FAMILY-STYLE ROASTED VEGGIE PASTA

yields 4 TO 6 PEOPLE

ingredients

• 1 LB pasta
• 1 TBL olive oil, plus more if needed for the pasta
• ½ large red onion, sliced
• 2 medium carrots, cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 pint tiny tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 LB eggplant
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 ½ TBL fresh thyme leaves
• 3 clove garlic
• 2 TBL lemon juice
• 3 TBL balsamic vinegar
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes (Optional)
• Salt and black pepper

instructions

0. cube eggplant

1 Cook the pasta according to the package directions. We aren’t going to waste our damn time typing that out. We already know you can read. Drain that and pour it back into the pot.

2 Crank up the oven to 425°F. Grab 2 large rimmed baking sheets.

3 In a large bowl, throw in the oil, red onion, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and salt. Mix that up until everything looks coated. Spread it out on the baking sheets and then slip them in the oven.

4 Roast for 20 minutes, then take them out, add the thyme, garlic, and lemon juice, stir, and throw them back in the oven until some of the veggies start looking a little browned around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes longer. A few burned pieces aren’t going to hurt anybody, so calm the down.

5 Add the roasted veggies to the cooked pasta, pour in the balsamic, pepper flakes, a pinch of salt and black pepper, and stir that up. If the pasta looks a little dry add a TBL of olive oil to lube it all up. Taste and add more garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, thyme, whateverthe you like. If you want to up the greens level, serve the hot pasta on a bed of arugula or spinach with a squeeze of lemon juice on them. Done and done.

modifications

We like penne or ziti, but use whateverthe you have. If the tomatoes are really tiny, like smaller than a marble, just leave ’em whole. Optional if you know that your is weak.

Serving ideas: fresh arugula or spinach leaves

• recipe