Oven roasting vegetables at high temperature brings out the natural sweetness and adds a delicious crunch while retaining the natural crunch of the vegetables. Broccoli and Green Beans hold up to this high heat roasting. Pick any 2 vegetables of your choice – butternut squash, zucchini, sweet potato etc. all work well for this method. Roasting it with aromatic curry powder makes the kitchen smell of appetizing fare and invites the whole brood to the dining table. It really works !
Today the market has a variety of pasta options made with whole ingredients – some examples are red lentil pasta, sweet potato pasta, chicpea pasta, edamame pasta, black bean pasta…… so on and so forth. These pasta options provide a distinct taste and good al dente texture while absorbing sauces well. Prepare a simple white sauce, keep it light and not too thick. Add a teaspoon of sriracha to provide some kick.
There are only 3 flavor enhancers used here – garlic, rosemary and parsley. Rosemary is one herb which is very strong but goes very well with pasta. It can be substituted with other Italian herbs such as basil or oregano if it seems too strong.
Roast the veggies. Under-cook the pasta. Make the sauce, toss the pasta. Mix a handful of the veggies into the pasta and leave the rest as a side. Picky kids will not mind a few veggies and others can add more as desired. Include a handful of chopped olives to add a salt surprise to every bite. Bon Appetite !
Sweet Potato pasta with curried broccoli and green beans recipe
Ingredients –
- Sweet potato and Lentil pasta 1 packet
- Chopped Broccoli frozen bag -thawed 16 oz bag
- Green Beans frozen bag – thawed (cut into 3 inch long pieces) 16 oz bag
- Black olives 10 chopped
- White Sauce ingredients – 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp flour, 1 cup 2% milk
- Sriracha sauce 1 tsp
- Flavor enhancers – garlic (3 pods), rosemary (5 stalks), parsley (1tbsp)
Procedure –
- Spread the broccoli and green beans on a baking tray, spray 2 tbsps of olive oil, season with 2 tbsps of curry powder and salt. Roast in a hot over at 450 degrees for 20 mins until light brown in color but still crisp.
- Cook pasta as per box directions but remove it 2 minutes earlier so it continues to cook and absorb the sauce while tossing together.
- Prepare the Sauce – heat a large saucepan, add butter, add the garlic and rosemary and toss. Add the sriracha and mix well.
- Next add flour and brown lightly. Turn off stove and add the milk stirring until a good creamy white sauce is obtained. The sauce will be light and not thick.
- Add the pasta, olives and salt to taste and coat the sauce well. Add more plain milk if needed until the pasta is completely coated.
- Sprinkle fresh parsley and parmesan cheese (optional)
- Top with plenty of roasted curried broccoli and green beans before serving.
I loved this recipe, I was looking for something with broccoli and asparagus so I subbed out the beans. It was so good! I used whole Kalamata olives with pits and it worked out really well.