Rigatoni, Risotto Style

Submitted by pdxjosh

"This pasta has a nice creamy taste without a lot of fat or dairy. It's nice and quick to prepare, and you can make it with whatever vegetables or pasta you have on hand. Exclude the cheese or replace with soy cheese and it's vegan."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, slivered
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried sage
• 1⁄2 teaspoon thyme
• 1⁄2 cup carrot, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 cup green beans, cut to 2 inch length
• 6 ounces whole wheat rigatoni (or other chunky pasta)
• 2 -3 cups broth (need not be homemade)
• 1 ounce pecorino romano cheese, finely grated
• salt
• fresh ground pepper

directions

1. Heat the vegetable broth to a simmer.
2. Meanwhile, warm the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
3. When it's heated, add the onion and saute until it becomes transparent, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the sage, thyme, and garlic and cook until the garlic begins to soften.
5. Make sure that the onion and garlic do not brown.
6. Add the rigatoni to the onion and garlic, and saute until thoroughly coated.
7. Increase the heat to medium-high and add broth to a depth of about 1/2 inch.
8. Cook, stirring frequently, until the broth is nearly gone, and then add more broth.
9. The broth and the starch from the pasta should begin to cook down into a sauce.
10. After cooking the pasta for about five minutes, add the carrots and the green beans.
11. Cook as above, until the rigatoni is al-dente and the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
12. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheese.
13. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Reviews

[sugarpea]

Liked the technique and this is a very versatile recipe. You could use whatever tubular pasta and whatever vegetables. I used canned chicken broth and that I won't do again. All that simmering down again and again made the dish very salty. Next time, homemade broth with no added salt.

 

[Izzy Knight]

I made this for a dinner party. EVERYBODY LOVES IT AND ASKED AND TO PRINT THE RECIPE FOR THEM! this is all i have to say: TRY IT, YOU WILL LOVE IT

 

[Anu_N]

Ths was really tasty, though I made a whole lot of changes! I used green beans and broccoli florets, and water, not broth, so I didn't get much of a 'sauce'. I also used oregano instead of thyme and sage, which I didn't have. AND I also omitted the cheese... so in the end I probably had a totally different dish, but thanks for this one anyway! :-) It's really simple, and tastes really good.