I had been wanting to make a recipe using one of the social media trends of the past few months. And here it is! Roasted cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil turn into a velvety, incredibly delicious cheesy sauce that takes your favorite pasta to the next level.
Personally, it reminds me, even if only slightly, of Greek yiahni pasta. The recipe is very easy, the time required is about half an hour, and you get a special dish with deep flavor. So it is no coincidence that it became—almost—a craze on Instagram and TikTok.
You can also use a little trick that will make things even easier for you. Roast the cherry tomatoes with the garlic at some point when you have time or when you already have the oven on for something else, then keep them roasted in a bowl in the refrigerator and use them whenever you want to eat. That way, the meal will be ready in just a few minutes, basically as long as it takes for the pasta to boil.
You can add as much garlic as you think you can handle; after all, roasted garlic is lighter and easier to digest than raw garlic. Most similar recipes suggest using plenty, even a whole head, but I avoided that because I cannot handle that quantity. Even with 1–2 cloves, though, the flavor is wonderful.
As for the cheese, you can try whatever you like as long as it gives an easily creamy texture. I tested the recipe with ricotta, but also with a mixture of cream cheese and strained yogurt, and the result was very good.
Ingredients
- 500 g spaghetti
- 500 g cherry tomatoes
- 125 g creamy cheese (ricotta or cream cheese or manouri)
- garlic (as much as you like)
- 125 g strained yogurt
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves
- pepper
With the Foodurismo automatic ingredient converter, easily see how many grams or ml correspond to each cup. Try it here!
Instructions
Wash the cherry tomatoes. Cut them in half. Place them in a small Pyrex dish or non-stick baking tray. Add the garlic cut in half, using as many cloves as you like. Add salt, pepper, and a little olive oil.
Bake the cherry tomatoes for 20–30 minutes at 180°C. We want the cherry tomatoes and garlic to soften well and release their juices.
Boil the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain it.
Put the cherry tomatoes and the garlic (without their skins) into a blender, and pour in all the juices from the tray in which the cherry tomatoes were roasted. Add the cheese and the basil. Blend well until you have a cream-like mixture.
Pour half of the cherry tomato cream into a large dish and add the pasta. Mix well, then add the remaining cream.
Mix again and serve with grated Parmesan and pepper.
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