Roasted Grape Tomatoes with Tangled Noodles-Make the revised version, not the one below the picture

Original recipe cut and pasted from Food Network. One star as is: I picked this because I had some really extraordinarily flavorful tomatoes and also hoped to make this a no-muss-no-fuss one pot cleanup. I also liked the idea of flavoring the noodles with broth. Sadly enough, it  turned out sticky and not flavorful enough to fix.  I used reg mozzarella instead of smoked because this Cooking My  Way Through The Time of the Co-Vid Lockdown and I had regular on hand.

However! Five Star version: I tried making the noodles again with (! think|) 1 1/2 cups of broth and about 4 ounces of angel hair (2 servings), cooked it by watching and separating the noodles a lot as they got ready, 9 to 11 minutes. I poured in colander, then back into pan, added a little olive oil to loosen it up, and on top added some slow roasted salmon with oil from the day before--about half a pound of unpresentable shreds. They have a lot of flavor, though, and it worked out great for two. A little squeeze of lemon juice and fresh pepper is important--I ran out of lemon and it dropped to 3 stars on that part. 

Next version: I peeled a broccoli stalk, chopped and roasted it alongside the tomatoes. The pieces tasted great.

This probably wouldn't work as well with other pasta shapes--the angel hair and broth ratio just works out to soak up flavor but not get sticky like the previous recipe. I used about twice the broth to angel hair to get the result I wanted.

First Version Ingredients--didn't work for me

3 tablespoons garlic-infused virgin olive oil

4 cups sweet grape tomatoes

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

3 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 pound angel hair pasta or extra-thin egg noodles

4 ounces smoked mozzarella, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Drizzle the olive oil over the grape tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet and cook until skins turn a rich golden brown, about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock over low heat. Add the noodles to a large skillet over medium heat, and pour in 1 ladleful of hot stock. Stir to prevent the noodles from sticking together as the stock cooks off. Once the noodles have absorbed all of the stock, add another 1 cup stock. Continue to stir and add the remaining stock 1 cup at a time, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more. Once all the stock has been absorbed, stir in the cheese and toss with the roasted tomatoes and their pan drippings. Serve hot.

Cook’s Note

Toss in some torn fresh basil leaves, fresh oregano, thyme or even lemon basil leaves for a nice surprising twist!