Pasta with Carrot-Soffritto

Pasta is one of my favorite dishes and also a dish that you can make so many variations of that only imagination is the limit! This time I did a super simple soffritto - or for us mortals: a veggie bolognese - based on carrots and tomatoes. And I didn't have too much time so this time I minimized the work but without compromising too much on quality.

Without further ado (serves 2 people):

• olive oil (~1-2 table spoons)
• 3 shallots or 1 yellow onion
• garlic (1-3 cloves)
• some chili or Sambal Olek or Cayenne pepper
  
• 1 pkg of crushed tomatoes (250 g)
  
• some tomato purée (~2 table spoons)
• 1 cube of vegetable stock
• spices (1-2 table spoons of ground basil + 1/2 table spoon of oregano + maybe some time)
  
• 2 dl of crème fraîche (or cream)
• salt and pepper
• 3-4 carrots
• some leek + cheese at serving
  

And action:
I started by chopping the shallots finely (I love my onions/shallots chopped minimalistica) and give the carrots the grater love. Put some water to boil for the pasta - the soffritto takes around 10 minutes to do so time the pasta (fresh pasta = put in boiling water at the same time as you add the carrots, dry pasta = put in boiling water as soon as the water boils).

Heat a pan on medium heat with the olive oil and then add the shallots. After a minute or so add the garlic. If you like it spicy this is where you add the chili /Sambal. Stir while this gets some heat, but no color - when the shallot/onion is semi-transparent but not burned/brown don't give it more heat and time.


Ok. Now add the crushed tomato and tomato purée. Give it a minute or two to acclimatize and then add the vegetable stock. Now for the spices (typically basil, some oregano and time - preferably fresh - but what the hey!); grind them first to get the taste out of them (either with a mortar or just between your fingers - don't over complicate things), then just add to the sauce.

After the spice add the crème fraîche (or if you like the fatty taste do cream). Stir and wait for another minute or two.

Now for the grand finale - add the carrots. When the soffritto is warm again, pour on top of pasta. Then add something green and nice - I had a leek in my kitchen so I used that. Then some Parmesan or other cheese always put some nice spice to it.