Pasta with roasted tomatoes and rucola

This is my first post in English and although this recipe has been posted some time ago on this site, in Romanian, it is so good and tasty that I decided to share it in English as well.

It is a quintessential Italian recipe, simple, honest, using just a few fresh and colorful ingredients…yes, the colors are Italian: red, white and green !

All you need besides your appetite, cooking enthusiasm and dear friends to share it with, are:

400 g spaghetti (use Italian made: Voiello, De Cecco, Latini, etc)
250 – 300 ml panna
3 handfuls of fresh, crunchy rucola
2 handfuls of freshly grated parmigiano
10-15 ripe & sweet cherry tomatoes
brown sugar (I always use demerara, it has a beautiful, fresh fragrance)
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil (best if robusto)

First halve the tomatoes, place them on a rack previously wrapped with some aluminum foil, sprinkle with sugar, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and put them into your preheated oven at approximately 190 C, until slightly caramelized.
Meanwhile boil the spaghetti in plenty of water respecting the golden rule 1/10/100: 1 liter of water -10 grams of salt – for each 100 grams of pasta.
It is now time for the parmigiano sauce which is one of the simplest yet “yummiest” sauces:
Gently heat your panna (the Italian light, fluid cream, generally used in sauces – I use the veggetal one with zero cholesterol “Gran Cucina” brand)
When the panna starts to bubble add a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, stir well and then add your parmigiano. Continue to stir constantly until the cheese is completely melted into the creamy sauce. Do not worry if the sauce thickens too much, you can thin it using some water from the spaghetti or with panna.
Alright !
When the spaghetti are boiled “al dente” (and not “andante” as some Romanian trendy female singer once said in an interview) stir them into the sauce until completely covered, add a handful of rucola and stir again gently. Let rest for one minute or so and serve on large pasta plates, on a bed of rucola and decorate with the roasted tomatoes, rucola and parmigiano shavings. Spice up with freshly ground pepper and enjoy !
If you would like a more pungent, rustic flavor, you can replace a part of parmigiano with pecorino cheese.

There is a variety of wines you can enjoy with this dish such as a Vernaccia di San Gimignano or some light red such as a Dolcetto d’Alba.

But my recommendation is to try a Viognier , a special one from Uruguay – I know it is quite rare, quite unknown, just give it a try … but remember, the best wine is the one you like.