Tricolor Veggie Whole Wheat Pasta

Last week I was reading The Italian Issue of Bon Appetit magazine and was inspired by the article "How to Make Perfect Pasta" and the technique they used. Rather than make one of their recipes I wanted to try creating a dish on my own and turned to the Italian flag for inspiration. I pulled red bell pepper, zucchini, half an onion, and some fresh basil from the fridge and got to work. Here’s what I came up with:

Tricolor Veggie Whole Wheat Pasta

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced

½ medium zucchini, very thinly sliced

½ small onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup whole wheat fusili, penne, or other short pasta, uncooked

¼ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

2 tbs chopped fresh basil

1 tsp nutritional yeast

Salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the veggies and garlic, sprinkle with a little salt and sauté until the veggies are tender and there is some color on them. Meanwhile bring two quarts of water to boil in a large saucepan. Add a small palmful of salt to the water and then add the pasta. Cook until about two minutes from al dente. Drain the pasta, saving about ½ cup of the pasta water, and set aside.

Once the veggies are tender, reduce the heat to medium and add a little of the reserved pasta water to the pan. Simmer for a couple of minutes to make a pan sauce. Add the pasta and red pepper flakes, stirring the pasta constantly for about two minutes, until the pasta is al dente and coated in the sauce. If necessary add a little more of the pasta water to loosen up the sauce. Remove the pasta pan from the heat. Stir in the nutritional yeast and basil and stir until the yeast is incorporated and basil is wilted. Add a little more salt if necessary, drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve.

Makes two small-ish servings or one pasta lover’s size serving. :-)

 
Thanks to Bon Appetit for the fabulous article and techniques that inspired this dish.