There isn’t a fancy name for this pasta, maybe “Penne with sun-dried tomatoes, olives and parmesan”? It’s one of those days when I don’t have any bread for a sandwich and don’t really know what I want to have for lunch. Making pasta like this is lets me use up a lot of the veggies in the fridge, and obviously, it’s delicious!

I have less than half a tray of cherry tomatoes in the fridge, a green pepper, only 5-6 black olives left in the jar, and again, not many sun-dried tomatoes left in the jar, even the dried parsley finished after making this, and some end bits of parmesan cheese. This pasta is using up all of these.

Speaking of finishing a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, don’t put that oil in the bin. Use it for pasta like this, or use it for some homemade sauces or pesto. It’s got the lovely flavour of sun-dried tomatoes that’s a bit of a shame to go in the bin.

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic, minced
Oil from the sun-dried tomatoes or just olive oil
Handful of black olives, halved
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
A few pieces of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced
150g wholewheat penne
Parmesan cheese, grated
Dried parsley
A little lemon juice

Method

1. Cook wholewheat penne according to package instructions. I cooked mine with olive oil and a pinch of salt for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil on medium heat, add garlic and cook for a minute.
3. Add cherry tomatoes, green pepper, black olives and parsley, and fry for a few minutes until soft. Add sun-dried tomatoes, and cook until hot.
4. When penne is ready, drain and reserve some pasta water. Add penne to the pan with the vegetables. Toss well.
5. Add a little pasta water, lemon juice, parmesan cheese and salt to taste. Serve hot!

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