Version from Italy
Pasta all'Ortolana — Italy
Short pasta tossed with sautéed carrots, courgettes, peppers and other vegetables, an Italian home-style dish named after the greengrocer.
- 20 min
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 4
- Servings
- Easy
- Difficulty
Pasta all'ortolana is an Italian dish in which a mix of vegetables is cooked down and then tossed with pasta; the name, meaning "greengrocer-style", points to the wide range of garden vegetables used. The mix of colors from the different peppers and tomatoes gives the finished dish a lively, garden-fresh appearance on the plate.
It is reported across Italy as a home-style way to use whatever vegetables are on hand, without being tied to one particular region.
Carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, courgettes, celery, yellow and red peppers, cherry tomatoes and eggplant are cut into small pieces and sautéed together, usually in olive oil, until softened, then any short pasta such as fusilli, penne, rigatoni or farfalle is boiled and tossed through the vegetables. A splash of the pasta cooking water is often stirred in at the end to help the sauce coat the noodles evenly.
Since no specific pasta shape or exact vegetable list is fixed, the precise mix, the cooking time for the vegetables, and whether cheese or herbs are added at the end vary from kitchen to kitchen. Grated hard cheese is a common finishing touch, though some cooks prefer to let the vegetables speak for themselves.
Preparation
Cut the onion, leek, garlic, carrots, courgettes, celery, peppers and eggplant into small, even pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onion, leek and garlic.
Add the carrots, celery and eggplant first, since they take longer to soften, and cook for a few minutes.
Add the courgettes and peppers and continue cooking until all the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the cherry tomatoes and cook until they start to break down.
Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente.
Drain the pasta and toss it with the vegetables before serving.
