Bigly Roasted Vegetable Pasta
Prep
15m
Cook
30m
Total
45m
Bigly says
Let me tell you something. Roasted vegetable pasta. BIGLY roasted vegetable pasta. The greatest roasted vegetable pasta in the history of roasted vegetable pasta — and the Italians have been working on this for, what, three thousand years? Four thousand? Older than France. Older than the wheel, some food historians say. Tremendous people, the Italians, GREAT food, they basically invented eating, I had people look it up — and even THEY have not produced a roasted vegetable pasta like this one. Sorry, Italy. I love you. This one's mine.
The trick is the SHEET PAN. You roast the vegetables HARD. Hot oven. Single layer. Don't crowd them. Crowded vegetables steam. Steamed vegetables are SAD. Steamed vegetables are what hospitals serve when they want to break your spirit. We are NOT doing steamed vegetables today. We are doing CARAMELIZED. Browned at the edges. Sweet. The tomatoes burst. The onion chars. The garlic goes soft and golden in its skin like a tiny edible treasure. That chef on TV — you know the one — boils his vegetables for this dish. A disgrace. Find a new chef.
And then — this is the part that separates the champions from the losers, the winners from the sad weak souls who eat plain pasta with butter and call it dinner, although honestly that's also delicious, I won't lie, I've done it, we've all done it — you toss the roasted vegetables with the hot pasta, a little of the starchy pasta water, lemon, garlic, parmesan, and torn basil. Torn. Not chopped. NEVER chopped. Chopped basil bruises and turns black and looks like a SAD WEEPING herb that has given up on life. Tear it with your hands like a person.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pintscherry tomatoes
- 2 mediumzucchini, sliced into half-moons
- 1yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
- 1 mediumred onion, cut into wedges
- 6 clovesgarlic, peeled (whole cloves)
- 4 tbsp, dividedolive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1/2 tspred pepper flakes(or more, you decide your spice destiny)
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 lbshort pasta (rigatoni, penne, or fusilli)
- 1lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 cup, plus more to serveparmesan cheese, finely grated(block parmesan, grate it yourself, the green can is not parmesan)
- 1/2 cupfresh basil leaves, torn by hand(TORN. Not chopped.)
Steps
- 1
Heat oven to 425°F. Place two sheet pans in the oven to preheat while you prep — this prevents the vegetables from steaming.
- 2
Toss the tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, red onion, and whole garlic cloves with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, the pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano in a large bowl.
- 3
Carefully pull the hot sheet pans out and divide the vegetables between them in a single layer with space around each piece. Crowding will steam them.
- 4
Roast 22-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the tomatoes have burst, the zucchini is golden at the edges, and the onion is charred in spots.
- 5
While the vegetables roast, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta to al dente per the package — usually 1 minute less than the box suggests. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then drain.
- 6
Return the drained pasta to the warm pot off the heat. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt.
- 7
Scrape all the roasted vegetables, garlic cloves, and any pan juices directly into the pot with the pasta. Add the parmesan and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water.
- 8
Toss gently with tongs for 1-2 minutes until everything is coated in a glossy sauce. Add more pasta water a splash at a time if it looks dry.
- 9
Tear the basil over the top and toss once. Serve immediately with more parmesan.
One more thing
That's dinner. Thirty-five minutes, one pot, two sheet pans, and you've out-Italian'd the Italians. Sorry, Rome. Sorry, Naples. I still love you. Send me your pasta. I'll eat it. I'll be polite. But I'll know — deep in my heart, I'll KNOW — that the bigly pasta back home was better. And there you have it.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Roasted Vegetable Pasta.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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