Day 27: Delicious, Nutritious - Penne with tons of veggies!

Every once in a while, we find that comfort food is on the menu.  Whether we need comfort from a bad day, from bad weather, or we just feel like we need something to ground us.  Sometimes, it is just a food that we deem as comfort food because it is the only one that will fill our physical void of hunger.  We all have one or two specific dishes that we go to for comfort.


Pasta, we think, is one of the most common, popular comfort foods that we know.  We all have ways to fix a pasta dish that is like our mother's, aunt's or grandmother's recipe.  Actually, we have even taken the extra step and approached friends at work, in the neighbourhood, and at church to ask them for their recipes.  We had Italian neighbours who would treat us to homemade sauce every year at the end of the tomato season.  With the kitchen in the garage, we could smell tomato sauce cooking for days!  And, when we see or smell something yummy, we start asking questions about how a food is made, and what ingredients are included.  Then, we take all that information and combine it into our own recipe.  That's what this dish is!  It is a combination of everyone else's ideas for ingredients, combinations, and methods.

Above: On the left, regular bulk oregano of unknown (country) origin. On the right is Greek oregano bought in a bag with several small branches. The colour is clearly different. The BIG difference, however, is the amount of fragrance and flavour that the Greek oregano has; choosing this oregano clearly packs a flavour punch that you should consider when creating Lenten dishes.

In the above photograph, we show all the ingredients to make this simple, yet pleasing dish.  We used a jar of spaghetti sauce -- Catelli's Garden Select brand (it usually has very little, if any added sugar and it is full of veggies), but you can use your favourite brand. 

 We chose to use  a red pepper penne pasta (warning: it is a bit hot!) made by Divella (below), because it is a nice way to add a little extra flavour to the dish without compromising the sauce's texture, flavour, or general appeal.  But, with most pasta dishes, you choose whatever shape and flavour you like.  More often, we would choose a whole wheat spaghetti noodle as our standard, but for this sauce, we wanted something that would not disappear amongst the lovely sliced pieces of vegetables. 

The other ingredients are basics in almost every kitchen -- olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley.  Fresh parsley is a good herb all the time!  We love the fresh over the dried because of the light, peppery flavour it offers, as well as the beautiful green colour that gets blended into the dish, and used as a garnish.  The trick is knowing to rinse the parsley after cutting it or chopping it because parsley bleeds its colour.  That way that beautiful green colour does not interfere with the colour of the end result food.

Slice the peppers and onions into julienne sticks.  A julienne cut is a matchstick cut that is 1/4 inch thick, 2 to 2 1/2  inches long.  We chose to use three colours of bell peppers -- orange, yellow, and red, but green bell pepper would have added a nice bite to the sauce, too -- we just did not have one on hand this day.  So, whatever peppers you have are a good choice.  The onion is sliced the same way as the peppers.  They are all cut in long, thin slices and rather uniform in size.  We used one pepper of each colour, and one onion.

The first cooking that you do, after having all the ingredients cut, is to cook the vegetables together.  This will take a little olive oil (about two or three tablespoons) and the vegetables.  Heat them for about 10 minutes.  The vegetables will turn a bright colour and will still have a crunch in the centre.  

Then, season with salt, pepper, and oregano.  How much you put in will be your personal taste.  We put about a teaspoon of each.  That sounds like a lot of salt, but you need that to enhance the spaghetti sauce.  Also, that will help in softening the vegetables in the simmering process.  So, don't shy away from the salt here in this dish!

Next, add the fresh parsley to the pot. We chose to leave the parsley whole to give one more dimension to the texture and mouth-feel of this dish.  You may choose to chop it up, so then it will get mixed in fully with the sauce, but, this is your choice.  We go for texture over everything when eating, so we take that into account when cooking.  If you are all about flavour over everything, then chop the parsley and release that oil from the plant!  See the picture below to help you decide.  We added about half a cup of parsley for this part of the recipe.  

Some spaghetti sauces may have exactly the flavour that you are looking for to meet your comfort food craving.  Ours is good, but we think the addition of these few ingredients make the sauce Great!  If you want good, then just use the sauce as is.  If you want GREAT, then add these ingredients.

Next, add the jar of spaghetti sauce to the veggies.  Add the entire jar.  This may seem like enough, but we must remember that tomato sauces thicken as they heat.  We are expecting a bit of thickening, so we rinsed out the jar with an ounce or two of water to compensate for the thickening process.  We wanted to make sure that our sauce would spread all over the pasta with ease, and be plentiful to spread on top, too.  Adding the water to the jar, and then adding it to the sauce really helped assure that there was enough sauce for everyone -- especially those of us who love extra saucy pasta!

(Oh, and save  the glass jar after you have emptied it, in case you have extra sauce, you have the perfect, pre-labelled jar to fit in your refrigerator.)

Next,  mix all the sauce and vegetables together.  Simmer for approximately 20 minutes while you cook the pasta.

Remember, everyone likes pasta done differently, so cook the pasta as much as you want.  We cook it for about 10 minutes and prefer it al dente (leaving the penne a bit chewy), and when using a whole wheat or red pepper pasta, the timing is completely different.  Read the package for directions for that specific type and brand of noodle; and, rely on what you know about cooking pasta.  Remember, even though the sauce recipe has some salt in it, that does not mean that you can eliminate the salt from the cooking water for the pasta.  The true flavours in the pasta dough are enhanced greatly with a little salt in the boiling water. Please click here to read an interesting variety of opinions about the merits of salting your pasta water appropriately.

Add the sauce to the pasta.  Add only about half of the amount of the pan so that you can toss that sauce with the pasta until everything is coated.  Then, use the remaining half of a pan to pour on top of each plate, or put on top of the large serving bowl (like the picture below) to serve in a family-style setting.  Either way, use half the sauce to coat the pasta, and use the other half of the sauce to top and garnish the pasta dish.  Of course, it is your choice to garnish the dish with a few sprigs of that lovely fresh parsley that we used in the sauce.  (see below)

Serve the pasta with your favourite salad, crusty bread, olives, and, if you like, you can use a grated, soy-based cheese topping to simulate the grated Parmesan cheese you would typically use.   We chose to omit that all together.  You may find that in this particular combination of flavours, you may not really need any cheese or cheese-like product.  Enjoy the different textures and tastes that come from this meal.  It's a healthy way to hide vegetables, keep dinner simple, and enjoy a little comfort food when you need.

Prayers in Time of Need
Almighty God, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, come to my help and deliver me from this difficulty that besets me. I believe Lord, that all trials of life are under Your care and that all things work for the good of those who love You. Take away from me fear, anxiety and distress. Help me to face and endure my difficulty with faith, courage and wisdom. Grant that this trial may bring me closer to You for You are my rock and refuge, my comfort and hope, my delight and joy. I trust in Your love and compassion. Blessed is Your name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Source of text: http://www.orthodoxprayer.org/OtherPrayers.html