Roasted Summer Vegetable and Walnut Pasta | gluten free | vegan

A hearty, healthy, weeknight pasta recipe that the whole family will love! This dish is packed with roasted vegetables, crunchy walnuts and flavour!Nothing says ‘easy weeknight dinner’ to me better than a big bowl of pasta, and come midweek I’m often craving the comfort of some spaghetti for my supper. I’ve taken to making piles of zucchini noodles on many of these nights, but when I want real pasta I want it to taste awesome and hit ‘that spot’. You know, the pasta spot. Everyone has one of those, don’t they?This quick and easy meal is perfect for weeknights when everyone is clammering for dinner right now! And when I say everyone, really I mean me. I am in the camp of people who get hungry and need to eat within a thirty minute window otherwise I get my hangry pants on. If you plotted this on a graph it’s a serious y = x situation. Where x is time and y is “how likely is it that Amy will actually start crying from hunger or eating everything out of the fridge dipped in peanut butter?” So, yeah. This dinner is perfect for those of us with delicate constitutions that require feeding right now. I can’t get enough of roasted summer vegetables at the moment. At least every second night I find myself in the kitchen chopping up whatever falls to hand when I reach into the vegetable crisper. A toss in some olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs followed by a blast in the oven transforms every vegetable into the better version of itself. Softened, sweetened, and perfect for incorporating into every meal. Roasting vegetables like this is easy, lazy, delicious dinner preparation. Roasted veggies are an easy, delicious way to reach for your five servings of vegetables every day. It’s also a great way to get ahead with meal preparation. Roast a few trays like this throughout the week and you will have healthy leftovers for lunch every day. Just add the protein of your choice (chickpeas go especially well) and maybe a scoop of grains (leftover quinoa, brown rice etc) or a slice of wholewheat toast and you have the queen of lunches. And seriously envious colleagues too.

This meal doesn’t get more complicated than the roasted vegetables. Once they have been transformed into sweet little jewels of nutrition and flavour you toss them through the pasta of your choice with a little splash of balsamic and olive oil, a handful of fresh summer tomatoes for crispy sweetness, and then sprinkle them liberally with toasted walnuts. Serve it up and watch everyone’s faces light up. Summer dining at its best.

Roasted Summer Vegetable and Walnut Pasta

| gluten free | vegan | serves 4 for a light meal, or 2 hangry diners

Note: obviously if you don’t need this to be gluten free you can use wheat-based pasta.
Tip: When chopping up the vegetables try to make everything roughly the same size so that it cooks in nearly the same time.
Make it heartier: serve alongside the protein of your choice.

Ingredients

• 1 medium capsicum
• 1 large zucchini
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 medium red onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• Salt and black pepper
• 125 grams gluten free pasta (I used spaghetti but feel free to use another shape)
• 1 cup cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup toasted walnuts

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and line a large, rimmed, baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside until required.
2. Remove the core and seeds of the capsicum and cut into large chunks. Cut the zucchini, carrots, and red onion into large pieces. Try to make everything roughly the same size. Place all the chopped veggies into a large bowl.
3. Peel and crush the garlic and add to the bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the dried oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything together very well and spread out across the prepared baking sheet. Keep the bowl handy.
4. Place vegetables into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until everything is softened.
5. While the vegetables are baking make the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. For me this included bringing a large pot of well-salted water to the boil, adding the pasta and cooking for 8 minutes. Once the pasta is cooked, strain very well and add to the large bowl. Keep covered until vegetables are cooked.
6. Add roasted vegetables. Chop cherry tomatoes in half and add to the bowl along with the remaining olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Toss very well.
7. Top with toasted walnuts and serve.