Roasted Tomato and Basil Pasta

As you can see I am still coming up with ways to use the crop of basil I have in my back garden and well, the tomatoes just seem to creep in there everytime. This dish was soooo simple. The tomatoes just sit in the oven for hours until you're ready. I served cheese straws alongside (recipe to follow another day) but obviously you don't have to and any a nice crusty piece of bread will be just lovely.

Roasted Tomato and Basil Pasta

serves 2

1 punnet cherry plum tomatoes

pinch caster sugar

1 tblsp sea salt

1 tsp dried thyme

2 large bunches basil (a whole supermarket pot)
1 clove garlic, peeled

2 tblsp creme fraiche

2 tblsp grated parmesan (plus more for serving)

Olive oil (or garlic oil works well)

150g fusilli

Optional: 150-200g cooked chicken

1. Pre-heat oven to 100C

2. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place on a baking tray cut side up. Drizzle with 1 tblsp olive oil (I used garlic oil here but you don't have to) and scatter over the sea salt, dried thyme and sugar. Place in oven and leave for about 4 hours until they have wilted. Leave until needed on the baking tray with any juice.

3. Put half of the basil in a food processor with a lug of olive oil (again I used garlic oil), the garlic clove and the 2 tblsp parmesan. Process to a paste and set aside.

4. About 20 mins before serving put your pasta on to boil. Pick the leaves from the rest of your basil.

5. Put your basil paste in a frying pan over a low heat. Add the chicken, if using, and the creme fraiche. Stir to combine and check seasoning. Add a splash of the pasta's cooking water and then drain the pasta. Toss the pasta in the sauce then stir through the remaing basil leaves.

6. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

Cherry Tomato and Basil Roast Chicken

Because (a) almost every Sunday I cook roast chicken for lunch and (b) we have a bumper crop of basil in the garden. I decided to make this.

It's from 'Jamie's Dinners' (with one or two 'tweaks'). I'm not a huge Jamie fan (despite having 4 of his cookbooks), as I've found quite a few of his dishes disappointing. However, this turned out to be a wonderful summery, dish.

Apart from tasting great, it has the added bonuses of being made in one pan (less washing up) and you don't need to make any gravy when it's ready - the tomatoes sort of 'melt' into juice and take care of that.

I would have loved to have made this with some home-grown tomatoes but until we find someone willing to donate us a greenhouse we'll have to make do with good-quality store-bought ones. If you do have a crop of shiny little red marbles in your greenhouse then I urge you to make this, that is, of course, if you haven't already eaten them!

Cherry Tomato and Basil Roast Chicken

(aka Crispy Everyday Chicken)

1 whole chicken (1.5-2kg) jointed into 10 pieces

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

a big bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped

2 packets of cherry (preferably plum) tomatoes (about 500g), halved,

1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves

1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped

olive oil

500-750g new potatoes (depending on how many you are serving)

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

Put your chicken pieces into a snug-fitting pan in one layer. Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then chuck in your tomatoes and potatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chilli and drizzle over some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix around a bit, pushing the potatoes underneath. Place in the oven for 1½ hours, until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.