I love roasted garlic and I thought that would be a good flavor base. Roasted garlic has a deep flavor and it's much more mellow that its raw counterpart. I wanted to keep this first recipe simple, so I just used an olive oil and herb base.
I like the small/thin whole wheat pastas. Sometimes the bigger ones can be a little toothy, but the thin spaghetti doesn't have that problem.
Of course I needed some veg, so to continue the roasted theme, I roasted some broccoli. If you haven't tried roasting it before, I highly recommend it!
Notes:
There are some things I would change about this dish.
1.) Something about it came out a bit gritty. I don't know if it was the brand of pasta I got (I've never tried it before) or the fact that I didn't let my chopped rosemary sit in the oil long enough to get soft. I'm going to try using that pasta again to see if I need to switch brands. In the meantime, if anyone has other whole wheat pasta suggestions, pass them along!
2.) The roasted garlic did not behave as I expected it to. I thought it would dissolve a little in the warm olive oil, but it didn't. It just sat in the oil as a paste. It wasn't too big of a deal: once you start tossing it with the pasta it distributes over the noodles. If I had my druthers, I'd blend it with the herbs and oil in a blender or food processor to make a sauce with a pesto-like consistency. The trouble with that is I have neither of those kitchen appliances. If you do, try it out and tell me how it works.
3.) Scott believed there was too much roasted garlic. I disagreed. So, if you are a roasted garlic lover, by all means use the amount I used. If you're wary, you might want to use 2 heads instead of three.
The recipe looks like it takes a long time, but really it just has three different steps. None of the steps are complicated.
Ingredients:
For roasted garlic:
3 small heads of garlic
Drizzle olive oil
Salt
Pepper
For roasted broccoli:
3 small heads of broccoli, cut into florets
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, sliced
Salt
Pepper
For pasta:
1 box whole wheat pasta, thin spaghetti or angel hair
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter (optional, I like the flavor)
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
Pinch read pepper
Salt (for sauce and for pasta water)
Pepper
Directions:
Roast the garlic first. This can be done well ahead of time.
Heat oven to 400. Cut the top off three whole heads of garlic. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap the three heads together (cut side up) in foil and place the foil bundle on the oven rack. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour until the garlic is tender and browned. Set aside (if you do this early, let them cool and pop them in the fridge until you're ready).
For roasted broccoli, keep the oven on 400. Cover a baking sheet with foil, toss the florets and shallots with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper (make sure they're well seasoned). Scatter them on the baking sheet in one layer. Roast for 10 minutes and then turn them over. Roast for another 8 to 10 minutes until tender and starting to brown. You could do this while you're warming the oil and cooking the pasta.
Fill a stock pot with water and bring it to a boil. While the water is heating, pour the olive oil into a pan. Turn the pan on medium low. Add rosemary and allow it perfume the oil and heat through. Add red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Squeeze the roasted garlic heads over the pan. The garlic will squish (technical term ;-)) out into the oil. NB: The garlic won't dissolve. Keep the temperature low so that the garlic doesn't get too warm.
When the water comes up to a boil, add salt to the water (wheat pasta needs to be seasoned) and drop the pasta. Cook according to the directions on the box.
When the pasta is finished, drain it and put it back in the stock pot. Add the roasted broccoli and pour the olive oil and garlic sauce over it. Toss well, making sure that the roasted garlic evenly coats the pasta.
Serve it up and enjoy!
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