Roasted “spaghetti sauce”

Rarely am I inspired to invent a new dish but it recently hit me one night. I love roasted veggies, and I love pasta so what if I . . . ? And thus “roasted marinara sauce” was born.

Marinara is the tomato-based sauce we think of as typical spaghetti sauce. When I lived with the boys I simmered vats of it on the stove and it went into lasagne and onto various kinds of pasta.

But I realize, I’m not that fond of regular spaghetti sauce. Some of it is better than other of it, and every once in a while I’ll make a batch of chicken cacciatore (here’s a simple and typical recipe) and freeze it in single portions so that I can have a quick hit of Americanized Italian, but I don’t cook it for a regular meal.

So here was my thought. Take the veggies you normally put into spaghetti sauce and put them in your roasting pan:  garlic cloves, onion (red in this case because it’s what I had “open” in the fridge), tomatoes and red and green bell peppers. Sprinkle them with a little dried oregano and basil as well as salt and pepper. Don’t forget the olive oil.

(Notice the wonky tomato cutting. I was experimenting so I cut one in slices the long way, one in crosswise slices and I quartered the third one. I’m pointing this out so you’ll gain confidence. There’s no one “right” way to do it. Just keep the pieces roughly the same size. Very roughly.)

Then roast them just as we did for regular roasted veggies.When they’re done they look like this.And while they were roasting, I cooked and drained the pasta (whole grain in this case) and put it in a beautiful bowl made by a local artist.

I timed it pretty well. It takes about 10 minutes for the pasta to cook and I don’t know, 5 or so minutes for the water to boil. I didn’t pay attention to this part. I just sort of know how to make it come out at the same time after much experience but you can wait 8 or 9 minutes after you get the veggies roasting to start the water. Depends on the speed of your stove, the type pot you use, etc. You’ll get the rhythm of it just by paying attention.

Then I tossed it together.

CAUTION: THIS CAN CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN IF YOU’RE A LITTLE PIGGY. It was so wonderful that I ate 2/3 of it at once and it was about four healthy-sized servings. 

It’s best to invite a hungry friend to help save you from gluttony. Or at least that works for me.