Summer veggie pasta--warm? cold? You choose!

We have thoroughly been enjoying our new summer CSA.  We are now members of Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, where most of the products (about 98%) are sourced from more than 80 organic farms located less than 60 miles from us.  What I also enjoy about LFFC is that they bring fresh foods to under-served neighborhoods (see also: food deserts).

The variety of produce has been awesome this year and I hope will continue through the end of the CSA season.  Right now, we are in the midst of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, onion season.  It seems that 2012 has been a GREAT year for these crops. 

This year has also brought about new providers at our Farmer's Market.  One of my newest favorites is Vera Pasta. They bring a variety of fresh pasta products and sauces, but I'm especially fond of their penne and I often pickup a pound when I am at the market.

This week, I combined  many items from the CSA share and Vera's Pasta and made roasted vegetable pasta.  You can eat this warm, or cold, but it is a pretty simple dish.  I bought their balsamic tarragon penne at the market on Saturday and it was delicious. I'm going to try this with lemon penne in the future.

Ingredients:

• zuchinni
• eggplant
• red onion
• tomatoes (regular or cherry)
• pasta
• olive oil
• garlic
• basil

Dice the vegetables and combine in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil and garlic, and bake at 425 for approximately 15 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil, add pasta until cooked.  Reserve one cup of the pasta water to use later. Drain pasta.  In a large pot or saute pan, heat up some olive oil. Add cooked veggies and toss with pasta.  Add pasta water and allow to cook off.  Top with fresh basil.

Enjoy warm or at room temp. This also stores well in the refrigerator and can be a healthy dish to bring to to a picnic or barbecue.