Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes
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Here's another in the "so easy even bike mechanics can make it" recipe series from Larry Theobald of CycleItalia.
While amazingly easy, it's NOT quick to make as the tomatoes need to "roast" in your oven for an hour. This will make the kitchen smell heavenly though! Larry tested this recipe with grocery-store quality ingredients and it was very tasty. Imagine what it would be like with fresh herbs and tomatoes from your garden combined with high-quality olive oil! Serves six as a primo (first course) or four as a main dish.
1 lb dry pasta (use Barilla or DeCecco spaghetti, fettucine, linguine, etc.)
2-3 lbs fresh tomatoes (roma, plum, etc.)
2-3 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon oregano, dry
1/2 tablespoon basil leaves, dry
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley or basil
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400, fill pasta pot with water and boil.
Select a roasting pan large enough to hold the pasta when cooked. Spray with non-stick spray.
Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, lay cut side up in pan. Mix oil, garlic and other spices together and pour/spoon over tomatoes. Roast tomatoes in oven until soft and slightly browned. This will take 45-60 minutes and you might want to do the last 10 or so using the broiler function on your oven.
Cook pasta al dente (firm to the bite). Pasta cooked al dente has a lower glycemic index.
When tomatoes are cooked, remove from oven and mash 'em up (a potato masher works great!) If tomato mixture is too watery, return to oven lowered to around 350 and cook down for 10 minutes or so, but don't let the sauce burn or scorch. When tomato mixture looks "saucy" taste for salt and pepper, then add cooked pasta to pan. Mix thoroughly, drizzle on a bit more oil, top with chopped parsley or basil.
Enjoy with Nero d'Avola, Aglianico or a Sangiovese wine