Tomato Carrot Coconut Curry Pasta

#23 my first recipe I ever developed, P.S. it can also be a soup (I'll explain)

This is the first recipe I ever wrote down and put out in the world. Sharing it again has me feeling very nostalgic and thankful. Thankful for the 200ish of you that are subscribed and most of all thankful for my husband, Tyler. Without whom, I maybe never would have had the courage to start sharing this piece of me. To all of you reading, it might just be recipes but to me it feels like I am sharing something much more personal. And I am so happy he has given me the courage to start writing.

This recipe was a very hungry persons experiment. The original recipe was just a soup, because I was craving a grilled cheese with tomato soup and just happened to have all the things to throw it together. I thought it would be a yummy lil twist if I added roasted carrots, coconut milk, and curry powder (and it was!!). The amount of soup it made was too much soup for one girl to handle, so I froze half of it for a rainy day. A few weeks later I remembered I had it in my freezer and decided to pop it into the fridge to thaw so I could finish it off. That evening me and my husband met some friends for drinks with plans to pick up some food after. Time got away from us and suddenly it was 9pm, we were starving, and every restaurant was closed. We brainstormed about what we each had at our houses to cook and in my semi-tipsy state thought I could maybe make a pasta sauce out of my soup if I let it reduce down and thicken a little. It worked and it was so delicious!!

It starts out by making a tomato based soup (I know this sounds so weird, but bear with me) and then simply taking some of that delicious thick tomato goodness and ladle-ing it into a pan, letting it simmer and get even thicker for a few minutes before you throw in some very al dente noodles and a splash of pasta water and (optional) parmesan. It takes a couple extra steps to turn it into a pasta dish, but overall its a pretty dang easy recipe and can be eaten 2 ways: soup or pasta, the choice is yours!!

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Ingredients

serves about 4 if using it for pasta sauce (with a generous amount of sauce left over to freeze for a later pasta date or to simply eat as soup)

• roughly 2 lbs of fresh, very ripe tomatoes (I used about 4 medium heirloom and 3 roma, not for any particular reason, its just what I grabbed)

• 4 medium carrots

• 1 medium yellow onion

• 4-6 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you love garlic)

• 3 tbs curry powder

• 1 tsp better than bouillon seasoned vegetable base, mixed into 1 cup warm water (alternatively you can use 1 cup vegetable, or other kind of stock)

• 1 can of full fat coconut milk (13.5 oz)

• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (optional) + more for garnish

• lots of salt and black pep

• 3-4 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil (avocado will also work)

• 1 lb of your favorite pasta shape (I love a big ole rigatoni, bucatini would also be excellent here)

• 2 cups reserved pasta water

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro for topping (optional)

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 fahrenheit and grab an oven safe pot or tall sided dish, like a large dutch oven or casserole dish. While the oven preheats, roughly chop your tomatoes, carrots, and onion. Peel your garlic and add everything to the pot. Drizzle 3-4 tbs olive oil over everything and season with the 3 tbs of curry powder and a generous amount of salt and freshly ground pepper (you can also add the red pepper flakes here if choosing to use them). Gently toss everything together and pop into the oven for about 40-60 minutes. After 40 minutes check for for tender saucy veggies. If they are not tender yet then let them cook longer. The tomatoes will start to break down into a sauce and the carrots and onion should be very tender by the time everything is done roasting.

2. Once everything is done, pull it out of the oven and while it is still hot stir in the better than bouillon and water mixture. Safely and CAREFULLY add everything to a blender and blend until very very smooth. (If you own an immersion blender this is a great time to use it! instead of transferring to a blender just blend everything in the pot you roasted in)

3. Return the blended mixture to a large pot on the stove and stir in the whole can of coconut milk. Turn the stove onto medium low to keep hot.
   If the milk is separated and clumpy don’t worry about it, it will all melt together. Taste for salt.
   Both times I made this I needed to add more salt at this point. Keep adding a big pinch at a time, stirring it in well and tasting it before adding more, until it tastes perfect to you.

4. Stop here for soup!

5. For pasta: Transfer about half of the soup (sauce?) to a container and place in the fridge or freezer for later.

6. Bring the remaining sauce to a simmer and just let it sit and bubble, stirring occasionally, until the sauce starts to reduce down a bit and thicken. About 10 minutes. You should let it reduce by about 1/4 or so. We just want a thicker sauce and for the flavors to become more concentrated.

7. Once the sauce has begun to reduce, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to boil and add 1 lb of pasta. Cook just until very al dente. This will usually be about 3-4 minutes before the suggested cooking time is over (ex: if pasta calls for 11 min cooking time, cook for about 8-9 minutes. Testing by tasting it. It should still have a bite and very chewy texture)

8. Before draining the pasta, reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water and set aside.

9. Once the pasta is al dente, transfer it straight into the pan with the sauce and turn down to low, add a splash of the pasta water (start with just one cup) and the parmesan (if using) and continue to cook, stirring constantly until the sauce coats the pasta and becomes very glossy. If it gets too thick, add another splash of pasta water to loosen it up.

10. Garnish with cilantro and more parm and serve immediately (maybe with a simple lemony side salad).