Roasted Tomato Farfalle with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil

This recipe starts with the Oven Roasted Tomatoes previously posted.

1 lb Farfalle pasta

Oven Roasted tomatoes about 30-40 halves

Extra Virgin Oilve oil

one small package of fresh basil or 25 leaves

8 oz fresh mozzarella

12 oz part skim grated mozzarella

Parmigiano Reggiano for serving

Cook your pasta in salted water to a fairly firm al dente. You are going to cook the pasta twice. Shock it in ice water, drain well. Place in a baking/serving dish, your lasagna/mac & cheese casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and mix to very lightly coat the pasta.

Chop the basil to a rough chop and add to the pasta. Now take your roasted tomatoes and remove the tomato skin, it should peel off like a roasted pepper. Chop the tomatoes to a fine dice and add to the pasta and mix well. Dice the fresh mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes and fold into the pasta mixture gently. Put the shredded mozzarella over the top and bake until the cheese starts to light brown. 350 degrees 35-45 min. The tomatoes give a very concentrated flavor, by first roasting them with their spices you have most of the spices for the dish in the roasted tomatoes and 20 tomatoes to 1 lb pasta. The fresh mozzarella becomes creamy inside while the part skin mozzarella gives a nice lightly browned stringy cheese crust. People universally love this one. It also happens to be vegetarian, from me no less.