Pink Sauce Pasta
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Pink sauce pasta is one of the most comforting and delicious pasta dishes ever. It has a combination of pink and white sauce which is mixed with just a couple of key ingredients, perfect for weeknight dinner, or for kids when you are looking to make something delicious yet quick!
Ingredients
- 300 grams penne pasta, or of your choice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
For Pink Sauce
- 1 beetroot, small
- Water to boil
- 1½ tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 300 ml milk
- 4 cheese slices
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt to taste
- A pinch of black pepper powder
- Basil sprig to garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot, add enough water, salt and oil.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Add the penne pasta, and give it a good stir. This avoid to prevent pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Let it boil for about 7-8 minutes until pasta is cooked well or read carefully the package instructions.
- Then drain off the water, reserving some of the pasta water.
- Set aside the boiled pasta.
For Pink Sauce
- In a pot, take enough water and boil the beetroot for about 15 minutes on low flame.
- Once it boiled, let it cool down a bit and then peel off the skin.
- Now, dice the boiled beetroot into smaller cubes and then blend it to make a puree. If needed, you may add a little bit of water to make a puree.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter.
- Add chopped onion and garlic.
- Saute for about 2 minutes over low flame. Make sure it doesn’t get much brown.
- Saute it till the raw smell goes out and it become softened.
- Next, add the maida.
- Saute the maida until it turns aromatic and softens into an onion garlic mixture. Continue stir until the raw smell goes out.
- While stirring, add the milk little by little in atleast 3-4 batches stages, else may have lumps in the sauce.
- Now, put in the cheese slices.
- Keep stirring until the sauce thickens up slightly and cheese completely melts into the sauce.
- Once the cheese is melted well, add the beetroot puree.
- Add the seasonings and mix.
- Add the boiled pasta and toss carefully using tongs or turning softly with a spatula.
- Once everything is combined well, if required, add some remaining boiled water to adjust the consistency.
- Sprinkle black pepper powder and few basil leaves.
- Give it a good mix and serve.
- You may garnish this pink sauce pasta with some extra pepper, basil leaves and herbs.
Notes
- I would recommend using a good brand of pasta for any pasta recipe. You can use any shape of your choice, but I have used penne pasta, as its shape holds the sauce more.
- Do not overcook the pasta, else it’ll get more soggy while added back to the pink sauce.
- In addition, you can adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding some of the reserved pasta water till it reaches the desired consistency.
- If needed, adjust the colour of the sauce by adding more beetroot puree.
- Additionally, you can add vegetables of your choice like carrot, peas, French beans, broccoli etc, but not to use too much quantity.
- A handful of fresh basil leaves will give the sauce a herby flavour. You can also garnish some extra fresh basil on top of each bowl before serving.
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: American,
Keywords: Restaurant-Style Pink Sauce Pasta, Easy Pink Sauce Pasta Recipe, How to make Creamy Pasta in Pink Sauce