Pinwheel Pasta in a Roasted Vegetable Sauce

On a recent visit to our local Farmers’ market, I came across a store selling a wide assortment of pasta. I’ve never seen so many different varieties, colors and flavors of pasta in one place before! I spent a good deal of time in that particular store alone trying to pick out something I’d never used before and finally settled on this pretty looking pinwheel pasta.

After coming back home, this was pushed to the back of my pantry and was forgotten about until a couple of days back.
I then decided to use it along with whatever vegetables I had on hand to make this tasty dish.

Ingredients:
Rotelle/Pinwheel pasta
2 carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 big onion, peeled and sliced
½ red bell pepper, chopped
20-25 grape tomatoes, halved
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red chilli flakes
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried rosemary
Salt and Pepper
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)
A handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

On a baking sheet, toss the carrots, onions, peppers, grape tomatoes and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper, red chilli flakes and dried herbs. Roast until tender for about 35-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions or until al dente. Reserve some pasta water to make the sauce and drain off the rest.

Once the roasted veggies have cooled down a bit, blend adding a little bit of the pasta water at a time, to get a sauce-like consistency. (You could skip this step and leave the roasted veggies alone too.)

In a large bowl, pour the roasted vegetable sauce over the pasta and toss to coat.

Stir in the chopped fresh basil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top.

I’m sending this over to dear Ruth for Presto Pasta Nights.


Other pasta recipes here:
Simple Pasta Salad
Pasta with Basil Pesto
Pasta with roasted Bell Pepper-Cherry Tomato sauce
Ravioli with Balsamic Brown Butter