Tasty Recipe: Roasted Caprese Pasta

Roasted Caprese Pasta
(serves 4 – generously)

Ingredients

1 pound of pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion
2 tomatoes
10 mini mozzarella balls, cut into quarters
1/2 cup basil leaves, plus extra for serving
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
1/2 cup roasted garlic cloves, chopped

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 500

Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package, drain and pour it back into the pot it cooked in. (I do the pasta while the vegetables are roasting, so it doesn’t sit for too long)

Chop the onion and the tomatoes into large pieces and place on the baking sheet.

Drizzle the vegetables with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to evenly combine and place in the oven.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the vegetables are lightly charred.

Remove the vegetables from the oven and pour the entire contents of the pan over the pasta, including all of the juice (it has great flavor).

Stir to combine and add the Parmesan cheese, roasted garlic and mozzarella.

Stir again and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, finely slice or tear the basil and stir it into the pasta.

Serve this with extra Parmesan and basil, if desired.

Notes:

The residual heat from the pasta and vegetables will slightly melt the mozzarella pieces, which is abosultely delicious! Of course, you could add more if you want.

The juice from the vegetables has a ton of flavor. Once you toss it with the pasta, feel free to add additional olive oil if you feel it needs a little more moisture. You could also reserve a little of the water that the pasta cooked in too.

Feel free to add more herbs, salt, pepper or even crushed red pepper to this.

If you don’t have roasted garlic, you can toss as many cloves as you want onto the pan with the onions and tomatoes before roasting. Roasted garlic has a very mellow flavor and is delicious in so many things. A great tip is too roast several heads at a time and keep it on hand for quick recipes, which is what I do 🙂

 

Note from Whitney: I got this recipe from a friend. I can’t wait to try it out on a cold winter day, it seems like an easy comfort food to feed the whole family!