Fancy Colored Pasta!

Black spaghetti! Yes, it kind of looks like a pile of worms. I found this interesting pasta at Target. It's colored naturally with squid ink. Mmm, squid ink. You can't taste it at all. I bought it for a special Halloween dinner, but that was a very busy night and this sad pasta got pushed aside. I served it this week with a simple bolognese sauce and some garlic bread. (Actually, it was garlic naan bread. I'm a fan of crossing cultures.) My dinner guests were pleased.

AND check out this cool pasta that my very thoughtful brother brought me from Italy!

So many colors! The colors come from spinach, tomato, beet, turmeric, blueberry, and of course, squid ink. The pasta's colors bled into the boiling water while it was cooking. I drained off pink water. Weird!
I wanted a light sauce for this special pasta, so I thought a simple tomato sauce would do the trick. Into a small sauce pan, I poured 2 (15oz.) cans of diced tomatoes (my cans included basil, garlic, and oregano) and a small palm full of chili peppers...
...and this amount of dried shallots...
...and this much basil, from Mom's garden no less. I added a big pinch of pepper and a heaping 1/2 tsp of salt and let it simmer for a half an hour.
And no pasta dish is complete without some shredded cheese. Yay, colorful pasta!