Recipe: Tomato and burrata pasta
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So the weather has turned (again), and now any excuse to hunker down over a slow-cooked meal containing maximum carbohydrate comfort seems the fitting thing to do.
This pasta dish is a mix of my favourite things. Burrata for starters (we eat so much of this luscious fresh cheese which bursts open when cut, that I could buy a small car at the end of the year if I diverted my burrata budget into my savings account, but YOLO…).
This pasta is perfect with a salad.
The other delicious part is the slow-roasted sauce of tomatoes, onion, and garlic, which needs to get golden and crispy on the edges to become a sweet and caramelised emulsion with which to coat the pasta.
Get yourself some good quality egg pasta (we use fettuccine) and basil leaves to elevate the meal.
The added advantage of making this dish is that you can leave the oven on all afternoon to warm the house and to spread the aroma of Italy over the icy wafts of April air in Canberra.
Did we add that this recipe is foolproof and cheap-as (before you factor in your burrata costs?).
Throw tomatoes, onion, capsicum and garlic into a roasting pan with olive oil, salt and pepper.
What you’ll need.
10 large tomatoes, on the ripe side, or clear out your fridge of all tomatoes whatever shape or size, chopped roughly
1 red capsicum
3-4 red onions chopped roughly
2 bulbs of garlic cut in half.
Good quality pasta
Fresh basil leaves
1 (or more) burrata (normal families could get away with one of these, but not our family. We fight too much if there is not enough to go around. We are a minimum two-burrata family.)
Dried chilli flakes, salt, pepper and olive oil
Directions
Leave everything in the oven until it roasts to become caramelised.
Place your tomatoes, capsicum, and onion into a large baking dish and slather with olive oil. Nestle your halved garlic bulbs into each corner and drizzle them liberally with oil. You will squeeze the bulbs out into the pasta mix once they are golden and roasted.
Throw the pan into a 180-degree oven for up to two hours or until everything has gone golden and sticky on the edges and the juices from the tomatoes have largely evaporated.
Let it all cool a bit, squeeze your garlic out of its skin, and pour the contents of the pan into a deep bowl (making sure to get all the sticky bits and oil in as well). Then use a stick blender to blend it all into a smooth and creamy sauce.
Blitz the ingredients into a smooth sauce.
Cook your pasta until it is al dente and pour it into a serving bowl (make sure it is still a bit “wet” with the pasta water) and then pour the tomato sauce on top. Blend it all up so the pasta is evenly coated.
Add your burrata (or burratas…is the plural of burrata, burrati?) into the middle, pick some basil leaves and toss them in and then drizzle everything with olive oil before sprinkling your salt, pepper and chilli flakes over the top.
Our family fights over burrata allotment…
Before serving, burst open the burrata and mix the creamy cheese roughly through the pasta. Dear God, it is delicious.
Delish.
