Roasted tomato pasta

If your garden's bounty has you knee deep in tomatoes, you can understand the challenge I face everyday.

It's a good problem, of course, with some good solutions too, I'm finding out. I was particularly inspired by Prudent Baby.

One such solution is this roasted tomato pasta. Yum factor is extremely high, and the smell-o-meter is off the charts grand. It was thrown together for an impromptu meal with a good friend.



Alas, my dark kitchen doesn't produce photos that do this dish justice, but you get the picture (I'm so punny).

The trick is to slow roast your tomatoes. I used beefsteak, roma, and pear tomatoes, because that's what I have. Each imparts a subtly different aura that harmonizes well.

Cut up the tomatoes so they're half inch cubes. I used enough tomatoes to fill a baking sheet, because I wanted to make enough for eight servings.



Add salt and pepper to taste, then add your desired amount of garlic. I used the garlic juice from this Costco monstrosity:



Drizzle a good amount of extra virgin olive oil on the tomatoes, and toss them to coat evenly.



In goes the baking sheet into an oven preheated at 225. Roasting time will be between 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. Trust me, it is worth the time.

During the last 20 minutes of the roasting time, boil your linguine noodles, and lightly salt and drizzle some olive oil. They should finish right around the time the tomatoes are ready and they look like this:



Take a silcone spoon scraper and release all the good bits:



Set aside in a bowl.

Take your noodles and run them against the baking sheet so as to pick up every bit of the pan juices. Add more olive oil as needed. Then add the roasted tomatoes back into the noodles.



Top with basil and serve.

Heather's Roasted Tomato Pasta Serves 8 -fresh tomatoes (I used three kinds: beefsteak, roma, and pear tomatoes) -extra virgin olive oil -minced garlic (I used garlic juice) -sea salt and pepper to taste -prepared linguine noodles 1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. 2. Wash and cut up tomatoes into half inch cubes. Transfer them onto a baking sheet. 3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Drizzle liberally with extra virgin olive oil, giving a good toss to coat evenly. 4. Into the oven it goes for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. 5. During the last 20 minutes of the roasting time, prepare the linguine noodles, timing it to finish with the tomatoes. Lightly salt and drizzle a bit of olive oil. 6. Pull out the roasted tomatoes and release the softened bits with a silicone spoon scraper. Set aside in a bowl. 7. Run the noodles against the baking sheet so as to pick up every bit of the pan juices. Add more olive oil as needed. Then add the roasted tomatoes back into the noodles. 8. Serve as is, or add basil and/or fresh mozzarella to kick it up a notch or two. Enjoy!