Vegetables and pasta in spiced tomato sauce

This is quick, easy and tastes really good. The thinly sliced vegetables cook quicker and are easier to hide amongst the sauce for kids who are less keen on their greens.

Any mix of veggies is probably fine for this dish – if you have a veggie garden just use what’s growing at the time.

You can garnish with chopped and fried bacon bits, parmesan cheese, sliced fresh chilli, basil leaves or olives and the family can mix and match garnishes depending on tastes and likes.

You can easily use store-bought sauce for this recipe, but it will be massively enhanced by using your own homemade tomato sauce.

Vegetables and pasta in spiced tomato sauce

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Vegetables and pasta in spiced tomato sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups pasta – fusilli are particularly good because they hold lots of sauce
• About 6 cups boiling salted water
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 carrot peeled and matchstick sliced
• 2 courgettes matchstick sliced
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1 red capsicum seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 cup sweet corn kernels
• 1 x 400g tin Italian-style tomatoes
• 4 Tbsp homemade tomato sauce or low-salt store-bought tomato sauce
• 1 cup grated tasty cheese
• Smoked paprika to garnish

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the manufacturers’ instructions, until just tender.
2. Drain and toss in a little olive oil and leave aside while you prepare the vegetable mix.
3. In a large frying pan, melt the butter and sauté the carrot and onion for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, courgettes and capsicum and cook until just tender. Add the sweetcorn, mix well and heat through.
4. Add the tinned tomatoes and homemade tomato sauce and heat for a few minutes until bubbling.
5. Add the cooked pasta and toss through to mix.
6. Transfer to a large, heatproof flan dish or similar and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
7. Dust the top with a little smoked paprika.
8. Place the dish under the grill for a few minutes or microwave on high for a minute to melt the cheese.

Recipe Notes

Serve immediately.