This pasta is an all-time favorite of the summer time. It is excellent when eaten warm but just gets better if you let it cool down and bring it to a picnic or leave it in the fridge to eat it the day after when you won’t have time to cook. When you prepare it, be sure to allow some time to bake the tomatoes in the oven slowly and at low temperature (you could do this also on the previous day, leaving them to rest in the oven).
Time: 15 minutes preparation | 1 hour cooking time
Special utensils
a hand blender
Ingredients (serves 4)
pesto
2 handfuls of basil leaves
2 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp grated parmesan
a mild extra virgin olive oil
salt
pasta and tomatoes
400 g garganelli (you can use another kind of short pasta but garganelli are really the best for this)
200 g sweet cheery or pachino tomatoes
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
- Wash the tomatoes, cut them in half and let them drain for half an hour on a grid. Preheat oven at 110°.
- Place them on a mold with baking paper, cut-side up. Season with salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, breadcrumbs and oregano. Bake in the oven for about one hour, they should be quite dry.
- In the meantime prepare the pesto following this procedure. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Cook the garganelli and drain them, keeping some of the cooking water aside. Season with pesto (if they are a bit too dry, add a couple of spoons cooking water), then and add the tomatoes on top, mixing them very gently to the pasta.