A fresh, light marinara-based Summer Vegetable Sausage Pasta, celebrating the season of the squash. Also starring Grape Tomato and Rigatoni Pasta!
OK, so this one isn’t mine. At least, not entirely. But I just had to share it with you, because it’s soooo good!
Pasta has to be one of the easiest, no-brain dinner solutions on the planet, so I’m not really sure anyone can throw noodles, meat, and veggies in a bowl and call it original anymore.
That’s also what makes it so great; you can put together dinner for your family after a long day at work, it will be delicious, and you’ll be a hero!
(No matter if it only took you 30 minutes to make.)
(And you just used whatever was left in the fridge because you still need to go grocery shopping.)
Conveniently, 30 minutes is just how long this Summer Vegetable & Sausage Pasta takes!
This particular recipe was adapted from the company I work for, actually. We have this little program called Apron’s Simple Meals, and it truly lives up to its name. Every week, two times a week (Mondays and Thursdays), they feature a new recipe that can be made and on the table within an hour.
Every store has daily cooking demonstrations and recipe sampling, and they print every recipe on a little card (think the Taste of Home-style cards your mom used to get in the mail) that fits in to a nifty little binder for future reference.
I look forward to trying every new recipe, and I’m usually hard-pressed to find one that I don’t like.
This one is delicious in its simplicity. It’s a fairly standard combination of Italian sausage and pasta sauce, but the zucchini and squash really give it a nice flavor.
Throw in some herbs and my favorite shaved Parmesan cheese on top, and it’s like saucy, carb-y bliss in a bowl.
Keep this in mind…the recipe serves 4, but Mr. Crumby and I managed to polish off the whole pan for dinner.
We really like pasta.
Summer Vegetable Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rigatoni pasta
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 medium zucchini sliced
- 1 medium yellow squash sliced
- 1 cup yellow onion diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
- 12 oz fresh mild Italian sausage sliced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1 ½ cups pasta sauce
- 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese shaved
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Add rigatoni; boil uncovered for 8-12 minutes, stirring frequently, until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- While pasta is boiling, combine sliced zucchini, squash, and onions in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, pepper, and Herb de Provence. Toss vegetables in oil and set aside.
- Preheat large pan on medium-high for 2-3 minutes; heat remaining oil in pan, and add sausage; cook about 5 minutes or until no pink remains. Remove sausage from pan.
- Add zucchini mixture to pan; cook 4-5 minutes, until vegetables begin to brown and become tender.
- Reducing heat to low, stir in tomatoes, pasta, sausage, and pasta sauce; simmer, covered, for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with basil and Parmesan. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
So Summery!
All opinions on Apron’s are my own, and I was not compensated (outside of my regular company salary, haha!) for this post.
amomontherun says
Oh my goodness, this looks AMAZING!! Pinning it NOW so I remember to make it.
erica acevedo says
Thanks for the pin! Let me know how it turns out for you!