Pasta con Romero

This recipe is very simple and is both fast and easy to make. Rosemary and garlic go very well together, especially when garlic starts to caramelise and sweeten which brings out the intense flavours of both ingredients, making this a very tasty meal indeed, and not half as garlicky as one would expect! The most time consuming part is peeling and chopping the garlic, and if timed properly it can be prepared and cooked in less than 15 minutes, which is the time that the pasta would take to cook.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 60g Garlic cloves (approx 1 full head)
• 2 tbsp Rosemary (heaped)
• 400g Chopped plum tomatoes (1 tin)
• 100g Grated cheese (Parmesan or cheddar)
• 250g Dry pasta, Farafalle or Fusilli

Serves 2 portions. 835 kcal per portion.

The first step is to peel and chop the garlic. Make sure you don’t chop the cloves finely,  it is best if it is chopped into chunks about 0.5 cm diameter, but don’t be too scientific about this! The more finely that the garlic is chopped the more garlicky it becomes and we don’t want it to overpower the sauce.

Finely chop the fresh rosemary. Remove any hard or woody parts of the stem before cutting.

Put water to boil for your pasta. Farfalle or Fusilli works best in my opinion, but Penne and Rigatoni do the job too. This is down to your own personal preference. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and cook for the amount of time necessary.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic and rosemary. Fry these on a medium heat until the start going golden. This should only take 2-3 minutes maximum. It is at this stage that the garlic is softened and has started to caramelise, and is has also lost a big part of it’s ferocity.

Add the plum tomatoes and quickly bring to the boil and reduce on a high heat. Once it has reduced slightly and you can see that the tomato has fried with the garlic and rosemary turn the heat down and you can put in the grated cheese. This may seem a bit unusual but it works. Personally I prefer mature cheddar, but grated parmesan works too, and it comes down to personal preference.  The sauce may be lumpy at first, but once stirred thoroughly the cheese will dissolve. 

The pasta should be ready at this point, so drain it and add it to the sauce. Mix it all well and it is ready to serve!

For all those who like to present dishes nicely you can add a small sprig of rosemary to garnish.