(with fresh pasta from Venda Ravioli)
After being away for a week, in Missouri and Chicago, I was tired of eating out. All I wanted was a home cooked meal. Even though I had great meals while I was away, there is nothing better than a meal made at home with vegetables picked from your garden.
When I got home, it had been a busy week for Jeff and it seemed like our garden went from choice vegetables to overgrown and over ripened. The tomatoes were starting to split, due to rain, and the eggplants and cucumbers were enormous. We spent a good two hours picking as many tomatoes and vegetables as possible. With tons of ripe and overly ripe tomatoes we started on a mission to make sauce. Jeff had a cherry tomato sauce recipe his chiropractor had given him and I had my standard fresh tomato sauce recipe.
We started with the roma tomatoes and began boiling them to remove the skins. With 60 tomatoes, we peeled them and removed the pulp and seeds. I put them away and decided to complete that project later in the week.
We washed and picked through the cherry and grape tomatoes and mixed them with the onions, garlic and fresh herbs. We placed them in the pan and put them in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes. As they started to bake, the house smelled amazing! As they appeared burst and slightly golden, we removed them from the oven, added them to the fresh pasta and grated the entire dish with fresh parmesan cheese.
The first words out of my mouth were, "Now, this is what I was waiting for...a home cooked meal!" It was light and flavorful and makes you appreciate having a backyard garden. This dish rests on fresh ingredients. The fresh pasta was perfect and the roasted tomatoes were bursting with flavor giving the dish its "made from scratch" flavor. I can't imagine putting this recipe together in the dead of winter with store bought tomatoes and dried herbs. Get some crusty Italian bread and PERFECTO!
Before the summer ends, promise me you will make this recipe, it's easy, the ingredients are readily available and you will swear this is the best dish you have ever made. Mangia!
Ingredients:
2 pints of cherry and/or grape tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed (for 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons of each, freshly chopped 1. basil 2. oregano 3. parlsey
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
grated parmesan cheese
1 pound of fresh or boxed pasta
(picked fresh from our garden)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil in an oven safe pan. Cook for 25-35 minutes or until all the tomatoes have burst. (see below) Cook pasta according to directions. Toss pasta with tomato sauce and top with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
(after roasting in the oven)
If you want to be more creative, consider adding artichoke hearts, black olives and/or mozzarella cheese.
