Pasta Primavera

Past Friday night was the Pasta night in our family. This pasta dish is one of the favourites in my family, even my 11 months old loves this one. Though her favourite is pasta in this but a little veggie here & there is welcome. It's not only easy to make but also tasty and satisfying One Pot Dish. There's no fixed list of ingredients for this dish as one can easily put vegetables of there choice, as I believe it's more of a method then a recipe. I make this almost once a week, and every time it has different things in it. Many a times it's the dish which I make usually when I'm cleaning the fridge(a day before fresh groceries)So whatever veggie is sitting alone in the fridge gets to go into this melody of veggies.It's also a good one for make-ahead, just warm it up when ready to eat.

As far the dictionary meaning of Pasta primavera, It's is an Italian-American dish that consists of pasta and fresh vegetables. A meat such as chicken, sausage or shrimp is sometimes added, but the focus of primavera is the vegetables themselves. The dish may contain almost any kind of vegetable, but cooks tend to stick to firm, crisp vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, peas, onions and green bell peppers, with tomatoes. Pasta primavera is usually highlighted by light flavors, aromatic herbs and bright colors ('primavera' meaning the season of spring). Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_primavera

Ingredient :

1. 4 cups or more of diced raw vegetables of your choice.(e.g carrots, zucchini,peas,onions,celery,cauliflower etc.)
2. 5-6 cloves of garlic - minced.
3. 2 cups of chopped ripe tomatoes or marinara sauce (whatever is handy)
4. 1/2 lb. sausages (any kind u like)
5. 1/2 lb. of any small pasta(elbow,fussili,bow tie)
6. salt as per taste
7. 1 tsp. red chilli flakes
8. 1 tsp. black pepper
9. 3-4 green hot chillies chopped (optional)
10. 1 & 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning(or one can use only basil, parsley, thyme or oregano as per taste)
11. 2 tbsp. olive oil
12. Handful of grated Parmesan cheese(optional as per taste)

Method :

1. Boil the pasta according to the package direction & while pasta is boiling get the veggies ready.
2. Heat the oil in a large size skillet/pan & then add garlic to it. Once it get cooked around 30-40 seconds add diced veggies to it & gently stir everything so that all the veggies get coated with the oil. Saute the veggies for around 5-7 minutes or until they are tender but crisp. Add salt,pepper,chilli flakes & green chillies.Stir everything together.
3. In the meanwhile if using sausages cook them acc. to the package direction & slice them.Once the sausages are done add them to the veggies.
4. Now add tomatoes & italian seasoning.Stir everything together.Let everything cook together for around 2-3 minutes. Now add boiled pasta(drained) to the veggie sauce mix it gently.
5. Serve with grated parmesan cheese on top.I don't do this everytime b'coz that's the beauty of cooking at home u can totally omit something, u don't want.But my DD loves her's topped with grated mozzarella cheese so do my husband, i just love it without any cheese.

Note : For Vegan version one can simply omit chicken/sausage part & cheese.Also i usually make it with marinara sauce as my DD tends to find the tomatoes in her portion & separate them as --not to eat category food, but she loves to eat raw tomatoes in salads isn't that funny.

Variations : For this part the credit goes to my brother, as this is one dish he also makes very frequently but with the twist. Twist here is that instead of making it with Italian seasonings he makes it Chinese style with a dash of soya sauce & ketchup, no tomatoes & instead of sausages he puts scrambled eggs, One of his all time fave.

As I wrote in the beginning of the post that this is a favourite food as of now for my little one also. When i say fav. means I even don't have to turn on any music or t.v to make her eat this (my fingers crossed).And yes, if cooking for kids please omit or reduce chillies. So here it goes, my little ones favourite, to Srivalli of Spice your life for her First Blog Anniversary with Kids Delight,an event to focus on Kids and also my best wishes for the same. I feel excited, as this is my first time ever, being a part of any blogging event.