The captious vegetarian

Sitting on my counter yesterday were a number of cherry tomatoes that had started to go a bit soft.  They were still good, but not fresh enough to eat out of hand.  I thought I would turn them into a nice (and fast) pasta sauce, by roasting them in the oven on a cookie sheet.  I roughly followed the instructions in a Cook’s Illustrated recipe, but I halved the recipe and made a few changes.

• 1 small shallot, sliced thin
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes (about 1.5 pints), each tomato halved pole to pole
• 1/4 tsp. salt + extra for pasta water
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1/3 pound whole wheat rigatoni
• 2 Tbs. torn basil leaves
• parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, gently toss the tomatoes with 5 tsp. of oil, salt, pepper flakes, black pepper, sugar, vinegar, and garlic. Spread in even layer on rimmed baking sheet (about 17 by 12 inches).  In the same bowl, toss shallots with 1 teaspoon oil; scatter shallots over tomatoes.
3. Roast until edges of shallots begin to brown and tomato skins are slightly shriveled (tomatoes should retain their shape), 35 to 40 minutes. (Do not stir tomatoes during roasting.) Remove tomatoes from oven and cool 5 to 10 minutes.
4. While tomatoes cook, bring 2 quarts water to boil in large stockpot. Just before removing tomatoes from oven, stir 1 tsp. salt and pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and add to the large bowl you used for the tomatoes. Using a metal spatula, scrape the tomato mixture into the bowl on top of the pasta. Add the basil and toss to combine. Serve immediately, sprinkling cheese over individual bowls.

My changes:  The recipe calls for 1/2 pound of pasta but I think that’s too much for the amount of sauce, so I made 1/3 pound.    I didn’t have quite enough cherry tomatoes so I also used some small, dark-brown tomatoes I had bought for sandwiches.  I missed the shallot instructions, and just mixed them in with all the other ingredients, rather than lying them on top of the tomatoes.  I didn’t measure my balsamic vinegar, just sprayed some on top of the tomatoes.

My tomatoes cooked significantly faster than they were supposed to.  I think it was due to a combination of factors:  I halved the recipe, so the cookie sheet wasn’t as full;  I left the fan on in my own; and my cookie sheet is a very dark black.  According to CI, the halved recipe was supposed to serve 2 to 3, but I thought that the amount of sauce was a little skimpy even for two people. For two people I think next time I would use 1.5 pounds tomatoes, and up all the other ingredients by 50%, except the olive oil.

The sauce was quite good–the tomatoes were still quite pulpy and clung to the pasta, but despite not really being saucy they did taste like a sauce.  I was afraid that the tomato skins would be tough or annoying, but I didn’t even notice them.  The sauce had a very roasted flavor, from the browned bits of shallot and tomato skin.  I would make this recipe again, but next time I would serve something else substantial and low-calorie alongside it.  I think I could eat infinite bowls of pasta and this tomato sauce without feeling full.  Maybe a white bean soup or a chickpea salad would be a nice accompaniment, or a big bowl of steamed vegetables tossed with lemon juice and fresh herbs?

On a second try I doubled the recipe, and it still didn’t really fill my cookie sheet, so next time I’ll try 2.5 pounds of tomatoes.  I didn’t have shallots, so used a small red onion instead, which was also good.  I served the pasta sauce with polenta and a dish of zucchini and eggplant and egg in a little Thai red curry.  It was a nice dinner.