Easy Peasy Spaghetti with Leftovers and Produce From our Garden

Last week, we had an abundance of cherry tomatoes growing wildly on our lawn. We also have a basil plant that’s been growing well.

Because of Piglet’s destructive tendencies, we knew we better pluck out all the cherry tomatoes at once. And that turned out to be such a wise decision. Almost the very next day, Piglet uprooted that plant completely, and this is probably our one and only harvest of cherry tomatoes 🙁 .

For the first time in my life, I found myself cooking with stuff grown in our own little yard and it was such a fun experience. I winged it for the most part.

You may be forgiven for thinking that I cook nothing but pasta. It’s true though. We love it, and because I always need to finish up leftover ingredients, I cook Italian almost every weekend.

This weekend I wanted to finish everything that has been hanging on for too long in our fridge.

I threw together a bunch of mushrooms, all the cherry tomatoes, some leftover Alfredo sauce, and our homemade pesto sauce (pesto sauce recipe here). Here’s the result 🙂

It was totally yummilicious.

Here’s the complete recipe. Hope you like it 🙂

Easy Peasy Spaghetti with Leftovers and Our Garden Produce
 
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • Two handfulls of cherry tomatoes
  • One box of mushrooms
  • Garlic 2-4 pods
  • One cup of alfredo sauce
  • Couple of tablespoons of pesto sauce
  • Spaghetti
  • Olive oil 2-4 tablespoons
  • Grated parmesan cheese
  • Generic Italian seasoning
Instructions
  1. Cook the spaghetti till al dente. Drain and keep aside.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Fry till brown.
  3. Add the chopped cherry tomatoes, close the lid, and let cook a couple of minutes.
  4. Add the chopped mushrooms, stir it around a bit. Add salt.
  5. Add the alfredo sauce, stir it around a bit till it’s well mixed in with the tomatoes.
  6. Add the pesto, mix.
  7. Use Italian seasoning (optional) to get more flavor.
  8. Add the spaghetti. Mix well, and cook on a low flame in the closed vessel till everything is nicely mixed in together.
  9. Garnish with grated parmesan.
 
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21 comments

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  1. Couscous & Consciousness

    What a lovely find in your garden, and what a delicious way to use the produce. I have tomatoes growing like mad in my garden at the moment, and along with my zucchinis, I have been using loads of them in a variety of pasta dishes.

    • Nishita

      @couscousconsciousness:disqus I must come by your site and look for some recipes. I got away with throwing stuff together once, may not work next time 🙂

  2. archonline

    oho.. and I thought you post only about books.. have to search your blog now.. 😀

    I too try for vegetable garden in balcony.. but it really needs dedication to take care of it from pests and all that.. so everything dies.. nothing succeeded yet.. 🙁

    • Nishita

      @archonline:disqus introduced food posts recently. I wanted a little variety in my blog 🙂

      I know, and all I know about plants is to water them. I don’t take care of them at all.

  3. veens

    We eat a lot of pasta too! Andit must be so cool to grow something and be able to eat it as well 🙂 I wish someday I will have a vegetable garden too, even with no green thumb 😉 This pasta looks YUMM!

    • Nishita

      @veens:disqus I have a brown thumb. Everything dies when I interfere with it. The basil is cared for by my FIL and the tomatoes are wild. I daren’t mess with them 🙂

  4. fanficfan44

    Isn’t it funny how often those “let’s throw all the stuff we need to use up together” meals often become our favorites?

    • Nishita

      @fanficfan44:disqus yeah, I am usually a strictly by the recipe book cook, so this was a pleasant change for me 🙂

  5. Rachel Jagareski

    Gathering garden produce from the backyard instead of the freezer is but a memory here in upstate New York, but I enjoyed the virtual plate of pasta with homegrown tomatoes that you made.

    • Nishita

      @racheljagareski:disqus Thanks, Rachel. I’ve lived in an apartment all my life in a hot and dry place where nothing much grew, so cherry tomatoes growing wildly in my yard is a new experience for me. Sadly not any more, as my son uprooted the plant the moment he saw us taking note of it 🙁

    • Nishita

      @JanelGr:disqus I just saw those snow pics on your blog. That’s pretty heavy stuff.

  6. Sheila DeChantal

    Yum! We had a spaghetti with mushrooms, onion, squash, and spinach last night.

    • Nishita

      @sheila_dechantal:disqus squash! That’s a good addition, we love squash around here, and spinach for some much-needed greens. Sounds great 🙂

    • Nishita

      @joann_lakeside_musing:disqus It was. I am planning to replicate it again soon 🙂

  7. BethFishReads

    Really, what can be better than a nice pasta dish? This sounds really good.

    • Nishita

      @BethFishReads:disqus I love carbs. When it comes to comfort food, nothing beats pasta for me.

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