Crispy caper & slow-roasted tomato pappardelle

 January 23, 2023

   

We've been going back to the Anna Jones book recently, especially when we're short on ideas for a work-night lunch. While she dodges around the whole 'one pot' framing of the book pretty regularly, it's still a good source of relatively simple and reliably delicious meals. This week's choice wasn't especially speedy - you need to roast your tomatoes for 90 minutes - but was otherwise incredibly simple. And the results are pretty compelling: a rich, sweet, hearty pasta with little bursts of caper-y flavour. We'll go back to this again when Melbourne turns wintery, it's a very comforting meal.

Crispy caper & slow-roasted tomato pappardelle

(based on a recipe in Anna Jones' One Pot, Plan, Planet)

2kg mixed cherry tomatoes

1 head of garlic, peeled

1 red chilli, sliced in half lengthways

1 small bunch of oregano

250ml olive oil

6 tablespoons baby capers

500g dried pappardelle

250g ricotta

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Arrange the tomatoes in a couple of baking trays, with the garlic, chilli and chopped oregano. Pour over the oil and generously season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together well and bake for 90 minutes, gently stirring things around a couple of times along the way. 

Take the tomatoes out and let them cool a bit. Scoop the tomatoes out of the oil and blitz half of them in a food processor. The original recipe has you discarding the chilli and garlic here, but we just put them aside and used them as bonus flavours on sandwiches and things later in the week - seems a shame to waste slow roasted garlic. 

Pour about 6 tablespoons of the tomato cooking oil into a frying pan over medium heat. While the oil is heating up, pat dry your capers as best you can with paper towel. Pop them in the hot oil and fry for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally to try to get them crispy (mine are never super crispy, if I'm honest). Remove them from the oil and set aside. 

Cook your pasta as per its directions, drain and return it to the big pot before stirring through the tomatoes, tomato sauce and a drizzle of the leftover oil. You can add water here if the sauce feels a bit dry. 

Serve, topped with capers and ricotta.