Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

If you haven’t yet heard me harp on about how we should be eating more vegetables then here it is: we should be eating more vegetables, at least 10 portions of veg a day in fact.
It’s totally doable but I recognise some of you may be slightly fussier eaters or at least have to cook for fussy eaters.
So here is your solution: lots of roasted vegetables disguised in a delicious pasta sauce.
This recipe is also great to use up veggies that are past their best, or those half peppers that are lurking in the back of the fridge.

Please note: whilst super high in nutrients, this recipe does lack protein, so either use a protein pasta or top with protein such as some cheese or a cooked chicken breast.

Ingredients to feed 4:
1/2 aubergine, cut into chunks
1 small courgette, thickly sliced
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 - 1 pepper of any colour, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
200g of passata (or chopped tomato)
100g sundried tomato
Sea salt and black pepper to season
Rapeseed oil for roasting
Pasta to serve
A handful of fresh basil (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Pop all of the veggies, apart from the passata & sundried tomatoes, on a roasting tray.
Drizzle with rapeseed oil, season with a pinch of sea salt and scatter over the thyme.
Stir to combine and roast for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water.
To make the sauce, transfer the roasted veggies to a blender whilst still hot, add the passata and sundried tomatoes, around 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and lots of black pepper.
Blend until it is completely smooth.
Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
Combine the pasta, sauce and pasta water, stir well then divide between plates.
Serve with a few fresh basil leaves scattered over the top.

The sauce freezes well, just freeze it before adding the pasta.

Caponata

Aubergine caponata, Clarence Court eggs, parsley, pine nuts, good bread for dipping.
This dish is such a treasure. In fact, it’s so tasty I had it for breakfast and dinner.
It’s that perfect combination of “dippy ingredients” that have so much flavour you can’t stop eating it. 

Caponata is a Sicilian aubergine/ veg based dish. I can’t claim to have an authentic recipe but trust me, my take on it is delicious.
Save this recipe for endless brunches/ lunches/ speedy dinners.
It keeps well in the fridge for 3 days. 

Ingredients for 2

1 large aubergine, thickly sliced 
1 stick of celery, diced 
1/2 pepper, diced 
2 shallots/ 1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tin of chopped tomatoes 
A handful of olives (optional)
A handful of pine nuts, toasted 
A handful of fresh parsley 
Rapeseed oil for cooking 
Sea salt & black pepper to season
As many eggs as you would like 
Good bread for dipping

Method:
Slice the aubergine and drizzle each slice with some rapeseed oil.
Fry in a frying pan over a medium-high heat until it starts to colour. Do this is in batches. 
Wipe the frying pan and add a splash of rapeseed oil.
Pop it on a low heat with the onion & celery and cook for around 5 minutes until softened. 
Add the aubergine, tomato, garlic, lots of sea salt and black pepper, the diced pepper and cook until thickened. Around 15 minutes on a medium heat. 
Throw in the olives. 
Check the seasoning and season again if needed. 
Divide the mixture between two plates.
Top with eggs, pine nuts and parsley. 
Serve with good bread for dipping.

Toasted walnut, endive & watercress casarecce

Salad weather is officially done, so for now, I will mainly be living on pasta. 
This one is toasted walnut, endive & watercress on casarecce, my fave pasta shape. 
Caserecce holds the sauce very well but if you can’t get hold of it then don’t worry too much. Something like fusilli will also do the trick.

Endive and watercress may seem like odd vegetables to add but they are both “bitter” greens that are especially beneficial for the digestive system.
Nerd fact: bitter foods are fab for bile flow. Bile is involved in the digestion process of fats and helps the small intestine stay healthy. In a nutshell, bitter foods are good to beat the bloat.

And if you don’t care about that then here is a delicious plate of pasta:

Ingredients for 2:

100g walnuts
200g pasta (casarecce)
1 chicory/ endive (150g), shredded
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
75g watercress, roughly chopped 
Juice & zest of 1/2 lemon
Organic extra virgin olive oil 
Salt & pepper 
Parmesan (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, toast the walnuts slightly (10 mins) then pulse roughly. You’ll want it to be like crumbs rather than flour. 
2. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta to packet instructions & drain reserving some of the pasta water. 
3. Pop a frying pan on a medium heat, add a splash of oil, the garlic & endive & cook for a minute until softened. Add a splash of water if it’s starting to colour. Colouring it will turn it too bitter. 
4. Stir in the walnuts & lemon zest, the pasta, a generous splash of pasta water, the lemon juice and season really well with salt & pepper. 
5. Take it off the heat. Stir in the watercress and a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. 

Serve with fresh parmesan shavings or if you are skipping this part then season with a touch more sea salt.