Creamy Roasted Tomato & Garlic Pasta

Lately, I have been flagging recipes I like from Instagram and saving them to try later. I have been especially interested in weeknight meals rather than a Sunday show stopper. This sauce was definitely easy and worth the time. You could make it vegetarian or add some sausage or chicken to it, rather easily. I chose to slice up some Sundried tomato chicken sausage in a pan and add it to the pasta for a simple, fast meal. Here, you let the oven do all of the work, which frees you up to put together the rest of the ingredients. The roasting in the oven paired with fresh basil created a lot of flavor in a short amount of time. This recipe has been replicated over several sites. The only difference here is the addition of a little red pepper to balance the sweetness of the ricotta and roasted tomatoes. This took under 30 minutes to put together and was very easy.

You will need:

• 1 lb of roma or campari tomatoes, quartered
• 1 head of garlic with the root end sliced off
• Olive oil, as needed (several glugs)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes (optional)
• 6-7 leaves of fresh basil
• 1/4 cup of ricotta
• Pasta of your choice- spaghetti, bucatini, busiati or penne

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Put tomatoes and garlic in a pyrex or casserole dish. Add salt, pepper and red pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.
• While tomatoes are roasting, begin to boil pot of water for your pasta. Add salt to the pasta water.
• When tomatoes are finished, add them to a blender. Squeeze garlic from the bulb, and and add that as well. Add basil and ricotta and blend until smooth.
• Add the tomato sauce to a sauce pan over medium-low heat.
• When pasta is finished (al dente), strain and add it to the sauce pan to finish off.
• Work in reserve pasta water and some cheese (parmesan or romano) until creamy. Serve and enjoy.