Hey there everyone! Happy to be back blogging after the weekend, time well spent taking my son out cycling early morning into the outskirts, lots of exciting bird watching and some great cups of coffee! All rejuvenated after that time out in nature and soaking up the sun!
Today, Say Eatalee! When I first tried my hand at cooking, early high school, started with Italian. Experimented with many dishes, sauces from different regions of Italy, types of Lasagna, Spaghetti with meatballs, Potato gnocchi, risotto & more.
Having sampled some of my Italian food over the years, few of my friends had specifically requested for a pasta recipe a long time ago. After putting it off for a bit, thinking everyone knows how to cook pasta, I finally decided to put it up today or else run the risk of incurring their wrath.
So here it is but with some excitement-
Oven roasted Veggies-you will be amazed at how this slight bit of effort adds a ton of flavour to your regular pan sauteed veggies. Do give it a try in your regular small oven or OTG and I’m telling ya, you will never do it any other way!
The Super Popular Pink Sauce-It’s a fusion recipe very popular in India wherein a bit of fresh cream is added to your regular tomato Arrabiatta sauce such that it’s neither red nor white. It’s pink!!
It’s truly flabbergasting how Indians have mastered the art of Fusion Food to such an extent that many a times you prefer the Indian version to the authentic one. Ch-Indian food or Indian-Chinese being a classic example of this. Most Indians living abroad look forward to returning home to ordering their favourite American Chopsuey and Manchurian Balls. Similarly, Italian food is also often tweaked to the Indian palate with a bit of chilli flakes to add a bit of zing to a white sauce or a bit of cream to a red sauce.
What else could this post be dedicated to then? The ingenious mind of every single cook out there, ensuring their end customers should be satiated, enjoy their food in every sense, be it in a fancy Ultra-luxury fine-dine place or a street-side van called Hungry Eyes dishing out large plates of rice, noodles and pasta to hordes of hungry office-goers in lunchtime in a jiffy! Don’t they say the way to a person’s heart is through their tummy?
Recipe for Fusion Pasta Primavera with Oven Roasted Veggies
Ingredients
For the roasted veggies
- 1 small yellow zucchini, halved length-wise and sliced into semi circles
- 1 small green zucchini, halved length-wise and sliced into semi circles
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into short sticks
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin sticks
- 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into thin sticks
- Button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 red onion, cut into long juliennes
- 4-6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper powder to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
For the sauce:
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup sweet corn, boiled
- 3 tomatoes, blanched & pureed (or 4 tbsp packet tomato puree)
- 3 tbsp fresh cream (I use Amul Fresh cream)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fresh Italian basil
- 250 gms pasta in the shape of your choice (I have used Farfalle)
For garnish
- ½ cup parmesan cheese /mozzarella cheese /any available more to your liking
Procedure
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.
- In a large mixing bowl, add in all the sliced veggies, add garlic, oregano, thyme, salt and black pepper. Drizzle 2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil & toss well to coat all the vegetables.
- Transfer the vegetables to a large metal pan & spread them out well. Roast in the heated oven for about 10 minutes at a time, tossing them a bit, half-way through.
- While the vegetables are roasting, cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente or almost done according to packet instructions.
- Once done, drain the pasta into a colander. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta cooking water. Dunk the drained pasta into a bowl of cool water & drain again. Drizzle a spoon of olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Once well drained, transfer pasta to a large bowl and season with salt and pepper, oregano. Add the oven roasted vegetables in.
To make the sauce
- In a saucepan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil until shimmering. Add finely chopped garlic, fresh basil leaves & chopped onion and saute till translucent. Add dried herbs, salt, chilli flakes, 1 cup water and tomato puree. Stir well to combine.
- Add fresh cream and 1 teaspoon sugar & mix well.
- Add a bit of the pasta cooking water & switch off the flame. Pour into the pasta & combine.
- Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Note:
- Variations: change up the vegetables according to what you have at home.
- Broccoli, green beans, and peas will also work in this recipe. For protein, cut up some cottage cheese/tofu/boiled chicken/stir fried prawn and toss into the pasta.
- If you prefer a dairy-free option, skip the cream & cheese totally or use vegan cheese
Making of Pasta Primavera
The Culinary Konnoisseur 
This seem simple enough for me to try. Specially like the thought of roasted vegs.
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The flavour boost added by the oven roast veggies is especially unbelievable!
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Thanks for such a detailed recipe with great photos.
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Thank you so much for your kind compliments!
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Wonderful, colorful and tempting photos and video
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Thank you! genuine comfort food for many!
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