Italian Pasta Recipe – Pasta With Roasted Vegetables & Fresh Herbs
★This recipe is quick, easy and delicious summer Italian pasta you just have to make for dinner tonight. Everyone can do it. Your family will feel like they eat in an authentic Italian restaurant after eating this dish.
But before we get to this recipe, I want to give some tips on how to buy the best quality ingredients for this dish.
Tips for buying your vegetables
The key to this dish or flat demand for fresh vegetables, is to become educated on how to choose the best ingredients. It can be confusing to the store with all the different varieties, textures, sizes and shapes that vegetables are available in.
I try to use only fruit and vegetables. They may be more expensive but are more flavorful, more nutrient-rich and mostly free of hazardous chemicals.
For this dish I use Roma or tomatoes. A Roma tomato is a type of tomato plum, and the best of my knowledge, there is no real difference between the two. I like to use tomatoes for cooking and sauces. They are plumper and have less seeds and juice than other varieties. They also taste better in my opinion.
Choose tomatoes that are heavy for their size and have a deep, rich color. This deep, rich color indicates not only a better taste of tomatoes, but it is also an indication that the tomato has a greater choice of healthy ingredients and “lycopene”.
The smell of tomato. They should smell fresh and natural.
Choose tomatoes that are smooth and seamless, soft spots and stains.
When choosing your pumpkin, make sure it is firm and heavy for their size.
Examine the skin for cuts or soft spots. Look at the stem and make sure it is not discolored or shriveled.
Choose squash that is smaller and younger than they tend to be more tender.
THE PASTA
Am I really to devote a section of this article for pasta? You can not use the old pasta? Is there really a difference?
In my opinion, yes, it makes a difference. There are many varieties of pasta on the shelves of your supermarket, but not all are created equal. I tried many different brands of pasta and always find myself back to Barilla.
Only the cooks to perfection every time. When I say completely, I mean “Al Dente”. When the pasta is cooked al dente, which should be firm but not hard. Cook the pasta to this perfect practice makes perfect. Follow the instructions on the back of the box. They are usually fairly accurate. My recommendation would be to try the pasta a minute or two before the suggested cooking time is reached.
INGREDIENTS
Here are the ingredients you need. These measures are not set in stone. Not everyone has the same preferences. You can easily adjust the list below to your taste. The kitchen is all about experimentation and I find that many of my recipes evolve over time.
1 pound Barilla Pasta – I use penne. I tried other types of pasta like spaghetti and ziti, but penne seems to have better texture and better supported with the ingredients of this dish.
3-4 yellow zucchini cut into 1 / 2 inch
3-4 Roma or plum tomatoes cut into 1 / 2 inch
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 cup basil leaves torn
1 / 4 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 / 4 cup Parmesan or Asiago cheese and a little more to serve
Pour olive oil Several
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Add vegetables and garlic in a large baking sheet. Sprinkle the vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Then add the vegetables are coated well with olive oil.
Place the vegetables in the preheated oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden. Make sure they do not burn! It should not take more than 30 minutes.
While vegetables are roasting, Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, but reserve a cup or so of pasta water. Return to pot with pasta.
Add grilled vegetables, fresh herbs, cheese, butter, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to the dough.
If mixture is dry, add some reserved cooking water.
Mix and serve. Garnish with cheese if desired.
Enjoy!
Ralph Serpe is a passionate home cook and webmaster for http://www.chefability.com. Follow this link for more easy Italian cooking recipes and tips like this.
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July 9th, 2010 at 5:08 am
Herbal plants used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine are facing extinction.
Definite cause of concern, as Ayurveda is increasingly being used around the world to treat various disorders such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, ulcers and many others.
Some herbs that have been identified are – Ulteria salicfolia, Hydnocarpus pentandra, Gymnocladus assamicus, and Begonia tessaricarpa.
Conservation of traditional herbs and plants should become a high priority for all. Challenge
becomes more severe as many of these herbs grow in the wild and are not cultivated.
Planet Green (a discovery.com venture) reported on this earlier this month.