Garden harvest time is always exciting. We only have a small garden with a few things, but we love to be able to gather our few veggies and herbs straight from the backyard. Tomatoes are definitely our fave. They are the star of this Creamy Roasted Vegetable Pasta. Veggies like zucchini, garlic, onion and basil are really quite similar to what you can buy at the market. The tomatoes, however, are far superior.
Preparing the Veg for this Roasted Vegetable Pasta
We roast all of of the veg in the oven at the same time on three different pans: tomatoes on one, zucchini and onion on another and squash and garlic on the third. We place the whole tomatoes in mixing bowl and add 2 tsp of the olive oil, 3/4 tsp of the sea salt and a 1/2 tsp of the freshly ground pepper. Tossing the tomatoes before slicing them in half prevents them from falling apart. After cutting them in half, spread them out on a baking tray cut side up.
Prepare the zucchini as shown in the recipe and spread out over the part of a second baking sheet. Cut the onions in 1/4″ slices and place these on the same baking sheet. Prepare the squash and place on a third baking sheet. We cut these in smaller 1/2″ cubes so that all of the veg can be roast slowly and be ready at the same time. That way, everything is hot when ready to plate this creamy vegetable pasta.
Preparing the Sauce
The sauce is straightforward to prepare. We roasted the garlic together with the other vegetables in the oven at 400°F. Before roasting it, we removed all of the other peel to expose the individual garlic cloves with their inner peel intact. This makes it much easier to remove the roasted garlic from their peel afterwards.
The raw cashews can be soaked for as little as 30 minutes if you have a high-powered blender, or up to 4 hours with less powerful blenders. Drain afterwards and combined in blender with peeled roasted garlic, lemon juice and almond milk. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and blend to a smooth creamy consistency. Pour into a small sauce pot and heat on medium high. The sauce should be quite pourable. Add a little more almond milk if you feel that it is too thick. When all of the recipe components are combined, the vegetable pasta may appear thicker. It is also possible to mix in some additional heated almond milk after sauce, veg and pasta has been tossed, if necessary.
Bringing It All Together
We used pappardelle pasta because, well, we had some in the pantry. You just have to cook with what you have sometimes, right? However, you can certainly use any pasta you have on hand. We think we’ll use fettuccine or fusilli next time. The pappardelle we had was quite thick and, let’s face it, we like pasta, but we love veg!
Pour the heated sauce over the drained pasta and add all of the roasted veg before tossing
Our Ratatouille Pasta Salad uses similar ingredients for a great summer side or picnic dish. If you’re looking for some other pasta entrée recipes, try out this Simple Weeknight Marinara Sauce or one of our favourites . . . Vegan Mushroom Cream Sauce with Truffle Oil.
Please let us know if you try out this Creamy Roasted Vegetable Pasta because we like to know what resonates with our community of readers! Leave a comment and a rating and don’t forget to tag us @plantedandpicked on Instagram and hashtag it #plantedandpicked. Always eat with family or friends whenever possible and find love in your food when you share it!
Ingredients
Roast Vegetables
- 3 pints red and yellow cherry tomatoes
- 3 small zucchinis
- 2 medium onions
- 3 cups squash in ½" cubes
- 5 tsp olive oil
- 1¾ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 2 heads garlic
Cashew Cream Sauce
- ½ cup raw cashews soaked
- 1¼ cup almond milk
- 1 lemon juiced
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper freshly ground
Pasta
- 300 g pasta
Instructions
Roasting the Vegetables
- Pre-heat your oven to 400°F
- Place the whole tomatoes in a mixing bowl and add 2 tsp of the olive oil, ¾ tsp of the sea salt and a ½ tsp of the freshly ground pepper. Toss the tomatoes before slicing them in half and spreading them out on a baking tray cut side up.
- Cut the zucchinis lengthwise and then into ¼" slices. Place them in the mixing bowl used for the tomatoes and add 1 tsp of the olive oil, ½ tsp of the sea salt and ¼ tsp of the freshly ground pepper. Toss and spread out over part of a second baking sheet.
- Cut the onions into ¼″ slices and place these on the baking sheet with the zucchinis. drizzle with ½ tsp of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
- Peel the squash and cut into ½″ cubes so that all of the veg can be roast slowly and be ready at the same time. Place them in the mixing bowl used for the other vegetables and add 1 tsp of the olive oil, ½ tsp of the sea salt and ¼ tsp of the freshly ground pepper. Toss and spread out over a third baking sheet.
- Peel the loose outer skins from the garlic bulbs, leaving the inner peel on the individual cloves intact. Slice the top of the bulb off to expose the cloves and brush the tops of the cloves lightly with the remaining ½ tsp of olive, before setting them on one of the three baking sheets.
- Roast vegetables for 40 minutes at 400°F, turning once half way through. Roasting is complete when squash is fork tender. Combine all roasted veg with the exception of the garlic, in a covered dish to keep warm.
Preparing the Sauce
- Soak cashews in filtered water for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours and drain. Note that if you have a high powered blender, 30 minutes is sufficient, but that longer periods may be required for less powerful blenders.
- Add cashews, peeled roasted garlic, almond milk, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper to a blender and blend to produce a smooth creamy consistency. Place in a small sauce pan over medium to heat through.
Bring it Together
- Prepare pasta according to package directions and drain and rinse.
- Toss pasta, sauce, roasted vegetables and roughly chopped fresh basil in a large serving bowl and plate to individual servings.
This was delicious! We used butternut squash and linguine and had enough left-overs for lunch the next day. Wonderfully creamy and lovely flavour. Really love the content on your site. Keep it up!
Thank you so much Lorna, we’re so glad that you loved it!
What temp do you roast the veggies at?
Thank you so much for picking up on that Allyne! Although we included the roasting temperature in the blog post, it was not in the recipe itself. We roast the vegetables at 400°F and have updated the recipe, accordingly. Thanks again.