fusilli pasta medley

We'd been out to dinner the night before at an American seafood restaurant in Philly. They had an interesting sounding seafood penne pasta special so we tried it. It was okay, but just not quite right. A major problem was that the penne were not coated by the sauce, which was just abundantly dropped on top. In authentic pasta, a minimal amount of sauce is usually used to coat the surface of every piece of pasta—pasta shape and texture are in fact linked to the type of sauces which best accommodate each other in this sense. And the combination of ingredients in the sauce didn't seem to blend together into a flavor enhanced mixture.

So ms_ani rummaged through the fridge for something to throw together for a fresh pasta sauce, fusilli was the shape choice, and came up with this. It was far superior to the restaurant and the light bulb went on signaling part of the reason why—the sauce coatability, in contrast with the previous night's experience.

ingredients

pasta
1 lb fusilli
sauce
2 T olive oil
1 leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 sweet red pepper, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
2 mushrooms, chopped
5 fresh plum tomatoes, pureed in food processor
1/8 t cayenne red pepper
salt to taste
finishers
1/4 c fresh basil, chopped
black pepper to taste
freshly grated parmigiano to taste (1/4 to 1/2 c?)

instructions

  1. Start the pasta water boiling and cook the fusilli al dente with the usual amount of salt.
  2. Meanwhile, do the veggie prep.
  3. Then saute the leeks in olive oil till softened
  4. Add the garlic, and stir around a bit, then the red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms and tomato puree. Cook for about 10 minutes and stir in the chopped basil.
  5. Combine the pasta and sauce and mix in the black pepper and parmigiano.

notes

  1. After all this coating chatter, make sure the sauce gets well acquainted with the fusilli before serving.
fslimdly.htm: 2-nov-2000 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]