Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

Delicious.  Easy.  Quick.  And healthy.  What more can you ask for in a dinner? 

My best friend sent me an email last week sharing this recipe.  She recently discovered it in her Cooking Light magazine and it's already been repeat meal in her household several times.   And I can tell you this will definitely be a repeat recipe in our house too.  Hubby loved it.  I loved it.  Those 2 things don't happen every day when it comes to food.

When I make a recipe for the first time, I am especially slow in getting it all together.  It usually involves me reading and re-reading the recipe about 50 times.  I tend to fumble around with the ingredients and my cooking utensils.  Realize I forgot to take out like 3 things.  Despite this being the first time I've made this recipe, it came together in about 30 minutes.  Which is fast for me.  Seems like all the meals that are supposed to take 30 minutes, like Rachel Ray's meals, never go down that way for me.  It's like you have to be an energizer bunny with mad knife skills to pull it off.  But this one really is so simple, and fast. 

A couple of notes.  I used feta cheese, because that is what I had on hand, and it was yummy.  I was anxious to get my pictures taken before the light disappeared so I didn't think to mash up some of the cherry tomatoes to make more of a light sauce on the spaghetti.  After the photos were taken and I sat down to eat, I poked all my cherry tomatoes with my fork and they burst open creating a tasty sauce to coat the pasta.  So imagine the spaghetti in the photos covered in a light red sauce.  If you want to add a little protein some marinated grilled shrimp would go great with this.

Already thinking about when I will make it again.  Must buy more cherry tomatoes.

Thanks for a great recipe Crystal (and Andy too!).


Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti
adapted from Cooking Light

4 quarts water
2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
2 2/3 cups cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped or torn fresh basil
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled semi soft goat cheese
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot or dutch oven.  Add 1 tablespoon salt and the uncooked spaghetti to the boiling water.  Cook for 10 minutes or until spaghetti is al dente.  Reserve at least 1/3 cup of cooking water and set aside.  Drain spaghetti and then return to the pan and keep warm.

While the spaghetti is cooking, toss the tomatoes in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, vinegar, 3/8 teaspoon salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes and sliced garlic on a jelly roll pan or baking sheet.  Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes or until they are soft and lightly charred in places.

Add the tomatoes and any juices from the baking sheet into the pot with the spaghetti.  Add 3 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water to the pan and using a wooden spoon scrape any browned bits off the pan.  Add this water to the pan along with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and warm over medium heat.  Add remaining cooking water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the spaghetti is moist, tossing frequently with tongs.  Stir in basil and parsley.  Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately.