Pasta with tomatoes and roasted vegetables

Many people I know, myself included a while ago, approach the entire concept of pasta as one recipe, namely Spaghetti Bolognese.

"How exactly do you make tagliatelle"? asked a work colleague once and, I, not knowing much better at that time, lamented that maybe chicken and mushrooms with a creamy sauce may be a good option. 

Of course tagliatelle is the name of the pasta, the particular shape, not the actual dish itself, which has limitless possibilities. I once saw biryani on a pub menu in the UK and questioning the server was told I could have it with rice or naan bread. This is all perfectly natural when countries adopt the foods of other cultures and muck about with it, either through a lack of understanding or a desire to fuse it with whatever's available locally and that's fine.

To return to my original comment, pasta can be anything you want it to be, some type of sauce, (or not even that), on a food stuff made out of flour, water and egg. 

This is a new recipe for me, the sauce containing two parts; tomatoes stewed down to a thick, sweet sauce flavoured with garlic, red wine and agave nectar and a tray of multi coloured vegetables, roasted until soft and caramelised. I served the veg in a separate bowl, but they could just as easily be stirred into the tomato sauce at the end and sprinkled liberally with cheese. 

Recipe : Pasta with roasted vegetables and tomatoes

This is a seasonal recipe whose ingredients can be dictated by the produce available locally. 

Sauce

20 cherry tomatoes or 6 larger ones

a little oil

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp agave nectar or other sweetener

salt and pepper

1/4 cup red wine

Vegetables

2 cups of diced seasonal vegetables, (I used beets, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and bell peppers)

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Spaghetti for four 

1 cup grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 375oF and spread the vegetables onto a large baking tray in one layer. Drizzle the oil all over and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place into the oven to roast for approximately one hour. (You may have to cook the beets a little longer).

For the sauce, place the oil, garlic and tomatoes in a pan over medium heat and allow to come to a slow boil. Reduce the heat to low and cover, allowing the tomatoes to break down and release their juice for about 30 minutes, keep an eye on it as it can quickly dry up and burn. Add the red wine, sweetener and salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer, covered, for another 20 minutes or so. By the end of the cooking time, the sauce should be thickened, if it's still very runny, you can increase the heat and allow it to boil rapidly until most of the liquid has evaporated. 

Cook the pasta in lots of boiling salted water until al dente, drain and throw into the pan with the sauce. Add about 1 tsp of butter and stir all together at low medium heat until heated through. Either stir the vegetables into the sauce or serve separately. Sprinkle lots and lots of cheese over everything.

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 Roasted vegetable salad