Three Cheese Penne with Roasted Vegetables is an elegant dish that’s both colorful and flavorful. This one-dish wonder contains garden fresh vegetables roasted to perfection and tossed with penne in a creamy dreamy cheesy tomato sauce. One bite and you’ll be hooked.

This healthy and flavorful casserole contains vegetables, pasta, cheeses, a sauce and seasonings.

The Vegetables: The colorful and healthy vegetables include red bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, Vidalia onion, cremini mushrooms and frozen green peas.

The Pasta: As the name suggests, the pasta of choice is penne.

The Cheeses: I used three different cheeses: Monterey Jack cheese, smoked Gouda cheese and Parmesan cheese.

The Sauce: For the sauce, I used Rao’s store-bought marinara sauce.

Bringing Up the Rear: To finish the dish, I used Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, Italian seasoning, olive oil and unsalted butter.

This Cheesy Penne with Roasted Vegetables is quite versatile, allowing for many substitutions.

The Vegetables: If you can’t find Vidalia onions, use any onions of your choice. Also, feel free to substitute green, yellow or orange bell pepper for the red bell pepper. You could also use white mushrooms in place of the cremini mushrooms and omit the green peas. Finally fresh spinach would be a nice addition to this delicious recipe.

The Pasta: Ziti would work well in this dish as would rotini. Feel free to use what you have on hand.

The Cheeses: You can substitute mozzarella, fontina or Gruyére cheese for the Monterey Jack cheese. In addition, you could substitute smoked mozzarella for the smoked Gouda or replace the smoked cheese with the main cheese.

The Sauce: You can use any good quality marinara sauce in this recipe including your own homemade marinara sauce.

The Three Cheese Penne with Roasted Vegetables is a meal in itself. The only thing that I like to add is a freshly baked loaf of crusty French bread.

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ½-inch strips

1 (7 to 8-ounces) zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 (7 to 8-ounces) yellow squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 cremini mushrooms (about 3-ounces) cut into thick slices

½ Vidalia onion, peeled and thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons (1-ounce) extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

2 cups (8-ounces) dried penne pasta

1 ¾ cups marinara sauce, store-bought or homemade

1 cup (4-ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

¼ cup (1-ounce) shredded smoked Gouda cheese

½ cup (2-ounces) shredded parmesan cheese, divided

1 Tablespoon (0.5-ounce) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick aluminum foil; set aside. Spray a 2 ½-quart or 9 x 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray; set aside.

Add the bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and onion to the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper and Italian seasoning. Toss to thoroughly coat. Roast in preheated 450°F oven for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from oven; allow to cool slightly.

Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

While vegetables are roasting, cook penne in salted water for 6 minutes. Drain in colander.

In a large bowl, gently toss the drained pasta, roasted vegetables, marinara sauce, ½ cup of Monterey Jack cheese, smoked Gouda cheese, ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese, green peas, remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper until well coated.

Transfer pasta mixture to prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining ½ cup of Monterey Jack cheese and ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese. Dot with butter. May be prepared in advance up to this point.

Bake in preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes or until cheeses are melted and mixture is bubbly.

Chula King is the blogger behind PudgeFactor.com. 

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