How to Make a Simple But Jaw Dropping Bowl of Spaghetti with Tomatoes...and a few other things
A few years ago, we decided that we wanted to know what we're exactly eating. I mean, being Vegan, we obviously only eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and funghi. But did we really know what was inside our Vegetables?
So I came up with the fun idea of growing our own food, or better said growing as much as we could. My only issue was, at the time, we didn't have a garden!!!
Set on the idea of growing food instead of buying food (which was probably my main drive), I decided to get plant pots and old paint buckets from the trash and fill them with soil and grow grow grow and then grow some more. My neighbors held me for crazy, which just gave me more motivation, especially since I only used water and no chemicals.
Oh boy, did we grow... within just 6 months, altogether we had over 85 large pots growing tomatoes, kale, zucchine, cucumbers, basil, tomatillios, lettuce etc etc and another 120 - 150 pots of sprouting seedlings, which I planted weekly.
At the time we were living in Mallorca, which has a lovely warm climate for most of the year. There was no way, I wasn't going to take advantage of it.
"And when the locals told me you can't grow tomatoes twice in a year, especially not in October, I smiled. Well come October, I smiled with even bigger grins on my face and offered them San Marzano tomatoes and crunchy fresh bell peppers."
The reason I write this is because right now in Italy, my garden is bursting at the seems with that much food! When I walk in to the garden, I feel rich! But that very same feeling I have, you can have too and I want each and everyone of you to have it. All you need is an old bucket, some dirt and a few seeds to start.
Why am I telling you all this?
Well when you cook up your meal and you have an abundance of homegrown food. The happy sensation and gratitude you have in that very moment, makes you want to dance, skip and sing for joy. That and you usually end up just looking at each other saying "wow, that tastes a thousand times better. I knever knew tomatoes could taste like that".
So to change that right now, without having your own veggies. Try to avoid the supermarket and cheap discounters and instead, go to the farmers market, go to the swap meet, look around you. When making such a simple dish as this Spaghetti with tomatos, it makes a world of difference and will open up a whole new world of flavour.
Now on to the menu!
Ingredients
Things you'll need:
- 12 ounces/320 grams/0.7 pounds of Spaghetti. We've used a whole wheat (spaghetti alla chitarra, which is SQUARED!), choose one you like, it doesn't matter if it's white or wheat pasta. But why not try a whole wheat, it's great?
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup capers (uless you love them like we do, then just double it!)
- Bunch of fresh basil
- 1/2 a red onion
- Sale & pepe (salt & pepper, I just like saying that in Italian)
- Extra virgin olive oil
Almost everything is homegrown, except for the spaghetti. I wish they had spaghetti trees!
Directions
The How to Make Part:
- Place a pot of water on to your stove and bring to a boil. You can also use a kettle, it's faster and cheaper if you have one.
- If you're using whole wheat pasta it's going to take consideriably longer, so calculate 15-25 minutes for that kind and the usual 5-7 minutes for regular pasta.
- Wiggle a piece of pasta around a fork and try it first before draining the water. It should be on the border of not cooked, as it shall cook perfectly within the next 10 minutes of preparing this dish.
- Pre chop 2 cups of your cherry tomatoes, chop the largest ones.
- Slice your onion fairly thin and put those in a pan with a dash of olive oil.
- Once that gets going and they start to change colour, add your chopped tomatoes, capers, part of your basil and let it all cook together for about 4-5 minutes.
- In the meantime, give your drained pasta a little lift with the fork, just to make sure it's not sticking together. (Yes that's right, these are realtime directions)
- Once you start to see a small amount of sauce, place the rest of the tomatoes in the pan, uncut. Stir that for about another 2 minutes.
- Now put your pasta in the pan with your sauce and give everything a good stir for a further minute or 2. Add another dash of oil and salt. Save the pepper for when it's on the table and you're ready to eat.
- You're now ready to serve, well done, I can see the dish as we speak and it looks stunning!
- Serve on to plates and decorate with some of your leftover basil.
TIP: You can eat this with a nice red wine or if you're like myself and don't drink much then go for a naturally carbonated ice cold water.
Conclusion: If pasta grew on trees, I'd probably be a pastatarian!
All recipes and photos are made by us. Us as in, 2 plant based freaks that basically cook all day long and wonder why our bathroom weight scales are going up in numbers! But we deal with it, in fact we blame it all on you!
Thanks for your time my fellow Steematarians, if you liked the recipe, please feel free to show some love. If you don't like food that reminds you of eating your shoe laces with ketchup, and you prefer playing baseball with cactus flowers then let me know in the comments below!
Spaghetti trees sound really great. :-) I would plant it next to my pizza tree.
Nice recipe. 👍
I'm sorry, I would like to join in on your conversation, but I only speak in plurals when it comes to pizza trees! Wouldn't that be just awesome. Just planting a vegan Margherita tree to fight all that processed food! :))
Wow! Really impressive photography @govegan! I just love the rustic side of it!
Your spaghetti is really jaw dropping!
Love it!
Cheers
@progressivechef
Thanks a lot, always try to put as much love as possible in to each recipe :)
Pasta and tomato are the simplest yet perfect combination! :-)
Aren't they just! Pasta and pizza were created for tomatoes I think!
Mmm that looks great, and your tomatoes are glistening - a very impressive harvest. I really like the rustic aesthetic of your photos, too!
This year has been beyond impressive, but the weather has played a big role with it being perfect here in Italy for the last few months. Glad you like our old saucepan I picked up from the grannys shed. I love the old rustic look when making photos. It gives it life. Have a great weekend!
Nom nom nom, looks great!
Thanks Remco, glad you popped by. It was indeed very tasty!
Ooh this looks amazing! Awesome job growing so many veggies!! Resteemed!
Aww thanks @Jaymorebeet, you're a sweetheart! I'm happy you liked it! Isn't it such a pleasure growing your own veggies? I can't get enough :)
Yes!! It makes everything taste 100% better right?? Knowing you grew it from tiny seeds or seedlings. Great photos you've got too!!
Your photography is stunning.
Thanks, Jac, likewise! look forward to spreading the Vegan vibes along side you, let's get these people healthy again!
I hear you nothing taste better than home grown! Can't wait to move house in 2 to 3 months and start growing again. Stunning pictures btw. Looking forward to more yummy and beautiful creation straight from the garden! Have a great day!
That's so awesome when you know that in just a few months from now you'll be able to get your own nest and plant food! Good luck with that and I hope we get to hear about it. Always whipping up creations as we speak (:
Have a great week! (I always take the weekends off from social media)
Pastaterian sounds great! :D Really beautiful shots there @govegan. I enjoyed this post very much!
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I'm looking forward to posting daily, writing a new recipe together right now. I'll do anything to show people how easy cooking, preparing delicious food can be!
Lol I would love a spaghetti tree! This recipes looks incredible and really stunning food photography as well. I've followed you for more healthy plant-based recipes :)
Okay, wow! I follow you because all your posts seem foodporn.
Not like the burger, I will do make this recipe!
I definetly want to grow my own food one day when i live in my own place.
Its better tasting, you put more love into making the food and its healthier.
This pasta looks amazing! Thankyou for sharing. I will repost it and try this pasta out!