A SIMPLE SUMMER PASTA

This is a quick, and easy summer pasta dish, served with a fresh green salad and in 30 minutes or so, dinner is done!   Fresh Basil is so wonderful when you have waited all year for it's return.
With this dish, I used Tinkyada Gluten Free Fusilli pasta.  The directions say to cook 10-12 minutes, mine took 8 minutes which was plenty.  We don't often see this kind of pasta at our stores here, so it was a nice treat.
2 cups of Tinkyada Gluten Free Pasta (cooked, then drain and set aside)
Olive Oil
1 lb. Anti-biotic/Hormone free Lean Ground Beef
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
14 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
5 minced garlic cloves
2 rounded tsp. Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper
1 small yellow zucchini, quartered
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
a handful of minced fresh basil
grated Asiago Cheese
Cook the pasta, drain and set aside.
Heat up a saute pan on low medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil.  Brown the ground beef, and drain some of the excess liquid off.  Add in the chopped onion, minced garlic, Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper.  Saute about 5 minutes.
Cut the tomatoes into quarters, adding to the pan, with the tomato sauce, stirring to combine.  Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 8 minutes.  Then add in the chopped zucchini and simmer, stirring occasionally for another 5-8 minutes.
Add in the cooked pasta, and Parmesan Cheese, keeping on a low heat, stirring to combine.  Check for seasonings, and keep on low heat for another 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh basil.  Serve with a generous topping of grated Asiago cheese.

Ina Gawne
author
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4 comments on “A SIMPLE SUMMER PASTA”

  1. Oh, what a coincidence ... we've been dining on a very similar dish the last two nights! I even made mine with the Tinkyada fusili, too. 🙂 My dish was also tomato based and I used ground venison vs beef. I used come tomatoes, some pizza sauce, pepperoni slices, corn, and cheddar cheese in mine. Mr. GFE had seconds last night so now it's all gone. 😉 Yours is a very lovely dish, Ina! I'd enjoy it very much with the zucchini, Asiago, Parmesan, etc. 🙂
    Happy Saturday!
    Shirley

  2. That looks delish! Fresh spinach would be good in there too. I will have to try this and see if I can sneak the fresh tomatoes into the children!

    1. Thanks Erin! I will be doing a post of organic heirloom tomatoes in the next day or so. If you can get some heirlooms they might do the trick, so incredibly sweet - kids like sweet! 🙂

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August 12, 2011
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