Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Wouldn't you love to have a delicious, quick and easy side dish that would go with a variety of meats, or even stand on its own as a main dish? This dish fits the bill, as they say. Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes is great served with fish, poultry or even steak, plus, served with a salad it makes a very filling meal on its own. This is a mouth-watering, aromatic dish that will have your taste buds thanking you every time you make it! The sauce on the pasta is so simple that your dinner will be ready in less than 30 minutes! You'll need 1 pint of grape tomatoes to start. Put them in a bowl with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and then pour out onto a foil lined baking sheet.

Aren't they gorgeous? They are such sweet little gems and they're going to get even sweeter with the roasting. Place pan in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until these sweet gems pop and the juice starts to run. Don't they look amazingly delicious? The aroma is wonderful! Take them out of oven when they look like the picture below.

Pour tomatoes back in bowl with all of the pan juices and oil. Get every bit now! Gently smash tomatoes with a fork to release the juices, add your choice of herbs and then mix with your hot, cooked pasta and gently stir together. Oh my goodness, these tiny little tomatoes are so sweet and addicting! And they're enhanced with the garlic and herb oil that is not only teasing your taste buds, but the aroma wafting through your kitchen will make you happy all day, or evening, whatever the case. Just look as this picture of the tempting bow tie pasta and every little fold is filled with flavor! But you can use which ever pasta you want. And whichever herbs you prefer.

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

In a large pot, bring enough water to a boil for pasta. Add salt to boiling water. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. You need;

8 ounces uncooked pasta, I used Bow tie, but Angel Hair or Penne is great

1 pint grape tomatoes, rinsed

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 fat garlic cloves, minced

10-12 fresh basil leaves, diced, or about 1 teaspoon dried basil ( or you can use oregano)I used 1 tsp. dried oregano and 1 Tbs. fresh, flat leaf parsley

sea salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese or feta cheese for topping

Add pasta to pot of boiling water and cook to al dente. Line baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl add tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper and mix. Pour onto baking sheet and place into preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until tomatoes have wrinkled and popped. Remove from oven and pour tomatoes and all juices into the bowl. Taking a fork, make sure that tomatoes have popped, so that you don't get a mouthful of hot juice. Remove pasta from stove, and drain well, but reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water in case it is needed. Add fresh or dried herbs to tomato mixture and then add pasta and stir gently making sure pasta is covered. If pasta seems a little dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water. I had to use dried oregano because it was pouring down rain when I needed to go outside and pick it! I should have planned better! But I did have some fresh flat leaf parsley inside, so it was a very flavorful dish after all. It is wonderful with steak or fish. Tonight it was served with chicken and we all loved it.

If you want a fresh, healthy, flavorful and quick dish, this is for you! Don't we all need some easy, but delicious dishes that are versatile? We've got lots to do this summer, so we can't always be in the kitchen. Hope everyone is having a great week; I love your comments and appreciate all of you stopping by. Thanks!