Farmer's Market Recipe: Oven Roasted Tomato and Garlic Linguine

There are many ways to identify the changing of the seasons. My favorite way to identify the time of year is through the variety of fresh produce available at the local farmer's market. To me, there is nothing that says the end of summer like the flavor of a juicy vine ripened tomato. The taste of the produce from our trip to the Clark Park Farmer's Market brought back memories from my earlier years; picking tomatoes from my garden and savoring the last tastes of summer. The Clark Park outing was my first trip to a farmer's market in Philadelphia, so naturally I was tempted to buy a little of everything. Unfortunately, I only possess two limbs capable of carrying grocery bags so I limited my purchases to one yellow sweet potato, two purple sweeet potatoes, four eggplants, one yellow tomato, one basket of red tomatoes, fresh basil, goat cheese...etc...you get the idea. My fingers are itching to cook up all of the delicious fresh ingredients but I'm a busy college student that likes to sleep. Today's post features fresh tomatoes, summer squash, and sweet basil. You can look forward to recipes with the other ingredients in my future posts.


These are the beautiful tomatoes and the fresh basil straight from the farmer's market. The yellow tomato was of the heirloom variety (meaning the plant was not hybridized through genetic cross breeding)and I couldn't help but to devour it raw as soon as I reached home. True to its reputation, the tomato was bursting with sweet tomatoey flavor that can't compare with its bland supermarket counterparts. Also, here is a trick I like to use to keep basil fresh. Cut off the stems diagonally about 1/4'' from the bottom and place in a glass fill with water. Like so:

The remaining tomatoes and basil are the feature of my recipe. I roast the tomatoes along with some summer squash and a whole head of garlic in the oven to carmelize and bring out their natural sweetness. After boiling linguine, I created a sauce from the roasted garlic, some butter, and pasta water. Finally, everything is tossed together with some savory parmesan cheese and finished with a generous sprinkling of basil. This dish was light yet comforting and really highlights the late summer season. There are a few things I would change to improve the dish. I felt that there wasn't enough of the delicious roasted tomatoes and squash in one serving of pasta so I would recommend doubling the amount of roasted vegetables for veggie lovers. Also, some cayenne pepper thrown in with the roasted garlic and butter mixture would add some nice heat. Anyway, without further adieu, here is the recipe: Oven Roasted Tomato and Garlic Linguine Serves 4-6


Ingredients:
About 2-3 lbs roma or large cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 medium summer squash, sliced
1/2'' thick horizontally
1/4c.+1tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/4 tsp. dried majoram 1/2 tsp. dried basil
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 head fresh garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 lb. dried linguine
1 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 c. loosely packed julienned fresh basil + more for garnish

Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking pan (or two smaller ones) with aluminum foil. Arrange tomato and squash in a single layer making sure the tomatoes' cut sides are up. Whisk together 1/4 c. olive oil and next three ingredients. Drizzle mixture evenly over the tomatoes and squash. Cut the top 1/4-1/2'' off the garlic, revealing the individual cloves. Reserve the top section for later use. Encase the bottom part in aluminum foil and drizzle with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Seal the aluminum foil. Place the baking sheet and wrapped garlic in the oven and roast for 40 minutes. Increase the temperature to 400 degrees and roast 15-20 minutes more, or until the vegetables are nice and carmelized. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions (make sure to generously salt the cooking water!) and drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Remove the garlic from the oven and turn off the oven. You can keep the veggies in the warm oven while you prepare the pasta. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze out the cloves and mince to a fine paste. Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add roasted garlic. Saute briefly. Add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water, stir, and let simmer until it reduces about 1/3. Remove from heat. Add pasta, veggies, and toss. Continue tossing with parmesan cheese, adding more pasta water to loose, if neccesary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in fresh basil. Divide among plates and garnish with more basil. Enjoy!

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