Almost Mac and Cheese

Pasta with Marscapone and Roast Rosa Tomatoes

I really didn't expect the beauty of this dish.. There was this crazed frenzy cooking baking madness thing- and suddenly, even after all the mistakes and the rushing, out came this heavenly, scrumptious meal.

So Sunday came along, as as usual, I made way too many plans.. When I finally got down to my afternoon baking session, it was around 4 pm. I'll post about the cupcakes I made later in the week- but lets just say they too way too long and made WAY too many cupcakes. Eventually, I had to start supper and so ended up juggling the cupcakes and supper. For a visual, think about a cartoon fight: a big cloud with random hands and feet sticking out here and there. And out of it, victorious, comes ME! With a supper that Ralph got seconds of! I don't know enough English to explain what this means to me- he NEVER gets seconds!

I've had this recipe bookmarked since Tracey made it- I'm so glad I finally got around to it!

Pasta with Marscapone and Roast Rosa Tomatoes
Adapted from Tracey's Culinary Adventures, originally from Epicurious

400 g rosa tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
500 g pasta (I used shells)
1 1/4 Marscapone cheese
chilli flakes
paprika
nutmeg
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 200 C.
2) Cut tomatoes in half, and put in a single layer with the garlic on a baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until done and almost bursting. Don't switch the oven off!
3) While the tomatoes are in the oven, cook pasta until al dente. Be careful opening the pasta- if you pull too hard the packet will tear and it will go all over your kitchen! Save half a cup of cooking water when you drain it. Put the pasta baked in the pot. This is important, but if you forget, which I didn't or anything, you can use boiling water.
4) Put the Marscapone into the pot with the pasta, and stir until the cheese is melted.
5) Add the cooking water, little by little, to thin the sauce.
6) Now add a pinch of paprika, chilli flakes, nutmeg, half of the Parmesan and the tomatoes. Stir gently.
7) Tip the pasta and sauce into an oven container, put the remaining Parmesan on top, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until it's nice and browned.
8) Serve and enjoy comically with slurping sounds and lip smacking.

I might have to end this blog as I plan to make this pretty much every day from now on.