Friday, January 16, 2009

mediterranean pasta

i love this pasta dish because it changes up the standard noodle and sauce combo. it wants to be a pasta salad, but has enough weight to make it a full meal. plus, i'm sucker for anything with artichoke hearts.


  • 8 oz. ziti or rigatoni
  • 1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
  • 1 small can tomato sauce (8 oz)
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 can black olives
  • 1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

as an italian, i must encourage you to use fresh tomatoes if you have them. alas, it is winter here in the midwest, and we don't have fresh tomatoes around too often. so heat your tomatoes (canned or fresh) with tomato sauce for about 10 minutes on medium-high. start boiling the ziti according to directions on package. after sauce has just started to simmer, add black olives, garlic and artichoke hearts. simmer on low for about 5-10 minutes more, until the ziti is done. mix the sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and rigatoni together.

makes about 3 dinner servings.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious, love the whole combination! :)

Anonymous said...

you had me at "artichoke hearts" - you've inspired my dinner for tomorrow! this is less scary than seitan for a quick yummy meal!

Amy said...

Mmm this sounds great! I only recently discovered artichoke hearts (yes, I suspect I have been living under a rock of some sort :P)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, artichoke hearts just rule in my book!

Anonymous said...

yummy! Looks delicious!

Rico said...

Excellent dish I love this type of food and yours look amazing. Just to prove it, here is a different version.

http://ricocoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2008/11/really-easy-and-economical-recipe-for.html

Anonymous said...

I have a greek-style pasta recipe that I make on a regular basis that's similar too. This looks great!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Mmm, mmm, mmm!!!

Lauren said...

I hear you on the tomatoes. It's almost like an Italian sin! :) Haha! My mother in law (who is also Italian) and I jarred tomatoes at the end of the summer so we could have them for our sauces!

Looks amazingly delicious!! I love pasta!!!

jessy said...

another sucker for artichoke hearts here! your pasta looks so awesome! mmmmmmmmmmm! i would love to try this dish with some tasty seasonal tomatoes, but i might have to make it sooner - it looks too delicious!

Anonymous said...

You have all of my favourite ingredients for a pasta dish there :D

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Oh my goodness, thanks so much for the freezing-jocalat tip. I love eating dark chocolate straight from the freezer, but never thought about freezing my energy bars. It's supposed to warm up this week, so I'm definitely going to try that!

Jenn Shagrin said...

Hahaha so true. The funny thing is that whenever I book acting jobs, I usually play 15-year-old emo teenagers that wear globs of black eye liner.
I think you should high-tale it out to LA and try they Peanut Kale Salad at M Cafe. Your resolve will be powerless.

AnuSriram said...

That looks yummy!

allularpunk said...

yes! i love olives! i love artichoke hearts! i love pasta!

perfection ;)

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

looks good!

Anonymous said...

this looks very yummy!!! pasta salads always remind me of my friend, brian. whenever he is invited to a party, he ALWAYS brings pasta to it in case there isn't any. it's his favorite party food.

Kana said...

I always have a jar of artichoke hearts in my pantry. Looks good!

Meg said...

I want some of this now!!YUM!

Anonymous said...

Looks great, and so quick and easy to whip up too.