Slow Roasted Lemon, Tomato & Ricotta Pasta

Organic (the last of the season) tomatoes are (really) slow cooked in organic extra virgin olive oil with lemons, garlic and lovely lemon verbena. The cooked pasta is twirled with baked ricotta and the tomato sauce.

So much flavour for minimum effort – I love that!

Simple seasonal and organic ingredients at its best!

Seasonal Swaps: I used yellow cherry tomatoes but red cherries would be lovely too. You can use a good vegan ricotta too for this recipe, when I tested the recipe I used half of Ammas Creamery vegan ricotta.

Serves 6

Serve with lots of fresh herbs and if you don’t mind a bit of ‘cheese-on-cheese’ action, serve with some generous helping of salty pecorino, parmesan or feta.

• 1kg cherry tomatoes
• 300ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bulbs garlic, halved
• 1 organic lemon, quartered
• 3 sprigs lemon verbena (or rosemary)
• 1 tablespoon good salt
• 150g good quality ricotta (milk or vegan)
• 400g pasta of choice
• mint and dill to serve, chopped
• pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 150c.
2. Add the tomatoes, garlic, salt, oil and lemon to a large rimmed baking tin, mix well and roast in the oven for 2 hours.
3. Increase the heat to 180c. With a fork, lightly crush the tomatoes and garlic and remove the skins from the garlic and discard. Mash the lemon flesh and discard the skins. Remove the lemon verbena sprigs.
4. Add the ricotta in the middle of the tin, drizzle with the pan juices and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Press the ricotta down with a fork and mix into the lovely oil.
5. Meanwhile cook the pasta in simmering salted water until al dente and drain.
6. Add the pasta to the tomatoes and ricotta mixture and swirl well to cover the pasta with the oil, ricotta and tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and the fresh herbs. Enjoy!