Root veggies are roasted to perfection and combined with al dente pasta in this easy recipe for Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans.
Sometimes, it’s the simple things that become the most comforting. A smile at the right time. A pat on the shoulder. A friendly hello. The same is true of food too.
Don’t misunderstand though: Fancy is wonderful. It’s memorable and delightful and marks some of the best dishes and meals I have ever had — pasta at Carmine’s in New York, dinner at Deuxave in Boston, memorable gnocchi and chicken meatballs at a little restaurant in Minneapolis. I love fancy.
But when we’re at home on a dark, cold winter night, simple is where it’s at. Do you feel the same?
Simple is roasting root vegetables together with tomatoes and white beans to make a delicate sauce lightly seasoned with salt and pepper that celebrates the natural goodness of the vegetables included. Simple is tossing together that sauce with the pasta and having dinner on the table with relative ease.
Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans features carrots, parsnips and shallots together with the tomatoes and cannellini beans. And the curly gemelli pasta (highly recommended shape for this!) is perfect for capturing the juicy bits of the sauce.
This dish is filling, a good thing in mid-winter. And the leftovers are delightful for lunches too. Why not pack some up in the lunch box?
Best of all, you might just have all the ingredients for this pasta recipe on hand already. That’s the perfection of an easy, simple meal like Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans. The ingredients are ones that often inhabit the pantries.
Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and small diced
- 2 parsnips, peeled and small diced
- 5-6 small shallots, peeled and quartered
- 1 quart grape tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 15.5-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ pound gemelli pasta
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Arrange the carrots, parsnips, shallots and grape tomatoes on a nonstick baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the cannellini beans and stir. Spread into an even layer. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables are tender.
- Cook gemelli pasta according to package directions, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water before draining.
- In a serving bowl. toss together the pasta and roasted vegetable mixture. Add the reserved water, a little at a time, to desired moistness.
- Taste and season, as needed, with salt and pepper.
- Enjoy!