Pasta with tomato, vegetable & bean sauce

A really simple classic pasta recipe.

Pasta and tomato sauce

Ingredients

  • Jar of cook in pasta sauce. I normally go for one with extras - garlic and herbs, basil, or similar.
  • Variety of seasonal vegetables - anything that holds its shape after cooking. My favourites include carrots, courgettes, leeks, butternut squash, parsnips, olives, sweet peppers and peas.
  • Pasta. Make sure it's vegan - most dried are, fresh almost certainly won't be.
  • Tinned beans - borlotti, chick peas and butter beans all work well. I reckon a 400g tin is enough for about 3 people.
  • Grated vegan cheese to garnish (optional - available from many health food shops that have a fridge).

Method

  1. Chop the vegetables into smaller than bite size chunks.
  2. Steam, boil or microwave the vegetables as you would if they were a side dish, but slightly under-do them.
  3. Boil the pasta according to the instructions.
  4. Whilst the pasta is cooking, empty the pasta sauce and beans into a saucepan and warm over a moderate heat.
  5. When the sauce is a few minutes from being hot throughout, add in the cooked vegetables.
  6. Drain the pasta, place in a pasta bowl, top with the sauce. Grate cheese on top.

Variations

  • This recipe works very well with roasted vegetables - although that will increase your cooking time.
  • If you happen to have some vegan sausages (like the Linda McCartney ones), the go really well with this. Just cook them until they're crispy, chop them up and chuck them in near to the end of cooking.

Goes well with

  • Summer salad.
  • Garlic bread - you'll have to make it yourself. Search the interwebs for a standard recipe, and substitute the butter for vegan margarine.

General vegan cooking tips

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