Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes

I'm really pleased with this recipe, because it solves two problems with one dish.  First, tomatoes.  I love tomatoes.  Lots of people will only eat tomatoes in August and September -- when they are in season -- but I refuse to deny myself tomatoes for ten months out of the year.  The only problem with this position is that the tomatoes in the winter and spring are mostly tasteless, if not actively bad.  There are exceptions: Campari tomatoes, for one.  Grape tomatoes.  And this neat trick: take a bunch of plum tomatoes and roast them in a low oven for a couple of hours.  They get sweet and smokey and tomato-y, in the best possible way.  With very little extra help, they are delicious over pasta.

Which brings me to the solution to my second problem: shrimp.  I made a New Year's resolution to make my life easier.  As a single working mom, this is a goal at best aspirational and at worst delusional, so I decided to aim low.  I've probably mentioned that I love to eat shrimp but hate to clean it.  As part of the new New Year's regiment, I am giving up the annoyance of cleaning shrimp by buying only frozen, raw, peeled and deveined shrimp.  Buying frozen shrimp is not compromising on quality, since the vast majority of shrimp sold at fish markets all over the country have been frozen.  Plus, bigger is not always better when it comes to shrimp.  I actually tend to favor the less expensive medium-sized shrimp over those super-pricey jumbo suckers since, for a lot of recipes -- particularly pasta recipes like this one -- smaller shrimp integrates better into the sauce, and distributes more equitably over the pasta. 

That's really all there is too it.  Roast the tomatoes.  Sauté the shrimp in a bunch of garlic.  Cook the pasta.  Throw everything together with a little chicken stock and some of the pasta cooking water.  If you had some white wine lying around, a splash of that would be good. Basil is great with this if you can find some that isn't ruinously expensive.  And voila, dinner is served.

PASTA WITH SHRIMP AND ROASTED TOMATOES

2 ½ pounds plum tomatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

¾ pound pasta

1 pound medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined

3-5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

3 Tbsp olive oil

½ cup chicken stock

1 cup pasta cooking water

1 cup basil, thinly sliced (optional, but very nice)

A few hours or a day before dinner...

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Slice the tomatoes in half length-wise and arrange them, cut side up, on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, until the tomatoes are nicely coated.  Roast in the oven for 2 hours.  When the tomatoes come out of the oven, coarsely chop and set aside.

When you are ready for dinner...

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.  Add the pasta.

In a pan large enough to hold the pasta, heat the olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes.  When the garlic is just fragrant, add the shrimp and cook until it is just pink.  Then add chicken stock, roasted tomatoes, pasta cooking water and extremely al dente pasta.  Cook everything together for a minute or two, then serve, topped with basil.

Serves two with leftovers.