Slow Cooked Cherry Tomato & Garlic Pasta with Mint
Celebrating the best (and the last) of summers heirloom & organic tomatoes. A true celebration of summer!
Low & (and really) slowly cooked cherry tomatoes with garlic, chilli, herbs and onions ensures a wonderful fragrant oil, simply delicious tossed through cooked pasta and topped with fresh mint.
Organic Tomatoes: Many commercially grown tomatoes are often cultivated for characteristics like uniform appearance and durability during transportation, sacrificing flavour in the process. The focus on mass production (most are planted in greenhouse tunnels with artificial lighting and conditions) and extended shelf life can lead to tomatoes with a less vibrant and robust taste compared to varieties cultivated for their flavour rather than their commercial appeal.
When thinking about how one can inject some FLAVOUR into your dishes one should I would strongly urge you to invest in supporting small scale organic farmers. Produce are planted and harvested in their natural season ensuring they are only picked when ripe which translates into flavour on your plate.
I love to support farmers, markets and businesses who support more sustainable growing initiatives.
For the best tomatoes:
- Those Who Harvest
- the most impressive tomato stand probably this side of Italy is at my local farmers market – OZCF market
- Wild Organics
Before I lose you at the sound of a 2 hour cooking time, it truly is as simple as switching on the oven and tossing a few ingredients in a large baking tray.
Pasta: You can use any long pasta but I encourage you to look out for bucatini, a spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the centre, just perfect to trap in the oil and sauce.
I know I can preach a bit about using good ingredients but this dish is a celebration of all that is wonderful in the world, ripe heirloom tomatoes, fresh organic (non supermarket) herbs and very very good extra-virgin olive oil.
Getting Ahead: the sauce can be made up to two days ahead. The salad is just as great served the next day cold or at room temperature.
Seasonal Swaps:Â I love the hint of aniseed in tarragon but its not always easy to find, you can use parsley or basil instead.
Slow Cooked Cherry Tomato & Garlic Pasta with Mint
Ingredients
- 1 kg mixed heirloom tomatoes halved if large, small ones kept whole
- 1 whole garlic bulb cloves removed, skins intact, lightly bashed
- 3 large red chillies
- 1 large red onion peeled and sliced
- 15 g 1 bunch tarragon
- 15 g mint leaves only
- 2 cups yes folks 2 cups very very good olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 400 g long pasta like bucatini
- a good salty pecorino or parmesan opt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150c.
- In a large roasting tin add the tomatoes, chillies, garlic, onions and tarragon, mix well to combine, add the oil and season with one teaspoon fine salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 2 hours, remove.
- Pop the garlic out of their skins and put back into the oil. Remove the tarragon stalks and discard. Remove the chillies and chop finely, add to a separate bowl with some oil from the tray, mix to combine.
- Finely chop the mint leaves and keep in the fridge.
- About 15 minutes before the tomatoes need to come out of the oven, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente (cooked but still have a bite to it) , drain.
- Add the pasta to the tomatoes and toss really well to combine, coating all the pasta with the oil.
- Season liberally with salt & pepper, tasting as you season. (its important).
- Finally sprinkle over the mint and cheese if using. Serve alongside the chilli. Enjoy!
