After going through a round of gruelling interviews, I decided to treat myself to a Roasted Veggie Pasta. While chopping the veggies is takes some effort, the cooking process is real easy and the results never fail to tantalize my taste buds. Really yummy comfort food =)

Actually, I kind of ripped this recipe of Ben but I've added a few things here and there to make it my own. So to make this yummy pasta dish you'll need ...

• Sundried Tomatoes in Oil ( from Cold Storage or Jason's Supermarket)
• Cherry tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Baby carrots, roughly chopped into chunks
• Thinly sliced red onio
• A clove or two of garlic all chopped up
• Fresh Button Mushrooms
• Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
• Eggplant
• Freshly chopped Basil
• Sliced Red and Yellow Peppers
• Pasta ( I always use fusilli)

Once you have all the ingredients, it's all so simple. Preheat the oven to 180 degress. Place your peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, basil, and a tablespoon or two of the sundried tomato oil, which carries the sweet flavor of the tomatoes and the fragrance of various herbs. A dash of salt, a dash of ground black pepper, toss it all around and put it in the oven for about 15 to 30 minutes.

At the same time, start slicing your mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and chopping your egg plant. Never throw away the stock of the mushroom. You'll find that by adding it into the dish, it provides a nice chewy texture. Boil your pasta in boiling salt water and when the pasta is almost cooked, throw in your broccoli flowerets, count to thirty , remove from the heat and get rid of the water.

Five minutes before you want your roasting to be done, throw in the sundried tomatoes, eggplant and mushrooms. Once they are tender, remove the veggies from the oven, add the pasta and broccoli and toss it around so that the pasta is evenly coasted with veggie juices and the flavored oil. I always add chilli flakes at this point ;)

Finally, cut cherry tomatoes into quarters and either slice or break apart your buffalo mozzarella. Once the pasta and veggies are cooled, add the cherry tomatoes and cheese, toss it around and you are ready to serve.

Not luxurious but definitely a heartwarming and comforting dish. Enjoy!

• Raw prawns, shells removed, deveined and finey chopped
• A few pieces of scallop, roughly chopped
• Finely grated fresh root ginger
• Spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• A dash of Sesame Oil
• A dash of dark soy sauce
• Salt
• Slices of toasted brown bread
• White sesame seeds
• Canola oil for deep frying
  

Method

1. Mix the prawns and scallop with the ginger , spring onion, egg white, cornflour, sesame oil, soy sauce and salt .
2. Spread one side of each slice of bread with the prawn mixture, and dip the filling side into sesame seeds.
3. Deep fry the toast in hot oil, over a moderate heat, filling side up until golden brown and this takes about 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Drain on absorbent paper and serve straight away with chilli sauce.

Ben also suggested that this recipe could be done with calimari and I'm thinking crayfish or lobster would be pretty nice as well. For the chilli sauce, those bottled ones from the super market would be fine but I'm a tad bit fussier so I'll serve it using home-made chilli sauce.

It's really simple. Just take a few big red chillies, some chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, and bird's eye chilli (optional unless you want some oompf in your sauce); fry it with a tablespoon or two of canola oil till the chillies are soft and onions are transluscent; put the veggies in a food processor; add some salt and sugar; blend it and you're ready to go. The tomatoes should provide more than enough liquid but if you need more, just add a little water.

And there you go... a really hearty tea time snack or party favours. Enjoy !