If you tuned into The Today Show today, you saw me share this easy little recipe with you.
My BLT Pasta will be a hit at your house for dinner tonight. Enjoy!
This recipe serves four.
Shopping List
1 bulb garlic
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 pound pasta (we use whole wheat penne)
10-12 pieces of bacon, chopped (we used turkey bacon)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 cups spinach leaves (just grab the kind next to the bagged salads)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
8-10 basil leaves, torn or chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Salt and Pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Take your entire bulb of garlic and chop the top off exposing the inside. Drizzle EVOO on top of exposed cloves and sprinkle liberal amounts of salt and pepper on top. Wrap entire bulb in foil and place on a baking sheet in the oven to roast for 30 minutes.
Take another baking sheet (line it with foil for easy clean up) and spread out cherry tomatoes. Drizzle tomatoes with EVOO and sprinkle salt and pepper over all of them. After garlic has been in the oven 30 minutes, open oven door and move the garlic in foil on to the tomato baking sheet (so you only have one baking sheet in the oven now instead of two), continue cooking garlic on tomato baking sheet for an additional 15 minutes. Remove everything from oven.
While the tomatoes and garlic and roasting, bring a large pot of water to boil, drop pasta and cook until al dente (7-8 minutes).
Meanwhile, over medium-high heat, heat a couple of tablespoons of EVOO. Once hot, add in chopped bacon to brown (about 6 minutes). At this point, unwrap the foil from the garlic and remove the roasted cloves with a fork. They will be really tender and smushy. Add in chicken stock and lots of S&P to your bacon pan and de-glaze the pan (scrape up the little bits off the bottom of the pan), lower the heat to medium-low and simmer 3-5 minutes. Stir in your spinach, roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic pieces.
Drain pasta and add to bacon mixture. Stir in cheese and basil.
Ok…do you understand the roasted garlic? Once you start roasting garlic, you won’t be able to stop. Roasting your garlic makes the cloves tender and sweet…it really gives your pasta a caramelized flavor that is to die for. The roasted garlic cloves will be extra tender and soft when you pull them from the bulb. Just by adding them to your pasta dish and stirring them in, they’ll melt right in and give the pasta loads of flavor. A simple step gives a huge boost of flavor.
Enjoy your BLT a la pasta tonight!
Ani says
Congratulations!!!! This is the first of your recipes I ever tried, and its been on regular rotation ever since.
Linsley Schneider says
Yum! and Congrats on your Today show spot! That's amazing!!
Love on the Lake says
Looks yummy! We'll be trying it at home this week #ILoveBLTanything I work at Disney corporate and about died when they brought BLT waffle fries to Magic Kingdom, nom
~ LOTL
LoveOnTheLakeBlog.blogspot.com
Tracy says
I have never roasted garlic! I'll have to give it a try. I'm never sure what to do with whole garlic so I usually buy those little jars of chopped garlic. LOL!
Saw you on Today this morning. You were great and looked beautiful! Just double checking — you don't drain the grease from the bacon? Going to try this and thought that's what you said but thought I better ask!
Kathryn Looney says
I just watched the segment!! How cute are you! So natural and confident! Let's be friends!! Ps the recipe looks yum!
Gaines Moorer says
Loved the Today Show spot with you! Did they let you pick which recipe or did they request this one?
Melody says
I'm wondering about draining the bacon grease too from watching the segment / reading these directions? Could you please clarify? Thank you!
Tammy Gothan says
I made this for dinner tonight and my very picky two year old ate 4 bowls full.(He would prefer to eat chocolate and pancakes at every meal.) He kept asking for more. My four year really enjoyed it too. It was so nice to have a dinner without fussing. I will be making this again for my family. Thank you! Tammy
Valerie says
Another winner, winner by our family of 5! My girls all wanted seconds! I had never roasted a garlic before, amazing and so easy!
Samantha says
Had this for dinner tonight! Yum! Loved the roasted tomatoes! I got to eat them all since no one else in my family like them. Oh well, more for me 🙂