In Praise of Roasted Tomatoes: Penne with White Bean and Tomato Sauce

It's still cold and nothing is growing in the gardens in Utah, so this post is partly a Public Service Announcement for those people living in the southern hemisphere. Are you making slow roasted tomatoes and freezing them? If not, you're missing out on a chance to have a delightful taste of summer when winter hits again and you're cooking things like soups and stews. More ideas for slow roasted tomatoes after the recipe.

This recipe came from a little cookbook I received as a review copy called 50 Great Pasta Sauces. It's a very appealing little book; in fact when it came in the mail a friend who saw it immediately ordered a copy from Amazon.com. There are a lot of interesting sauces in the book, but the roasted tomatoes sold me on this one.

The recipe called for soaking white beans and cooking them in lots of stock, which I'm sure would give good results, but I made this on day I didn't plan ahead and I thought the sauce was wonderful even with the canned beans. I nearly always have a carton of hummus in the fridge at my house, and one thought I had later was that next time I might put a few tablespoons of hummus into the sauce mixture. Otherwise, this recipe is a total keeper!

Penne with White Bean and Tomato Sauce

(4 servings, recipe adapted from 50 Great Pasta Sauces.)

6 tomatoes, cut in quarters lengthwise
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 T olive oil
2 cups homamade chicken stock (or 1 can chicken broth)
1 can white beans with juice
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
(optional, next time I might add 2-3 T of hummus to the sauce)
3 cups (uncooked) Dreamfields Penne or other pasta of your choice (Use Dreamfields for South Beach Diet)
1/2 cup or more coarsely grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 250 F. Cut tomatoes in fourths lengthwise, sprinkle with sea salt and roast 2 hours.

While tomatoes are roasting, chop onion, celery, carrots, and rosemary. After tomatoes have been roasting for 1 1/2 hours, heat olive oil in heavy frying pan, add carrot and saute 3-4 minutes, then add onions and celery and saute about 5 minutes more, until vegetables are just starting to brown.

Add chicken stock, canned beans, and chopped fresh rosemary to pan, turn heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes. (If using hummus, I would add it after about 10 minutes.) Liquid should be reduced by about 1/4, but mixture will still be fairly liquid. Turn off heat, add tomatoes, and gently combine.

While sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes for Dreamfields. Drain well.

Place pasta in large bowl. Pour sauce mixture over and toss gently a few times. Grate parmesan cheese over pasta and serve hot.

Weekend Herb Blogging

This is my contribution for Weekend Herb Blogging, being hosted by The Chocolate Lady from In Mol Araan. Send your entries to inmolaraan AT gmail DOT com. You can read The Rules for Weekend Herb Blogging if you don't know what it's about.

Plenty of herb bloggers have written about the nutritional value of tomatoes, but did you know that cooking tomatoes makes them more nutritious? Cooked or not, tomatoes are recommended for weight loss and optimum health. Tomatoes are one of The World's Healthiest Foods, being high in vitamins C and A.

More Roasted Tomato Recipes to try:
How to Make Slow Roasted Tomatoes and tomatoes recipes from Kalyn's Kitchen
Roasting instructions and tomato recipes from A Veggie Venture
Roasted Tomato-Sausage Pasta from Stephen Cooks
Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes from Seriously Good
Penne with Goat Cheese, Avocado, and Slow Roasted Tomatoes from Something So Clever
Pasta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes from The Perfect Pantry

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Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Weekend Herb Blogging