Hello, Beautiful! Lemon Cream Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables

This Lemon Cream Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables is sort of like two recipes in one. You get my favorite creamy lemon pasta, and also the coolest and most effective way to roast vegetables. This one is easy, hearty, and very ready for you to play around with, flavor-wise. Read on for a little more about this recipe – tips and tricks and whatnot – or just jump ahead to the recipe itself.

What are “Hard Roasted Vegetables?”

Hard roasting is a cooking technique that uses your oven’s floor as the primary medium for heat conduction. How cool is that!? I feel like I need to hard roast all the things now. Basically, you’re treating the actual oven floor as a large, very high-heat burner (because that’s where most oven heat comes from) and your sheet pan is like the saute pan. When your pan of vegetables hits the floor (the oven floor, that is) they get a good, hard sear right away. This kick-starts the process of caramelization which is really where all of the flavor is born.

Then of course, because we’re in an oven, the ambient heat will continue to cook the vegetables through, tenderizing them. It’s just a really rad way to achieve both a charred crust, and also a nicely tender texture without things being anemic and mushy.

Can you hard roast any vegetable?

Take it from Food52:

“This technique works especially well for hearty, sturdy vegetables that can take an aggressive sear. Think cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, turnips, mushrooms, beets, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes, green beans, cabbage…yeah, you get the picture.” – Food52.com

Recipe alternatives and FAQs

You can, of course, just make the spaghetti and call it good. Or, you could do any of the following and it would be so great:

• Pile it with some cooked shrimp (like in this recipe – would be super convenient! Just add them to a sheet pan in the upper part of the oven and roast for about 4 to 5 minutes)
• Top with some crispy prosciutto, as in this risotto recipe, or this gnocchi soup recipe, or this salad.
• Switch up the pasta shape! I think long noods are probably best here, but you can definitely play around with the shape.

Hard Roasted Vegetable FAQ’s

What you’ll need to make this Lemon Cream Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables

This recipe involves my favorite creamy lemon spaghetti and a really great way to cook vegetables (hard roasting, y’all!). It’s simple and straight-forward, and really pretty tough to mess up. You can make it spicy, or not. Or, you can use three different veggies as I’ve listed, or just one type. You can add some chickpeas! You can add some chicken. Make it yours, friends.

Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 small zucchini, sliced into ½-inch pieces
• 8 ounces sliced, mixed mushrooms
• Olive oil, as directed/needed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 2 shallots, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or grated
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 teaspoons chicken or vegetable stock concentrate
• ⅓ cup sour cream

SERVING SUGGESTION: Fresh torn burrata or shaved parmesan cheese

How to make this Lemon Cream Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables

Here’s the skinny: cook pasta, roast vegetables, make pan sauce. Boom. Simple as that.

Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Adjust the bottom rack (move it up a few positions) so that you’ll be able to lay your sheet pan directly on the oven bottom (not the rack). This is the trick to hard roasting … 
2. Put the vegetables on your sheet pan, keeping each type to its own section, so you can easily remove them once they’re done. Mushrooms in one corner, zucchini in another, etc. Drizzle the veggies with oil and season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Toss to mix. Roast directly on the oven bottom for 15 to 25 minutes (depending on the veggies), or until each vegetable looks great to you. Asparagus, for example, will come out faster than the shrooms or squash.
3. Cook the spaghetti to al dente according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water just before draining.
4. Add about 1 tablespoon of oil to a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the minced shallots, garlic, lemon zest, and chili flakes (if using). Cook for a minute or so, and then add the stock concentrate, reserved pasta water, and the sour cream. Stir to mix and warm through. Add the pasta to the pan and toss in the sauce. The warm sauce should finish cooking it.
5. Serve the pasta with your hard-roasted veggies and, if desired, some burrata or parmesan to finish and a drizzle of olive oil.

If you like the looks of this Lemon Cream Spaghetti with Hard Roasted Vegetables, then you might also want to check out:

Brothy Pasta with Peas and Brown Buttered Pretzels

Chickpea Bowls with Garlicky Yogurt and Roasted Lemon

Pasta with Cabbage and Sausage (Carbonara Style!)

Lemony Spaghetti with Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas

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