Roasted Sweet Potato Pasta

One glimpse in my pantry would quickly reveal that we are a family of pasta lovers.  I pretty much buy pasta like it's my job.  In fact, buy might not even be the best word to describe it.  It's more like collect.  If you have 23 boxes of pasta in your pantry that qualifies as a collection, right? 

My collection of pasta always comes in handy for quick weeknight meals like this Roasted Sweet Potato Pasta.  This recipe was kinda like love at first sight for me.  I simply fell in love with all the colors in this dish: pops of green from the spinach, red from the tomato, and orange from the sweet potato.  Just looking at all that color makes me happy.  Of course, adding two kinds of cheeses helps any situation.  Tangy feta cheese and salty Parmesan make everything better.  Stir it all into some lovely linguine and you have yourself a wonderful and quick fall meal that goes very well with a glass of white wine.

Roasted Sweet Potato Pasta

Adapted from Donna Hay

via www.donnahay.com.au

Serves 4-6

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 Roma tomatoes, halved

olive oil*

1 pound of spaghetti or linguini

5 - 6 ounces baby spinach leaves 

salt and pepper

5 - 6 ounces feta cheese

lemon juice and olive oil, to serve

Optional: Sage, dried or fresh for adding to the roasted veggies

*reserve some of the pasta water

*Note: I used quite a bit of olive oil when roasting the veggies. It was easily between 1/4 and 1/2 cup.  I also tossed the veggies in a combo of dried sage, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Place the sweet potato and tomato, cut-side up, in a baking dish.  Drizzle with oil and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and golden.

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente.  Reserve a little of the pasta water so that you can mix it in later for a creamier texture.  Drain pasta and combine with the sweet potato, tomato, spinach, Parmesan, reserved pasta water, salt and pepper.  Place in serving bowls, top with the feta and drizzle with lemon juice and oil to serve. 

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