I learnt the beauty of making homemade pasta sauce in high school home economics class. There is always this thought that making something like pasta sauce from scratch is too hard but it is so easy and SO much better than store bought. I’m talking ridiculously easy! Simply chop your veggies, drizzle with olive oil and coat with Italian herbs, paprika, salt and pepper. Bake until they are golden brown and tender, blitz in a blender and VOILA!
The best thing about this sauce isn’t how easy it is though. The best thing is that it is filled with only tomatos and vegetables, no artificial colours or flavourings and no added sugars. If you have a fridge full of odds and ends veggies this is the perfect way to use them up. Just because the recipe calls for a certain vegetable, don’t be afraid to swap it out for something you have in the fridge. This pasta sauce won’t care if the slightly sad sweet potato lying in the bottom of the fridge makes its way into the oven and in your pasta sauce. That is just smart cooking!
This recipe makes approximately 4 cups of pasta sauce. It goes great in all forms of pasta, maybe add with some meatballs and rice, or freeze it in small batches to pull out when you need a quick homemade mid week meal. I have turned it into a delicious pasta bake for this recipe, mixed with fresh spinach and basil and a crispy, cheesy parmesan top. A perfect meal for the whole family, or if you’re like me, dinner Monday to Friday.
Roasted Tomato and Vegetable Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce
- 5 tomatos
- 1 large capsicum
- 2 large carrots
- 2 medium zucchinis
- 250 grams pumpkin without skin
- ½ red onion or 1 small red onion
- 3 cloves garlic skin on
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tbsp dried italian herbs
- ½ tbsp paprika
- generous seasoning of salt and pepper
For the pasta bake I used
- 350 grams dried pasta I used gluten free spirals
- 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- 120 grams fresh spinach leaves
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Chop all vegetables for the sauce and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour the oil, paprika, herbs, salt and pepper over the vegetables and mix well until the veggies are evenly coated.
- Spread the veggies onto the lined baking tray and bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour.
- Once the vegetables are golden and delicious let them sit to cool for 5-10 minutes. While the veggies are cooling, cook your pasta as per the packet directions.
- Once the veggies have cooled slightly, peel the garlic from its skin if you left this on, place the vegetables in a blender and blitz until combined. You can choose to keep the sauce chunky or smooth, however you would prefer. I mixed mine in a vitamix until the sauce was really smooth.
- In a large rectangular lasagne dish toss the cooked pasta, fresh basil, spinach and pasta sauce together until the pasta is evenly coated with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. sprinkle the cheeses on top and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden.
- Serve with a sprig of fresh basil and enjoy!
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