A comforting mid-week pasta dish made with courgettes and ready in 20 minutes.
Autumn is a great time to make my delicious and easy Courgette Rigatoni. The weather is just starting to cool which calls for warmer, heartier meals and courgettes are still affordable at the supermarket. Or better yet, still growing in your garden!
I love meals like this where the sauce is made fresh from blitzing ingredients together. It's nice to know exactly what's in your food! This dish could also be made with other types of pasta, penne, spaghetti, macaroni etc. Just follow the instructions on the packet and add the cooked pasta at the end.
HOW TO MAKE Courgette Rigatoni:
Start by cooking the pasta according to the packet instructions. While the pasta is cooking, sauté the bacon in a large frying pan or casserole dish until it goes a nice golden brown colour. Add the courgettes to the pan and stir together. Meanwhile, blitz the basil, garlic, spring onion and crushed tomatoes together in a blender.
Pour the sauce into the pan on top of the courgettes and bacon then simmer until the courgettes are cooked through. Stir through the cream cheese and mix until smooth. Mix in the cooked rigatoni, season to taste then serve with basil, toasted pinenuts and parmesan.
A few common questions about this recipe:
Do you like to make the most of courgettes? Me too! Try out my delicious Courgette and Ricotta Cannelloni
Can I use different types of pasta? Absolutely, use your favourite pasta. Just cook it according to the packet instructions then add it to the dish at the end.
Can I make this vegetarian? Yes, just leave out the bacon in the first step.
Where is my cast iron casserole dish from? It is the Oval casserole dish from KitCo by Pepper & Me. Such amazing quality and a great price.
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Courgette Rigatoni
A comforting mid-week pasta dish made with courgettes.
Ingredients
- 500g rigatoni
- 125g bacon, sliced
- 2 medium courgettes, chopped
- ½ cup basil leaves
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 spring onion, sliced
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 250g cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp toasted pinenuts
- Basil and Parmesan to serve
Instructions
- Cook rigatoni pasta according to packet instructions.
- Sauté bacon in a large frying pan or casserole dish, after a few minutes add courgettes.
- Blitz together in a blender basil, garlic, spring onion and crushed tomatoes. Pour in to pan on top of the bacon.
- Let the sauce simmer until the courgettes are cooked through. Stir through cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Add the cooked rigatoni, stir again and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve scattered with toasted pinenuts, basil and parmesan.
Notes
- Any pasta shape would work well in this recipe, you could use penne, macaroni, spirals etc.
- To make this vegetarian, leave the bacon out.
- To turn it into a pasta bake, pour the cooked meal into an oven proof dish, cover with cheese and cook until golden brown.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 599Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 807mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 24g
Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.
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Nicola says
Recipe uses a tin of tomatoes but I see you use fresh ones. I would prefer to use fresh as have a garden full of them. How many would you use and do you have to add anything like sugar or salt to get the same flavour? Thanks.
VJ cooks says
You would use the same amount in grams - 400g of tomatoes. You shouldn't need to add sugar but always season to taste. Fresh tomatoes may also take a little longer to cook than canned.