The Weeknight Kitchen · Italian · 15 minutes with the tomatoes made

Slow-Roasted
Tomato Pasta

Name: Slow-Roasted Tomato Pasta
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 45 ml olive oil; 3 garlic cloves; 0.5 g red pepper flakes; 12 slow-roasted tomato halves; 450 g spaghetti; 30 g Parmigiano-Reggiano; 5 g fresh basil; 1 g Diamond Crystal kosher salt; Salt for the pasta water

What to make with a jar of slow-roasted tomatoes. Sliced garlic warmed gently in the tomatoes' own oil, the tomatoes crushed in with a spoon, and Parmigiano tossed through off the heat until it turns into a glossy sauce. The sauce is ready before the pasta is.

15 min with the tomatoes made 1 pan + pasta pot

Spoon cost

Time ●○○○○ Anytime

Vegetarian

Servings1× uses a full box of pasta

Units

Ingredients

The cheese goes in off the heat. Over a flame, grated Parmigiano clumps into strings. Take the pan off the heat, add the pasta and a splash of its cooking water, then the cheese, and toss hard. The starchy water and the cheese melt together into a glossy sauce that coats every strand.

Before you start

Get these into the state the recipe asks for first — the steps that use them won't wait.

Parmigiano grated and a mug parked by the colander — the cheese and a splash of pasta water go in together the moment the pasta is drained, and there's no time to grate once you're tossing

Method

Cook's notes

Make the tomatoes first. This recipe uses a batch of slow-roasted tomatoes, which take about three hours in a low oven but only fifteen minutes of your time. With a jar of them in the fridge, this is a fifteen-minute dinner. No roasted tomatoes and no time? The twenty-minute cherry tomato pasta starts from fresh tomatoes.

Cheese, or crumbs. Unlike the cherry tomato pasta, this one takes Parmigiano well: roasted tomatoes are deep and sweet enough not to be drowned out by it. If you'd rather keep it lighter, leave the cheese out and scatter pangrattato over each bowl instead, and use a little more pasta water to bring the sauce together.

Leftovers. Cold, it's a good pasta salad with a squeeze of lemon and a handful of arugula. To reheat, warm it in a skillet with a splash of water so the sauce loosens again.

Easier, if you like

Jarred sun-dried tomatoes instead of slow-roasted. A jar of Mezzetta Julienne Cut Sun-Ripened Dried Tomatoes in olive oil (near the olives and jarred peppers) works in a pinch. Use about half as much by volume, since they're more intense, and use their oil in place of the olive oil. The sauce is chewier and sharper, so you may want extra pasta water.

Vegetarian; easy to make vegan or gluten-free

Vegan: leave out the Parmigiano, add an extra splash of olive oil when you toss, and finish with pangrattato for crunch and savoriness.

Gluten-free: Barilla Gluten Free Spaghetti (blue box, pasta aisle). Pull it a minute early and save the cooking water as usual.

No basil: flat-leaf parsley, or nothing at all. The tomatoes carry the dish.