Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Orecchiette
As you can see, I like to use a variety of tomatoes for their bright and beautiful colors. These are heirloom cherry tomatoes, but feel free to use straight up red cherry or grape tomatoes, if that’s all you can find. Preheat oven to 4oo degrees. Rinse tomatoes and halve or quarter them depending on their size–you want them to all be about the same. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet or casserole.
Finely chop several cloves of garlic and sprinkle them among the tomatoes. Nestle in a few sprigs of fresh thyme, add a pinch of red pepper flakes, and drizzle all with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place pan in the oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, tossing midway. Remove thyme sprigs when done.
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add a small handful of sea salt (so the water tastes salty) and cook the orecchiette until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of pasta water, and return to the pot. Mix the roasted tomatoes and garlic with the pasta.
Add the crumbled goat cheese and toss all together, adding some of the pasta water, if necessary, to help create the sauce. Top with freshly chopped basil leaves and stir in. Taste and add freshly ground pepper if needed. Be careful adding salt, as the goat cheese is already salty. Dig in and delight!
This recipe looks really good. Thanks for sharing!