linguine pesto and roasted tomatoes (linguine e pomodori arrostiti)
May 18, 2013 § 26 Comments
I wish I had more time to spend in the kitchen in the middle of the week. I am so content when I am able to chop by hand instead of using a food processor. Normally midweek I return home just before 6pm. I am usually very hungry and you can only imagine how ravenous my 15 year old athletic son feels. I do not like to purchase convenient pre-made packaged foods, and for this reason I keep my Tuesday to Thursday dinners simple. Two or three ingredients, nothing too fancy, wholesome and satisfying. With all that said, this dinner fits well into a midweek menu. I understand the best pesto is hand made, not using a food processor. If you have the time it is well worth chopping this by hand. Otherwise, it is a very nice mid week “whirled in the food processor” dinner!
For an extra creamy texture I added 4 ounces of soft goat’s cheese to this pesto.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Put a large pot of water on the stove over high heat. Prepare tomatoes for roasting and make the pesto while you are waiting for the water to boil.
r o a s t e d c h e r r y t o m a t o e s
- 24 cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt
Toss tomatoes with olive oil and a pinch or two of salt. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in oven for approximately 20 minutes, depending on what size you are using. Once the skins are wrinkly and they look roasted remove from oven and set aside.
p e s t o
- 1 large bunch of basil, leaves only
- 3 cloves of garlic
- small handful of raw pine nuts
- 4 ounces soft goat’s milk cheese
- 3/4 cup freshly grated good quality parmesan
- approximately 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Place all ingredients in a food processor and whirl until blended.
Once your water is at a roaring boil add a tablespoon of coarse grain salt and drop your pasta in. I used one pound of linguine. Cook until al dente, linguine cooking time is approximately 9 minutes.
Drain pasta, return it to the pan (off the heat) and toss with pesto.
Divide into serving bowls and serve with roasted tomatoes and freshly grated parmesan on top.
Serves 4
buon appetite!
COTTAGE GROVE HOUSE 
i’m a huge fans of cherry tomatoes,
i like the way you playing with two diffrent color cherry tomatoes…
sound a grat comfort meals….
This is one of my all time comfort dinners. :)
This is such a classic dish, it can be eaten cold or warm. Pesto is so flavorful and the tomatoes add another layer of flavor. Very nice.
I agree. I did eat the little bit of leftovers the next day for lunch without heating it up. Hope you are doing well on your “diet” Suzanne!
Your recipe is so simple yet has all the ingredients of a delicious and healthy dish. I feel the same way about midweek dinners. We need to come up with something quick and simple. I find that challenging and fun. And we get rewarded with a wonderful meal without much fuss! I like your idea of adding roasted cherry tomatoes to the pesto dish. Yummy!
Thank you Dolly. I been checking your site for another one of your creative recipes! :) It is so nice to hear from you today.
I put this on my chalkboard menu for later this week. Looks right up my alley!
Oh great! Hope you love it like I do. It is the easiest dinner to prepare. Let me know if you do make it and your thoughts. :)
Simple, fast and extremely delicious dish. The plate looks beautiful!
Thank you Fae.
Looks like a great one to try with my always-ravenous teen sons!
Oh, so you have teen sons too! :) Well, mine did enjoy this recipe, however, he seems to always want some sort of meat on the table too!
Roasted tomatoes will be a fun change from our usual pesto pasta- thanks for the idea. Rock salt, is it the same as kosher?
Hey you! I guess my recommendation is to use a very coarse large grain salt. I’m actually using Himalayan Pink Salt and it is very large grained. Good question though because once I searched about the difference between “rock” and “kosher” I found rock salt is good to only use when making homemade ice cream! I had picked this idea of using “rock” salt in your pasta from a Italian friend who used to do this. (I’m going in to edit the post now!) :)
Pesto, to me, is not necessarily a good-looking dish. Your adding the roasted tomatoes, though, gives the dish some pop, and I bet the same can be said for the flavor they add. I can’t wait to give this a try when my tomatoes are ripe. Now that’s optimism! I just planted them yesterday. :)
You made me smile! My tomatoes are going into the ground in about a week. We just need to get our overnight lows up above 50° F. I couldn’t agree with you more about the look of a pesto pasta. Not very good-looking, but sure tasty! Probably would not post it without the roasted tomatoes. :)
Wow! Looks light, refreshing and tasty. I just bought my tomato plants!!! Now the hard part…waiting! I will have to buy some tomatoes and try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
You welcome! I know…sometimes I can’t wait for my plants to produce so I just cheat and go out and buy it!
This looks so incredibly delicious. I love pesto… I always keep a jar of homemade rocket and basil pesto (with walnuts! My favourite!) in the fridge for flavour emergencies. It peps up any dish (my current favourite is slathering it into field mushrooms with extra nuts and parmesan cheese… so delicious). I definitely want to try this. Pesto, goats cheese and cherry tomatoes is a match made in heaven! Thanks xx
I have made pesto with arugula and walnuts too! I love it. I should make batches for the fridge, great idea. Sounds perfect on mushrooms with parmesan. Nice to hear from you Laura…with your great ideas! :)
Aw, it’s equally wonderful to read your ideas! So nice to be sharing recipes and stories with you :)
Good call adding roasted tomatoes to pasta and pesto.
Goat cheese in the pesto… what a fabulous idea! Your dish looks amazing… delicious!
I know! I have made pesto too many times to count and this is the first time I added goat cheese and it was fantastic. You have to try it. I don’t think I’ll make it without from now on.
i LOVE PESTO
I love simple recipes like this. It’s gonna be at the top of my list to make it real soon. I’ve never thought of baking the tomatoes for this dish…great idea! and thanks for sharing :)