This pasta is a go to. I often cooke tomatoes like this, lightly mash them with the roasted garlic and toss that through pasta but the basil oil brings this dish to a whole new level. It’s fresh but full of warmth.
This basil oil can be stored in the fridge and used in so many ways: smeared over toast and then topped with avocado, swirled through scrambled eggs, as a dressing and to sauté vegetables. Add a little bit of dried chilli to it really brings out the basil flavour, it doesn’t make it particularly spicy. I think the roast garlic flavour in this is so much better than raw garlic as it’s sweet and less overpowering. Basil is a delicate herb and raw garlic can completely overtake things.
Use whatever pasta you prefer, I think short pasta or pappardelle work best. That said,I’ve even had this with ravioli and gnocchi and both were delicious. The asparagus adds crunch and that spring freshness! Pine nuts are great scattered over the top too.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 tbs extra virgin olive
1/4 tsp salt
1 dried red chilli
1 tightly packed cup of basil
1 tsp rock salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 punch of asparagus, trimmed and each spear cut into 3 pieces
200g short pasta, I used casarecce
1/3 cup freshly grated pecorino
1 tsp lemon zest
lemon cheek for seasoning
Directions
Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Place the cherry tomatoes in a small baking dish, they should fit in a single layer. Add cloves of garlic (keep skin on) chilli, salt and the 1 Tbs of oil. Toss to coat. Roast for 25 minutes, remove the garlic (it should be soft) and chilli, then continue roasting the tomatoes for 35 minutes or until they’ve collapsed and got a little colour.
Once you’ve removed the garlic you can start on the basil oil. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil, blanch the basil in this for 20 seconds (I do this in a sieve) and remove. Plunge it into iced water. Turn the hot pot of water off but no need to discard it.
Squeeze out excess moisture and place basil in a mortar and pestle with 1 tsp rock salt and the dried chilli. Grind to a paste and then squeeze the garlic cloves in and grind to combine. Add the oil in a steady stream, grinding to emulsify somewhat. Scrape the oil into a jar, close with a fitted lid and then gently shake to combine.
Bring the pot of water back to the boil and cook pasta according to packet instructions. You will need to add extra salt.
Meanwhile place a medium fry pan on medium high heat. add 1 Tbs of the basil oil and once hot add the asparagus. Cook until lightly golden in spots and tender.
Drain pasta reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water. Pour the drained pasta into the pan with the asparagus and then pour in the tomatoes. Add 2 Tbs of the basil oil, the pecorino and the lemon zest and toss to combine. You can add a little pasta water at this point of it looks dry, but with all that flavoured oil it shouldn’t. Add more oil to taste, I like to serve it with a drizzle of the punchy basil oil, a scattering of baby basil leaves, extra pecorino and a squeeze of lemon juice. Black pepper is always welcome too.
