Rigatoni with Chunky Vegetable Sauce

Loving pasta as I do, I don't quite eat it as often as I would like.  Just so full of carbs, and I've been cutting carbs.


Everyone once in a while I get a hankering for some pasta.  Gotta have some pasta my tummy says.  So I was reading some old recipes that I had cut out and came across this one in an old Everyday Food issue.  The fact that it advertised a "chunky vegetable sauce" caught my eye.  I mean, what better way to sneak some veggies in to your diet...or your kids...than to include them in the sauce with a pasta dish?  I keep telling myself that if I'm gonna eat carbs, at least I can eat more veggies too to counter act them.  I Keep telling myself that...


So with the extra fiber and nutrients in mind I set out to make this dish.  It had mushrooms, which I love, and zucchini.  YUM!.  I understand that a lot of you are adverse to mushrooms...so just leave them out and/or substitute them with some other veggie, like summer squash, broccoli, or bell peppers.  They all work, and it's all good!


We loved this dish.  It was easy to make, with little prep time.  The flavors were nice and fresh and the chunky vegetable sauce was fantastic!


Do try this...you'll like it too.


Here are some step by step pics to help you along.

The end result?

Take a gander at this!

Rigatoni with Chunky Vegetable Sauce

serve 6

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced medium
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can 28 ounces tomato puree
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves, coarsely chopped
1 pound rigatoni

In a medium pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook until vegetables soften slightly, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add tomato puree, season with salt and pepper, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a rapid simmer and cook until zucchini is crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in oregano.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and add to sauce, tossing to combine and adding enough pasta water to create a sauce that coats pasta. Serve immediately.

adapted slightly from: Everyday Food, March 2011