Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

I like eating comfort food on Friday nights. After a long work week who wants to eat diet food?

Not me.

Bring on the pasta or pizza. Hold the rabbit food.

This recipe was a nice middle ground. It met my criteria but also tasted great and felt indulgent.

My favorite things about this one:

1. No canned ingredients
2. I was able to find a low-sodium, jarred Marinara sauce (Muir Glen)
3. Lots of veggies
4. Could be prepared 2 ways in one pan (cheese for Andy & Grace and not so much for me)
5. It was pasta
6. See #5

I love me a good food blog and when I stumbled upon Joanne’s a while back, I immediately added her to my daily reads. A lot of her food would be a little too “out there” for Andy’s taste, but I love reading about it and checking out the pretty pictures. I even secretly knew I’d venture out to start making her stuff here and there when the time was right :)

Plus, in her About Me section she describes herself by saying, “Ever wonder what would have happened if Carrie Bradshaw had gone to medical school and filled her two by nothing New York apartment with cookbooks instead of shoes? Wonder no more. Join me as I weave my way through life in NYC as an MD/PhD student/marathon runner/grocery shopper extraordinaire….and eat really well while I do it!”

I come back as much for her cool recipes as I do to hear about her latest blind date. Check her out, especially if you enjoy food that pushes the boundaries.

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables
Serves 6, adapted from Joanne who adapted it from Giada de Laurentis

Ingredients
2 red bell peppers, cored and cut into 1-inch wide strips
2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 summer squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt, divided (I skipped this)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 tbsp herbs de Provence (I didn’t want to shell out $4.99 for a jar of this so I used Oregano)
1 lb penne (I used whole wheat)
3 cups good marinara sauce (Muir Glen is low sodium!)
1 cup grated fontina cheese
1/2 cup grated smoked mozzarella (I was lazy and used regular but only on Andy’s half)
1/4 cup grated parmesan plus more for topping (also only on Andy’s half)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450.

On a baking sheet, toss the peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and onions with olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and herbs de Provence (or Oregano). Roast until tender, about 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta for about 6 minutes. It should still be very firm! Drain pasta.

In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta with the roasted veggies, marinara sauce and fontina cheese. (I only added the grated mozzarella and parmesan to Andy’s half of the mix). Gently mix until the pasta is coated with sauce and the ingredients are combined.

Pour the pasta into a 9×13-inch pan. Top with some extra mozzarella and parmesan. Bake until the top is golden and the cheese melts.

*I really should have taken a picture of the whole pan so you could see the cheesy side vs. the plain side, but I was too hungry to dig out the camera. In fact, I only remembered to snap a few crappy pics when I was putting the leftovers away. Doh!

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