Easy pasta recipes are plenty, but it is not always so easy to find healthy pasta recipes. Given the choice my family will also opt for a creamy carbonara, lasagnas and or a 3 cheese mac 'n cheese. We are however trying to eat slightly more healthy in this family, by just cutting out unnecessary fats, sauces and sugars. The vegetables that I chose for this recipe are all at their peak now, so they are sweet and the colors are just too beautiful.
I also wanted each vegetable to still be prominent in this recipe, so I chose not to have a tomato base sauce, but rather to add the roasted, halved cocktail tomatoes right at the end. The result was a flavorful pasta,packed with the goodness from the vegetables, but without the calories from a creamy sauce.
Penne with Summer vegetables
Ingredients
500gr penne - cooked to packet instructions
1 big onion - finely chopped
4-5 courgettes - diced finely
250gr mushrooms finely chopped
150gr asparagus - cut in chunks
500 gr cocktail tomatoes - halved
fresh thyme
good quality extra virgin olive oil
salt/freshly grounded pepper
juice and zest of a lemon
Parmesan cheese
Heat a skillet and a generous glug of the olive oil. Saute the onions for a while and add the other ingredients, except the tomatoes and the asparagus. Keep the heat high and sauté rather than cook the vegetables. When just about ready add the asparagus and the tomatoes. The heat from the other vegetables is enough to cook the asparagus. Just before serving, add another glug of the olive oil and season. Drain the pasta and serve with this delicious "sauce" and freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.
If you like a bit of heat, feel free to add some chili or some chili flakes.
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25 comments:
What a lovely colorful pasta dish! Looks great and easy to prepare with fresh veggies.
This looks sooo mouth watering!!!
Lots of good vegetables in this - zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes. They are some of my very favorites. You're right. So many recipes call for cream with pasta. Thanks for making this healthy. I love that great crusty baguette. Lucky you to be able to get such a gorgeous baguette where you live.
Sam
Oooh, how can you resist a pasta so colourful and pretty??? Tempting as though a creamy carbonara is... ;-)
Simply, stylish, yummy looking and sounding. I find it hard to restrain myself from covering all pastas in a mountain of Parmesan though!
This is so fresh looking! Great pic.
I am all the way a carbs & veggies person- and when it comes to pasta, I much prefer veggie based sauces then creamy/cheesy ones- so this would be my ideal kind of dish! Lovely colourful appetizing dish you have made here!
what a beautiful,colorful dish!
It is always nice to find a healthy as well as tasty pasta dish not laden with cream or heavy sauces...although there is a time and a place for them as well:D
I really like all of those fresh roasted vegetables in this pasta!
Just beautiful Nina! And those asparagus look particularly young and tender, just delicious!
This looks simply delicious.
I love simple pasta like this and with vegs... just too good to say no.. :P
this is great when friends are coming over
Another delicious picture. Food looks so yummy.
This really is the perfect summer pasta recipe! The colors are just gorgeous. Certainly not lacking for taste!
A wonderful recipe for meatless Mondays!! PPD
That looks gorgeous...lovely colours!!!
This recipe looks so healthy and tantalizing! Beautiful colours just heightens the expectation and makes you WANT to enjoy!
ronelle
Lovely pasta dish, love all the veggies in it, looks so pretty and tasty, mouth watering :-)
Love how this dish looks - but I think the bread is more tempting for me! :D
This pasta dish looks amazing! What gorgeous colors! The fact that it's healthy too is a bonus. :)
Nina this looks amzingly colorful and healthy. Who ever said that healthy means boring certainly did not come here!
Wonderful ingredients in this pasta dish! Great for family and friends.....so colorful...love the bread photo,too!
Nina, if this dish were on a buffet table, it would still be noticed with it's brilliant colours, an eye-catcher!
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