Main Course Salads: Roasted Vegetables Pasta Salad

I woke up to a cool morning with an overcast sky. My perfect type of mornings. My mom told me that I would be very happy in London. I haven't been there myself (read: I am ultra envious of my mom who went London with my sister!), so I can't agree nor disagree.

So with such nice cooling weather, I thought it doesn't hurt a bit to crank up the oven. Immediately, roasted vegetables came to my mind. Actually, it came to my feet. 

You see, a pair of red bell peppers rolled out from my long-suffering, over-flowing fridge and onto my feet when I opened the fridge door. So since it is not such a good idea to put bruised bell peppers back for future use, I decided on a whim to do something akin to Grilled Ratatouille Salad.

So into the mixing bowl went the bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, red onions and garlic. I added a liberal amount of salt, black pepper and olive oil before giving them a good toss. Spread them out on a tray (do not over-crowd or the vegetables will steam instead of roast!) and pop into a 200 degC oven for about 30 minutes. After which you will have a tray of these caramelised vegetables which are juicy and tender.

But hang on, the dish is not done yet. Since I intend to make this a Main Course Salad, I had to add a good helping of carbs. So I dropped in some of the shell pasta which I had boiled for a baked pasta dish for our little princess (more of that later) and whipped up a basic vinaigrette to hold everything together. Just a splash for the bland tasting pasta.

This is a perfect vegetarian dish and for those times when you need to up your fiber intake but doesn't really care for raw vegetables.