Today’s post is a warm, super flavorful pasta dish that’s easy to prepare and packed with delicious vegetables. This Penne with Peppers, Tomatoes, and Spinach is now a family favorite. A cozy bowl of pasta makes the heart happy in our house!
If you find yourself in the mood for pasta and want a satisfying yet light dish that has some serious flavor, I’ve got you. There are a lot of great things about this Penne with Peppers, Tomatoes and Spinach. First… PASTA. That’s it. By now, you probably are familiar with my obsession with pasta, like some favorite recipes here, here and here.
Secondly, this recipe is really simple and requires minimal chopping. While I’m a fan of chopping vegetables as much as the next guy, it’s not my FAV thing to do. So for this recipe, there’s just a small onion to chop, a rough chop of your jarred roasted red peppers if they don’t come pre-sliced, and chopping of fresh parsley (if you’re not using dried parsley).
Another bonus about this dish is that you can create your sauce entirely while the water boils and the pasta cooks, then add the freshly cooked pasta right into the pan to finish up. This cuts down on the overall time it takes to get this delicious pasta dish onto the table.
When it gets to plating time, we love these big ole bowls to slurp up our pasta!
Corelle Winter Frost White 20-Ounce Bowl Set (6-Piece)
Here’s what you can use to substitute
There’s quite a few great ingredients that you can substitute if you don’t have these specific items on hand. Here’s a list below of the items I think will work really well in this dish. I’m sure I’ll be trying these substitutions myself, sooner rather than later! (Getting hungry again as we speak)
- Cherry Tomatoes: you can sub regular plum tomatoes or grape tomatoes, or even tinned tomatoes
- Wine: you can sub with more vegetable broth, I love this veggie broth base
- Spinach: you can sub frozen spinach, fresh or frozen kale, or even toss in arugula at the end
- Fresh parsley: sub dried parsley, but start with half the amount
- Tarragon: you can sub with dried basil for a somewhat different but still delicious flavor
- All-purpose flour: sub with cornstarch, but cut the amount in half
- Dijon mustard: sub with whole grain or stone ground mustard, or use dried mustard but use 1/2 teaspoon
- Garlic powder: sub a few cloves of minced fresh garlic, if you have it
- Roasted red peppers: you can use fresh bell peppers that you’ve sauteed, or you can roast them yourself
Penne with Peppers, Tomatoes and Spinach in White Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 2/3 lb. penne or you fav pasta
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp oil or less if preferred
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tsp dried tarragon
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/4 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup roasted red peppers sliced thinly (jarred)
- 1-2 large handfuls baby spinach as desired
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- Red chili flakes for garnish optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water until just barely al dente, drain.
- Meanwhile while water boils, cut your onion, add to large pan with oil, salt, pepper and the dried seasonings spices. Cook until onion is translucent, adding bit of water to prevent burning if needed.
- Add wine, let reduce by half. In small bowl, add the flour and 3 tbsp of the veggie broth, whisk until smooth. Add this and rest of broth, and the mustard to the pan, stir well and let gently simmer (uncovered) until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 min.
- Add red peppers and tomatoes, cook 3 min more.
- Add spinach, and cooked pasta, stir, cover, let cook together for a couple min.
- Garnish with chili flakes if desired.