Pesto Pasta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Homemade pesto tastes so much better than any shop bought. I have matched this pesto pasta dish with sweet, slow roasted tomatoes for a perfect meal.
Ingredients
- 250 g Cherry tomatoes (I use the tomatoes on the vine for better flavour)
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds and chilli flakes
- 30g Fresh basil (Two packets)
- 50 g Pine nuts
- 75 g Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Lemon
- 2 Cloves garlic, crushed
- 200g Pasta (I used tagliatelle but penne or trofiette also work well)
- 1 large handful Baby spinach
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 140C. Half all of the tomatoes and lay on a baking tray, cut side up. Drizzle with a little oil, season with a little salt and sprinkle over the fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Slow roast for 2 hours.
- To make the pesto, toast the pine nuts over a medium heat until lightly browned. Add the pine nuts, basil, parmesan, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, the juice of the lemon and a little salt and pepper to a blender. Blitz until smooth.
- Once the tomatoes are cooked, boil the pasta in salted water until cooked. Reserve a cupful of the cooking water.
- In a frying pan, add a drizzle of olive oil and saute the spinach until wilted. Stir through the pasta and the pesto and add a little pasta cooking water (a couple of tablespoons at a time) until the pesto coats the pasta nicely. Add the tomatoes and stir through. Serve the Pesto Pasta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes and top with a drizzle of olive oil.
