Roasted Tomato Pasta w/spinach + ricotta
Sometimes I have a craving but am too lazy to make the thing. This is the product of one of those times. The thing I wanted? Stuffed shells. The thing I didn’t want to do? Mix, scoop and stuff. Truthfully, I also didn’t want to do all the dishes I figured I’d use trying to make it. So, what do I do instead? Throw all the ingredients in a pot and hope for the best. And guess what, it turned out pretty good! For your sake, I developed the recipe a little more, which means what you’ll find here is not only easy and quick but simply amazing and worthy of your time. Happy lazy cooking!
Ingredients
2 pints cherry tomatoes
3 shallots, cut into thick slices
7-10 cloves of garlic (follow your heart), peeled
⅓ cup olive oil
½ tsp chili flakes
½ tsp whole fennel seeds
350-400g medium or small shell pasta
1 tbs butter
1 cup ricotta
2 generous handfuls of spinach
Salt and black pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F.
To a large dutch oven add tomatoes, shallots, garlic, olive oil, chili flakes, fennel seeds, ½ tsp salt and five cracks black pepper. Mix to evenly coat everything in oil. Place on the middle rack, uncovered, and roast for 30 minutes.
While that roasts, bring a large pot of salty water to boil. It should be salty like the ocean! Cook pasta to al dente by following package instructions.
Reserve 1 cup pasta water before straining. Coat your pasta in a little olive oil while you finish making the sauce to prevent it from becoming a giant clump (IYKYK).
By now, your kitchen should smell like a beautiful concoction of tomatoes, onions and garlic. Remove the dutch oven and carefully mash everything together until it forms a thick, jammy sauce. I like using a potato masher for this step but a large spoon will work.
Add your spinach and stir until just wilted. Add ricotta and taste. Add more salt and black pepper until all the flavours are dancing on your tastebuds. Optional: squeeze a little lemon for a tang of acidity!
Add your pasta, butter and ¼ pasta water and stir until the butter has melted. Add more pasta water and continue stirring until your pasta is evenly coated and the sauce is perfectly glossy. You might not use all the reserved water.
Serve with more black pepper and maybe even a little parmesan, if you wish!