I found this recipe in a newspaper in England probably about 10 years ago and go through phases of being able to locate it. I’m currently in the “no clue where it is” phase and can’t find it online, but I’ve made it so many times that I don’t really need it. In any case, this is an easy, light pasta dish that tastes great at dinner and even better the next day cold.
What you’ll need are some tomatoes — I usually try to find the small ones still on the vine, but just about anything will work, from plum tomatoes to cherry ones. Just try to find some decent ones that have some flavor to them and aren’t hard as a rock. You want roughly the equivalent of 5 or 6 plum tomatoes. I used 11 of the small ones this time around, and probably could have used a couple more. Then grab some pitted black olives (like kalamata), some garlic (a clove or two), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and some pasta. Penne works best, but you can use whatever you’ve got around (like the penne and bowties we had). You’ll need a pound or a little under. This recipe feeds six people either hot or cold at $1.16 per serving.
First, get your tomatoes going. Put your oven at 400, and while it’s heating up, put your tomatoes in a small baking dish with a handful (or two) of the olives and some sliced garlic. Drizzle some olive oil and balsamic over everything, then swirl it around a bit and season with salt and pepper. Put the dish in the oven for roughly 30 minutes. It’s more important that your tomatoes get nicely roasted than any specific time. You want them to soften up completely, and their skin should start to split and wrinkle.
When you think you’ve got about 10 or 15 minutes left, cook your pasta to al dente. Drain it, and put it back in your pot, then remove the stems from the tomatoes and dump everything in. Stir it up, breaking up the tomatoes as you go. The hot pasta will suck up some of the juice, oil and vinegar while the rest makes your sauce. Check for seasoning again, add a little more balsamic if you like, but not too much. Then enjoy.
Like I said, this stuff is even better cold the next day as the flavors will have mixed more and concentrated a bit overnight. This recipe makes a nice pasta salad, too, a little different than the usual creamy or really oily fare.
