At Kitchen 511, we’ve almost always got a fennel bulb, some bell peppers, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, shallots and/or red onion, garlic, pasta, olive oil, hot pepper flakes, plus fresh Parm and herbs on hand. Throw those ingredients together, and you’ve got a delicious meal that takes just over 30 minutes to make. It’s very similar to the sauce in our Grilled Vegetable Lasagna—which includes a few more ingredients, like asparagus, carrots, prosciutto and wine (all of which you could add here)—but also takes a lot more time thanks to the grill factor. This is one of my top go-tos when I have put no previous thought into what’s for dinner and have little desire to cook.

Serves 2 (or 4, depending on how large a bowl of pasta you like to consume)

Ingredients

4-6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion (or 2 shallots), peeled and chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
15-20 pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
4 large tomatoes (or 8 Campari tomatoes), chopped
1 fennel bulb--cut off stalks and fronds and roughly chop
2 bell peppers (I'll use a mix of red and yellow or orange )—discard stem and seeds and roughly chop
1 tablespoons dried oregano (or handful of fresh oregano leaves, chopped)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Fresh basil for topping
Fresh Parmesan
1/2 lb. pasta (I used Stonewall Kitchen’s Conchiglie pasta above; an orecchiette also works well.)

Preparation

Heat 2 tbsps. of olive oil in pan, add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes and olives and sauté 'til tomatoes break down (about 15 minutes).
This is a good time to place a pot of water on stove and bring to a boil.
Add fennel and peppers to pan and mix well. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil, as needed. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, add pasta to boiling water and cook according to directions.
Drain pasta, mix well with vegetable sauce and serve. Top with fresh basil and Parmesan.