This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links. I will only recommend products that I have personally used! Learn more on my Private Policy page.
Sometimes you only need a few ingredients to pull together a tasty meal. Â Pasta is very conducive to pulling together a quick meal when you do not have a lot of time. Â Just because a pasta dish can be created quickly does not mean it will not be tasty. Â This simple tomato pasta dish is also an example of grabbing what vegetables you have and combining them into a flavorful, colorful dish. Â Healthy too. Â I grabbed leeks, mushrooms and of course, by its name, tomatoes. Â Add some garlic and spices and you are ready.
Simple Tomato Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1 lb spaghetti
- 4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- Handful of mushrooms, sliced
- 1 leek, white part only, diced
- 2 tsp oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
Directions:
Begin by preparing all the vegetables. Â Be sure to soak the leeks in water after you have cut them to make sure all the dirt is washed away. Â Meanwhile, fill a pot with water and bring to a boil (you can add salt if you wish). Â Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Â The best way to know the pasta is done is to take out a noodle and bite into it. Â If it is still hard, cook a little longer. Â Drain and set aside.
While the noodles are cooking, heat oil in a sauté pan on medium heat.  Once the oil is good and hot, add the leeks.  Cook the leeks until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute to release the flavor.  Next, add in the tomatoes and the mushrooms.  You will want to cook the tomatoes until most of the liquid is gone.
Finish the vegetable preparation by melting the butter.  This will give a silkier consistency to the vegetables.  (You can omit the butter but I know they do this at most restaurants so I have started to do this on occasion). That’s it.  To complete, simply take the noodles and add to the sauté pan with the vegetables.  Mix well to put a good coating on the noodles.
Serve and enjoy!
You had me at tomato! I love this simple, yet elegant pasta.
Thank you Rini, you are sweet.
Funny you should post this recipe This morning my wife requested I make my “Summer Pasta” (her name for it) which essentially is this style of pasta with my own little tweaks. I think this is one of the best understated ways to prepare pasta. Not only is it quick and simple to prepare, but its delicious and considering there is only a few ingredients – very flavorful. Nice job and thanks for sharing your recipe.
How do you do your Summer pasta?
I kind of modeled “Summer Pasta” after an Italian dish called “Aglio E Olio”. Traditional Ingredients for the Aglio E Olio are a very liberal amount of olive oil (maybe like 1/2 cup+) which is used like a thin sauce, with parsley, chili flakes, garlic, black pepper, and parm cheese. Very simple but delicious. And it may seem like a lot of oil but if you find the right balance of pasta to oil then its amazing and not oily at all.
Although I love Aglio E Olio just as is, I still often bastardize it by also adding a bit of diced tomatoes, a few torn up olives, diced onion or shallots, and fresh basil just before serving. The consistency looks a lot like your pasta dish – with the tomatoes still having a bit of body and chunkiness to them.