ost cherry tomato gardeners have a love/hate relationship with the plant. You love that the plant grows into such a huge bush with minimal effort, and by the end of summer is producing handful, after handful of the small, sweet fruit.That's also what causes the inevitable feelings of guilt and shame as so much of the crop goes to waste. You can only give away so much before people start making excuses. In an attempt to give you one more recipe to use up some of those tomatoes, I present this penne pasta featuring a simple, but surprisingly flavorful sauce.
I used mostly Sun Gold tomatoes, which are my favorite variety -- so incredibly sweet; they're like eating little balls of sunshine. When turned into a quick puree with some garlic and fresh herb, they make a fast and very tasty pasta sauce that may help put a little dent in your bumper crop.
The best ways to eat cherry tomatoes are as follows: First, plucked warm off the vine and eaten raw standing in front of the plant. Next best is raw, in some sort of salad. Third best is made into a sauce as I've done here.Of course, by this time of the year you are so over the first two options that even though this is only the third best way to enjoy them, it will seem even better that the best two ways... I mean, do the math.
Anyway, I hope you give this pasta a try, and remember, this is suppose to be an extremely simple pasta -- perfect for enjoying the sunny goodness of the tomatoes, so resist the temptation to complicate things by adding lots of "stuff." Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 cups Sun Gold cherry tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves sliced garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
14-oz dry penne pasta, cooked
salt to taste
1/2 cup grated real Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano)
