Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pasta with Fresh Basil
How to Make a Dish that Tastes like Summer: Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pasta with Fresh Basil and Turkey Meatballs
So... Pasta is pretty much in my blood. Yes, I yell "vanfancullo" when I slice my finger with a kitchen knife and I smell just a little swarthy in the summer, no matter how much deodorant I wear. And my Italian blood will not be denied a bowl of pasta at least once a week. Try as I may to reduce my thigh fat (what is up with that resilient layer of fat anyway?) I will never give up on the sweet gluten-y love of my ancestry. It's good though. I know pasta so well that I can open my refrigerator, pull out a handful of ingredients, and make a pasta dish that will knock your socks off. This is a dish that I came up with one day when I came home with a huge bag of tomatoes from the farmer's market and had no idea what to do with them. I wasn't about to stand over a pot of marinara on a hot summer afternoon, but I wanted a nice tomato pasta for dinner. This sauce is so great because it takes NO TIME to prepare. Seriously, 20 minutes start to finish. And the oven is only on for about 15 minutes so you aren't heating up the house and getting all swarthy and, well, you the rest of the story now...
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 7-8 medium to large tomatoes
- bunch of fresh basil
- 1 bulb of garlic
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Pasta of your choice
For the turkey meatballs you can refer to the recipe for Turkey Meatballs found here.
Cut the tomatoes in half and cut out the stem. Peel the entire bulb of garlic. Place the tomato halves face down along with the garlic cloves on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and set under the broiler of your oven on 450°. Once the garlic cloves have browned almost to black, but not quite, remove them from the baking sheet. Continue to roast the tomatoes until the skin has blackened. Place the garlic in a large bowl and using a fork, smash the garlic into a paste. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and remove and discard the skins. Using a fork and a knife, cut the tomatoes into 1 inch cubes. Pour the tomatoes and juices and olive oil on the pan into the bowl with the garlic. Add about a half a cup of chopped basil and stir to combine the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the cooked pasta and top with the turkey meatballs and grated parmesan cheese.
