Spaghetti with Quick-Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic

The concept of my little blog is simple--it's all about the food that I eat and the people I share it with. All of my forays into the restaurant world, cooking at home, wines, beers, and spirits will be chronicled here, if only to serve as a personal log of favorite recipes, restaurants, and vintages! I shy away from precision cooking--the idea of Ina Garten's blue-cheese souffle terrifies me--so most of my recipes are designed to be readily adapted to whatever is at market or in the pantry. Baking, then, will also be kept at a necessary minimum, except for the odd brownie or cookie recipe.

Let's jump right in with what Chris (my boyfriend of 4.5 years) and I had for dinner this evening--a little adaptation of a recipe from The Best American Recipes 2005-2006 entitled "spaghetti with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese." The recipe is originally from The Tomato Festival Cookbook by Lawrence Davis-Hollander. I promise vibrant photos in the future, but for now my camera is sadly dead.

I had barely an hour to get dinner on the table, not the 3+ hours of slow roasting that this recipe calls for. I did have, however, two pints of delicious red-and-yellow grape tomatoes on the counter still warm from the farmer's market. I recently made a roasted eggplant and cherry tomato couscous dish where the veggies were roasted in the oven for 40 minutes, so I figured a similar strategy was in order!

Serves 3-4, depending how many Chrises you have on hand.

1/4 cup EVOO, or whatever is needed to add a thick smear to the pyrex
Garlic--we used three heads (ahem), but i'd say 6 cloves at least, smashed or thickly sliced
Fresh basil leaves--say, 5-10
Red chili flakes--I go for 2 tbsp, but that's on the firey side
2 heaping pints cherry or grape tomatoes, preferably local
3 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp sugar, maybe a bit more if it's winter
1 pound spaghetti or fini linguini
Parmesan cheese. lots and lots of it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the tomatoes in a colander and add them to a 9x13 pyrex with the garlic, red chili flakes, basil leaves, 1 tsp of the salt, and the sugar--if you use a larger pyrex, you'll need more EVOO to properly coat the tomatoes, which may lead to an oily pasta.

Set the timer for twenty minutes, and mix up the tomatoes halfway through the cooking time. After the twenty minutes have passed, crank up the heat to 450 degrees and set a large pot of water to boil. Roast the veggie-garlic mix for another 20-25 minutes, until a piece of garlic easily yields in the mouth but doesn't immediately melt into cream. When the water is boiling, plop the pasta in and cook it for 2 minutes less than the recommended al dente time--the pasta will cook a bit more when it is returned to the pot with the hot sauce.

When the pasta is slightly firmer than al dente, drain in a colander, return to the large pot, and add the tomato sauce to the pasta. Taste for seasoning, remembering that the parmesan will add a bit of salt. Eat!

Wine of the Day: 2005 Tarara Cameo (Rose). A delicious young, sprightly, and fruity rose that Chris and I get from one of our favorite wineries in VA. Their Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Hermitage is also fab.