Pasta in red sauce
Here are two varieties of pasta in red sauce - Fusilli with stir fried asparagus and Tagliatelle with some grilled broccoli.
You can make pasta using pretty much any veggie - mushrooms, peas, eggplant, spinach in either white or red sauce. I already have a recipe to make homemade white sauce pasta and pasta in red sauce is not very different.
Red sauce is nothing but a simple tomato sauce. It's very easy to make a pasta sauce at home. Blanch the tomatoes in water for around 10 minutes. Once it cools, peel the outer skin and blend it to a smooth puree along with basil and some Italian herbs. Heat olive oil in a non stick pan and pour the puree and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Give it a good stir every now and then. Add some salt, sugar, handful of parmesan cheese and any flavouring of your choice. Cool the mixture and the pasta sauce is ready. Refrigerate for 3-4 days.
I have used a store bought pasta sauce just to reduce some effort. Just use the same measurements as in white pasta recipe, and use 1/2 cup of pasta sauce instead of white sauce.
Cooking your asparagus with the pasta is a clever way to save on time and washing up. But if you want them to be crisp and a stand out, stir fry separately. Cut the stir fried asparagus into 1 inch pieces and add them at the very last minute in the pasta before serving.
Stir fry broccoli in the same way as asparagus. Clean the florets well and remember not to throw away the stalk. The outer skin of the stalk may be tough and can be peeled using a potato peeler. Cut into inch sized cubes and toss them in the pan along with the rest of the florets. Add these cooked broccoli to the pasta at the very end
