sunday pasta
the best meal to end the weekend
Sundays have become my favorite day of the week. The mornings are for French toast, a quick workout, and taking the kids to karate. The afternoons are for a family brunch and meandering through the neighborhood. The evenings are for this pasta - not at all traditional, but a hearty, spicy, melty mix of textures and flavors. I make it differently every time, changing up the pasta shape, the protein, and the vegetables based on what we have at home.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Hitha's Sunday Pasta
serves 4 (or dinner + lunch the next day)
Ingredients
1 box of Banza pasta (I typically use shells or cavatappi)
16 ounces of your go to protein (I use Impossible ground, Beyond Meat spicy sausage, or Field Roast sausage)
1 serrano pepper
1 cup white onion
1 tablespoon of minced garlic (I'm lazy and buy it in the jar)
2/3 jar of pasta sauce (I'm loyal to Carbone's arrabbiata)
2 tablespoons of goat cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
2 cups of baby spinach, chopped
Olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon dill weed
1/4 cup red chili flakes
Directions
In a medium pot, boil salted water and cook pasta just before al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.
While the water boils and pasta cooks, heat a few turns of olive oil in a large saucepan, over medium high heat. Add your protein and cook until brown.
Remove the protein from the pan and reduce the heat to low-medium. Add your onion and serrano pepper, cooking until the onion is translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add your protein back to the pan, along with enough sauce to coat the protein and vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, until everything is mixed evenly.
Season this mixture with pepper, dill weed, and chili flakes. Stir until the mixture is well-combined, and add the goat cheese. Cover your pan until the cheese is melted.
Add your drained pasta to the sauce, along with the reserved pasta water (adding 1/3 to start, and more as needed), and stir until the pasta and sauce are well combined. Increase the heat to medium and cover your pan, letting the pasta and sauce meld together.
Turn off your stove and remove the lid, sprinkling the mozzarella on top and covering the pan again to melt.
Serve and enjoy!
My go-to kitchen tools
This is the Goldilocks knife - not too big or small, not too heavy or light, perfectly sharp and just right
Spicewalla makes my favorite spices. Their 18 pack is a great value buy (and 30% off).
I serve up most of our meals in these large, shallow bowls. They’re perfect for pasta, salads, stew…basically, anything.