Saturday, September 19, 2009

Roasted Tomato, Fancy Onion, and Goat Cheese Rotini



We eat a LOT of pasta concoctions around here, if you couldn't tell.

It's just so hard to go wrong with pasta when it's cheap, versatile, and quick. You know?

Some of this recipe was inspired by the lovely Smitten Kitchen culinary powerhouse blog. She had made this recipe earlier in the week and it sparked some significant interest, having heard this and that about the mini onion being used, aka, the cipollini. After spotting them out for a steal of a price at the farmers market, I succombed to the purchase, brought my new piece of produce home, like a little girl with a new puppy, and put it to work under the roaster along with its counterpart, the tomatoes.

I then mixed these warm and roasted, juicy veggies into a hot pot of freshly cooked pasta with my favorite cheese, goat. Ooohh it just oozed and melted and seeped into the spiraled pasta crevices and created this creamy and tangy sauce for my noodles and veggies. I'm just wishing I'd left myself some leftovers for later.. Boo, Miller!

Bon Appetit!

Roasted Tomato, Cipollini, and Goat Cheese Pasta

1/2 lb whole wheat rotini, cooked al dente
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 1/2 lbs roma tomatoes, halved
1- 1/2 lbs cipollini onions
2-3 oz goat cheese
Fresh basil

Preheat oven to 425 d's. On a jelly sheet pan, spread out tomatoes and onions, drizzling olive oil all over, so that each is substantially covered. Season with lots of salt and pepper, and farewell them to their hot oven, to roast until the tomatoes are "bursting", and onions are very soft.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Drain. Keep warm.

Once the veggies are out of the oven and somewhat cool enough to handle, cut the tomatoes and onions into smaller pieces (or you could do this step before roasting them). Mince one garlic clove and add this as well as the veggies to the cooked pasta. Add goat cheese, and stir around until cheese has melted. Toss in as much basil as you prefer, and serve warm. Season with LOTS of pepper. YUM!




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