Roasted Garlic and Cherry Tomato Penne

This is my new favorite meal, hands down! It’s bursting with rich, hearty, sweet, almost creamy flavor, all made by simply roasting vegetables in olive oil and balsamic vinegar in your oven! It couldn’t be easier to make this impressive dish. There is nothing that I would change about this meal because it’s absolutely perfect. I could honestly eat this pasta every night of the week. It even tastes great as a cold pasta salad (which is what I ate it as for lunch the next day). You NEED to make this tonight! Recipe after the jump.

Your ingredients.

Cut off the top of a bulb of garlic so you can see all of the cloves.

Quarter your onion and slice your tomatoes into halves. Place them alongside the garlic bulb on a greased and/or lined baking sheet.

Combine your olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Brush it over all of your vegetables.

Roast them at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until the tomatoes are half of their original size.

Holding the garlic bulb with a silicon oven mitt, paper towels, or your hands if the garlic isn’t too hot, pull the cloves of garlic out of the peel.

And place them with the other vegetables.

Mush together all of the vegetables with a spoon, fork, or whatever works. Make sure to mush up all of the garlic cloves!

Add in the pasta and Parmesan cheese and toss to coat everything. Add in some extra olive oil, too.

Serve hot or cold! Delicious!

Roasted Garlic and Cherry Tomato Penne
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from The Good Morning Food Blog

1/2 pound whole wheat penne pasta
1 large bulb of garlic, top sliced off
3-4 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 large red onion, roughly quartered
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of olive oil
A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper
An extra glug or two of olive oil
A large handful of grated Parmesan cheese (I used Parmesan and Mozzarella)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the top off the bulb of garlic so that almost all the cloves are exposed. Place the garlic in a large greased and/or lined roasting tray.
2. Prepare the cherry tomatoes by slicing them in half. Place the tomatoes in the roasting tray alongside the garlic. Prepare the red onion by peeling and slicing into rough quarters, place alongside the tomatoes and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and using a pastry brush, brush the mix over the tomatoes, the red onion, and the garlic bulb. Sprinkle the tomatoes, garlic, and onion with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
4. Roast the tray of vegetables in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the tomatoes have reduced to half their size (I roasted it for 35 minutes).
5. While the garlic, tomatoes, and onion are roasting, bring a medium sized pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain the pasta in a colander and set aside.
6. When the tomatoes, garlic and onion are cooked, remove them from the oven and using a fork/spoon/whatever, mash all the ingredients together in a large bowl until you have a thick, mushy sauce. Tumble the cooked pasta into the bowl and add the Parmesan cheese and an extra glug or two of olive oil. Toss everything together until the pasta is evenly coated. Serves 2.

Tagged as: dinner, garlic, Italian, pasta, penne, tomato, vegetable, vegetarian