Roasted Roma & Tomato Pasta

Last week I stopped by Mum & Dad's on the way home from work to say hello and drop off some of the first crop of chilli's from our herb garden. Mum was flicking through old magazines before throwing them out and so I joined her when I spotted a feature on tomatoes in an old Woman's Day mag. I scanned over with my eyes and saw a recipe that included mint, which M has been nagging me to use as our herb garden is going crazy, (I will show you soon), and took it home to cook for dinner that night. I was a bit apprehensive, and worried M wouldn't eat it, (raisins in pasta! Non!), but I was very surprised at how tasty it turned out to be. I highly recommend, and I highly recommend adding the garlic as specified at the end.

Roasted Roma & Ricotta Pasta

Serves 4

(the recipe was written exactly as follows)

Preheat oven to hot, 200c.

Place 8 halved roma tomatoes on an oven tray. Season to taste.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until skin begins to blister.

Meanwhile, cook 375g of spaghetti in a pot of salted boiling water following packet instructions.

Drain well and return to pot.

Add tomatoes, 1/2 cup crumbled fresh ricotta, 1/2 bunch picked mint leaves and 1/4 cup raisins.

Season to taste.

Serve drizzled with extra olive oil and extra mint leaves.

Roast a few cloves of garlic with tomatoes. Remove skins, mash and add to pasta for extra flavour.

I used the low-fat tub ricotta that I had and stirred it through, and it still tasted great. I also found that with the addition of raisins, it didn't leave me wanting something sweet after dinner.

We enjoyed it with a glass of Chardonnay.

Stay well,

Nat x