Description
This roasted tomato pasta combines rigatoni tossed in a silky smooth sauce of roasted sweet cherry tomatoes and red pepper, served with a shower of Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
Scale
- 16 oz (450 g) cherry tomatoes
- 1 medium (200 g or 7.2 oz) sweet white onion, cut into wedges
- 8 garlic cloves, skins on
- Olive oil and kosher salt for roasting
- 10 oz (290 g) rigatoni or similar pasta (reserve 1 cup pasta water)
- 2 tbsp butter (sub with olive oil)
- 90 g milk or dairy-free milk (I used my house blend milk)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1-2 tsp Aleppo pepper or Calabrian chili flakes
- 1-2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed*
- Finely grated parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can use a toaster oven at 450°F convection.
- Roast the tomatoes & aromatics. Add the whole cherry tomatoes, onion, and garlic cloves to the sheet pan, drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil and kosher salt, and toss together. Roast for 22-25 minutes until the cherry tomatoes are burst and slightly charred.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, and drain. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the pot and toss the cooked pasta in the melted butter. Cover and set aside.
- Make the sauce. Pop the garlic out of its skin, and add to a blender, along with the cherry tomatoes and onions (plus all the juices), the milk, tomato paste, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt. Blend on low, slowly ramping the speed up to high; blend for a total of 2 minutes until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust for salt as needed. Strain the sauce through a sieve over a bowl (optional, but highly recommended). Straining the sauce yields a much smoother, glossy sauce that clings to the pasta better.
- Toss the pasta in the sauce & serve. Pour all the sauce over the cooked pasta, along with a generous splash of pasta water. Heat the pasta over medium-low heat, toss to coat the pasta, adding pasta water as needed, until the sauce becomes glossy and coats the noodles. Feel free to add a small amount of grated Parmesan when tossing the pasta; it’ll make the sauce coat the pasta even better. Serve!
Notes
*I used a total of 2 tsp of salt, but start with 1 tsp and add more as needed.