I had an amazing dinner tonight! I recently picked up the CSA share for the week and there was an abundance of wonderful tomatoes! I knew I had to roast some for pasta.
I sliced the heirloom tomato we received, plus one roma and two slicing tomatoes, and I mixed them in a baking dish along with some chopped pepper, onion and basil leaves.
I know some people like to peel off tomato skins, but besides being too lazy to do the extra work to remove them, I think that tomato skins have to add a bit more nutrition and fiber, right? So, I leave them on!
I drizzled a tablespoon or two of EV Olive Oil and baked the vegetables in a 250° oven for about 90 minutes. Once they started roasting, the aroma of peppers and tomatoes was incredible!
Once the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and basil were cooked, they were very liquidy. Not a problem, the tomatoes can easily be poured over pasta as is.
But I felt it was a little bit too watery, so I poured everything into a medium fry pan and simmered to reduce. I added some dried spices (cumin, basil, parsley, oregano) and seasoned with salt & pepper. I also threw in a whole star anise (make sure to remove it before serving) to give it a little extra flavor. I simmered for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, whole wheat pasta shells were cooked and I transferred them into the fry pan with the tomato sauce. I figured since it was a meatless meal, I cooked a little more pasta for each of us than I usually do.
Cook the pasta with the sauce for just a minute or two, then pour into two bowls. I ate my meal with a big spoon so I wouldn’t leave behind any delicious flavor.
Grate some cheese on top and enjoy!
I couldn’t believe how much flavor this sauce had. It was probably one of the best pasta dinners I’ve eaten! Besides the tomatoes, the flavor of peppers was amazing.
