Vegetable Pasta

1 lb penne pasta

5 medium sized vine ripened tomatoes

1 yellow onion (diced)

1 zucchini (diced)

1 small head of broccoli (cut into florets)

1 small head of cauliflower (cut into florets)

3 sprigs of thyme (washed)

1 bunch of basil (washed)

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 c chicken stock

1/2 c white wine

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Once you’ve prepped all the vegetables, heat the oven to 350 and get two large pots of water boiling, about a gallon each, add three tablespoons of salt to each pot of water. Put the tomatoes in the oven for five minutes until the skin splits and begins to peel back. Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower and broccoli in the same pot separately one-minute each, cooking the cauliflower first, then the broccoli. Remove them from the boiling water, strain them, and toss with one tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast for 10 minutes on a foil lined sheet tray, remove, and set aside.

While the veggies are roasting, you can start the simple sauce. Heat a medium sized sauce pot over medium-high heat, add the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil, followed by the diced onion and sliced garlic. Stir them gently and often until you have nice toasted brown color on the onion and garlic, then toss in the zucchini and cook another minute.

Deglaze with the white wine and reduce that liquid by half, then add the chicken stock and reduce by half again, now turn the heat down to a simmer. Then we can take the tomatoes we roasted and peel the skin off where it has begun to split and is separating from the flesh of the tomato. Once the skin is off, use your hands to crush the peeled tomatoes into the sauce pot (chunks are good). Add half the bunch of washed basil and the thyme to the sauce, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Once the sauce has simmered 30 minutes, season with salt and pepper to your liking, and remove the thyme and basil. Cook the pasta eight minutes in the other pot of boiling salted water. Remove, strain, and add the pasta to the sauce pot. You can add about a third-cup of pasta water to the sauce as well. Cook the pasta in the sauce for three to four minutes at medium-high heat, stirring frequently to finish. Add the butter at the very end. Heat the veggies in the oven. Place pasta, and sauce in the bowl and add warm veggies on top. Tear the rest of the basil and sprinkle over the top with grated parmesan and lemon zest.