Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables Tagliatelle Recipe
The Mediterranean Style of Cooking
Mediterranean food and Mediterranean cooking are extremely representative of the Mediterranean climate. Mediterranean cooking features olive oil, beautiful fresh vegetables, simple pasta and cheeses - and very much, seafood. The seafood is naturally taboo in a vegetarian dish but all else is fair game and although this somewhat different mixture of certain ingredients may raise a few eyebrows from those of a more traditional slant, it looks good, it tastes great, it's extremely healthy and nutritious - and what else could possibly matter...?
The Principal Ingredients of this Dish
Mozzarella? Not Parmesano? That is the most likely initial comment from many in respect of this recipe but the combination is sound and is absolutely delicious. In order to prepare this recipe for two people, you will need:
1 aubergine (eggplant)
1 courgette (zucchini)
8 small cherry tomatoes
6oz dried tagliatelle pasta
2 large cloves of garlic
4oz ball of fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Roasting the Vegetables
The aubergine/eggplant and the courgette/zucchini should be sliced at an angle of forty-five degrees to the normal, to make each slice as long as possible and give it the greatest surface area for cooking and presentation purposes. The tomatoes should be left whole and the garlic should simply be sliced. This is a rustic dish and there is no need whatsoever to finely chop the garlic.
The vegetables should be placed in a deep roasting tray, seasoned well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzled liberally with olive oil. They should then be placed in an oven pre-heated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 for a total of forty-five minutes.
Cooking the Tagliatelle and Bringing the Dish Together
When the vegetables have been roasting for around half an hour, the pasta should be placed in to a pan of boiling, salted water and simmered for ten minutes. It should then be drained well and added to a deep serving dish.
The vegetables should be removed from the oven and poured atop the pasta. The mozzarella should be loosely torn (not uniformly chopped) and added to the dish, along with a good handful of parsley. Using a pair of tongs, the ingredients should be very carefully mixed, before more parsley is scattered on top and the dish is served immediately.
© 2010 Gordon Hamilton