Herbalicious Pasta

Mmmmm… You can never go wrong with pasta and a sauce rich with fragrant herbs. That’s why when I found out that we were making a pasta sauce for our Herbs & Spices unit today in my Gourmet Foods/Cultures & Cuisines class, I couldn’t help but get REALLY excited. No one will ever understand how in love I am with anything Italian. I love their culture, their language and if their food were a man, I would marry it. It’s a bummer that my Mom isn’t that big of a fan of Italian food so I don’t get to make it as often as I want. I mean, I make Italian food about 2 to 3 times a week… If I had it my way, I would probably eat Italian food every single day… And maybe I should because Italian food, when made right, is often healthy. Even the oil they use is healthy!

Anyway, this recipe is very simple but it leaves you with some room to experiment and adjust it to suit your taste.

Here it is:
1 Tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil — that stuff isn’t always the best for sautéing because it burns pretty fast)
1/4 cup carrots, finely chopped
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1/2 Teaspoon minced (or better yet, grated) garlic
1 Tablespoon dried herbs*
2 Teaspoons tomato paste
2 cups canned diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

*It’s really up to you. This is where you can be creative. We were assigned specific herbs in our kitchens. My kitchen group was assigned basil. However, I made this pasta sauce again tonight for dinner and I mixed up a bunch of different herbs. I mixed some dried basil, dried oregano and parsley flakes. Together, they added up to a tablespoon of dried herbs. However, if you want to use fresh herbs from your own herb garden, double the amount to 2 Tablespoons of herbs. Remember: Dried herbs are sharper than fresh herbs.

1. Heat up a saucepan on your stove (Medium heat)
2. After about a minute, pour the olive oil into the sauce pan.
3. Add the carrots, celery and onion and sauté for about 3 – 5 minutes (until onion becomes translucent)
4. Add the herbs and then the garlic. Toss the ingredients together.
5. Add the tomato paste. Mix well.
6. Add the diced tomatoes and add some salt and pepper.
7. Simmer on med-low heat for about 10 minutes.
8. Serve on top of pasta. I would recommend seashell pasta but it’s really up to you.

Like I mentioned earlier, I made some for dinner tonight and I’m putting some in my lock and lock container and brown bagging some for lunch tomorrow. This recipe is easy, healthy and delicious. It took me about 25 minutes (I cooked the pasta shells simultaneously) to make and that includes prep time. And like I also said earlier, be creative with it! I doubled the garlic that I used because I love the taste of garlic. You can add some ham or diced grilled chicken leftovers from a previous dinner. You can also add more vegetables to give you more of your daily vegetable needs from this dish. I’m planning on trying some olives and mushrooms next time. See, it’s a flexible dish. You can modify it to make it suit your taste and if you serve it on a really nice plate, you can even serve it as a homemade meal for a date