Sunday, August 15, 2010

from the garden to the table : : roasted veggie pasta

I learned to roast veggies in Australia. For some reason, I’d never really noticed it as a way of preparing vegetables while living in America. This pasta is great because you can make it for any season with any vegetables. In this case, it was all about using the vegetables in our garden that were ripe for use.
Start by chopping up some vegetables. In this case, we’ve used summer squash, banana peppers, and orange tomato, some cherry tomatoes and some garlic (the only thing we didn’t grow)
Marinade the vegetables―I used truffle oil, olive oil, white wine, salt and freshly cracked pepper
Since it has been stinking hot here in South Bend, I put my cast iron skillet on the BBQ outside and heated it. Once it was good and hot, I put the vegetables on it and cooked them till they were nicely browned in some places (normally I cook them in the oven though).
While the veggies cook, chop up some fresh herbs: we used basil, oregano, and thyme, again all from the garden
Don’t forget to prepare the pasta. Whole wheat rotini or penne are best for this dish.
Once the pasta is cooked, toss it with more olive oil, truffle oil, wine, salt and pepper. Mix in cooked veggies and fresh herbs. 
For a nice dinner on the back deck, serve with parmesan cheese, freshly baked bread (with balsamic and oil for dipping) and a crisp white wine.

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