Summer Harvest Pasta

Summer has officially ended, but that doesn’t mean that all of the delicious summer veggies will disappear immediately! If you browse your local farmer’s market, you’ll likely see a few summer veggies still hanging around for a few more weeks, begging you to take them home and make something colorful and delicious before greens and root veggies take their place.

This pasta dish celebrates the end of summer. A variety of colorful veggies play with feta cheese, Italian sausage, and fresh basil. Get creative and use whatever summer veggies you can still find lingering at the market or in your garden – enjoy them before they’re gone!

Summer Harvest Pasta

Servings: Makes about 6 large servings, which feeds 2 adults and 4 small kids for two nights - modify as needed.
Cooking time: ~30 minutes

Ingredients

• Penne pasta, cooked according to package with 1 – 2 cups cooking liquid reserved (I used about 3/4 of the box to feed our family of six for two nights. Adjust quantities as needed.)
• 1 pack Italian sausage links, sliced into rounds
• Olive oil
• 1/2 purple onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 large zucchini, roughly chopped
• 2 large yellow squash, roughly chopped
• 1 – 2 eggplant (small varieties work well, but feel free to use a large one if desired. I simply used what I had in the garden…), roughly chopped
• 4 – 5 tomatoes, quartered (I used purple tomatoes from our garden. No garden? No problem! Use what looks good at the farmer’s market. Using grocery store tomatoes? I recommend Campari!)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste (use Kosher salt if you have it!)
• 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese (use a block of feta and crumble it yourself. I promise it will taste better!)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Crushed red pepper flakes for serving (optional)

Recipe

1. In a large pot, cook pasta according to directions on box. Reserve 1-2 cups of the cooking liquid after draining.
2. In a large pan on medium heat, heat a little olive oil and add sausage. Cook sausage until browned and fully cooked. Remove from pan and drain in a bowl with paper towels. Set aside and discard excess oil remaining in pan, reserving browned bits.
3. On medium heat, add a little more olive oil in the pan and add in the garlic and onions. Sauté until they begin to soften a bit.
4. Add in peppers, zucchini, squash, and eggplant. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue to sauté until softened a bit, about 15 minutes. Add in tomatoes and basil. Continue to sauté about 5 minutes more until tomatoes begin to cook down.
5. Add in the wine and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Simmer for about 5 minutes, adding in more pasta water if you desire a lot of sauce.
6. Stir in pasta, sausage and crumbled feta cheese. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Sprinkle with fresh basil. Serve with crushed red pepper for a little kick. Enjoy!