Rigatoncini pasta with carrot sauce

Easy and quick. That's the best way to describe this week's dish. If you have good pasta, tinned tomatoes and Parmesan cheese in your pantry, you're halfway there.
If you are at work through the day, it's likely you will want a fuss-free recipe. The other ingredients in the dish can be bought in 10 minutes on the way home. No need for takeaways.
I have specified rigatoncini pasta, which is a slightly larger version of penne, but any short pasta will do. A long type, such as spaghetti won't mix quite so well with the sauce, but if that's all you have, use it. Good cooking is all about adaptation.
one and a half cups rigatoncini pasta, or similar
salt
2 Tbsps grapeseed oil
2 medium carrots peeled, grated and squeezed dry
2 stalks celery, peeled, snapped, de-stringed and sliced
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic part-crushed and chopped
200g Italian chopped tomatoes (half a tin)
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2cm cube Parmesan cheese, shaved into strips
2 Tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Heat grapeseed oil in a frypan and add carrot, celery and shallot. Cook for 2-3 minutes to soften, then stir in garlic. Stir a further 30 seconds, then add tomatoes.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan, stirring to mix. Season to taste, scatter shaved Parmesan on top, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve.
Leftovers: Toss more extra-virgin olive oil through the pasta next day to separate them, then serve at room temperature as a light lunch.
Serves 4
Wine match
It is the sweetness of the carrots that dictates the choice of wine for this dish, but we need to also be aware of the natural acid in the tomatoes. That leads us to pinot gris grapes grown in a cooler part of the country.
The just-released Lake Hayes Central Otago Pinot Gris 2009, from Amisfield Wines, would be perfect. It has a touch of sweetness to bring out the best in the carrots, and enough acid from the cold climate the grapes were grown in to counter-balance the sharpness of the tomatoes. The bouquet suggests spiced pears and the flavour  is smooth and richly fruited. Look for it in the mid-$20s.
Around $5 more will buy you the silver medal-winning Villa Maria Seddon Vineyard Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008, which follows floral-edged aromas, redolent of apricots, with a mouthful of rich, super-smooth flavour.