so that pasta can absorb the flavor. Cook the pasta until it reaches to al dente.
Before draining the pasta, keep a bowl of water aside, to make the sauce later.
Now drain the pasta and keep it aside.
While you are boiling the pasta you can work on sauce and and the vegetables you want to add in pasta.
I don't measure the quantity for making the pasta, usually half a pound pasta is enough for 2 people for a lunch or the dinner. I just eyeball the vegetables and the sauce. My experience tells me that it never goes wrong. There is nothing to go wrong in this delicious dish.

So cut onion, green beans, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, sweet pea pods and broccoli. Asparagus goes very well with pasta.
Chop all the vegetables.

Heat some olive oil in the pan. Add chopped garlic, around 2-3 cloves. Fry for a minute, and add onions. I use dried Italian seasoning. Sprinkle it on onions, mix well. Then add remaining vegetables one by one. After adding all the vegetables, add the water from pasta that we kept aside. What we want to do is, cook vegetables in such a way that it will maintain it's crunchiness.
So add about 1/4 cup of water and cover the pan with the lid until the vegetables are partially cooked. Now it's time to add sauce to the pasta.

This time I bought the pasta sauce from Costco. It's homemade style marinara with imported Italian plum tomatoes and Napa Valley Cabernet.

It's delicious. A perfect combination of wine and tomatoes in to your meal. Again while adding the sauce just eyeball it. I added about a cup and a half I guess. Mix the sauce well with all the vegetables, take some help from remaining pasta water. Now add your pasta to the pan. Make sure that your sauce coats the pasta very well. Keep it on medium flame for couple of minutes more, and add shredded Parmesan cheese. Turn off the heat and serve hot sprinkling some cheese on top.

As I said, a simple pasta recipe never goes wrong. So doesn't matter whether you are a master cook, or a beginner, or someone who likes to experiment just like me...:)
You can never go wrong with this dish.
It's the simplest and the healthiest.

You got to try this out.
Enjoy!!!


Coming Up:- Blueberry yogurt muffins


1 comment:

Ivy said...

Asparagus in pasta sounds really good, I'll have to try doing that next time. :)