Saturday, June 18, 2011

A Pasta Worthy of Summertime

Share it Please
I love pasta.

I also love summer fresh veggies.

Thus this recipe was born.

I was on the hunt for a good pasta "primavera" recipe last week...mostly because I still had summer squash coming out of my ears and I wanted to use it up before replenishing the supply this week. I couldn't really find exactly what I wanted, so I used a few different sources and techniques and came up with this recipe.

The key is to roast all the veggies to bring out the flavor and the sweetness. You really can use any vegetables you like, but I stuck with ones that were hardy enough to stand up to the roasting. The grape (or cherry) tomatoes were the best idea, because once they roasted and were mixed in, the juices started flowing and they lent almost a sauce-like quality to the dish.

I consider this a semi-original recipe, so if you give it a shot let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!

Em's Pasta "Primavera"

Ingredients

3 carrots, peeled and cut into thick rounds
4 medium summer squash - cut into bite-able chunks
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 yellow, red or orange bell peppers, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Dried basil
Dried oregano
Dried thyme
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup baby bella mushrooms
1 pound farfalle (bowtie pasta)
Pint of cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)
15 oz. cannellini beans
5-6 sundried tomatoes in oil (chopped)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Instructions

1.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss all the veggies (except the sundried tomatoes and cannellini beans) with the olive oil, salt and pepper and a generous pinch of the dried
herbs. Spread them out on foil-lined baking sheets and pop them in the oven to roast. Cook for 10 minutes, then stir, then cook for another 10 before removing from oven.



















2. While the veggies are roasting, cook up the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve about a cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and toss with the sundried tomatoes and cannelini beans.










3. Add in the rest of the veggies and toss well. Add in the pasta water (as much as needed) and the parmesean cheese, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and serve right away. This dish is really great hot and not-so-tasty cold!










No comments:

Post a Comment