Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pasta with Basil

Some of my favorite flavors are tomato, garlic and basil.  It’s my favorite pizza, my favorite salad, my favorite pasta.  Sometimes, the simplest flavors are best and sometimes you need to switch it up a little bit to keep things interesting.  This one’s a little bit of both.

2 pints grape tomatoes
5-6 cloves of garlic chopped
30-40 basil leaves, julienned
1 lb. pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
Olive Oil
1/2 c. vegetable broth
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450.  On a high lipped baking sheet, spread out the tomatoes and garlic, pour a bit of olive oil over it and toss with your hands to coat.

Put in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to split.  Remove before the garlic burns.  A little brown is ok, but we don’t want it burned.

Meanwhile, put up a pot of liberally salted water for the pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Remove and drain as soon as they’re al dente, they’re going to cook a tiny bit more later, so don’t worry if there a little too al dente.

Wash and dry the basil leaves and julienne them.  (Pile them high single file, roll up like a cigar and slice thin).

Put the pasta pot back on the stove, add a turn or two of oil to it and let it heat up.  Add the tomatoes and garlic making sure to scrape all the oil from the pan into the pasta pot – don’t want to waste any of that flavored oil.

Add the vegetable stock and the pasta.  Toss to coat.  At the very last minute, add the basil and toss once more, remove from heat and plate.

Simply roasting the tomatoes and garlic before adding to the pasta, gives this dish an entirely new dimension; a deeper layer of flavors.  Add grated locatelli, salt and pepper if you wish.

If you liked this, you might like:

• Dinner in a Flash!
• Rotelle with Tomato and Goat Cheese Sauce
• Angel Hair with Spinach Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese
• Pan Seared Sea Scallops and Asparagus in Garlic and Oil (Low Carb)
• Escarole and Tomato Pasta