Hidden Veggie Pasta with Mascarpone & Herby Breadcrumbs
A wonderful and delicious pasta sauce FULL of veggies that can double up as a lovely veggie soup (which tastes like a rich tomato soup). The sauce freezes well and it is such a family favourite.
Use any veggies you have, making this a fantastic ‘clear-the-fridge’ dish. I love the addition of mascarpone but leave out if you want to go dairy-free or vegan.
Easy swops
Replace the mascarpone in the dish with plain Greek full fat yogurt of choice.
Adding fibre
You can up the fibre in this dish by:
- swapping the gluten-free pasta with wholegrain pasta and
- add a drained can of lentils to the finished sauce as well.
Adding texture
I served this with herby breadcrumbs – Preheat oven to 180c. Whizz 3 slices of sourdough with 2 cloves of garlic and a small handful parsley, to a fine breadcrumb. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the breadcrumbs and toast in the oven for 8-10min or until golden, let it cool. Alternatively, shop-bought breadcrumbs are 100% and a very convenient way of getting ahead, I like these ones.
I also love to serve this with a chilli oil on the side (because I love chilli oil with most things).
Serving suggestions
Would go well with a crunchy side salad like my Speedy Rocket Salad.
Hidden Veggie Pasta with Mascarpone
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 large carrots diced
- 3 celery sticks diced
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 medium aubergine diced
- 1 large courgette diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 6 fresh tomatoes or 1 x 400g tin
- 250 ml veggie stock
- 4 tablespoons mascarpone/Greek style yogurt
- fresh parsley chopped
- 400 g rigatoni I used gluten-free (use wholegrain for high fibre)
- parmesan to serve
- 180 g shop-bought croutons bashed to a rough crumb
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a saucepan on a medium heat, add the fennel seeds, let that toast in the oil for a few minutes, then add the chopped veggies and cook, covered until soft, stirring occasionally. Once soft, add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 3 minutes.
- Cook the pasta until wonderfully al dente, drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water (NB).
- Add the tomatoes, a teaspoon salt and the stock. Let the sauce simmer away gently for 10 minutes.
- Whizz the sauce until smooth, taste and season. At this stage you might want to add pasta water/or stock to thin the sauce if too thick if you prefer. The sauce will thicken as it 'sits'.
- When you are happy with the consistency, add the mascarpone/yogurt (leave out if dairy free or vegan), salt and pepper. You can enjoy the sauce as a soup at this stage and also freeze into portions for later.
- Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta and season with parmesan, chopped parsley and breadcrumbs. Enjoy!
