Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

With only 3 weeks until our baby is due I am busy batch cooking for the freezer. Most meals that we have had lately have been doubled or tripled to allow extra to be frozen for those first few weeks with a newborn. At last count we have around 25 meals for two in there, so all one of us will have to do is defrost and reheat one and cook some carbs such as pasta or rice to serve alongside it. We have sausage and fennel seed ragu, lamb meatballs, Bolognese, chilli con carne and beef casserole amongst other meals.

I was contacted by Thomson’s Al Fresco to see if I would be interested in coming up with an Italian, Spanish or French recipe using ingredients from a hamper they would supply filled with foods from one of these countries. No surprises that I chose the Italian hamper. The hamper contained 5 different types of pasta, a jar of tomato pasta sauce, a jar of wild boar ragu, a tube of tomato puree and a bottles of balsamic vinegar. Initially I was not that inspired by the contents of the hamper although clearly I knew I would have to make a pasta dish. With all the red meat based meals in the freezer, I decided to make a big batch of pasta sauce that was red meat free. This recipe is very straight forward and made enough for 8 people. The type and quantities of vegetables can also easily be adapted to your choice as well. For instance I’m not a big fan of courgette so I kept the amount of that low but you could add more if you wanted.

Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

3 peppers, deseeded and roughly diced
2 large aubergines, roughly diced
1 medium courgette, roughly diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed or finely diced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp dried oregano
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp tomato puree
500g passata
Dried pasta

• Pre-heat the oven to 200C (180 fan). Put the peppers, aubergine, courgette, garlic and oregano in a roasting tin and drizzle over some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and stir well to combine, adding more olive oil if necessary to ensure all the vegetables are covered.
• Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown.
• Meanwhile slowly cook the red onion slices in olive oil over a low heat until softened (approximately 15 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for a further 5-10 minutes. Add the tomato puree and cook it out for a couple of minutes before adding the onions/tomato puree and passata to the roasted vegetables. Return the tray to the oven for 15- 20 minutes, stirring once. Mean while cook the pasta until al dente. Serve the pasta and sauce with a grating of parmesan over the top.