Slow Cooker or Skillet Tomato & Vegetable Pasta
I make this recipe both in the slow cooker and in the skillet. My preference depends on how much time I know I'll have around dinner time. Using the slow cooker means it's hands-free after the initial prep with a wonderful depth of flavour with seemingly minimal effort. On the other hand, using the skillet method is also super tasty, but slightly more work at the stove is required to give it regular mixes while it’s simmering. Although the ingredients with this method will be cooked fairly quickly, try not to skip the 1 hour of simmering as this is where you get the flavour intensifying.
Prep Time: 30mins
Cook time: 4 hours
Yield: Feeds 6
Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
300g Mushrooms, diced
1 carrot, chopped into small cubes (or grated)
2tsp crushed garlic
½ cup red wine
680mL Passata (*See note*)
2tsp vegetable stock powder
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ cup pitted and chopped olives (*Optional, See note*)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Pasta (try my homemade pasta recipe)
1 cup grated cheese to sprinkle on top (You can use any kind of cheese here, tasty, parmesan, feta. They will all be great.)
Method for slow cooker
If your slow cooker has a sear function, then do steps 1-3 straight into your slow cooker on the sear function. If not, then use a frying pan on medium heat. Heat the oil then sauté the chopped mushrooms until they are beginning to brown and soften, about 6-7 minutes.
Add the carrot and cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic. Stir until the garlic smells fragrant.
Add the red wine to the pan, and simmer until it loses its alcohol smell, and the quantity of wine has approximately halved.
If using a pan, turn down the heat and add the passata, vegetable stock, and oregano. Once the passata is heated through, turn to slow cooker function (if using a pan transfer into the slow cooker now).
Add olives* and season with salt and pepper.
Cook on your slow cooker ‘High’ setting for 4 hours, or ‘Low’ setting for 8 hours.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Depending on your passata you may also need a touch (approx. ½ - 1tsp) of sugar (*see note below).
Method for skillet
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Sauté the chopped mushrooms until they are beginning to brown and soften, about 6-7 minutes.
Add the carrot and cook for 5 minutes, then add garlic. Stir until the garlic smells fragrant.
Add the red wine to the pan, and simmer until it loses its alcohol smell, and the quantity of wine has approximately halved.
Turn down the heat and add the passata, vegetable stock, and oregano. Once the passata is heated through, turn the heat to low.
Add olives* and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook over low heat for 1 hour, stirring every 10mins or so. If the mixture is getting a little dry and risking catching on the bottom, stir in a little water.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Depending on your passata you may also need a touch (approx. ½ - 1tsp) of sugar (*see note below).
Pasta
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
Add the desired amount of pasta into the water and cook for the time on the packet. If you have made fresh pasta, this will likely be 5-6 minutes. You will know your pasta is done when you bite into it, and it is soft but still has resistance to it when you chew – this is called al dente.
To serve
Serve your beautiful sauce over your pasta, then sprinkle with cheese and some freshly cracked pepper. I also like to serve this with fresh baby spinach leaves.
*Notes*
Passata: The ripeness of the tomatoes, the variety of tomatoes, and the brand of passata can affect how sweet or sour your passata tastes. You may need to adjust your seasoning towards the end of the cooking process to account for this. I would recommend this at the end as the natural sugars from the vegetables and passata itself will intensify and develop throughout the cooking process.
If you taste your passata straight out of the jar and it is quite sweet, then you may need to add more salt later in cooking to balance this. If you are using olives, then the salty brine from these will help during cooking.
If your passata tastes more on the sour side, then towards the end of making your sauce you may need to balance this with a little sugar (1/2 – 1tsp will usually be plenty).
Olives: If you add olives, bear in mind these are salty so you may not need to add a lot of extra salt to your sauce. Wait until the end of the cooking time to account for this. On the flip side, if you don’t add olives, then expect to add a little more salt towards the end.
If you have made this recipe I would love to see a picture of your creation or hear what you thought. Tag me @meganrose_kitchen on instagram or leave a comment below.