La petite biscotte Now in Munich…

Pasta Primavera

[image to come soon]

“Ok, what would you like for dinner tonight?”

“Pasta, Pasta!”

“Again? :p”

“Yes :)”

I’m sure you know this type of conversation just too well. What can you do if your family likes Pasta a lot but if you’d still like to cook something healthy?

While strolling over the vegetable section of a local shop here in Aix en Provence, I found a bunch of different vegetables which all looked very appealing but I simply didn’t know how to put them together. So while browsing the wonderful foodblog of Elise I stumbled on a recipe that I’ve always wanted to try out: Pasta Primavera.

Pasta primavera is an Italian dish that consists of pasta and fresh vegetables. A meat such as chicken, sausage or shrimp can be added if desired, but the focus of primavera is the vegetables themselves.

This recipe is so interesting because it is a healthy, low-fat alternative to all those pasta dishes with heavy sauces. Refreshing, light, a taste of autumn and italy on a plate. A great recipe to use up vegetable leftovers you might have in the fridge.

Ingredients

(You can substitute/adjust the following vegetables in any way you like)

• 2 carrots
• 1/2 zucchini
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 onion
• 7 cherry tomatoes, cut in a half
• garlic (if you do not like garlic, don’t put any)
• olive oil
• 200 ml tomato purée
• 200 ml water
• thyme or herbes de provence
• salt and pepper
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 200g pasta (penne for example, you can also use whole-wheat pasta)
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

_______

1. Chop the onions finely. Wash and cut the vegetables in bite sized pieces, stripes for example. Put a large pan on the stove and heat the olive oil in it. (medium heat)
2. At the same time bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and a bit of olive oil.
3. First put the onions along with the garlic in the hot pan, stir them once and cook them for 30 seconds. Then add the rest of the vegetables and stir to cover with the olive oil. Let the vegetables cook like that for approximately 10 minutes (while stirring once in a while), until they are almost soft.
4. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook them according to manufacturer’s instructions.
5. After the vegetables are soft enough for your taste, add the tomato purée, the water and the vegetable stock cube. Stir well and let everything cook for a minute while adding some thyme (or herbes de provence) and salt/pepper.
6. Drain the pasta and add it to the vegeatables. Mix everything well and adjust seasoning if needed. Add the cherry tomatoes and remove from heat.

Serves 4. You can add some parmesan cheese but personally I left it away. Enjoy