Pasta with Tomato and Hidden Veg Sauce

Good morning everyone, hope your all well. It has been very hot here in the U.K this past week, especially over the last few days, I know some parts of England had torrential downpours on Monday, but where me and my family live, we were rather lucky as we didn’t have a drop and by the looks of it we wont for a while. Moving on from the weather, did everyone have a good week? We were very busy over the weekend, on Saturday my mum had an appointment at a Medical Centre we’d never been to before regarding an ongoing issue that’s unfortunately got worse over the past month, at the moment we’re currently waiting on a referral for her to have a scan which hopefully won’t be too long. Then on Sunday we went back to my dad’s hometown to visit my Grandad whilst he was actually at home as since my Nannie passed away, he’s been out with my Auntie a lot on daytrips trying to live life to the fullest and not take it for granted! It was nice to see him smiling again.

Anyway, on with today’s post…as its been so hot here, it has been a real struggle where cooking is concerned as if your like me and my family when it comes to sunny weather you don’t want to be spending a long time in a warm kitchen cooking when its so hot outside and you just want to either be outside basking in the sun or sat down with a cool drink, so here’s a quick recipe you can whip up especially for sunny days. An added bonus is that its a great meal to get kids (if you have any in your family) to eat their vegetables without them knowing!

Pasta with Tomato & Hidden Veg Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 1 Large Onion, chopped
• 2 Celery Sticks, chopped
• 2 Carrots, chopped
• 1 Leek, chopped
• 2 Peppers, deseeded and chopped
• 2 Cans Chopped Tomatoes with Garlic
• 1 tbsp each Caster Sugar and Balsamic Vinegar
• 300g Dried Pasta Shapes
• Parmesan, shaved, and Rocket, to serve (optional)

Method

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan and gently cook the onion, celery, carrots and leek until soft, about 20 mins. 

 Add the peppers and cook for 10 mins more, then tip in the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar.

Simmer for at least 20 mins – the longer the better.

Cook the pasta following pack instructions. 

Meanwhile, blitz the sauce with a hand blender until smooth, season and return to the heat to keep warm while the pasta cooks.

Drain the pasta and toss through the sauce. 

Serve in bowls topped with shaved Parmesan and rocket leaves, if you like.

This recipe is so quick and easy to make, and versatile as you can use different types of pasta and also add other ingredients i.e. chicken, mince or other meat products (if your a meat-eater), tofu, or other vegetables of your liking! Thank you for visiting my blog and checking out today’s post, I hope you all have a lovely week and I shall see you next time.