Tomatoes with Capers, Olives, and Roasted Veggies

I love Italian pasta dishes. I love to make Italian sauce. I have no idea why, but I love working with garlic and olives and olive oil, tomatoes and well, I could go on, but the recipe is what you seek.

This is versatile, something I dote on in recipes. Swap out most any of the veggies for any other you wish. I like to roast them since I think it brightens their flavor.

This doesn't take as long as you might think and most of it can be made earlier in the day.


INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cloves garlic, microplaned.
• EVOO- 3 tbsp or so
• 2 tsp capers, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 c olives, chopped
• about 1 cup of diced tomatoes (canned or fresh-keeping as much of the juice if fresh as possible)
• 1 tsp hot pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• About 2 c of a variety of roasted veggies such as green beans, eggplant, zucchini, onion, asparagus, etc. ( Cut up the veggies, place in a plastic bag, add EVOO - a few dashes - shake and spread on a parchment cookie sheet. Roast at 425 until soft and charred)
• 1/2 lb of some meat, such as Italian sausage, diced chicken (roasted), kielbasa, ham, etc. diced.
• 2/3 lb of pasta of choice, done al dente
• 1/2 c breadcrumbs, freshly made
• fresh Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place a tbsp or so of the EVOO in a saute pan and put the garlic in, sauteing until garlic is fragrant. Do not burn. 
2. To it add the tomatoes, capers and olives, salt and pepper and hot pepper flakes. Turn on very low and saute until most of the liquid has been evaporated. At this point you can cover, turn off the heat and leave until ready to eat. The rest is just warm up.
3. In salted water, bring the pasta to a boil and cook until al dente. 
4. Add the roasted veggies and meat to the sauce, and combine.
5. Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well, heating through, using a bit of the pasta water if necessary to loosen the sauce. 
6. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
7. Serve the Parmesan at the table.

SERVES: 3

NOTES: Do without meat if you prefer. And you can also leave out all the roasted veggies and just serve very plain. This works best with really good fresh tomatoes. I would still consider adding onions to this, since I find it hard to make tomato sauce without onion. You might use a shallot instead. 

SOURCE: Sherry Peyton