This idea had several inspirations:1. Lately I have been really into roasting grape tomatoes. It's so easy and I've been adding it to a lot of pasta and quinoa dishes.
2. Have you ever noticed that the Top Chef contestants' favorite thing to do is "decontruct" dishes? Like deconstructed lasagna becomes a couple pieces of flat pasta tossed on plate with some other stuff?
3. The other night I was at Joey's and we were deciding what to make for dinner. We were in the mood for pasta and thought of puttanesca, but worried it would be too heavy a meal to eat in 90 degree city heat.
Thus, the genesis of:
DECONSTRUCTED PUTTANESCA WITH ROASTED GRAPE TOMATOES!!!
a sarah and joey orig
Ingredients
a lot of grape tomatoes. We used about two and a half packages. It will look like a lot, but they cook down when you roast them.
1 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
1 or 2 tablespoons capers (Joey thinks I am caper crazy, but I think you can never have enough...)
6 or 8 anchovy filets
4 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
red pepper
pecorino romano cheese
1 bunch basil, chopped
Roast grape tomatoes at 450 tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until they begin to burst and shrivel and brown a little. About 20 minutes. While that's happening, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic, red pepper, anchovies, capers and olives. Cook for a couple minutes and then add the basil. Cook and for a couple minutes more. It will look like this:
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When the tomatoes are ready, they will look like this:.jpg)
Now just combine all of it with your pasta. We used cappelini--it goes well with a thin, twirlable pasta, but it's up to you.
Sprinkle with cheese and you're DONE. Won't take you more than half an hour for an impressive, delicious result.
