Simple Pasta Recipe
Date Night Recipe Ideas: Pasta
This red sauce pasta can be easily made in 30mins, paired with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon makes for a lovely date night dinner!
What pasta to use?
You could use any type of pasta for this.
What pasta sauce brand to choose?
Some of my favorite brands would be: Ciao Pappy, Rao’s, Mutti, TRUFF, and Whole Food’s brand. I find these more flavorful and typically made with healthier ingredients!
But don’t stress over getting one of these if you’re on a budget. You can definitely purchase the cheaper options since we will be adding extra ingredients to it!
Do I need to add meat?
No, but it always makes a pasta dish tastier especially for meat lovers! You can choose to keep it plain or add mushrooms or tofu instead of meat!
What are the best cheeses to use?
I love buying a block of parmesan and grating fresh parmesan into my recipe. It makes it extra creamy, cheesy, and nutty! You can also use mozzarella balls or burrata!
Ingredients:
1/2 lb pasta
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 onion (diced)
2 large shallots (diced)
6-8 garlic cloves (diced)
chili flakes (as much as you like)
1 can diced tomatoes
24oz pasta sauce
Italian seasoning blend
Spinach
Italian sausage
Parmesan (grated)
Fresh basil
Directions:
Cook your choice of meat thoroughly on a non-stick pan or on a pan with about 1 tbsp oil then set aside. You can choose to cook mushrooms or tofu instead of meat.
Add butter to pan, and sauté onions, shallots, and garlic until fragrant. Roughly 3 mins
Add chili flakes and mix for 30 seconds
Add diced tomatoes and sauté for 1 min
Add in pasta sauce of choice
Season with Italian season blend and salt if needed (taste test)
Add in a handful of spinach and let that cook for 1 min
Add back in your meat of choice
Toss in pasta and mix
This comes together so easily and can save you tons of money on date night and can even be used for weekday lunches/dinner.