I have been cooking this sauce, or versions of it, since I was weaning my two girls onto solids. They are now five and eight and still enjoy it just as much, although the portion sizes are considerably bigger now. Back in the early days, they would eat the sauce on its own and as they grew older I started stirring it into penne or fusilli to make a delicious pasta sauce. They still love it this way, especially with a huge heap of grated cheese on top, along with a drizzle of olive oil.
It’s one of the easiest sauces in the world to make. All the ingredients are simply roasted in one pan and then blitzed in a food processor with some stock. I don’t even bother to peel the garlic.
It’s extremely adaptable too and you can experiment with whichever vegetables take your fancy – or whichever vegetables you might be trying to sneak past your unsuspecting fussy eater.
I generally cook up a big batch of this sauce and freeze it in individual portions; perfect for a quick tea after school when the kids have clubs to rush off to.
Roast vegetable sauce for pasta
450g tomatoes
1 butternut squash, chopped into large chunks
1 red pepper, cut into large chunks
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 sticks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 courgettes (zucchini), chopped
3 garlic cloves
glug of olive oil
500ml vegetable stock (low salt)
Preheat the oven to 220°C / gas mark 7.
Place the tomatoes, chopped vegetables and garlic into a large roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and give it all a good mix to make sure everything is thoroughly covered. Roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and beginning to char a little.
Put the vegetables into a blender with the stock and blitz until smooth. Job done.
Simply stir into cooked pasta for an easy peasy supper.
Freeze the remainder of the sauce in individual portions. You should get around 12 portions out of it.
As this pasta sauce is an ideal way to introduce your children to vegetables and entice them to eat a few they might not be so keen on, I’m entering it into this month’s Family Foodies challenge, where the theme is ‘Hidden Goodies’.
Bangers & Mash 
ooh that looks lovely – problem is I would eat all the roasted veg before they got to the blender! Good idea freezing it – I need to get myself to the market for cheap veg & do this in bulk!
Thanks Helen – yes, the vegetables do get rather ‘picked at’ before they are make it into the blender!
Delicious! Why do kids go off veggies? Seriously, they are so sweet and yummy when cooked like this 🙂
Janie x
Thanks Janie! So far my kids haven’t gone off veggies – and I so hope that doesn’t happen. My youngest is a little more fussy and slightly more suspicious of green things, but she’ll usually succumb with a little persuasion…
Absolutely lovely, I’ll give this a go as my children love pasta.
I hope you do Julie – it would be great to hear what you and children think 🙂
That looks like a gorgeous sauce, and such a good idea if it gets your kids to eat more veg! 🙂
Thanks Rachel. I’ve successfully fed it into my daughters’ friends when they come over for tea who are known for hating vegetables and it’s worked a treat!
Looks great and just what I could do with at the moment for my daughter. I sneak lots of extra veggies into a regular stove top tomato sauce but this roasted version looks so tasty!
Thanks Andrea. Roasting everything in one pan makes for such a ridiculously easy sauce too. Let me know if you ever try it on your daughter!
I made this last night and it was delicious and so easy! Definitely going to try it again. Thanks Ness.
So glad you enjoyed it Helen! Did you stock up your freezer while you were at it?
I regularly make a tomato and hidden veggie pasta sauce for my two BUT I hadn’t thought of roasting them! I roast regularly as a veggie side or for soups but not a pasta sauce. So going to now, thanks Vanesther!. Such a great way to sneak a load of the good stuff into little tums especially if you’re generous with the sauce portion size. Great #FamilyFoodies #HiddenGoodies entry 🙂
Thanks Louisa. And it’s just so versatile too – pretty much any veggie you can roast, can then be whizzed up into the sauce!
Will have to give this recipe a try. I think it could work for my family