It's very early fall and the tomatoes are still magnificent in Jersey. This simple pasta is very satisfying and easy to make.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of cherry tomatoes - red, yellow, or orange
- 1/4 cup good olive oil
- 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh basil
- 1 bag of good quality pasta. I used Rigatoni. Penne would work well also.
- 2 Tablespoons of finely diced shallot
- 1 Tablespoon of butter
- 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
- Drizzle of white truffle oil
Preparation: Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half and put in a bowl. Coat tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and give them a stir, making sure all are coated. Spread the tomatoes onto a baking pan (with sides) and season liberally with kosher salt. Roast tomoatos in the oven for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, mix them around to make sure they don't get too brown. While your tomatoes are roasting, boil water for the pasta. While that's happening, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and then sautee diced shallots on a low/medium flame for about 5-7 minutes. Turn heat off. Cook pasta according to the instructions BUT check a few minutes before they should be done and make it al dente. Do not overcook pasta - mushy pasta is gross. Ok, onward. When the tomatoes are done, add them to your pan with the shallots in there. Turn heat back onto low and melt 1 T of butter in the tomato sauce. Add a little more olive oil to loosen it up. When the pasta is ready, drain the pasta reserving about 3 T of the cooking liquid. Add the cooking liquid to the tomato sauce and then add the pasta, stirring everything together into one happy mixture. Once everything is combined, add the parmesan cheese and drizzle the truffle oil on and voila! Heaven.
